- Australia’s greatest car race tinged by controversy
Gobsmacked motor sport fans have compared the pre-race entertainment at the Bathurst 1000 to ‘s**thouse karaoke’ after a team boss cable-tied herself to the winner’s trophy in a shocking protest.
The Sydney Lyric Orchestra took centre stage on the grid to sing the Rolling Stones hit Start Me Up just minutes before the race start at 11.45am on Sunday, and viewers did not hold back with their criticism.
‘Australia’s greatest race and they roll out a cover band from the local Bathurst RSL as entertainment. Embarrassing!’ one wrote.
‘AFL got Snoop. Supercars gave some bloke from the Bathurst pub a 6 pack to come do some s**thouse karaoke,’ another added.
‘That was terrible! The anthem wasn’t any better,’ a third commenter said.
‘Can’t believe they made the drivers line up for it,’ another fan wrote.
The Sydney Lyric Orchestra are pictured singing the Rolling Stones hit Start Me Up just before the start of the Bathurst 1000
Motor sport fans weren’t impressed and didn’t hold back with their criticism online
‘If anyone ever complains about NRL grand final pre game entertainment again, I ask you to go and watch the 2025 Bathurst pre race entertainment,’ another fan said.
One other viewer saw the funny side of the performance, writing, ‘The Sydney Lyric Symphony is performing now on the starting line at Bathurst. I’m guessing that would be the first time a French horn or cello has been used in anger at that particular spot.’
The scenes on the grid followed a bizarre protest by Erebus Motorsport team owner Betty Klimenko, who cable-tied herself to the Peter Brock trophy on Sunday.
Klimenko pulled the stunt to protest what she saw as a slight against her drivers Brodie Kostecki and Todd Hazelwood, who won the race last year before leaving the team for rivals Dick Johnson Racing.
‘All week Supercars have had the trophy and they’ve done the Hazelwood and Kostecki [photo opportunities] and they’ve had it on the DJR [Dick Johnson Racing] car and it actually looks like DJR had won the cup last year,’ Klimenko said.
‘They never put it on an Erebus car, they never had Erebus around.
‘So I thought, you know what? Drivers’ parade is mine and now they wanted to take it off me and give it to other cars during the drivers’ parade and I said no. I did my protest.’
However, Klimenko promised she would hand the trophy over after the parade so it can be awarded to the winner of the race.
Erebus Motorsport team owner Betty Klimenko stunned fans with a bizarre protest as she cable-tied herself to the Peter Brock trophy (pictured)
Klimenko promised she’d give the trophy back in time for it to be awarded to the winner of Sunday’s race
‘It [the trophy] has been well taken care of … last night it was up at some of the tents up here and the night before it was up at the top of the mountain.
‘Peter Brock was a man of the people and his trophy should be a trophy of the people.’
Klimenko’s protest followed another eye-catching and angry statement, this time from Dick Johnson Racing.
On Saturday the team submitted a last-ditch protest ahead of Sunday’s 161-lap race over ‘failure to implement an engine parity adjustment’, but it was dismissed by Motorsport Australia.
DJR – which runs Ford Mustangs – wanted action taken over what it sees as an unfair advantage to the Chevrolet Camaros in the field, claiming they have the upper hand in straight-line speed thanks to their engines.
Kostecki wouldn’t be drawn on the issue when asked after claiming pole position, with five-time Supercars champion Mark Skaife rubbishing the claim earlier on Saturday.
Skaife pointed out the top six cars – equally divided between Ford and Chevrolet – in qualifying were separated by less than a tenth of a second.
‘To claim that there’s some parity issue, I’m bewildered by that. That blows me away,’ Skaife said.
‘In fact, in the straight-line sectors, Brodie was faster than Broc Feeney [in a Camaro].
‘There’s obviously just a lot of games being played in the background.’
