Wow, we do have ourselves a bit of a mess on this one. I didn't agree with them awarding Kelly the trophy if only because of the possibility he will be penalised, which would lose him the championship. A bit unfair on a kid who sounds as if he's yet to reach puberty. Again, Blue or Red, you're going to see it differently.
The argument comes down to blocking, which apparently is not clearly defined in the rules, though personally I think the differenced betwwen the incidents with Skaife, Tander and Kelly were all fairly clear-cut. If Lowndes was blocking when Kelly made a move on him, it was legit. He was fighting for position and it is his right as a driver to try to keep that position (provided it is with the rules). On the other hand, while Tander and Skaife were also fighting for position, their lap times were significantly slower than normal for a pair of drivers fighting for position (fighting regulalrly loses time to other drivers as contenders are not on the racing line), and it was apparent that they were slowing down to bring Kelly back into the race. So I think Lowndes was in the right there. It was a legitimate driving move and he was also attempting a pass on the older Kelly (those cars are bloody hard to spin as they're so heavy, especially if someone else tapped you first). In-car footage from Rick clearly showed Craig's braking lights were on before there was contact, meaning Kelly had more than enough time to react.
Secondly, Kelly shouldn't have been where he was. While he was lining up for a pass on Craig, he was nowhere near the racing line as Craig sure as hell wasn't given that he was in the process of going around Todd, who did have the line. It may have been an everything-or-nothing race as the points were tied, but that's not a licence to drive like an idiot (sometihng Kelly has a history of; remember him and Ambrose at Surfers' a few years ago?).
If the officials decide not to further penalise Kelly, they are in some respects, hypocrites. They've already pinged him for causing the incident and therefore consider him guilty, so not taking it further would be the equivalent of saying they should not have given him the drive-through. I highly doubt Kelly deliberatly hit Lowndes because he had as much to lose as Craig did; if both of them were put out of the running, Craig would win as he had finished higher overall for the round and had come a place above Kelly in Race 2, therefore awarding him the Championship on a countback. Also, while Kelly has had moments of sheer stupidity, he's not dumb enough or inexperienced enough to do something like that.
So, assuming they penalise him again (and the case is fairly strong for it), it now becomes a question of how much they do it. The levels of penalities (ranging from ten seconds to five minutes being added to the finishing time) means that one of them has to win, and if Lowndes came out on top, there's going to be a stink from Holden fans. That's to be expected, but they do have a point: while Kelly caused the accident (Holden fans won't admit this), he didn't cause the damage that resulted in Lowndes being demoted to last place. It was Davidson who hit him, not Kelly. However, Rick was a major contributor to that, and frankly, Davidson was hemmed in on all sides and had nowhere to go. He tried, but it didn't work.
Either way, the Powers that Be have to decide what to do. To give Lowndes the Championship means they'll be accused of favouritism, and Kelly's crew will certainly launch an appeal. But to give it to Kelly means they're admitting they go it wrong when they penalised Rick the first time. So which is the lesser of two evils? Personally, I think it should go Lowndes' way. In some small way, giving the title to Kelly is admitting CAMS is not infallible when it comes to the rules. But Lowndes was also the underdog for the entire weekend. Two drivers deliberately blocked him with a view to influencing a championship they were no longer in the running for; even if they claim tyre wear or whatever, the adjudicators' pulled them up on it, which was basically saying they were guilty. In short, two drivers from sister teams held Lowndes up, which makes it look as if they were conspiring by running on team orders. If, for example, Murphy or McConville were in the place of Skaife yesterday, it wouldn't be that way. While they may want Holden to win and while Murphy may be hot-headed and arrogant at the best of times, I highly doubt either of them would attempt blocking. Even when he's no longer in the running for the championship, Murphy races as if he is still in the hunt. Lowndes was the only Ford for miles; the only other was Mark Winterbotom, who wouldn't have blocked because FPV and Triple Eight were in contention for second and third in the teams' championship. Winterbottom was also in the hunt, though it would have taken bad results for both Kelly and Lowndes in all three races for him to that the crown. Kudos also go to Todd Kelly for not doing anything dirty. I gather the two Kellys are close and I know that if I were in Todd's position and my brother in Rick's going into the final round, I'd want my brother to win the title without any questionable help on-track.
So at the end of the day, it's half-racing, half-political, but I still think it should be Lowndes. Kelly should have played it safe and simply pressured Lowndes. This was a 31-lap race; aggressive moves on the second or third (whichever it was) weren't going to give him a satisfying win. On the political side, it's still Lowndes who should have it. Sure, there will be appeals and backlash from Holden fans (who seem to be the majority until recently, but even now they wield some power), and they've always had the ear of CAMS - back in the mid-1990s, Fords were dominating and CAMS made them shave 10mm from their undercarriage; when Holden started getting the upper hand, they had to take 2mm from their rear wings, which did nothing.
There is, of course, a third option: Kelly is given a penalty that puts him equal with Lowndes for Race 3. That way, the championship would be a dead heat (though I think Lowndes would win by default on a countback), so we would have two champions next year. But then, who would be Number Uno, the Big Cheese, the Main Man? You can't have two cars carrying the same number, and I doubt either would want to go by "01" while the other got "1". Nevertheless, I'm afraid CAMS will settle on Kelly because he only indirectly caused the damage to Craig's car. By rights, Craig Lowndes should be the V8 Supercar Champion for 2006, but I doubt that will happen.
Now, that's my essay written. You turn.
(Cat, make sure you read evetrything I'fve written this time. After all, you are my main audience ...)
