Defining Moment: Skaife vs The Enforcer
Every battle needs a good villain – who was yours?
Mark Skaife was wearing the #1, but it was the last time it would adorn his Holden Racing Team Commodore.
The coveted number would appear at Stone Brothers Racing the following year – on a Ford – after the grand finale at Eastern Creek. And while Marcos Ambrose sailed out of trouble to lead and win the final race in 2003 in his SBR BA Falcon, Holden’s soldiers fell – and Russell Ingall rubbed it in.
Today’s Championship Defining Moment is one many will never forget. Who was the villain? It depends what side of the fence you sit on…
The Championship wasn’t won when the V8 Supercars went into the final round at Eastern Creek. Coming out of Pukekohe, Ambrose had just a nine-point buffer over Greg Murphy, and was 30 points ahead of Skaife.
But drive through penalties cost his competitors in the first race, Skaife for a jumped start and Greg Murphy for contact with Glenn Seton.
Murphy didn’t even start Sunday’s race, back pain ruling him out of driving. So Skaife seemed certain for second in the Championship, the first Holden home. Until, of course, he was side by side with Ingall.
Skaife had passed the SBR #9 up the inside, and then it looked as if Ingall just turned right intending to make contact, pitching his rival straight into the wall.
The damaged VY Commodore lay stranded but livid Skaife emerged from the car, threw his helmet to a nearby official and erupted when Ingall’s Falcon drove past, waving fists and pointing fingers.
Even more extraordinary was Ingall’s reaction, swerving towards Skaife, who took a step back but continued to rage and was spotted shortly after giving Ross Stone a mouthful in his nemesis’ team garage.
Both were penalised for their actions, though Ingall received the heavier punishment, excluded from both races, losing points at the Creek and fined.
"It's unbelievable," Skaife was reported to have said to the media following the race.
"I have never seen something so bad in sport. Can you believe it; it's staggering.
"I wanted to give him a character reference but for him to swerve at me is unbelievable.
"What that guy (Ingall) has done has cost us second. We are all sportsmen out there doing our very best, and he's cost us second in the Championship. If that was rugby league he would be out for a year. I would be staggered if something didn't happen (and the stewards didn't take action). It's a joke; people in their lounge rooms don't need to see sport conducted in that way. I don't think we have ever seen anything that bad. He had blocked me for lap after lap after lap. He wasn't even in the contest."
Ingall didn’t back down either and only gave a few choice words.
"If he wants to be a dickhead, no problems; he kicked it off," Ingall said at the time.
"There's no way I am going to back off when he tries to drill me off the track. The stewards can look at it any way they want."
Ford fans will say the same – Ingall needn’t have backed off when embroiled in battle. Holden faithful swear The Enforcer aimed.
Either way, Skaife didn’t score a point, nor did he become the 2003 runner-up. In fact, since that year the Holden heavy weight did not again come close to finishing in the top three, his best Championship result fifth in 2005 – the year Ingall won the title.
Ingall did not want to bring up a negative and discuss the incident. But ‘The Enforcer’ recently told the Daily Telegraph that tag cost him Championships, saying he used to be penalised for things “that just weren’t an issue”.
He has intimated he will use his final race to get even with those deserving – so while Ingall has declared this may not be his last year as a full-time driver, despite all the retirement talk, he will be one to watch at the Sydney NRMA Motoring and Services 500 this weekend.
Fortunately for Skaife, he will be in the commentary box.
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