Motorsport: Kiwi dreams ride on long-time Aussie

Greg Murphy's championship hopes have been dashed. This could be his last year with the Supercheap Holden team. Picture / Dean Purcell

Four rounds into the 13-round Australian V8 Supercar championship and New Zealand fans are already having to turn to one who left for Australia as a toddler to hope for victory.

Steven Richards, who drives for Larry Perkins Holden team, is fourth in the standings, 54 points behind championship leader and fellow Holden driver Garth Tander.

Next best Kiwi in 14th place is the unrelated Jason Richards, who achieved a string of successes in New Zealand before going to Australia, where he drives for Team Tasman.

Greg Murphy, so long a leading contender, is 21st, more than 500 points behind the leader. Team Kiwi's Paul Radisich is one place further back.

The Fords and Holdens will be scrapping in the steamy heat of Darwin's Hidden Valley Raceway this weekend in three races, a 100km sprint today and two over 140km tomorrow. The first race tomorrow will have a reverse grid start.

In such a closely fought championship, drivers can probably afford one bad round that will be discarded in the final tally. But even at this early stage many cannot have any more mishaps if they are to remain contenders.

Murphy had a disastrous start at Adelaide and fared little better at Pukekohe. He has already conceded that his championship hopes have been dashed and no one will be surprised if this is his last year with the Supercheap Holden team.

Jason Richards won the reverse-grid race in the last round at Winton and he is hungry to repeat the victory from a conventional grid.

"We've hit the pointy end of the field, there's no doubt," Richards said. "We just have to hit our potential and we will be able to win on our own merits and not have to benefit from the reverse-grid format."

Also taking comfort from a reverse-grid race is Team Kiwi owner David John, who notes that Radisich had the pace to run at the front of the pack at Perth before being turned around by a pursuer within 50m of victory.

"We are better than our position suggests," said John. "Paul seems to be in the wrong place at the wrong time at the moment. He can certainly do the job if we qualify well."

Steven Richards is a model of consistency, but has not won a championship. Nobody is racing away from the field yet so this could be his year.

The HSV Dealer team have Tander and Rick Kelly first and second in the standings with Ford's Craig Lowndes in third place. Defending champion Russell Ingall, from the Stone Brothers Ford team is fifth, 26 points behind Steven Richards.

Tander and Kelly regard Hidden Valley with affection, as they have won races there - Tander last year and Kelly in 2004. However, neither has won a round in Darwin.

In contrast, Mark Skaife and Todd Kelly from the Holden Racing Team are multiple winners in the north. Kelly has won the round for the past two years. Skaife won in 2000 and 2002 and has been top qualifier for the past three years.