Defining Moment: Mount Panorama Madness in 2000

In 2000, British Touring Car racer Matt Neal headed to Bathurst to contest the Great Race. And in that outing, he almost ended a Championship and prevented an historic win.

Around two-thirds through the 1000km race, on lap 114 leaders Neil Crompton, Mark Skaife and Garth Tander approached Neal’s Commodore VT, about to lap Big Kev Racing/Team Nemo Holden he was sharing with Paul Morris, which had already fallen off the lead lap.

Instead of allowing the leaders to pass and continue battling, Neal weaved between the cars, defending his position and ultimately causing contact at the first corner.

The Championship was a battle between Mark Skaife (paired with Craig Lowndes in a Holden Racing Team VT) and Garth Tander (paired with Jason Bargwanna for Garry Rogers Motorsport).

Just over 200 points separated the top two going into Bathurst – which at that stage was the grand finale of newly coined V8 Supercars – and 240 were to be awarded for the win. Skaife had to finish 17th or better. 

Tander and ‘Bargs’ went on to win the race, so had Skaife not finished, he would not have earned his third of an impressive career five Championships.

Lowndes, paired with Skaife, said the HRT Commodore did sustain damage from contact in the Neal incident when reflecting on Bathurst 2000 with v8supercars.com.au.

“Matt Neal got on the inside and had contact – Skaife was in the car, but we were paired up,” the now Red Bull Racer said.

“We were cruising around at that point looking after the car doing everything right and then we had a collision – Matt Neal came down the inside, I think the inside of Crompton? – he kept going and had contact with Skaife which bent the steering, did damage to the car and that put a dampener on the day.

“It’s all coming back!” Lowndes – who is fighting for his fourth Championship title this weekend, said while talking through the moment. “The hits, the memories!”

However – despite not having Championship implications for him, it is possibly expert commentator and fan favourite Crompton who has the most interesting take on this particularly moment. His words?

“I’d never been dive-bombed by wobbling backmarker before.”

Crompton told the story for v8supercars.com.au.

“Glenn (Seton) and I were in the Ford Tickford Racing Falcon AU in 2000,” he began. 

“We had a very fast car that day. Certainly we were one of the small handful of genuine key contenders. We were both quick and the car was good. We went through an era and every second visit in better shape, and that was one of them.”

Crompton still remembers it vividly – and why wouldn’t he, a lapped car taking him out of the lead of Australia’s biggest race? 

“My recollections? I was leading with a handy margin. Mark (Skaife) was second.

“I reached Matt Neal at the top of the hill – he was lapped at the time and started to weave all over to stop me from passing. It was a bit bizarre, maybe he misunderstood the leader had gotten to him.

“He held me up for a couple of laps. It started to rain and I was on slicks, but finally I managed to get by him down the inside at Murray’s into the final corner. I was at the extreme left and had to climb the kerb to get it done.

“There was not a single scratch, not a fragment of paint exchanged – and I say that because later he carried on that he didn’t like the way I passed him. Maybe he wanted me to send a written invitation and seek the position. I’m not sure what he was doing.”

While Crompton managed to get through, the battle clearly wasn’t over.   

“Along Pit Straight into the braking area of Turn One I’d gone back to the race line and he dive-bombed me, on a semi-wet track, down the inside.

“He slid straight past the left hand side of me as I was turning down the inside of Turn Two, ripped the bumper and splitter assembly off and because he had nowhere to go, Mark was straight into the back of me.

“At that stage, he (Skaife) had all the margin between us back – when you’re hunting, it’s music to you ears, nonsense like that. He was also trying to sneak by and had inadvertently caught up.”

Neal was awarded a pit lane penalty for his efforts, but the damage had been done to for the Tickford Racing AU, Crompton and Seton only managing to claw back to 13th at the end of the 1000km.

“I went off my brain – it’s probably biggest explosion ever I can recall on radio,” Crompton said.

“And it went on for weeks (after), he shot his mouth off. I was massively unimpressed… It’s another if, but and maybe in motor racing (now) and ancient history.”

While the #34 GRM car can be seen as the incident unfolds, Tander and Bargwanna went on to win the team’s first and, so far, only Bathurst 1000 title that day.

Team boss Garry Rogers didn’t even recall the incident in question, just focusing on that’s year’s win.

“Any win is wonderful because everyone works very, very hard,” Rogers said of 2000.

“I think anyone who said it wasn’t a good win or they didn’t enjoy the win, that would be just crap …  to produce the result we did for me has been something you really get enormous satisfaction out of when you think about it.”

However, Rogers doesn’t dwell on history and prefers to keep his focus forward.

“To be honest, and this might seem a bit blasé, I deal with each event as it happens and plan for the next event. Whilst there are moments that are in mind, you think about it but my view is when the race is over, it’s over. Get over it!

“That’s my view, I don’t want to be too tied up in history, I don’t want to forget about it either, but you don’t have to shout to the world to get your own satisfaction.”

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