It was the day where V8 Supercars exploded as tempers flared in dramatic circumstances in the final round of the championship at Eastern Creek.
Let’s set the scene, there was a changing of the guard at the front of the V8 Supercars field as Stone Brothers Racing became a force alongside the introduction of Ford’s BA Falcon putting the ledger in favour of the Blue Oval for the first time in a while.
Russell Ingall had defected from Perkins Engineering to Stone Brothers Racing in the biggest move during the 2003 silly season to partner rising star Marcos Ambrose. The Tasmanian had emerged as one of Ford’s leading challengers in 2002 and amid a Holden Racing Team dominance had signalled his intention to steal the title away.
The title situation arriving at the Eastern Creek finale was Ambrose leading by 24-points from Greg Murphy, who in turn led Skaife by 36 to make up the three championship contenders. Ingall meanwhile was more than 100-points behind Skaife in fourth, but he was to play a part in the championship battle at Eastern Creek.
It was advantage Skaife to start the weekend as he took pole alongside teammate Todd Kelly leaving Ambrose in fourth, but there was drama during the morning as Murphy injured himself doing the VB Challenge effectively ruling himself out of a title tilt.
Ambrose moved up to second behind Skaife immediately, but a pit lane drive through was handed to the Holden Racing Team driver as he was adjudged to have jumped the start.
This opened the door for the Pirtek Ford BA Falcon to take the opening win of the weekend to further put a nail in the coffin for Holden’s title aspirations.
Skaife recovered to finish eighth.
A remote chance of the title in the final race, Skaife started eighth and Ambrose from pole. It turned into a domination for Ambrose as he led from start-to-finish, but it was the contact behind making the news.
On alternate strategies, Skaife on fresh rubber caught Ingall and completed a pass at the Turn 9 hairpin, but the Caltex Havoline BA Falcon was pushed wide dropping two wheels off the track to make contact with his Holden rival. This resulted in Skaife being spun and hitting the inside wall into retirement.
A disappointed Skaife waited for Ingall upon his return, throwing his helmet and gloves to an official over the fence to remonstrate by shaking his fist. In response, Ingall swerved at him further antagonising the moment.
Ingall was fined $15,000, reduced to $10,000 on appeal as he was excluded from the round and a three-race ban suspended for 12 months.
Skaife was penalised 30-points for the contact, but this overturned on appeal, while a three-way penalty for a disrepute charge of $10,000, 75-points and three-race ban stood.