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In a congested finish, freestyle motocross
wiz Robbie Maddison went on to make it a
clean sweep, finishing ahead of AFL Brownlow
Medallist Buckley and downhill skier Steven
Lee. |
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Former AFL
star Luke Darcy has proven just how safe the new Fiat
500 is, walking away from the ‘accident’ that all but
stopped the second Vodafone Celebrity Challenge race at
the 2008 Formula 1 ING Australian Grand Prix at the
weekend (16 March 2008) when his car punched hard into
the safety railing with sufficient force to roll it onto
its side.
Darcy was
embroiled in a fierce battle for sixth position on lap three
when he was nudged from behind by athletics competitor Don
Elgin, forcing him into the wall and an almost slow-motion
flip, from which he walked away uninjured.
“It was a cheap
shot, and I’ll be speaking to my lawyer during the week,”
joked Darcy, to which Elgin responded: “My intention was to
take Buckley out, but Darcy just got in my way.” Darcy was
unhurt in the incident, but the Safety Car was required
while a battered and bruised Fiat was taken away.
In a congested
finish, freestyle motocross wiz Robbie Maddison went on to
make it a clean sweep, finishing ahead of AFL Brownlow
Medallist Buckley and downhill skier Steven Lee. Maddo
probably came under the most pressure on the warm-up lap
when he lost traction and came within a whisker of sliding
off the track. He managed to hold it all together though,
and re-produced his sublime performance from race one. “I
really wanted to put on a show today and thank the sponsors
for making all this happen,” said Maddison. “I’ve set world
records on a motorcycle, but this experience has been a
notch above.”
Maddison’s goal
of turning the Vodafone Celebrity Challenge into his own
‘full monty’ (pole position, two wins and two fastest laps)
was upset by Buckley, who uncorked the fastest lap in race
two. “It was exciting to be involved on the whole event, and
it’s something all the drivers will cherish,” said Buckley.
Darcy was the
only DNF in the shortened race two, with AFL ‘icon’ Bryan
Strauchan the last driver home - his aspirations of doing a
‘Steven Bradbury’ not quite coming off. Maddison finished
with a perfect 68 points after the two races, from Buckley
(57), Lee (57), Guy Leech (50) and Mark Philippoussis (46).
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