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Front Page
Johnson Storms to Second in Best Adelaide Ever
Staff, Saturday April 7, 2001.
Page 1 of 1
The young Shell Helix Racing star drove a hard race, quickly picking his way forward from his tenth starting position to settle in sixth, before the first of two lightening pit stops put his Ford Falcon XR8 in contention for victory as the final laps unfolded.
At the last restart Johnson was handily placed third, behind leader Craig Lowndes and Shell Helix teammate Paul Radisich, and ahead of a star-studded freight-train of cars that included Russell Ingall, Mark Skaife, Glenn Seton, Garth Tander, Jason Bright and John Bowe.
Johnson held his ground under tremendous pressure, challenging Radisich until his car’s rear suspension failed after a brush with the concrete wall.
That gave Steve a clear run and he was able to edge away from the pursuing pack, running slightly faster than the race leader before the laps ran out in what was the most competitive and toughest Adelaide race ever.
Along the way Johnson had a couple of scares, brushing the tyres in the early laps and knocking the steering out of alignment, and then mid-race getting thumped heavily by a spinning Todd Kelly.
“I feel great, it was a tough race but I was really pleased with the way it went for me,” Steve Johnson said.
“This is what I’ve been working for … to be competitive with these guys, concentrate all the way, give 100 percent … it’s a great result, I’m stoked, and this is just the start.
“I can’t wait for tomorrow.”
Today’s result was Steve’s best-ever in the Shell Championship Series and equalled his best V8 Supercar result.
While Johnson was one of the stars of today’s race, teammate Paul Radisich was also at the centre of the action.
From fourth he quickly grabbed third, then second, then after an epic duel with leader Mark Skaife grabbed the lead when the two tangled.
Radisich dominated the mid stages of the race before Lowndes went past, ‘The Rat’ chasing him down hard as they entered the closing laps.
A couple of brushes with the concrete wall proved costly, though, when a Watts linkage in the rear suspension broken putting the car out of second place with just a handful of laps to run.
“I had the speed on Skaife for a number of laps and I expected him to extend professional courtesy to me and let me go by but it didn’t happen,” Radisich said after the race.
“He was in trouble with tyres, he was all over the road, I had a run on him out of the chicane, and when he braked early I pushed him up the back … it was just one of those things.”
Radisich admitted he was right on the ragged edge during the second half of the race, and that contributed to his late race drama.
“It’s a shame we didn’t get a result but we’ll have to see what we can do tomorrow. I need to make the car more user friendly to drive and maybe I won’t have to push so hard.”
The Clipsal 500concludes with the second leg tomorrow, starting at 2pm cst.
For further information contact:
Ben Beazley
Media Coordinator
Ford Racing
Phone: (03) 9533 4455
Mobile: 0417 262 753
e-Mail: ben@segalmedia.com.au
