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News Power Rankings Richard Craill September 21, 2020 (Comments off) (867)

POWER RANKINGS: THE BEND WEEK 1

WILD RACING, some serious sizzle between the contenders, new podium finishers and a whole lotta ‘Hot’ came out of Supercars return to The Bend Motorsport Park this year. As such, the TRT Power Rankings powered by Yellow Cover are here to dissect the Hot / Not and What from the weekend.

WORDS: Richard Craill, Mark Walker, Dale Rodgers, Tony Schibeci, TRT Social Contributors
IMAGES: Frank Hodak / The Bend Motorsport Park

IT was a cracking weekend in South Australia and by the end of it our ‘Hot’ list was overflowing with excellence, such was the nature of the racing, the event and everything else – but don’t think that doesn’t mean there wasn’t some stuff that stood out to make the other parts as well.

As always though, we start with the positive end of the spectrum: HOT.

1. THE BEND

ON THURSDAY, August 27 the Supercars were not coming to The Bend this year.

By Friday afternoon on August 28, they were.

2020 has been all about thrashing to get it done, and the calendar has been no exception, but to throw together an independently promoted event (Supercars don’t do the leg work on this one) in the space of three weeks is big. Really, big. The fact there’s another one next week just adds to it.

And yet, the outcome was spectacular. Saturday’s crowd was good, Sunday’s even better – with the cap on Bathurst, it’s likely this weekend or next could be the second-most attended event on the calendar this year.

Park ‘n View spots were sold out on both days, the atmosphere was great, hardly any niggles reported by punters and the supports entertaining: It was as if the event had been planned for months.

The large Holden parade / gathering was excellent and even the fencing off of the Supercars paddock, while still keeping the pit building and supports open to the punters, worked a treat.

The Bend fought to get Supercars back for this critical double header, but it also made sense for the championship too. Both delivered in an exceptional weekend and should be very pleased with the outcome.

2. RACE 1

BEST Supercars race of the year to date, without question. Not much more to be said – this one had it all, and it was spectacular.

3. KELLY RACING

A TRIO of elevenths was the best Rick Kelly could manage across Darwin and Townsville, while Andre Heimgartner could only manage four top-10s from the same group of races.

As such, no one expected much from the Kelly Mustang’s at The Bend but, true to their pre-season form, both cars were extremely competitive in qualifying, relatively kind to their tyres in the races and driven superbly.

If they are this good on the next fast, open and flowing circuit on the calendar – you know the one – they could be dangerous.

4. THREE WIDE!

ANDRE HEIMGARTNER’S opportunistic three-wide move at turn six was probably the best pass of the year so far. ‘nuff said.  

5. FABIAN

UNDER PRESSURE and coming off the back of a string of mediocre results, the Kiwi fought back brilliantly on the weekend and not only returned to the winners list, but also topped the points for the weekend as well. This was exactly the kind of response we were looking for from Fabian and absolutely energised the team’s championship fight as well.

A big response to the critics and at exactly the right (contract) time, too.

6. DUNLOP

SUPERCARS and tyre partner Dunlop threw a set of Softs the way of each team at the test day back in February in a bid to evaluate their performance on The Bend’s International circuit, before making the call to utilise them this year when the circuit was added back on to the calendar. And what a decision it was: the tyres made all the difference and brought Supercars to life on a circuit that, while already producing spectacular races for high-grip categories in the past, had battled when it came to the main game.

7. BRYCE FULLWOOD

THE KID is good and getting better every weekend as he settles into life at WAU. Third in Race 25 was just his fourth top-10 of the year but oh boy, was it a good one. He’s a great interview out of the car and capable in it: a well deserved podium, for sure.

8. THE RACING

YOU’RE probably on the wrong website if the racing product dished up by Supercars on the weekend didn’t get you turned on. Enormously competitive, tough, lots of teams in the mix with genuine speed, plenty of emotion, unfiltered comments and a very competitive grid. It’s very, very good.

9. EMOTION

TV doesn’t like the swearing, but it makes for great viewing none the less. Raw sport at its best.

10. TEAM TITLE

DRIVERS championship is shot to pieces but you’d better believe there’s a bit going on in the fight for pit lane preference next year. Coulthard’s resurgence is well-timed, coming just after SVG hit his late-season form which ensures the pressure remains on between Red and Blue camps.

Meanwhile, the fight for third is monumental. Tickford’s 5 & 55 have a buffer over their other two team cars, but from there back there is nothing to split Erebus, WAU, Team 18 and BJR.

In fact there’s just 265 points covering the six squads in that fight that could very much go any way.

WHAT

NICK PERCAT SELF-CHARACTER REFERENCE

SUPPORT RACE DRIVERS

AARON ZEREFOS

NOT

1. JAMIE ON SCOTT

WHAT a moment in the championship this was..

2. SCOTT ON LEE

What a moment in the championship this could have been.. any worse than a 15-second penalty and McLaughlin could have ended up ceding ground to Whincup and the whole weekend’s tone could have changed somewhat.

3. PUNTERS AT BATHURST

COVID-19 SUCKS and the fact it’s claimed a crowd on the Mountain this October sucks even harder. We understand, of course – but if anything fits the criteria for a ‘NOT’ nomination, it is this.

4. TOP 15 SHOOTOUT / QUALIFYING

WE’RE CONSISTENT in our messaging and the fan feedback has been the same, so it’s another NOT for the Saturday qualifying format. Too long, no intensity and too much waffle and not enough spark. Fortunately there’s only one weekend of it left before we can hopefully be rid of it forever.

5. WAU TYRE LIFE

THE TYRE issues some teams experienced more than others on the weekend certainly brought the event to life – but it showed once again how some teams nailed it and others didn’t.  

Bryce did a super job on Saturday but while the Chaz Mostert – Adam DeBorre combination have clearly elevated Walkinshaw to a new level this year, their one-lap pace did not lend themselves to strong race results; 11th, 11th and 16th across the three races represented a shocker for the man who entered the weekend third in the championship, but left it in fifth.

6. JAMIE R2 QUALIFYING & STOP

THE hit-or-miss Triple Eight of 2020 sprung again on Jamie Whincup on Sunday with a poor qualifying performance coupled with a dodgy stop killing any hope the 88 might have had in closing the margin on the 17.

7. RACE 3 CARNAGE

ALL over the shop on he opening lap as it was stacks on the mill down at Turn 17. Messy.

8. DAVE’S FORM SLUMP

ANTON De Pasquale found some of Penrite Erebus Racing’s lost form at the weekend with finishes of 8th, 5th and 4th across the three races, respectively – but Dave Reynolds was nowhere. In fact, after a solid opening weekend in Darwin, Reynolds last 12 races have delivered just five top-10 finishes. Anton hasn’t been much further up the road, sure, but he has climbed to 11th in the championship and now sits only a handful of points behind in the standings, too.

9. WINTERBOTTOM’S FORM SLUMP

WHILE his teammate surges up the order, Frosty and the IRWIN machine have had a shocker in the last three events and have tumbled out the top-10 of the standings, too. His opening lap of Race 27 sort of exemplified his recent form: off the road several times before being an unwitting recipient of the lap one drama that saw him punted harder than a Sherrin. Messy.

PRESENTING THE WRONG TROPHIES

IT’S not rocket science guys, but it’s happened a few times this year.

TWEET

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT, WE GUESS…

ALL OF THOSE PLAYING AT HOME WERE LIKE:

FEEDBACK

LIMITER BASHING

ATTABOY…?

MEME

Richard Craill (administrator)

Working full time in the motorsport industry since 2004, Richard has established himself within the group of Australia’s core motorsport broadcasters, covering the support card at the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix for Channel 10, the Bathurst 12 Hour for Channel 7 and Porsche Carrera Cup & Touring Car Masters for FOX Sports’ Supercars coverage. Pretends to be a PR guy / Journalist and sometimes photographer to make ends meet when not yelling at a television in a padded room.

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