Motorsport: $2 part costs Radisich's team

A $2 part cost Team Kiwi Racing the chance to move to close to the top of the V8 Supercar Championship rankings after the sixth round in Darwin yesterday.

After Paul Radisich pushed the All Black Holden to top-10 finishes in the opening two races, a $2 oil fitting broke off midway through the third and final race today.

Radisich had been sitting comfortably in seventh place at the time, but the fitting cost Team Kiwi Racing an unscheduled pit stop.

The sole New Zealand team in the series still finished ninth overall for the weekend in Darwin despite the problem and they have retained their eighth place in the championship.

However the unscheduled pit stop to fix the oil leak cost TKR a move up the rankings.

"Everything was going well for us. I was seventh at the time in the final race and that would have seen us as high as fifth or sixth in the championship. But a part worth $2 gave way and sprayed oil everywhere," Radisich said.

"That's motor racing and I guess, but the good thing is we achieved our top-10 finish for the weekend here and we are still in the top-10 in the championship. It's just frustrating after things had gone so well here."

Team Kiwi were sixth in the opening sprint on Saturday, eighth in the 48-lap second race this morning and they had to settle for 27th in the final race.

Radisich has become the leading Kiwi driver after Greg Murphy dropped to 11th in the championship after a difficult weekend.

Holden's Todd Kelly made it two-in-a-row to claim the Darwin round after his outstanding success in Shanghai while Ford's Marcos Ambrose remains in the lead after six rounds.

The next round is in Queensland in three weeks.

- NZPA