Motorsport: Pukekohe set to be a smash hit

If the Australian V8 Supercars can create a panelbeater's paradise in conventional races on the streets of Adelaide, what will they do in a reverse-grid race at Pukekohe on April 23?

One thing is for sure. Team owners, some of whom faced massive repair bills after the two races at Adelaide, will be insisting that their drivers work out tactics that allow them to pick up maximum points with minimum damage as they try to improve their positions.

The trouble with reverse-grid races for V8 Supercars is the sheer closeness of the cars' performance. Qualification times of the top 20 are decided by fractions of seconds.

The Placemakers-sponsored round at Pukekohe on April 21-23 includes two conventional sprint races and one reverse-grid race, which will carry reduced points.

After Adelaide several championship hopefuls find themselves lagging way down the points table.

This weekend the V8s provide support races in Melbourne for the Australian Grand Prix, but there are no points at stake and the teams will use the running time as sponsor bait and testing miles.

The fact that the Commonwealth Games displaced the Grand Prix from its usual date left the V8s without this pre-season shakedown, contributing to some of the mishaps at Adelaide.

Former champion Mark Skaife, who both owns and drives for the Holden Racing Team, is competing at Melbourne but in a Commodore borrowed from another Holden team after his own car was badly damaged in both 250km races at Adelaide.

It was fixed in an all-night repair session on Saturday, but then badly damaged again when Greg Murphy crashed his Commodore in front of Skaife, leaving the HRT driver nowhere to go.

Skaife will come to Pukekohe with the original car rebuilt but no points on board for the championship. He had looked a likely winner after qualifying on pole.

Murphy's car was virtually destroyed in his crash and he is not racing at Melbourne because the damage will not be repaired in time. The King of Pukekohe will return this month with 140 points and sitting 20th in the championship.

One problem he is unlikely to encounter at Pukekohe is extreme heat. In-car temperatures at Adelaide reached 60C and, after finishing fifth in the first race, Murphy commented: "That's the hardest race I've ever had and it was a bloody struggle over the last few laps. My cool suit just didn't work at all - I don't know if something went wrong with the pump, or what caused that."

One driver, Steve Owen, spent two nights in hospital after crashing in both races and suffering from heat stress and dehydration. He said his drink bottle became red hot.

Defending champion Russell Ingall escaped relatively unscathed to be sixth on the points table - the position he held in his championship-winning season. Points leader is Ford driver Jamie Whincup, who drove with Kiwi Jason Richards to second place at Bathurst last season in a Holden.

Then follow Rick and Todd Kelly, Garth Tander and expatriate Kiwi Steven Richards.