FHOLDEN: Winton qualifying report

2001 Holden Australian Drivers Championship
Round 8 Qualifying - Winton, 8th September 2001
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Rick Kelly scored his sixth pole position of the year at a freezing cold Winton today, but behind him is a pack of hopefuls all looking to knock off the already crowned 2001 Holden Australian Drivers' Champion. Eighteen-year-old Kelly, from Mildura, claimed pole position by 0.2s from his Birrana team mate - for this weekend only - and former three-time Gold Star champion Paul Stokell. Stokell was whittling his times down with each lap, but couldn't quite snare the prestigious all-important pole spot from his younger team-mate.

Any hope of further improvements went westward when the session came to an abrupt end after Alan Gurr crashed his Danka/ Ralt Australia entry with just seconds remaining. Gurr suffered concussion in the nasty rearward 'off', that saw him make contact with the tyre-protected base of a flag marshal post when he locked his rear brakes and slid onto the treacherous wet infield.

Gurr had just recorded a strong third fastest time and was on his final flying lap when the incident occurred, although his car stood up to the impact quite well. If Gurr is fit enough to race his car will be ready and will line up next to the third Birrana car of Brenton Ramsay. Ramsay completed a strong session and wound up just over half a second from Kelly's pole time, with the second Ralt entry of Chris Staff filling fifth spot in a brand new 96D Reynard. Christian Murchison will line up in ninth after falling from an early third fastest time when he broke second gear on only his fourth flying lap.

An extremely competitive top ten is rounded out by Tim Leahey, Akihiro Asai, Emerson Newton-John and Peter Hill. This group is just ahead of the four Silver Star runners of Roger Oakeshott, Ian Peters, Terry Clearihan and Rohan Carrig, with Peters scoring a psychological advantage in his title battle with Clearihan by pipping him for the inside of the penultimate row.

<pre> Qualifying Results Pos Car Entrant Driver Laps Fastest...Lap Gap 1 2 Holden Young Lions Rick Kelly 13 12 1:15.5378* 2 6 Birrana Racing Paul Stokell 14 11 1:15.8077 0:00.2699 3 11 Ralt Australia/Challenge Alan Gurr 14 13 1:16.0729 0:00.5351 4 9 Birrana Racing Brenton Ramsay 14 13 1:16.0847 0:00.5469 5 12 Ralt Australia Chris Staff 15 13 1:17.0744 0:01.5366 6 22 Murphy Motorsport Tim Leahey 12 11 1:17.7195 0:02.1817 7 74 Hocking Motorsport Akihiro Asai 13 11 1:18.1610 0:02.6232 8 76 Hocking Motorsport Emerson Newton-John 15 15 1:18.2123 0:02.6745 9 75 Hocking Motorsport Christian Murchison 4 3 1:18.3757 0:02.8379 10 66 Murphy Motorsport Peter Hill 13 12 1:18.4057 0:02.8679 11 28 Murphy Motorsport Roger Oakeshott 15 12 1:20.3654 0:04.8276 12 27 National Neon Signs Terry Clearihan 6 3 1:21.4778 0:05.9400 13 24 Ian Peters Ian Peters 13 13 1:22.5581 0:07.0203 14 49 Rohan Carrig Rohan Carrig 11 11 1:25.5702 0:10.0324

Fastest Lap Av.Speed Is 143kph, 115% Of First 1 Is 1:26.8685 Current Race Lap Record Is 1:14.6435 Set On 01/07/2000 By C. Murchison In A Reynard R=under lap record by greatest margin, r=under lap record, *=fastest lap time

2001 Holden Australian Drivers Championship (Top Ten) 1. Rick Kelly 265pts; 2. Christian Murchison 132pts; 3. Alan Gurr 107pts; 4. Peter Hill 99pts; 5. Stewart McColl 74pts; 6. Terry Clearihan 66pts; 7. Ian Peters 62pts; 8. Simon Wills 60pts; 9. Emerson Newton-John 59pts; 10. Roger Oakeshott 35pts

2001 Silver Star Award 1. Ian Peters 194pts; 2. Terry Clearihan 182pts; 3. Roger Oakeshott 117pts; 4. Rohan Carrig 94pts; 5. Chris Hocking 75pts; 6. Mark Ellis 74pts;

-Formula Holden