SBR Konica series Winton race notes

Young star Mark Winterbottom repaid the faith shown in him by his current employees when he won the Konica V8 Supercar Series for Stone Brothers Racing at Winton in North-East Victoria today.

Winterbottom, who signed as part of the SBR youth program on a five-year deal last season, showed tremendous maturity beyond his 21 years to give SBR its first championship and Ford it's first Konica title since 2000.

The Konica Series has been developed as a breeder series for the main V8 Supercar Championship, but has developed into a competitive competition in its own right.

Winterbottom won the opening three rounds of the championship, was second at Phillip Island was third outright in today's penultimate round to clinch the title.

Winterbottom was given a chance in the Konica ranks after finishing second in last year's national Formula Ford Championship and has shown terrific ability in his Milligans Food Group AU Falcon, which carries support from Bosch and Caltex Havoline.

"This is a fantastic feeling," said Winterbottom.

"I think this is a great reward for everyone at Stone Brothers Racing and for our sponsors -- especially Bruce Paton from Milligans Food Group.

"Ross and Jimmy Stone took a risk putting me into this championship straight out of Formula Ford and I have to thank them for their confidence.

"We certainly did it the hard way today, but we hung in there, didn't panic and got the job done.

"I thought we had blown our chances today after the warm-up and race one, but in the end we got there.

"To win this championship in my first year is a dream come true."

Today was extra special for team owners Ross and Jimmy Stone, who claimed the first title for SBR and their first in the business since they engineered John Bowe's car at Dick Johnson Racing in 1995.

SBR will now be totally focused on the V8 Supercar Championship Series in which both their drivers, Marcos Ambrose (1st) and Russell Ingall (5th), are sitting in the top five on adjusted points.

"It is nice to get the first one under our belts," said Ross Stone

"It is great for Mark, our sponsors and the team.

"We did make hard work of it today, but we bounced back and that's what counts in this business.

"We now have to get on with the other championship and see what we end up with."

The weekend started terrifically for Winterbottom when he took Saturday's pole by more than half a second.

Yesterday started terribly when he lost an engine only a couple of laps into the official warm-up.

His crew did a complete engine change, but just failed to make the starting grid by a minute and Winterbottom was forced to start the race from pit lane.

Despite this, and the fact he was on running on seven cylinders from the opening lap, Winterbottom managed to fight his way through to finish 13th.

Winterbottom showed a lot of maturity in race two and eventually finished third, by just 0.26 of a second behind Mark Porter and another 1.2 seconds behind race winner Owen Kelly, after starting mid-field in the reverse grid race.

The result put him third on the grid for the final race which was to ultimately decide his fate.

Winterbottom needed to finish a minimum of third in the final race -- he finished second behind the day's overall winner Andrew Jones, who collected the first V8 Supercar win for Brad Jones Racing.

Winterbottom missed the start and slotted into fourth, but he had picked the spot back up by turn three. He moved into second on lap four and maintained his place through several safety car periods.

Winterbottom will now go to the final round of the championship at Mallala in South Australia on August 30-31 without a worry in the world.

RACE 3
1:Andrew Jones (Ford)
2: Mark Winterbottom (Ford)
3: Owen Kelly (Holden)
4: Matthew White (Ford)
5: Steve Owen (Holden)
6: Luke Youlden (Ford)
7: Dale Brede (Holden)
8: Brett Peters (Ford)
9: Kevin Mundy (Ford)
10: Craig Bastian (Ford)
11: David Russell (Ford)
12: Peter Doulman (Holden)
13: Tim Rowse (Holden)
14: Robert Jones (Holden)
15: Terry Whyoon (Ford)
16: Mark Howard (Ford)
17: David Thexton (Ford)
18: Tim Gordon (Ford)
19: Derek Van Zelm (Holden)
20: Todd Wanless (Ford)
21: Adam Wallis (Ford)
22: Jamie Miller (Holden)
23: Tony Evanelou (Holden)
DNF: Marcus Marshall (Ford)
DNF: Mark Porter (Holden)
DNF: Peter Gazzard (Ford)
DNF: Grant Elliott (Holden)
DNF: Tony Ricciardello (Ford)

RACE 2 (Full reverse grid)
1: Owen Kelly (Holden) 16 Laps
2: Mark Porter (Holden)
3: Mark Winterbottom (Ford)
4: Terry Whyoon (Ford)
5: Andrew Jones (Ford)
6: Steve Owen (Holden)
7: Craig Bastian (Ford)
8: Tony Ricciardello (Ford)
9: Matthew White (Ford)
10: Adam Wallis (Ford)
11: Robert Jones (Holden)
12: Peter Gazzard (Ford)
13: Luke Youlden (Ford)
14: Mark Howard (Ford)
15: Jamie Miller (Holden)
16: Tony Evangelou (Holden)
17: Marcus Marshall (Ford)
18: David Russell (Ford)
19: Grant Elliott (Holden)
20: Tim Gordon (Ford)
21: Derek Van Zelm (Holden)
22: Brett Peters (Ford)
23: David Thexton (Ford)
DNF: Peter Doulman (Holden)
DNF: Dale Brede (Holden)
DNF: Shane Beikoff (Ford)
DNF: Todd Wanless (Ford)
DNF: Kevin Mundy (Ford)
DNF: Tim Rowse (Holden)

RACE 1
1: Andrew Jones (Ford) -- 14 Laps
2: Matthew White (Ford)
3: Dale Brede (Holden)
4: Luke Youlden (Ford)
5: Todd Wanless (Ford)
6: Peter Gazzard (Ford)
7: Marcus Marshall (Ford)
8: Kevin Mundy (Ford)
9: Grant Elliott (Holden)
10: David Russell (Ford)
11: Brett Peters (Ford)
12: Terry Whyoon (Ford)
13: Mark Winterbottom (Ford)
14: Jamie Miller (Holden)
15: Craig Bastian (Ford)
16: Adam Wallis (Ford)
17: Tim Rowse (Holden)
18: David Thexton (Ford)
19: Robert Jones (Holden)
20: Tony Evangelou (Holden)
21: Shane Beikoff (Ford)
22: Mark Howard (Ford)
23: Tim Gordon (Ford)
24: Mark Porter (Holden)
25: Owen Kelly (Holden)
26: Peter Doulman (Holden)
DNF: Tony D'Alberto (Holden)
DNF: Steve Owen (Holden)
DNF: Derek Van Zelm (Holden)
DNF: Clyde Lawrence (Holden)
DNF: Tony Ricciardello (Ford)

ROUND 5 POINTS
1: Andrew Jones 184
2: Matthew White 168
3: Mark Winterbottom 162
4: Luke Youlden 152
5: Owen Kelly 140
6: Craig Bastian 136
7: Terry Whyoon 136
8: David Russell 120
9: Brett Peters 116
10: Dale Brede 112

CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS (After 5 rounds)
1: Mark Winterbottom 892
2: Matthew White 852
3: Mark Porter 690
4: Owen Kelly 680
5: Brett Peters 670
6: Luke Youlden 666
7: Peter Gazzard 644
8: Kevin Mundy 612
9: Dale Brede 604
10: Andrew Jones 540

ADJUSTED CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS (After 5 Rounds)
* These points after driver has dropped his worst round
1: Mark Winterbottom 730
2: Matthew White 690
3: Mark Potter 610
4: Owen Kelly 604
5: Luke Youlden 58
6: Brett Peters 576
7: Peter Gazzard 554
8: Dale Brede 544
9: Kevin Mundy 530
10: Craig Bastian 528