Greg Murphy has been reported as saying there was some "desperate"
driving at Symmons Plains last Saturday and Sunday, and I agree with
him.

The fourth V8 Supercar Championship event featured what I considered
some unnecessary contact between cars, which created crashes and
incidents that ruined the weekend for Greg, myself, and others.

Some cars, including my Jim Beam Racing Falcon, were damaged because of
questionable driving, and several teams now face extra repair work that
could have been avoided.

It was also disappointing in Tasmania to see Russell Ingall and Fabian
Coulthard forced to slow in the closing stages when challenging for
podium positions and possible race wins because they were held up by
drivers who had been lapped.

Russell eventually finished second in the first race, and Fabian was
third in race two. Both were less than 1-second behind the winners, and
in close finishes like that I believe any 'lapped' drivers positioned
among the leading cars should move out of the way quickly.

Hopefully there will be some improvement in the next championship event
at Hidden Valley in Darwin later this month (June 19-21), especially if
'lapped' drivers are shown the 'blue' flag.

A reason for problems with 'lapped' drivers at Symmons Plains is the
race lap times are around 52-seconds, which is less than at most other
championship tracks.

When teams and cars are on different pit-stop strategies, then drivers
are getting lapped, or unlapping themselves more often than usual, and
this creates plenty of congestion on the track.

At Symmons Plains I believe I was an innocent victim of questionable
driving in both races.

In the middle stages of the second race I attempted to pass Dale Wood,
whose Commodore had already been lapped by the leaders.

I drove up the inside of the Commodore, and moved close to the inside
kerb to give Wood as much room as possible. He would have seen me, but
for some reason he turned left and fired me off the track.

My car skidded across a sand trap and into a tyre barrier. The damage
put me out of the race.

It was ironic that soon after Rick Kelly, whose team prepares Wood's
Commodore, spun off on debris left on the track from the incident. So
this not only ended my race, but also cost Wood's team boss any chance
of a podium finish.

All this could have been avoided if Wood had simply backed off when I
was passing him. I can't understand why a 'lapped' driver would want to
make contact with my car when there was nothing to gain for either of
us.

The first race was equally frustrating for me. I eventually finished
30th, after contact with Todd Kelly's Commodore on lap four when my
Falcon was fitted with a set of allocated 'sprint' tyres.

I passed Todd on the inside at the hairpin at the end of the front
straight.

As we drove side-by-side down the back straight I was on the left side
of the track, which is the best place for the run into the next corner.

Todd's Commodore hit my car several times as I tried to drive in a
straight line. In my opinion this was very dangerous because at one
stage we were travelling at 258-km/h.

The final time Todd's car made contact it cut the right-rear tyre on my
Falcon. I had little control after that and drove off the track at the
end of the straight.

I had to make an extra pit-stop to get a new set of tyres fitted to my
Falcon and the delay meant I dropped two laps on the leaders.
Unfortunately the cut tyre meant I could only use the 'control' Dunlop
rubber for the remainder of the event.

A disappointing aspect of the Tasmanian event was that, apart from my
incidents, the Jim Beam Racing Falcon was fast and I felt capable of
getting some good results. I qualified fifth for the first race and
eighth for race two, which showed I had competitive pace.

Before the race meeting, I made an appearance for my personal sponsors
JELD-WEN at their new showroom in Launceston, which is the closest city
to the track.

The JELD-WEN staff and guests asked plenty of questions about what might
happen at Symmons Plains. I informed them I hoped to be close to the
podium, but in this instance it wasn't to be.

Keep smiling.

JC

SYMMONS PLAINS RESULTS - JAMES COURTNEY
EVENT 4, V8 Supercar Championship, (May 29-31)

Qualifying - Race 1: 6th
Top 10 Shoot Out - Race 1: 5th
Race 1 Result: 30th
Qualifying - Race 2: 8th
Race 2 Result: did not finish (crash)

CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS (after round 4): Jamie Whincup (Ford) 1,044; Will
Davison (Holden) 948; Steven Johnson (Ford) 753; Garth Tander (Holden)
723; Lee Holdsworth (Holden) 723; Craig Lowndes (Ford) 675; Rick Kelly
(Holden) 627; Fabian Coulthard (Ford) 606; Shane Van Gisbergen (Ford)
600; Mark Winterbottom (Ford) 573. Other: James Courtney (Ford) 389.