Rick Kelly

V8 Supercar Driver


Name = Rick Kelly
Caption = Rick Kelly preparing for Race 1 at Hidden Valley Raceway
Nationality = flagicon|AUS Australian
Car number = 15
Team = HSV Dealer Team
Championships = 1 (2006)
Races = 90
Wins = 4
Podiums = 23
Poles = 2
2007 Championship position = 4th (552 pts)

Rick Kelly (born on January 17, 1983 in Mildura, Victoria, Australia) is a V8 Supercar racing driver and the younger brother of V8 Supercar driver Todd Kelly, currently living in Melbourne, Victoria. He currently drives for the HSV Dealer Team and has previously contributed to winning at the Bathurst 1000 alongside Greg Murphy in 2003 and 2004 under the banner of Kmart Racing. Kelly was the 2006 V8 Supercar Champion.

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 overall (though he did win an individual race), Kelly entered the final round of the series at Phillip Island seven points ahead of his nearest competitor, Craig Lowndes, (who had won four rounds) due to consistent high points finishes in all twelve of the previous 2006 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 defended his own racing line against Kelly's racing line which resulted in Kelly making contact with the rear of Lowndes, which caused Lowndes Falcon 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 to the finish in 29th place, Kelly, with 3308 points, won the series by 37 points.

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 four 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 behaviour and compared Kelly to Formula 1 great Michael Schumacher as Schumacher has had been constantly criticized for unsportsmanlike behaviour.

=Career results=

External links

* [http://www.rickkelly.com.au/ The official website of Rick Kelly]