Rick Kelly named 2006 V8 Supercar Series Champ

[Johnners]

Rick Kelly of Toll/HSV Dealer Team was crowned the 2006 series champion in extremely dodgy and controversial circumstances at Phillip Island on the weekend.

Kelly, who entered the final round just 7 points ahead of arch-rival & ford driver Craig Lowndes, at 23 years of age is 2nd youngest ever driver to win the championship, and will go down as probably 1 of the least deserving winner due to the controversial circumstances in which he won it.

After finishing behind Lowndes in the first 2 races of the Final Round, Kelly & Lowndes found themselves locked on the exact number of points for the final race, meaning whoever finished in the higher position would take the championship.

Starting the race from 3rd (Lowndes) & 4th (Kelly) places on the grid, both drivers went neck and neck until the 3rd lap, when Kelly shunted Lowndes from behind at the Hayshed, sending the 888 Falcon sideways, as well as Rick's brother Todd Kelly (who was infront of Lowndes) with the ensuing carnage seeing a sidewards Lowndes suffer what would be championship ending damage to the front of his car.

Moments later the stewards rightfully slapped Rick with a drive-through penalty, but the damage was already done, with Lowndes having to make extra pit-stops for tires due to the damage caused by the lap 3 incident. Rick fought back to finish 18th, ahead of a stricken Lowndes, who ended up finishing quite a few laps behind the leaders, in 2nd last (30th) place.

After the round, 888 Racing lodged an official complaint due to the incident, which incidently saw the Championship winner take out his only rival, but after a 4 hour hearing the officials deemed Kelly's drivethrough penalty to be sufficient and it became official that Rick Kelly would be the 2006 V8 Supercar Champion.

It wasn't the only controversial incident of the Weekend though. Earlier in race 2, Kelly's Toll/HSV Teammate Garth Tander was given a drive-through pentalty for blocking Lowndes. Tanders tactics of slowing up Lowndes to allow Kelly a chance to pass were obvious, and no-one bought the "fuel pump problems" excuse offered by Tander.

It was a promising finish to what was a frustrating season for Todd Kelly, who won 2 of 3 races on the weekend, thus taking our the final round of the season.

The Final Season Standings were as follows...

1.Rick Kelly - 3308
2.Craig Lowndes - 3271
3.Mark Winterbottom - 3089
4.Garth Tander - 2965
5.Jason Bright - 2868
6.Todd Kelly - 2815
7.Steven Richards - 2740
8.Russell Ingall - 2708
9.Steven Johnson - 2378
10.Jamie Whincup - 2357

p.s Needless to say... Rick Kelly has dropped below Mark Skaife on my list of most hated drivers

 

[Mister Wright]

Rick Kelly is the most talented driver on the circuit. In the end he was hungrier than Lowndes in the final race and was the more consistent driver all season.

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

If by hungrier you mean willing to push his opponent of the road to win, then yeah, I guess he was.

 

[Johnners]

Rick Kelly is the most talented driver on the circuit. In the end he was hungrier than Lowndes in the final race and was the more consistent driver all season.

Talented no doubt, but citing the fact that he was "hungrier" as the difference between he & Lowndes in the final race is ridiculous. He may have been a little more consistent et. al, but none of that changes the fact that when he punted Lowndes he effectively won himself the championship, be it deliberate or not.

 

[Perm]

I hate Craig Lowndes, so good on Rick Kelly for winning it. I quite like him because he drove with Murph in 2005 Bathurst.

 

[Johnners]

I hate Craig Lowndes, so good on Rick Kelly for winning it. I quite like him because he drove with Murph in 2005 Bathurst.

 

[bugssy]

i work for a big ford motor group and i have always been a holden man....i like lowndes but loved him more when he was driving for the team that made him who he is today.....

giddy up holden and the kelly boys...................GO HOLDEN!

 

[Johnners]

i work for a big ford motor group and i have always been a holden man....i like lowndes but loved him more when he was driving for the team that made him who he is today.....

giddy up holden and the kelly boys...................GO HOLDEN!

Gah.... giddy up Toddler (he's a champ) but i simply cannot stand Rick. Far to big for his boots, make my blood boil even more when he was rambling on about how much he & the team deserved the championship. Yes he was consistent during the year, and quick, but to go on the way he did you'd think he'd won it in a canter, not because he took out his main opponent in the deciding race.

Add this to his ridiculous claims earlier in the year that Brocky was essentially only a good driver, not a great one, and there's no-way he would've won 9 bathursts if he was racing in this era etc. etc. blah blah blah

 

[Perm]

Only because he drives a Ford, I don't actually hate him and by all accounts he is a good guy. He drives a Ford that's all I have against him.

 

[Johnners]

Only because he drives a Ford, I don't actually hate him and by all accounts he is a good guy. He drives a Ford that's all I have against him.

fair enough... was gonna flame you if you hate Craig Lowndes the driver .... he's by far the most sporting of all the drivers IMO, it's a rare occasion when Lowndes isn't smiling, and looking at the bright side of a situation.

 

[Perm]

Totally agree, he's a great guy but he drives a Ford.

 

[Johnners]

Totally agree, he's a great guy but he drives a Ford.

A poor misguided soul you are

 

[Simon]

good to see Ford lose, good on kelly, who cares if he won legally or not, any holden win is a good win...

 

[Johnners]

good to see Ford lose, good on kelly, who cares if he won legally or not, any holden win is a good win...

 

[Jamee999]

Watched it on the highlights earlier, it's professional sport, ffs, of course you're going to try and win! Calculated risk, that came off.

 

[Cloete]

What's people's obsessions with Holden's anyway?

It's so stupidly overhyped, they're owned by GM anyway.

 

[Johnners]

Watched it on the highlights earlier, it's professional sport, ffs, of course you're going to try and win! Calculated risk, that came off.

It's a professional sport definetly, but the way Kelly & Toll/HSV won it was NOT professional at all!!

Did anyone else see the article by Gordon Lomas in the Courier Mail on tuesday flaming the HSV boys?? And the ensuing letters to the editor on Wednesday/Thursday congratulating him on the article. To me it pretty much summed the situation up perfectly, and it was great to see someone really stick it to Tander for his dirty underhand tactics.

Can't understand the obsession with Holdens either Cloete, they're a great car etc. but as you say, it's seriously overhyped. In my uttermost unbias & honest opinion i'd go as far to say that they're some of the worst fans in terms of being Bias, one-eyed and poor losers (waiting/expecting to be flamed now, but you wont' change my mind, because imo it's entirely true)

 

[Jamee999]

What did Tander do? :S

 

[Perm]

The only reason I support Holden is because my old man does, it rubs off.

 

[Johnners]

What did Tander do? :S

In the second race he was blocking Lowndes something horrific.... funny thing was, rick kelly was the driver immediatly behind lowndes, and closing in fast thanks to Tanders blocking (which incidently is only acceptable during the last few laps of a race, not in the heart of it as tander was). He was then given a warning, to which he came up with some bogus claim of fuel problems, and his lap-times amazingly dropped by 2-3 seconds a lap as he continued to block lowndes. Thankfully the stewards finally gave him a black flag, to which he responded with some seriously fast driving from the back of the field.... fuel pump problems my arse

Call it a bias point of view.... but i've read plenty of holden fans point of view and even they were ashamed and appalled by Tander/Toll's dirty tactics.