Motorsport: Murphy going all-out at Sandown

He's the Kiwi the Aussies love to love and September and October are traditionally his months to shine. So Greg Murphy will have plenty of support in the first of the V8 Supercar endurance races, the Sandown 500, near Melbourne tomorrow.

Murphy, the pride of Hawkes Bay, could walk up the Waikato River for the annual lovefest at Pukekohe as far as his Kiwi fans are concerned.

More surprising is the support he receives from the Ocker petrolheads.

The charismatic Kiwi arrived on the scene just as the traditional Australian fan favourites, Peter Brock, Dick Johnson and Larry Perkins, were beginning to move aside for a younger generation.

Trouble was, Mark Skaife, Craig Lowndes, Marcos Ambrose and the Kelly brothers lacked the appeal of Holden's Peter Perfect, who could do no wrong, Ford's scrapper Johnson, who thought Brock could do no right, and Larrikin Larry, who could out-talk and occasionally out-drive them both.

Gentleman Jim Richards kept on winning, but he was a Kiwi and the diehards couldn't forgive him for winning the Bathurst 1000 in a Nissan.

Murphy earned respect the hard way. He won Bathurst for the Holden Racing Team and then was dropped to make way for Skaife. Officialdom seemed to pick on him because he was never slow to voice his opinion - and he was usually right.

Steam could be seen rising from a portable toilet as he contemplated one official knockback.

He became the archetypal Little Aussie Battler and the Holden flag-wavers on Mt Panorama forgot their sheep jokes and cheered him on.

Murphy has rewarded the fans with Bathurst victories in 1996, 1999, 2003 and 2004. He won the Sandown 500 in 1996 and 1997.

This season has been a difficult one for Murphy and his new Super Cheap team. He had his usual victory at Pukekohe in April but elsewhere the results were disappointing.

Third placing in the last round at Oran Park has lifted him to seventh place in the points for the championship he has yet to win.

The Sandown 500 and the Bathurst 1000 are two-driver races. For the past two years Rick Kelly has shared Murphy's Bathurst triumphs. This year Murphy will have to rely on team-mate Paul Weel, who is lying 17th in the championship.

"We'll be approaching Sandown like every other race - we go to win," said Murphy.

"I've had five or six DNFs this season and winning is the only option. With the endurance races you've got to rely on a co-driver to get the job done, so teaming up with someone who's in the car all the time is the best option.

"Paul and I are in the same boat in regards to the championship, so we're going all out - we've got nothing to lose."

Teams vary in their approach to the endurance races. Some put their top two drivers in the same car, others split them between two cars.

The strongest combination for Sandown appears to be Skaife, who lies sixth in the championship, and Todd Kelly, who is fifth.

The Stone Brothers Ford team has opted to pair championship leader Marcos Ambrose with Warren Luff and second-placed Russell Ingall will team up with Luke Youlden.

Stone Brothers Fords finished 1-2 in this event last year, with Ambrose and Greg Ritter beating home Ingall and Cameron McLean. They come off a one-two finish at the last round at Oran Park where Ingall beat Ambrose home.

Team Kiwi has combined forces with Paul Morris Motorsport to put Paul Radisich and Paul Morris in the lead car, which will have a newly developed engine. The second car will be shared between John Faulkner and Alan Gurr.

One challenge has been to combine the physical differences between the 1.86m, 95kg Morris and the 1.70m, 65kg Radisich. The solution has been a lightweight mould that fits inside the seat when the "Rat" is at the wheel.

There are plenty of other Kiwis in the field. The list includes Jim Richards with Aussie rookie James Courtney, Simon Wills and Brazilian Max Wilson, Kayne Scott and fellow Kiwi Mark Porter.

Teams are restricted to 16 tyres for the weekend, with qualifying today from 3.30pm (NZ time) and Top-10 Shootout at 4.30pm. The race tomorrow consists of 161 laps of the 3.11km circuit at Sandown, with each team to complete two compulsory stops for fuel and one for a brake pad change.

V8 Series

1 Marcos Ambrose 1346pts
2 Russell Ingall 1240
3 Steven Richards 1223
4 Craig Lowndes 1069
5 Todd Kelly 1065
6 Mark Skaife 1014
7 Greg Murphy 1008
8 Garth Tander 964
9 Jason Bright 924
10 Steven Johnson 918
11 Glenn Seton 890
12 Paul Radisich 858
13 Cameron McConville 855
14 John Bowe 846
15 Rick Kelly 838