a very close source to the situation.

They are using the data logs from all cars to show that Lowndes was impeeded all weekend ( Skaife, Tander , T Kelly) and that the ensuing touch from Rick was avoidable due to breaking markers on a normal lap for Rick compared to when he hit Lowndes( ie previous lap he broke 5m earlier etc.)

Will be very interesting outcome, especially with the presentation dinner tonight.

This would be as it should be...

Not the first time a Kelly has been involved in dubious driving tactics.

And anon, it wasnt a case of Holden vs Ford (well not to that extent...it was a case of HSV and HPV teams, which are basically owned by the same people) teaming up to try and prevent Lowndes getting the championship.

Boo Hoo. Oh not fair they're ganging up on me.

Is the you Craig?

Yeah... Lowndes never does anything wrong out on the track. Never!

:-\

ShaneD

When its man on man, though Shane, it's a bit different. When it's a whole group of drivers working tirelessly to STOP another driver does suck a bit.

This didn't start this weekend either.....as soon as Kelly was the only one who could get close to Lowndes it began. Lowndes has been fightinh his way through this crap for a couple of rounds now.

Credit to him, though, he hasn't whinged about it as mcuh as he could.

Or as much as his mates on here do......

Rick Kelly has been the 1st one to cry to his Mummy when he has been taken out of a race, but never puts his hand up when he has done the same; remember Gold Coast last year?

Take his points away for the race and hand victory to Lowndes, as he was actually racing every Holden team out there all weekend, the stewards have already decreed that Tander was doing the wrong thing, and the Skaife incident, well Mark just didnt see him...... did he.

Clutching at straws, Kelly, Tander, Skaife. Win at all costs eh! well it might have just cost you the title.

P.S. Todd Kelly is a legend!

Go Lowndes and the Ford's Whoo hoo!!!

Shane....

Lowndes is regarded as one of the most fairest and ethical drivers on the V8 circuit....

Not saying he has never done anything wrong, but he fights fair...not like what HDT/HSV teams did on the weekend.

What happened was not only unfair, it was down right un-Australian to cheat like that. It's something I would expect from Paul Tracey in NASCAR or Indy.

Wrong...Protest Dismissed.

Kelly keeps title.

Sorry Dicko but your info is a little off, just posted on the other thread that the hearing is still on going and looks likely to be adjourned so that everyone concerned can get to the presentation dinner tonight.

My question is if they have not resolved it what will they be presenting?

Correct DICKO.

http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,20908151-5007700,00.html

Ben......You are a tool.

I LISTENED to the press conference, LIVE on SEN radio. The Head Honcho of CAMS.

Sorry Dude, but I will take his word over yours.

Looks like your "source" wasn't as close as you thought.

His source would've been very good, but maybe the situation changed. Why does relying on what would be a good source make someone a "tool"?

He WAS being a tool, because he was still trying to argue it's accuracy AFTER it was publicly known to be wrong.

We all have had a situation change after a good source gives info.

So, sorry Ben.

Goes to prove...cheat like hell and you get the win.

Anon 110504 - the reason why "2 penalties" is that the penalty handed down at the time (pit lane drive through) failed to address the impacy Kelly's cheating actually had, in the fact Lowndes car was severely disabled and effectively removed him from any chance of the race.

In other words, the original penalty was not sufficient for the actual incident.

Still think CAMS are a buch of soft c*cks, considering they ripped points off Lowndes for publicly criticising race officials (bringing the sport into disrepute) yet they can award a title to someone who clearly cheated (They acknowledge that Kelly did wrong)...go figure!

Next year Craig!

Yes craig Lowndes is an angel and never does any wrong&.. I guess Yogee has forgotten about the Adelaide 500 in 2001 where Lowndes driving in his first race for ford was being chased down by Skaife, made a mistake and run wide, then in a desperate attempt to prevent Skaife from passing swerved back across the track and slammed into him. Very Schumacher like.

At least common sense has prevailed, and Lowndes protest has been dismissed. Could you imagine the precedence it would have caused if Kelly was stripped of his championship? Would it mean that John Bowe's 1995 Championship would come into question given that it was found the following season that all the Fords had been using illegal lightweight body panels in 1995 ? I don't think so.

Another thing that pisses me off with the V8's (which is probably why I rarely watch them anymore) is the whole blocking thing. This rule has only come in in the last few seasons, because people like Marcos Ambrose (and now Craig Lowndes) think that drivers who are ahead of them on the track should move over and let them through. We're not talking about lapped traffic here, but other drivers who are racing for track position. Why should Mark Skaife, Garth Tander or anyone else for that matter get out of the way of Lowndes when they are R-A-C-I-N-G each other ?? How can that be called blocking ?? So what if Lowndes reckons he has a faster car. Prove it and pass you pussy. I didn't see Skaife or Tander swerving from side to side down the straights preventing anyone from passing, they were merely placing their car on the racing line which every driver is entitled to do.

I don't really care much for either brand, I would just prefer the sport to go back to being a sport, not this stupid parity system that has developed over the last few years which is constantly trying to give the underperforming manufacturer (which until 2003 was always Ford) a leg-up.  We might as well just stick all the drivers names in a hat and draw out a winner for each race that way. I think Mark Skaife referred to it a few years ago as socialist racing !

Could you imagine a applying V8 Supercar rules to the NBL?

The 36ers are constantly underperforming so we'll change the rules to state that their opposition are only permitted to have 4 players on court. It might just get us a championship. It got one for Ford in 2003, 2004 and 2005.
Maybe the 36ers should be made to wear Brisbane uniforms in an attempt to equalise the performance of the two teams like Holden was made to use a Ford front suspension design to stop their championship dominance from 1998-2003.

zzzzzz ....

everyonesanexpert - thats why the blocking rule was brought in

Skaife and Tander both had obviously slower cars than Lowndes, hence why they had to block. It was obvious when Lowndes lap times increased after they were penalised. This rule basically replaced the old blue flag...held steady for move over as your about to be overtaken, and blue to alert the driver that they were being overtaken so they did not move off their current line....so it's not exactly an old rule, just it's been more formalised.

Coversely, the rule also states that towards the end of the race, drivers can "Protect" their race line, which basically allows the blocking strategy. The old blue flag scenario was up to the interpretation of the marshal at each flag point, whereas now it is supposedly more black and white.

Ask a driver what the rule is, and ask an official however, and you get a very different explanation of the rule (highlighted on Channel 10's broadcast yesterday even!)

heheh socialist racing..that kinda sounds like the AFL, every team gets the chance to go top every few years...all equal with salary caps national drafts etc etc...socialist sport..BAH!

give me elitism in sport any time EPL.

I liked the suggestion on the radio yesterday. Have a Grand Final to decide the championship.

The 2 leaders at the end of the season race for 50 laps, one on one.

Best Car/Best Driver combo wins. No team tactics, no traffic causing problems, etc.

I think it would be a great end to the season.

I am suprised that a bit more of the old Senna v Prost tactics were not involved.

I am amazed that someone who does not win a race can win the championship.

Thats like not winning a game but still ending up with a ring.

Yogee you don't know what you're talking about. The blue flag (which still exists by the way) is to alert drivers they are about to be LAPPED by another car, (meaning the person in front is already probably 10 or 20 places behind the car trying to pass it. This was not the situation on the weekend. Skaife and Tander were ahead of Lowndes and were racing for position; they were not back markers trying to prevent Lowndes from lapping them.
If you were a race driver Yogee would you be happy to give up first or second position (or any position for that matter) to the car behind you simply because the driver behind you reckoned he had a faster car? What a load of crap. We don't see Alonso leading a race and being told to move over and let Schumacher pass because Michael reckons his Ferrari is faster than Alonso's Renault, so why should it happen in V8 supercars?

Yes my opinion may be different from Colin Bonds (the DSO or Driving Standards Observer) but the fact of the matter is that neither Skaife nor Tander repeatedly changed their racing line through a corner or along the straights preventing Lowndes from passing. Had either of them been swerving in front of Lowndes down the straights then fair enough, give them a black flag. If Lowndes clearly had a faster car as both you and everyone at triple 8 seemed to think then he wouldn't have had any problem passing would he?

Obviously you're a passionate Ford fan (not that there's anything wrong with that) who feels dudded by the happenings of the weekend, which is making you miss the point.
I can't think of any other form of motor sport where a driver is asked to move over for the car behind when they are RACING FOR POSITION.

How about tomorrow night when the sixers are down by 20 points at half time we get Phil to have a whinge to the refs about the situation, he can tell them that he has a much faster team and the Razorbacks should move over and let the sixers win ?

That's effectively what is happening in the V8's isn't it?

I agree with you Kent on that one, It is crap that someone can win the championship without winning a race round. (He did win a race this season - Race 3 Lexmark Indy 300, just not an entire round) but that is hardly Rickster's fault. You can blame that on the ridiculous points system that has been used for the last couple of seasons that awards constancy over anything else. It doesn't seem fair that someone can finish in the top 5 every round without a race win and finish with more points than someone who has won half a dozen rounds in a season, but had a couple of DNF's does it ?

I think you will find the Blue flag is to alert the driver that there is a car trying to pass, not necessarily lap you.

F1 defines a blue flag as:

BLUE FLAG
Shown to a driver to indicate that a faster car is behind him and trying to overtake. Shown both to lapped cars and those racing. A lapped car must allow the faster car past after seeing a maximum of three blue flags or risk being penalised. A racing car is under no obligation to move over.

I can't seem to find a definition on the V8 Supercar website. Could be because they make the rules up as they go along.

everyone...someone past a similar comment to me about this after what happened to Lowndes at Indy.

Seems that Bernie has bought a share in V8'S....thought it was a joke at the time but now i am not so sure.

everyonesanexpert - why dont you try the CAMS (Confederation of AUSTRALIAN Motor Sport) website.

I havent looked at it, I've been involved with car racing for long enough to know what's what.

OK, I'll concede I was slightly wrong after checking the rules..they obviously have changed, and not being a driver myself, wasn't aware.

The difference is what I said is correct for practise and qualifying... blue flag is used to advise a driver they are about to be overtaken...it is the same during a race, but not to be used for cars on the same lap....

Isn't that effectively what I said Yogee. I don't think the rules have changed; it's always been that way. The point I have been trying to make the whole time though is that why should a driver move over and give up a position for another driver who they are racing for position. Using this logic that V8 Supercar has adopted, you could argue that Lowndes was impeding T.Kelly in races 1 and 2, and Lowndes should have been black flagged.... After all Kelly was right behind Lowndes for most of those two races and trying to get past wasn't he??