Dick Johnson Racing Scores First V8 Win in Seven Years
In a turn around from the first race, Ford drivers dominated the second race in the 2008 V8 Supercar Series at Eastern Creek today, finishing in the top three places.
The first Holden across the line was Ford defector Russell Ingall in his Supercheap Auto Racing Commodore VE. Race one winner, Garth Tander could only finish in ninth place.
The race and round win is the first for Dick Johnson’s team since 2001, breaking a seven year drought and highlighting the improvement and determination of a team well and truly on the rise in 2008.
Following on from a brilliant start in Saturday’s opening race, Will Davison jumped Garth Tander off the line to claim a race lead he never surrendered throughout race two, comfortably driving the number 18 Jim Beam Falcon to victory ahead of Mark Winterbottom.
Starting from pole for race three Davison had to deal with wearing tyres for much of the final race, eventually crossing in sixth position to seal the round win for Jim Beam Racing.
Today’s results catapult Davison to fifth on the 2008 V8 Supercar Championship points table after two rounds.
Steve Johnson finished 19th and 17th respectively and wasn’t able to find the speed he produced in the opening round of the Championship where he finished fourth overall at Clipsal.
Will Davison was estatic after his win: “Amazing effort by the entire team, this is a sweet victory and I am as pleased for everyone at Jim Beam racing as I am for myself.”
“We really lost our tyres in that last race so to hold on for the round win is a feeling I can’t quite describe it’s just unbelievable.
“Things are really looking up for Jim Beam Racing, we are definitely going places this year.”
Meanwhile Steve Johnson reflected on his performance: “It was a bit of a disappointing weekend for me personally; however I’m thrilled for the team and Will.
“Hopefully we can sort things out and I’ll be back up front in New Zealand, I started the year well at Clipsal so there is no reason we can’t continue on in a similar fashion.”
However team owner Dick Johnson was more than happy: “It’s just an amazing feeling to have that buzz around the garage again; it was a well deserved victory for everyone and Will has done a brilliant job this weekend.
“It’s been a while between wins, I’m just extremely proud of the team, we have stuck together and this result is a testament to the hard work of everyone at Jim Beam Racing.”
Will Davidson Quotes:
“It feels absolutely incredible, any day I’m sitting in a press conference is generally a good day so to actually be here is unbelievable,” said Davison. “It’s just full credit to the whole team and I can’t thank everyone enough.
“To have ticked off a race win and now a round win certainly is incredible and I think it’s going to do wonders for everyone in the team.
“Everyone’s got some big goals they want to reach and it’s probably going to take some time before we’re probably doing this consistently but hopefully now we can get a couple more podiums throughout the year.”
Round two final results – top 10
1 Will Davison 260
2 Mark Winterbottom 244
3 Garth Tander 242
4 Rick Kelly 240
5 Jamie Whincup 240
6 Craig Lowndes 210
7 Russel Ingall 192
8 Mark Skaife 184
9 Lee Holdsworth 168
10 Greg Murphy 156
Cross Posted @ Full Throttle
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