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Geoffrey Harris8 Apr 2014
NEWS

MOTORSPORT: The Enforcer cops hit in the pocket

Fine for veteran V8 Supercar driver after outburst against Winton 400 race stewards, but did he get off lightly?

Ingall only has to pay one-third of $15,000 penalty

Veteran race driver Russell Ingall has been fined $15,000 for his verbal assault on V8 Supercar officialdom at the weekend, but he only has to pay $5000.

Ingall won’t have to pay the other $10,000 unless he’s a very bad boy again this season.
But he’s had to make a written apology.

The man known as The Enforcer was angry at an immediate pit-lane drive-through penalty imposed on him late in Saturday’s first race of the Winton 400 after his Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport Holden Commodore clipped and spun the Dick Johnson Racing Ford Falcon of David Wall.

Ingall, the only driver on fresh tyres while others were on worn rubber and headed for a maiden podium finish for the single-car team he joined this season after it seemed he would retire, blasted the penalty as “dopey rules made by dopey idiots”.

“It’s all right for these peanuts to sit up in that ivory tower of theirs and just hand out punishments like that,” Ingall had said.

“I’d like to drag those guys down in front of the fans to see what they thought.

“They’d kick the sh.. out of them.”

Ingall argued that the incident with Wall should have been considered by the stewards after the race rather the penalty be imposed during it.

The Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS) stewards handed him the fine and the order to make the written apology on Monday night (Apr 7).

The 2005 V8 Supercar champion and two-time Bathurst 1000 winner had been found to be in breach of a rule which effectively deemed him to have brought the sport into disrepute.

V8 Supercars chief executive James Warburton said his organisation did not want to suppress drivers from making comment, rather it encouraged them, but they should not use language that could be interpreted as direct criticism of race officials.

“There have been many instances so far this season when drivers and teams have openly expressed their views,” Warburton said.

“In this circumstance, however, the comments were found to have included direct threats towards officials, which in any sport is unacceptable.”

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Written byGeoffrey Harris
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