Motorsport: Murphy blamed for $100,000 repair bill

Greg Murphy

MELBOURNE - Ford team owner Mark Larkham has blamed his A$100,000 ($109,780) repair bill on Greg Murphy after the incident which sparked carnage at the Bathurst 1000 on Sunday.

Murphy's Holden Commodore and the Falcon of Marcos Ambrose collided after a fight for a corner late in the race, which caused a mass pile-up and a panel-beater's paradise.

But Orrcon Racing's Larkham is fuming, believing the crash could easily have been avoided.

He is now faced with a race to repair the car in time for the Gillette V8 Supercar Challenge which begins on the streets of Surfers Paradise next week.

"As I look at my massively damaged race car I can't tell you how much I wish Murphy accepted that he had lost that corner and either yielded or gave some racing room...," Larkham said.

Orrcon Racing driver Jason Bargwanna was one of many innocent victims of the crash and with the track blocked was left nowhere to go but into the back of the car driven by Lee Holdsworth.

Bargwanna's car was in turn ploughed into from the rear by Alex Davison.

"It is devastating," Bargwanna said.

"At one stage we were on track for a podium, then the crew did a fantastic job to get us back out there in an effort to gain valuable points for the championship.

"Then to become an innocent victim in someone else's accident is heart breaking."

Bargwanna's car will need its front and rear chassis rails replaced.

It is the second year in a row Larkham has had to undertake a major rebuild following an incident between two drivers he says could have been avoided.

During the opening round of last year's championship Mark Winterbottom was one of several drivers to suffer a $100,000 damage bill when Paul Dumbrell and Cameron McConville collided at over 200km/h triggering a multi car pile up.

"It is the second time in a matter of years that we have had to endure the heartbreaking and tiring process of rebuilding a $300,000 race car because a driver has simply made the wrong decision," Larkham said.

"Right now we have nine days to repair our car for the next round of the championship.

"After an extremely long weekend at Bathurst the crew got back to the workshop last night to begin the process.

"In an estimate I believe the damage to our car will be around the $100,000 mark and very lucky not to be a write-off," Larkham said.

- AAP