Jones leads Ford charge, Morris remains in exile

OzEmail Racing’s Brad Jones led a posse of Fords through pre-qualifying, but Paul Morris is in V8 Supercar exile again tonight, after a nightmare outing at Eastern Creek Raceway this afternoon.

Morris, who missed the cut for Phillip Island a fortnight ago with fuel injector problems, collided with Imrie Motorsport's Steve Owen during today's 15-minute pre-qualifying shootout, ruining his chances of qualification.

"He (Owen) had gone off and when he came back onto the track our cars hit," Morris said. "I had tried to move left to avoid him, but the load punctured the front (left) tyre and half-spun me."

With critical damage to his Commodore, Morris could only manage the tenth fastest time. Only the top seven qualified.

"It was a shame I didn't get an opportunity to put in a quick lap because I think we could have made the cut no problems. Hopefully our luck will change soon," said Morris, who looked to have an advantage today with his failure to qualify at the last round leaving him with fresh tyres for his Eastern Creek qualification attempt. But a last-minute rule change saw new tyres awarded to all pre-qualifiers.

Wayne Gardner was another high-profile casualty; robbed of a start in one of the few V8 Supercar events he's been scheduled to appear at for Stone Brothers Racing this year.

A spin in some gravel which had been brought on to the track by an opposition driver and a baulk by a slower driver cost Gardner the chance to complete his best two laps in today’s pre-qualifying session.

”I got in hot on the corner before the main straight and spun on some gravel which had been brought on to the track,” said Gardner.

“I had the speed for a low 33 (one minute 33-second lap) then got held up by a slower car and that was that. I've never failed to qualify in any form of motor racing before, so that's just how tough V8 racing has become in this country," the former world 500c motorcycle champion said.

Owen, Paul Romano, Anthony Tratt and Dugal McDougall were also culled from the field.

Brad Jones sat on the cusp of qualification after an unimposing performance in practice, but he quickly got on the pace when it mattered to top the time sheets and secure his grid position.

"Pre-qualifying is never easy, but our team got it together today," said Jones. "With the session so short, we needed to be on the money and that's where we were."

An out-of-sorts Glenn Seton's first pre-qualifying experience was a success, clocking the second fastest time.

Neil Crompton, Cameron McConville and Mark Larkham also qualified. And it was second time lucky for Cameron McLean and Dick Johnson Racing's Greg Ritter, who secured their entry after failing to do so at Phillip Island.

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