Rick Kelly

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Rick Kelly
V8 Supercar Record
Nationality	Australian
Car #
Current team	Toll HSV Dealer Team
Series Championships	1 (2006)
Wins	3
Podium finishes	16
Pole positions	2
2006 Championship position	1st (3308 pts)
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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 entered the final round of the series at Phillip Island 7 points ahead of his nearest competitor, Craig Lowndes, (who had won 4 rounds) due 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 trying to get past Lowndes, Lowndes blocked Kelly which made him hit the rear of Lowndes, which caused Lowndes car to spin. He was then stranded in the middle of the track, and with no where to go, Will Davison hit him, causing extensive 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, Triple Eight Race Engineering, 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 warned 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] 2007

Rick sits first on the championship points table this year after winning the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide and finishing second overall in Barbagallo. He races the #1 Toll HSV Dealer Team Holden Commodore VE for 2007.

[edit] External link

• The Official Website of Rick Kelly

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