Defining Moment: The Track is Jammed!

For any dedicated V8 Supercar fan, those words will take you straight to one particular incident.

In fact, Neil Crompton, who exclaimed them back in 2005 acknowledged the Bathurst stouche as one of the biggest moments he has called.

“Ambrose has had a massive shunt, Ambrose has had a massive shunt!” Crompton cried over television sets across Australia.

“Greg Murphy is involved, more cars – the track is jammed. The track is jammed!”

It was lap 145 of 161 and the field had bunched together after a Safety Car period.

Holden hero Murphy was up the inside of two-time Champion and Ford favourite Marcos Ambrose into The Cutting at Mount Panorama – the two were fighting over fourth, both real contenders, paired with Paul Weel and Warren Luff.

Ambrose’s Stone Brothers Racing Falcon BA was torn apart in the incident, blocking the circuit, a sea of Supercars queued behind them.

Both immediately sprung from their cars and proceeded to point fingers and throw words at one another (Ambrose clearly removes his balaclava – having not worn it earlier in the race was another key moment of that year).

“We were racing for it and I expected he would do a proper job and give me racing room to go around the corner together,” Murphy said after the race in 2005.

“He (Ambrose) decided that I should have to give way and that is what happened. He pegged me into the wall and I catapulted him around … bloody stupid if you ask me.

“Marcos, as always, thinks he is in the right and thinks everyone should give way to him. I'm not going to play that game. He has got an ego problem, we all know about it and it's reared its ugly head again today.

“I'm pretty angry. I don't want to have to put up with him. He can take what I said and leave, I won't be crying about it."

While Ambrose – who never won a Bathurst 1000 in his time in V8 Supercars – was annoyed at the incident, he also had his third consecutive Championship title to worry about.  

“It has destroyed our race, destroyed a lot of others too and now it might have destroyed my Championship, who knows. He had the chance to avoid an accident and he did not. I guess we are going to have a great crack for the title,” Ambrose said.

It was that race that lost Ambrose the lead in the points to teammate Russell Ingall, The Enforcer leaving the Mountain with a slim two-point margin.

Ingall won the title in 2005 at grand finale Phillip Island, while Ambrose won the round that was to be his final in V8 Supercars.

He has gone on to forge a career in NASCAR in the United States. Murphy has not won Bathurst since the year prior, 2004, though he has been on the podium twice, including runner-up with Jason Richards in 2008.

In 2011 during Speed TV’s coverage of Bathurst, a surprise chat between Murph and his former rival was hooked up. Not surprisingly, the two hadn’t decided to forgive and forget.

“Greg Murphy… I had a big run in with him a couple of years back,” Ambrose said on the telecast.

“I feel like he cost me the big race win in 2005.

“I can’t believe they’re still playing this replay – the only thing I regret is I should’ve knocked his block off!”

Murph’s response?

“We had a little altercation, we didn’t see eye to eye… I still get asked the question every time I speak in front of an audience.”

A moment steeped in V8 Supercars history, it is classic Bathurst. Rather than achieving the top five finish he was on track for, Ambrose scored no points that event, his only DNF of the season. And while the points system allowed drivers to drop their worst round, who knows how many points he could have achieved if the incident did not happen?

But that’s racing – and that’s why the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 in 2005 makes our list of Championship Defining Moments.

Is it your favourite moment? Tell us why in 20 words or less and go into the draw to win a chequered flag signed by this year’s V8 Supercars Champion.

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