2000 Australian Drivers' Championship Explained

The 2000 Australian Drivers' Championship was a CAMS sanctioned national motor racing title for drivers of cars conforming to Formula Holden regulations.^[1] The title was contested over an 8-round, 16 race series with the winner awarded the 2000 CAMS Gold Star. The championship, which was promoted as the 2000 Holden Australian Drivers' Championship,^[2] was the 44th Australian Drivers' Championship and the 12th to be contested with Formula Holden or Formula Brabham cars.

Schedule

The championship was contested over an eight-round series with two races per round.^[3]

Round		Circuit	Date	Pole position	Fastest lap	Winning driver	Winning team
1	R1	Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit (Phillip Island, Victoria)	13 February	Simon Wills	Simon Wills	Simon Wills	Birrana Racing
	R2				Simon Wills	Simon Wills	Birrana Racing
2	R1	Eastern Creek International Raceway (Eastern Creek, New South Wales)	26 March	Tim Leahey	Tim Leahey	Simon Wills	Birrana Racing
	R2				Tim Leahey	Christian Murchison	NRC Racing
3	R1	Adelaide Street Circuit (Adelaide, South Australia)	8–9 April	Simon Wills	Simon Wills	Christian Murchison	NRC Racing
	R2				Simon Wills	Matt Halliday	Ralt Australia
4	R1	Canberra Street Circuit (Canberra, Australian Capital Territory)	10–11 June	Tim Leahey	Simon Wills	Simon Wills	Birrana Racing
	R2				Simon Wills	Chris Staff	Ralt Australia
5	R1	Queensland Raceway (Ipswich, Queensland)	2 July	Simon Wills	Matt Halliday	Simon Wills	Birrana Racing
	R2				Simon Wills	Christian Murchison	NRC Racing
6	R1	Winton Motor Raceway (Benalla, Victoria)	16 July	Tim Leahey	Simon Wills	Tim Leahey	Greg Murphy Racing
	R2				Christian Murchison	Tim Leahey	Greg Murphy Racing
7	R1	Oran Park Raceway (Sydney, New South Wales)	30 July	Simon Wills	Tim Leahey	Simon Wills	Birrana Racing
	R2				Simon Wills	Simon Wills	Birrana Racing
8	R1	Mallala Motor Sport Park (Mallala, South Australia)	27 August	Simon Wills	Simon Wills	Christian Murchison	NRC Racing
	R2				Christian Murchison	Simon Wills	Birrana Racing

Points System

Championship points were awarded on a 20–15–12–10–8–6–4–3–2–1 basis to the first ten finishers in each race.^[4]

Review

New Zealand racer Simon Wills won his second Australian Drivers' Championship driving a Birrana Racing Reynard 94D Holden.^[5] Wills won eight of the 16 races to finish 33 points ahead of Singaporean born West Australian Christian Murchison (Reynard 95D & 97D). Another New Zealander, Matt Halliday (Reynard 94D Holden) finished third in the points, 58 points behind Wills. It was the sixth Australian Drivers' Championship victory in seven years for a Birrana Racing driver.

In addition to Wills' eight wins, Murchison took four race victories and Tim Leahey (Reynard 92D Holden) took two with single victories recorded by Halliday and Chris Staff (Reynard 92D Holden)

Championship results

					Phillip Island		Eastern Creek		Adelaide		Canberra		Qld. Raceway		Winton		Oran Park		Mallala
Position^[6]	Driver	No.	Car	Entrant	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	Total
1	Simon Wills	1	Reynard 94D Holden	Birrana Racing	20	20	20	-	3	20	20	4	20	15	15	15	20	20	12	20	244
2	Christian Murchison	25	Reynard 95D Holden	NRC Racing	12	10	15	20	20	10	12	15	15	20	-	6	12	15	20	6	208
3	Matt Halliday	12	Reynard 94D Holden	Ralt Australia	15	15	12	12	15	-	10	-	8	-	12	12	10	12	15	15	163
4	Tim Leahey	22	Reynard 92D Holden	Greg Murphy Racing	-	12	-	-	12	15	15	-	-	-	20	20	15	-	-	-	109
5	LeRoy Stevenson	8	Reynard 94D Holden	Birrana Racing	8	-	-	10	4	8	4	10	6	12	-	10	3	6	8	8	97
6	Paul Dumbrell	7	Reynard 93D Holden	K Mart Racing	10	-	8	8	10	12	-	8	4	-	10	8	8	10	-	-	96
7	Dale Brede	20	Reynard 94D Holden	NRC Racing	4	8	-	2	-	-	8	12	10	-	6	-	4	4	10	12	80
8	Chris Staff	11	Reynard 92D Holden	Ralt Australia	-	-	4	15	8	-	6	20	-	10	-	-	-	-	-	-	63
9	Andy Booth	75 & 11	Reynard 97D Holden	Hocking Motorsport	6	-	10	6	6	6	2	-	1	6	-	-	6	8	-	-	57
10	Steve Owen	74	Reynard 97D Holden	Hocking Motorsport	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	6	12	8	8	-	2	3	6	10	56
11	Peter Hill	66	Reynard 94D Holden	Peter Hill	2	4	6	-	2	4	3	-	-	-	4	4	1	1	2	4	37
12	Ian Peters	24	Reynard 91D Holden	Ian Peters	-	3	2	3	-	-	-	3	2	1	2	3	-	2	4	-	25
13	Mark Ellis	17	Reynard 92D Holden	Mark Ellis	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	2	-	4	1	2	-	-	-	2	12
14	Garry Haywood	26	Reynard 91D Holden	Garry Haywood	-	6	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	9
15	Les Crampton	15	Reynard 91D Holden	3M Australia Racing Team	3	2	-	-	-	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	8
16	Roger Oakeshott	28	Reynard 97D Holden	Roger Oakeshott	-	-	-	-	-	2	-	-	-	2	3	-	-	-	-	-	7
17	Terry Clearihan	27	Ralt RT23 Holden	Terry Clearihan	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	3	-	1	-	-	1	1	6
18	Craig Bastian	74	Reynard 97D Holden	Hocking Motorsport	-	-	-	4	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	4
19	Stan Keen	5	Shrike NB89H Holden	Stan Keen	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	3	-	3
20	Brenton Ramsay	9	Reynard 94D Holden	Birrana Racing	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	3	3
21	Bob Power	48	Ralt RT23 Holden	Bob Power	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	3
22	Lars Johansson	36	Reynard 94D Holden	Laurentius Consultants	1	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2
23	Chas Talbot	14	March 87B Holden	Chas Talbot	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1

References

1. Australian Title Conditions, 2000 CAMS Manual of Australian Motor Sport, Page 7-11
2. https://web.archive.org/web/20010501085637/http://www.formulaholden.com/sport1.htm Sporting Regulations - Administration
3. https://web.archive.org/web/20010625002453/http://www.formulaholden.com/results2000hadc.htm 2000 Holden Australian Drivers Championship Race Results Sheets
4. https://web.archive.org/web/20010303092856/http://www.formulaholden.com/sport3.htm Sporting Regulations - Awards and Pointscores
5. Web site: Gold Star Winners - 1957 - 2009 . formula3.com.au . 30 June 2010 . 3 March 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160303234043/http://www.formula3.com.au/files/09files/series/goldstar.asp . dead .
6. 2000 Holden Australian Drivers Championship – Points Allocation - retrieved from www.formulaholden.com.au/archive/2000hadc_pa.htm in December 2001 – page no longer live

Further reading

• Connor McNally, "Simply Simon", Motor Racing Australia, No 55, Dec 2000 / Jan 2001, page 44

External links

• 2000 Australian Drivers' Championship results at www.teamdan.com