Two-time V8 Supercar Champion Marcos Ambrose has finished 34th at the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series round at the 1.25-mile (2.012-kilometre) Gateway Speedway in Illinois.

Ambrose was running just outside the top-10 when a pile-up involving Mike Skinner, Kyle Krisiloff and Justin Martz ended the Australian's hopes on lap 61 of 160.

The entire right-hand-side was ripped from Ambrose's F-150 racing truck. Only Martz was able to continue in the race.

“I saw him (Skinner) go up into the wall and I tried to stay low, but I just couldn’t stay low enough; he came back down the track and I had nowhere to go," said Ambrose.

"I guess that’s an introduction to NASCAR and what it’s all about. These cars are strong because that was a decent lick.

"We’ve taken a pretty tough start with two crashes in two races, so we want to bounce back a bit from this.â€￾

It was a tough weekend for Ambrose, who had no practice or qualifying after showers cancelled all but a short practice session just before the race. In that one practice session he was 17th fastest out of a field of 36 trucks.

Qualifying was set from team owner points, with Ambrose starting from 19th position.

By lap 31 he was in 12th position and was well on his way to a top-10 finish before the multi-car accident.

The Dodge Ram Tough 200 was won by Todd Bodine.

Ambrose is 43rd in the championship, having competed in just two of the five events.

Ambrose next goes racing at 1.5-mile (2.41-kilometre) Lowe's Motor Speedway outside Charlotte, North Carolina, on May 19 in the Quaker Stake and Lube 200.

Lol, he's getting right into the lingo huh.... a "hard lick".

Wonder if the truck was tight or loose and how many other cars wrecked. Hehe. I love nascar.

Unfortuantely not much anyone can do when a bunch of cars are sliding around and you're approaching them at 170mph...

Good to hear he's got clearance for lowe's speedway. It's a quick one - NASCAR must be pleased with marcos' progress.

running just outside the top 10 b4 it happened. pretty good id say considering he had no time to practise on the track and hasnt had much wheeltime in those things either

have to agree on that 1

go marcus and ford

lol, I can just imagine a nascar driving crashing.. "oh s**t I turned right!"

Last edited by fnp on Mon May 01, 2006 12:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.

That sux he crashed i was hoping he'd get a good result to stick it up all the nay sayers...oh well hopefully he does soon!

not sure but i think lap times are even closer than in the v8's so the difference between being up front and down back is not much at all