Kelly protest dismissed

December 11, 2006 A THREE-MAN Confederation of Australian Motorsport panel of race stewards took four hours to decide in Kelly's favour.

Kelly won the V8 title for the first time in controversial circumstances at Phillip Island yesterday after a tangle with Lowndes early in the final race when they were tied on points.

Race officials had ruled Kelly responsible for a third-lap tangle which resulted in Lowndes suffering extensive steering damage.

The Commodore driver was given a drive-through penalty during the race and recovered to finish 18th, while Lowndes struggled and ultimately placed 29th.

A race-stewards hearing immediately after the event decided Kelly's pit lane penalty was sufficient, but Lowndes' team protested, saying it was too lenient as the incident effectively ended their driver's title hopes.

Following today's hearing, chief steward Steve Chopping said that, after considering all the facts, the penalty imposed on Kelly during the race was deemed appropriate and no further action was necessary.

While wasting a bit of time at work today i looked at a few Holden forums out of curiosity. Most people did really feel for Craig which was was nice to see. A lot of guys really dont like Rick Kelly, he just really annoys the hell of me!
hehehehhe

Craig has the respect from both camps, it's not just the fact that he drove for both, he just has the respect of both sides as Brock had for being a true talent and a great personality, something that Rick will never have!

I agree about the annoying side of that ball-less little f**k, but i have to admit.... I do like his brother, the guy is an awesome driver and a great talent with personality, i'd kill to see him in a Ford!!!

I was looking in the paper today and they showed the pics of the impact, it's amazing how Rick says Craig blocked him, but what was truly amazing was you couldn't see Ricks left hand head light on impact, it was covered by Craigs "Rear Bumper"!

I guess when we look at it, if Davison didn't hit Craig then we would have s**t it in by a long shot, and i think the stewards would have taken that into account... "What if Davison didn't hit him"!?!?!?
I realise that is was Ricks actions that put him in that position, but it could have also been a huge advantage if it had gone the other way.

two days later after the emotions have gone down a bit i'm o.k. with the stewards decision regarding rick's nudge on lowndes. he got a drive through as punishment which would be consistent with other decisions throughout the year. he won the c/ship. the fact that he never won a round and only 1/33 races and is champion is a reflection on the rules. he raced to the rules so if anyone is to blame it is the v8supercar company. next year if you don't win races you will not feature.

what does annoy me is the way the whole twr team (hrt & hsvdt) went about their racing on the whole w/end. they new if it was a straight out race rick kelly had no chance and even though the governing body said there was to be no holden helping holden they were too gutless to enforce it. lowndes was hindered all w/end by them and only tander copped a black flag and that was about 20 laps too late. they shouldn't have been given the bad sportsmanship flag as it was obvious what they were doing. if they were just blocking but still on the pace then fair enough but seeing as how they were also slowing up on purpose they should've suffered stricter punishment. not sporting at all. maybe fined for bringing the sport into disrepute.

if that sort of racing went on down at your local go kart track it would be fisticuffs i guarantee.

on the flip side though, time and time again we see the holden guys helping each other out whereas all the ford drivers have their own agenda.
how different would this have been if ingall didn't try to pass lowndes going into that chicane at indy. if there was ever a moment to put your finger on that would be it.

Hey prydey it's good to see that someone else shares my point of view. Tules are rules and as you said Kelly (the little b**ch) raced according to the rules end of story.
Perhaps rather than posting s**t on Rick Kellys website perhaps all the derogatory remarks should be aimed at AVESCO as it's their rules that f**k the race and therefore the championship......

So u keep saying

Sorry mate but I am just a very firm beleiver in life ain't easy. Sometimes it kicks you in the a*** but you have to get back up and hope the next five minutes are better than the last and get one back in when you can.

I know wat ya saying... im just ova the whole thing... time to move on and think of next yr... I know ill be watching it still.... Just cause i dont agree with wat happened i enjoy watching it and all those ppl who say that they will not be watching it.... Grow the f**k up!!! Like xhute0 says life aint easy