Bathurst 12: Race report

WPS BATHURST MOTOR FESTIVAL CONCLUDES IN STYLE

New South Wales trio wins WPS Bathurst 12 Hour as Grant Denyer finishes on podium

The 2008 WPS Bathurst Motor Festival has concluded in style with the WPS Bathurst 12 hour this afternoon.

Almost 30,000 people enjoyed the third WPS Bathurst Motor Festival, which enjoyed an action-packed finale act today -- the WPS Bathurst 12 Hour.

Although a long-distance endurance event of 12 hours and approximately 1580 kilometres, race spectators could have been excused for thinking they were watching a sprint race, with a frenetic pace off the start seeing a three-wide battle up the mountain continuing over the opening laps with a fierce battle for the lead seeing multiple changes taking place by the time the leaders passed the start/finish line for only the third time.

Fast forward 12 hours, too many lead challenges and changes to count, seven safety cars and one spectacular crash courtesy of Len Cave and the #27 Thrifty Mazda 3 MPS, and you have an Event that will go down in the annals of great Bathurst motor races.

Damien White took the chequered flag for his team-mates Graham Alexander and Rod Salmon aboard the #27 SKWIRK.com Mitsubishi EVO IX after a tense battle with many lead changes with Grant Denyer aboard the Team VIP Petfoods' #29 Mitsubishi EVO IX over the Race's entirety. The 2007 WPS Bathurst 12 Hour winners Craig Baird/Paul Morris and Garry Holt were close behind in their BMW 335i for third position outright.

"To start the race, lead the race, then come in and hop out of the car, go out the back and get changed and then come back to the garage and have it be only 8.00am was really quite weird," said White.

"Now here we are and it is 7.00pm and we are winners, and that is a really really good feeling."

When it came to class wins, the #87 SKWIRK.com entry of White wrapped up Class A, while the #20 Eastern Creek Karts entry of Morris, Baird and Holt took Class B victory. Class C victory went to the #3 XEETEC BMW 130 of Luke Searle and Peter Kelly, Class D went to the #24 Walden Motorsport Holden Commodore VY of Brian and Garth Walden and Michael Auld.

Class E went to the Osborne Motorsports Toyota Celica of Neal Bates, Colin Osborne and John Roecken and Class F went to the Kangan Batman TAFE/Hanook Tyres Hyundai Sonata steered by Greg Sticker, Ross Buckingham, James Augustine and Brett Youlden.

From an event perspective the feedback received and the results of the 2008 WPS Bathurst Motor Festival and today's endurance event bode extremely well for the Event's longevity.

Event Director James O'Brien said that he couldn't have been happier with the outcome of the third 2008 WPS Bathurst Motor Festival.

"What a great outcome for the third WPS Bathurst Motor Festival - what an exciting finish to three days of action," enthused O'Brien.

"We had nearly 30,000 people through the gates over the three days, and I was really pleased to see the reactions of the crowd today to the action happening on-track.

"We can't wait to do it all again next year, we will definitely be back and a date for 2009 will be announced shortly."

WPS Bathurst 12 Hour -- Top Ten Outright
1. D. White/G. Alexander/R. Salmon (Mitsubishi EVO IX)
2. G. Denyer/T. Quinn/K. Quinn (Mitsubishi EVO IX)
3. C. Baird/P.Morris/G. Holt (BMW 335i)
4. B. Morcom/S. Owen/L. Cranbrook (BMW335i)
5. M. Notaras/Des Wall/David Wall/T, Symonds (Mitsubishi EVO IX GSR)
6. L. Searle/P. Kelly (BMW 130)
7. M. O'Connor/A. Fisher/R. Buttrose (Lotus Exige)
8. D. Schulz/A. Knight/J. Winslow (Subaru WRX STi)
9. B. Walden/G. Walden/M. Auld (Holden Commodore VY)
10. K. Kratzman/I. Tulloch/B. Collins (Subaru WRX Sti)

-credit: www.bathurstmotorfestival.com.au