The round was largely dominated once again by Greg Murphy, who took his third consecutive championship round victory at Pukekohe after winning the first two races. Despite entering the round with a sizeable championship lead, Marcos Ambrose struggled throughout the weekend, and forced the championship to be decided at the final round at Eastern Creek.
Background
Ambrose entered the weekend with a chance to clinch the championship. He had a 72-point gap over nearest championship rival, Murphy. The Tasmanian would have his work cut out for him as Pukekohe remained happy hunting ground for Murphy. The Kiwi had been undefeated in round victories since the inaugural event in 2001, and even in the non-championship round hosted in the 1996 Mobil Sprints.
A total of 32 drivers were entered for the round. Seven of them were New Zealand-born drivers. These included Murphy, Steven Richards, Jason Richards, Paul Radisich, Simon Wills, Craig Baird and David Thexton. Despite having spent the vast majority of his life in the country, this would be Thexton's first attempt at racing at Pukekohe Park Raceway. Although given his failure to qualify at the vast majority of the 2003 championship rounds, whether he'd be able to race at all this weekend remained in question.
Race report
Qualifying
In practice, Jason Richards was involved in a crash which saw his car roll several times, forcing him out of the weekend.
Results from the Top Ten Shootout were discounted due to the changing conditions throughout the session. Grid results were reverted to provisional qualifying.
In inclement conditions, Max Wilson leapt off the line exceptionally well and challenged Skaife for the lead through turn one. Heading into turn two, both drivers held their ground and the resulting contact sent them both into a spin. Skaife was sent rearward into the wall and was fortunate to extricate himself from the gravel trap. Nonetheless, both he and Wilson had now fallen toward the end of the pack. A few hundred yards behind them, Jamie Whincup, Mark Larkham, David Besnard, Anthony Tratt and Cameron McConville had tangled and struck the fence. Tratt and McConville were unable to continue the race. The safety car was deployed and multiple drivers (including Murphy and Ambrose) peeled in to complete their mandatory stops.
Jason Bright took over the lead on the safety car restart. Ambrose had jumped Murphy in the pitstop cycle but was quickly passed again by Murphy as the race resumed. Bright rapidly fell down the pack thanks to visibility issues brought on by a fault windshield wiper as Craig Lowndes assumed the lead. On lap 8, Mark Noske crashed heavily at turn one after aquaplaning into the armco barrier. The impact lifted the rear-end of the car meters off the ground and the resulting damage would ultimately force the Noske Motorsport car out of the rest of the weekend. On lap 25, Lowndes completed his pitstop as Murphy assumed the lead. Down the pack, Steven Richards' out-lap proved tricky. First tangling with Craig Baird at turn two and then Russell Ingall at the hairpin as he tumbled out of the top 20.
Up the front, Murphy cruised home to victory. Todd Kelly and Garth Tander rounded out the podium. Ambrose managed to fend off a late race charge from Skaife to assist his championship hopes and Skaife's began to dwindle.[3]
It was a clean start, with Murphy and Todd Kelly very evenly matched off the line. Murphy would prevail and set off into an affirmative lead. Stuck in traffic, Skaife completed his compulsory pitstop early. This proved extremely effective as, when race leader Murphy had completed his pitstop, Skaife was right behind him in what was a net second place. The battle was close, with Skaife nudging the rear of Murphy's car at the hairpin on lap 21, almost sending the Kiwi into a spin. The next lap, Skaife made the move stick with the battle still raging all the way up to Ford Mountain.
Ingall and Brad Jones tangled at the hairpin, sending the former into the barrier on corner exit. The damage incurred forced the Stone Brothers racer into the pits. On lap 34, Steven Johnson's week-long engine issues culminated in a blown engine on the back straight. At the same time, Skaife tripped up on the oil left by Johnson's expired engine and conceded the lead back to Murphy. Paul Dumbrell fell victim to the same oil track and speared off into the gravel trap. Dumbrell's stranded car instigated a safety car. All the while, Ambrose completed an extra pitstop over tyre concerns, putting himself a lap down.
Skaife applied the pressure to Murphy early following the restart. But as soon as the safety car had ended, it was brought out again, after Tander found himself stranded on the exit to the back straight. Damage to David Thexton's front bumper suggested that Tander had fallen victim to the mobile chicane. There was chaos at turn one when Steven Ellery was sent into a spin, scattering the field, who all miraculously avoided t-boning the Supercheap Auto Falcon.
Murphy won once again, ahead of Skaife and Bright. Ambrose's low placing kept the championship alive heading into the final race.
John Bowe did not start the racing owing to mechanical problems. At the start, Murphy bogged down somewhat and Skaife surged ahead of the Kmart car. Bright followed in hot pursuit, almost taking the lead altogether into turn one. Down the pack, Lowndes was served off the track by Paul Weel, losing him a bundle of positions. Heading into the hairpin, the front-left suspension on Jamie Whincup's car failed and was sent spearing into the wall at the hairpin. Whincup was able to extricate himself from the gravel trap, thus negating the need for safety car.
Johnson and Ingall tangled at turn three, completing a torrid weekend for the Dick Johnson Racing driver. Ambrose wasn't faring much better. A slow stop shuffled him further down the order. When he rejoined, he found himself stuck behind Glenn Seton, who refused to relinquish his position. Ingall was dispatched to pave a way for his teammate, but the lack of pace in Ambrose's car hindered these efforts. Dean Canto crashed on the front straight, inflicting damage on all corners of his Falcon. With a handful of laps remaining, Besnard's engine detonated on the back straight.
With 13 laps remaining, Murphy lost second place to Bright who set off after Skaife. Bright did gnaw down the gap to under four seconds, but Skaife had the race under control, and ultimately won. Bright finished second and Murphy was third, some 15 seconds behind Bright and holding off a late charge from Todd Kelly. Murphy once again won the round and kept his undefeated round tally at Pukekohe intact.
Despite entering the Pukekohe round with a chance of capturing his maiden championship, a string of poor results for Ambrose meant the gap between he and his title rivals had closed significantly. Skaife, initially 167 points behind Ambrose preceding this round, had more than halved the gap to the championship lead. Murphy was now only 24 points behind Ambrose, and with a string of wins in recent rounds, including the Bathurst 1000, he was looked at favourably to vanquish the Stone Brothers Racing driver in the championship finale.
When the series returned in 2004, Murphy's dominance at the venue came to an end. Bright would take the spoils while Murphy was left to scrape podiums together in a grueling duel between he and championship rival, Ambrose.
Mercifully, after having failed to qualify once again at the next round, this would prove to be the last V8 Supercar race for David Thexton.
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