Rick Kelly
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Rick Kelly (born on January 17, 1983 in Mildura, Victoria, Australia) is a V8 Supercar racing driver, currently living in Melbourne, Victoria. He currently drives for the Toll HSV Dealer Team and has previously contributed to winning at the Bathurst 1000 alongside Greg Murphy in 2003 and 2004. His current team mate is Garth Tander.
[edit] 2006 Supercar Championship
In 2006, Kelly won the Australian V8 Supercar Championship Series after being one of the most consistent performers throughout the season. The victory, however, was not without its share of controversy.
Despite not winning a single round, Kelly came into round 13 at Phillip Island, the final round of the series, 7 points ahead of his nearest competitor, Craig Lowndes, thanks to consistent performances in the previous rounds.
Coming into the third and final race of the round, Lowndes had managed to pull back the deficit to be even on points with Kelly, meaning that the driver out of the two who finished first would win the championship.
A controversial start saw Kelly involved in a collision with Lowndes, which resulted in sever damage to Lowndes' vehicle, preventing him from being competitive for the remainder of the race. Kelly was handed a pit lane drive through penalty for his involvement in the incident, from which he partially recovered to finish the race in 18th position. With Lowndes limping home in 29th place, Kelly, with 3308 points, won the series by 37 points.
[edit] Challenge and Aftermath
Lowndes' racing team, Team Betta Electrical, lodged an official protest of the result with race stewards, claiming that Kelly deliberately caused the collision in an attempt to take Lowndes out of the race.
Furthermore, Lowndes claimed that Holden drivers, from both Holden Racing Team and Toll HSV Dealer Team, had worked to shut him out of the race in a "win at all costs" ploy, citing two earlier incidents where Holden drivers Mark Skaife and Garth Tander were both penalised for blocking his vehicle.
The challenge was dismissed by the stewards after a special 4 hour hearing, stating that Kelly had already been penalised for his actions, but that has done little to silence critics who accuse the Holden teams of unsportsmanlike behavior.
[edit] External links
| Teams contesting the 2006 V8 Supercar Championship Series | |||||||||
| Stone Brothers Racing | Holden Racing Team | Tasman Motorsport | Ford Performance Racing | Jack Daniel's Racing | WPS Racing | ||||
| 1 Russell Ingall 4 James Courtney |
2 Mark Skaife 22 Todd Kelly |
3 Jason Richards 23 Andrew Jones |
5 Mark Winterbottom 6 Jason Bright |
7 Steven Richards 11 Paul Dumbrell |
8 Max Wilson 10 Jason Bargwanna |
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| Team BOC | Toll HSV Dealer Team | Dick Johnson Racing | Paul Cruickshank Racing | Fujitsu Racing | Garry Rogers Motorsport | ||||
| 12 John Bowe 14 Brad Jones |
15 Rick Kelly 16 Garth Tander |
17 Steven Johnson 18 Will Davison |
20 Marcus Marshall | 25 Warren Luff 26 Jose Fernandez |
33 Lee Holdsworth 34 Dean Canto |
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| Team Sirromet Wines | Supercheap Auto Racing | Autobarn Racing | Team Betta Electrical | Team Kiwi Racing | |||||
| 39 Alan Gurr 39 Fabian Coulthard 67 Paul Morris |
50 Cameron McConville 51 Greg Murphy |
55 Steve Owen | 88 Jamie Whincup 888 Craig Lowndes |
021 Paul Radisich | |||||
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