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SPECIAL

Ford Territory

SPECIAL

Ford Territory

Ford Chase Two-Straight at Sydney's Eastern Creek

Staff, Monday April 28, 2003.

Page 1 of 1

Ford has not won at the ?Creek? since Glenn Seton in 1997, but expectations are high following the victory by Craig Lowndes (Ford Performance Racing) at the recent Phillip Island round.

Lowndes not only scored his first overall win for Ford, he also took the BA model Falcon?s first round win and ended a winless streak for the Blue Oval at Phillip Island that dated back to 1995.

With the potential of the BA Falcon just starting to show through, Lowndes and ten other new-model Fords will be amongst the field of 35 at the Sydney circuit.

?The win at Phillip Island was a great boost for our team and all the Ford fans,? said Lowndes.

?Just because we have won a race doesn?t make it any easier, and we?ll have to be really on our game at Eastern Creek.

?Like Phillip Island, Eastern Creek is a single 300 kilometre race. Once again it?s about smart racing and good strategy if you want to figure in the final results.

?Confidence is an important element and we?ve got plenty of that.?

Another Ford team on the way up at Eastern Creek is the OzEmail Racing duo of Brad Jones and John Bowe.

2002 marked a strong season for the Albury-based squad, and although Bowe has shown great pace in qualifying this year, Eastern Creek marks an event where he?ll be after a strong race result.

?Building two cars for Brad and myself was a huge challenge for our team and we?ve probably been a little under prepared for the opening two rounds of the year,? said Bowe.

?In saying that, we know that the cars have the speed, now we just need to have the reliability for the 300 kilometres of racing.

?The guys have worked very hard since Phillip Island and we are confident that Easter Creek will mark the start of our challenge.

?The BA Falcon has so much potential, and I?m sure you?ll see not just our team but all the Ford runners start to show the speed of the new car from Eastern Creek onwards?.

As well as the V8 Supercar Championship Series, the Konica V8 Series will also run this weekend at Eastern Creek.

The driver to watch will be Mark Winterbottom who has won the opening two rounds of the series in a Stone Brothers Racing Falcon. For the Blacktown racer Eastern Creek represents his home debut in a V8 Supercar.

The Konica Series includes three races, with two on Saturday and the final hit out on Sunday morning.

The V8 Supercar Championship Series cars are on track from Friday afternoon, with practice, qualifying and a top-10 shootout on Saturday and the 300km race on the Sunday afternoon.

The 77-lap race includes compulsory fuel and tyre pit stops.

Top 10 Championship ? after two of 13 rounds

1. Jason Bright - Team Brock - Holden Commodore 357pts
2. Mark Skaife - Holden Race Team - Holden Commodore 351pts
3=. Todd Kelly - Holden Race Team - Holden Commodore 336pts
3=. Steve Richards - Castrol Perkins Racing - Holden Commodore 336pts
5. Greg Murphy - KMart Racing - Holden Commodore 315pts
6. Paul Weel - Team Brock - Holden Commodore 297pts
7. Garth Tander - Valvoline Racing - Holden Commodore 288pts
8. Russell Ingall ? Caltex Havoline Racing - Ford Falcon BA 279pts
9. Paul Radisich ? Team Betta Electrical ? Ford Falcon BA 276pts
10. Craig Lowndes - Ford Performance Racing - Ford Falcon BA 270pts

Details for Eastern Creek: Top 10 Shootout - Saturday 3 May 4.25pm
Race (77 laps ? 302.61) - Sunday 4 May 1.30pm

Circuit: Eastern Creek, New South Wales
Length: 3.93km
Lap Records:
Qualifying ? Murphy 1:31.3941 (2001)
Shootout ? Ambrose 1:30.8955 (2001)
Race ? Skaife 1:31.7301 (2000)

Estimated top speed: 265km/h ? Pit Straight
Estimated average speed: 147 km/h

Ford?s V8 Line-up for Phillip Island
#4 Marcos Ambrose - Pirtek Racing
#9 Russell Ingall - Caltex Havoline Racing
#5 Glenn Seton - Ford Performance Racing
#6 Craig Lowndes - Ford Performance Racing
#19 David Besnard - Ford Performance Racing
#00 Greg Ritter - 00 Motorsport
#7 Rodney Forbes - 00 Motorsport
#10 Mark Larkham - Orrcon Steel Racing
#20 Jason Bargwanna - Orrcon Steel Racing
#17 Steve Johnson - Shell Helix Racing
#18 Max Wilson - Shell Helix Racing
#21 Brad Jones - OzEmail Race Team
#888 John Bowe - OzEmail Race Team
#23 Mark Noske - ICS Team Ford
#31 Steve Ellery - Super Cheap Auto Racing
#65 Paul Radisich - Team Betta Electrical
#66 Dean Canto - Team Betta Electrical
#75 Anthony Tratt -Toll Racing

Milestones
Glenn Seton - 38th Birthday Monday 5 May
Jason Bargwanna - 31st Birthday Saturday 26 April

For further information contact:
Ben Beazley
Media Coordinator
Ford Racing
Phone: (03) 9596 9011
Mobile: 0417-262 753
Email: benb@global-marketing.com

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