Defining Moment: Controversial Contact Clouds Kelly's Title Win
V8supercars.com.au is counting down Championship defining moments as we head to the grand finale, the Sydney 500, just 10 days away. Each day, we will look in-depth at some of the moments forever etched in V8 Supercars history. The best part is, you can vote for your favourite and go in the running to win a chequered flag signed by this year's Champion.
First up – having just raced at the Sargent Security Phillip Island 360, how could you not think of the 2006 battle?
Twenty-three year old HSV Dealer Team driver Rick Kelly and Triple Eight's Craig Lowndes was the perfect rivalry. Holden versus Ford, young gun against experienced favourite, facing the final race tied on points.
There had been 13 rounds, 33 races and thousands of points – yet it was all nullified as they lined up side by side on the second row of the grid, the final race at Phillip Island to decide the Championship.
The rivalry lasted just three laps, when Kelly tapped Lowndes from behind, a move that spun Lowndes, who was subsequently hit by Will Davison. The damage caused meant he constantly had to weave into the pits to change tyres.
Kelly was handed a pit lane drive-through penalty for the clash, but circulating to finish 18th was enough to score the points required to take the Championship title, when Lowndes finished 29th.
However, while he held up the cup that day the fight didn’t end at the track – Triple Eight filed a protest, meaning the battled continued in the stewards’ office on Monday. The result was not overturned and Kelly is marked in the history books as the Champion for that year.
“It wasn't the ideal way to win the Championship, but I am certainly glad that it's all over now,” Kelly said after the race on Sunday, back in 2006.
"We would have loved to have raced Craig to the line because I think the team gave us a fantastic car on the day that was capable of winning. Ideally, me and Craig should head down to the Island this week and sort it out for ourselves, but unfortunately that's not to be.
"When cars are racing at 250 or 300km/h with only millimetres between them there are always bound to be incidents, as there was all year. This was the only one we really got involved with all year."
Kelly had not won a round that season, with only one race win under his belt. The points allocation at the time rewarded consistency over wins. Lowndes had achieved five wins.
Fans dubbed Lowndes – still one of the most popular and recognisable faces in the sport – ‘The Moral Champion’ after the incident.
Lowndes, who is just 20 points off the Championship lead heading to this year's finale, spoke to v8supercars.com.au about 2006.
“It was one of those things,” the now Red Bull racer said.
“It was just a matter of who was going to win that day.
“We knew we had good car pace longevity, we didn’t have good car pace initially at the starts of the races, so I was focused on trying to get a good start.
“If I could get in front of Rick at the beginning of the race, hold him out for the first couple of laps until everything came to us, we were going to be in good shape.
“But of course, we didn’t get that far. There was contact down into Honda, which turned me sideways and really at that point the car was still good. It wasn’t until the second impact where Will had come around the corner and basically t-boned us and bent the steering quite badly and from that point on it was all over.
“We weren’t able to circulate at a speed we needed. Rick obviously got penalised, but even with that he was still able to get in and out and circulate faster than what we could.
“We were chewing through tyres, every five or six laps we were wearing front tyres because of the bad alignment. We knew at that point it was all over. That was a sad moment.
“We’d had ourselves a great opportunity, put ourselves in a good position – it would have been a first (Championship) for Triple Eight that weekend, but it wasn’t to be.”
The contact on Sunday wasn’t the only controversy of the weekend. Given the Holden versus Ford battle, there was talk of drivers ganging up together to help their side win the war.
During Saturday’s racing Mark Skaife received a bad sportsmanship flag for blocking Lowndes, and Kelly’s then-teammate Garth Tander given a pit lane penalty.
“There were lots of games playing over that weekend between Holden, and we were Ford… whether they want to agree to it or not,” Lowndes said.
“We tried to explain that to the stewards when we had the hearing, but we just had to cop it on the chin and move on.”
Whether or not the two have moved on, the controversial battle is remembered vividly by many, when asked what they thought were Championship defining moments...
“When Rick Kelly punted Craig Lowndes at Phillip Island – that was pretty defining. Ever since then it’s been a bit boring,” David Reynolds told v8supercars.com.au.
“Craig Lowndes and Rick Kelly, right here,” Scott McLaughlin said at the Phillip Island Sargent Security 360.
“I remember that, I was a spectator – I was actually here, standing at the corner and when it happened it was unbelievable, the people and the crowd. It showed how passionate the V8 fans were.
“At the time I was a Holden supporter, so I was cheering on Rick! I didn’t want Lowndesy to win or Triple Eight, so I was happy!”
Click here to vote for 2006's last race battle as your favourite Championship defining moment. Keep visiting v8supercars.com.au for more in-depth articles on each moment and its significance, join the Twitter conversation with #WHOWILLWIN and don't forget to secure your tickets for the Sydney 500 – what unfolds from December 6-8 is what will decide the 2013 Champion!
