The Serve

V8s better than just an AFL entrée

What a farcical situation at Pukekohe. Firstly, none of the New Zealand races were shown live on Channel 7. A direct lie to what we were told by V8 heavies when the new television deal was signed late last year. You would think that the time difference racing across the Tasman provides would have actually delivered Seven some respite and allowed the cars to go live, even with a football match to get to. Not so. If Seven had gone direct on Sunday, there would have been no need to manufacture a finish.

So Seven had the cars on delay, with the Melbourne Demons versus Fremantle Dockers on delay into the southern states (live into New South Wales and Queensland). The options to fit everything in were endless. They could have cut the post race interviews and left as soon as we saw a chequered flag, or cut some of the mindless gap at half time of the AFL. God knows we don’t need so much Bruce and Swartzie in one go. A lap at Pukekohe takes less than a minute, so seven extra laps was not going to leave a massive indent on the schedule.

Uh uh. Not good enough for Seven.

Garth Tander is spot on when he says the early finish cost him the round. The fact that winning a ‘weekend’ is purely ceremonial should not water down the charade. Less laps meant Tander couldn’t move up the ladder as much as he certainly would have, costing him race points. It may be early in the season, but the ding dong battle Tander is already having with HSV teammate Rick Kelly suggests every point is going to count. Those seven little laps may decide a championship.

It is ridiculous that television can completely change the course of an event purely in self-interest. Waiting for a flashing light to restart an AFL match, or stopping until the directors signal in league is a nuisance. A relatively minor concession for those codes. Cutting a race short by 7 laps is not. Racing V8 cars is a science. Pit stops are carefully mapped out, fuel loads meticulously stratergised. A snap decision to cut a race by 15% is going to disadvantage someone, always. Why everyone didn’t know about Sunday’s move is debatable, although clearly it was ad-libbed. A decision that was impossible to adapt to quickly enough.

The bigger issue for V8s is how they are being treated. When Seven hit the jackpot by winning the V8s and AFL, they had a dilemma. Considering the minimal content they owned pre-2007, it was a dilemma worth having. Too much sport was far better than too many Sunday Elvis movies. For the cars though, they have clearly been classed as second class citizens. The schedules have had to be manipulated to accommodate the football. Fans do not like their afternoon to be over before it begins. Tough luck. The previous carriers, Channel Ten, believed in the product so much they gave prime time a shot. It didn’t work, but it’s a far cry from today, where the sun goes down whenever the ball is ready to be bounced.