Kelly To Complete Season
The Sunday Age
Sunday March 30, 2008
V8 SUPERCAR driver Rick Kelly will begin looking for a new major sponsor this week after Friday's collapse of broker Opes Prime.
A spokesman for Kelly's Holden Special Vehicles Dealer team, Simon Frost, told The Sunday Age yesterday the team was financially secure and Kelly, who is currently placed second in championship points, will race out the season."Opes Prime's sponsorship payments, up until to the end of March, are up-to-date and the HSV Dealer team will continue to compete to the end of the year as they have for the last three years, including Hamilton which is in a couple of weeks time," Frost said. "There is absolutely no chance of the team and Rick's car not competing. I think you'll find down the food chain there are probably some bigger impacts. We are a team that has won the championship for the last two years and (is) reasonably liquid. But some of the smaller motor sport teams that Opes Prime is involved with might struggle to replace the sponsorship dollars."Opes Prime sponsors its own racing team, Opes Prime Racing, in the formula three and V8 Supercar Fujitsu Series, which is essentially the reserves for the V8 Supercars. The broker also sponsors Peter Fitzgerald Racing in the Carrera Cup. Frost refused to comment on how much the sponsorship deal was worth but said there would be no implication for the racing side of the team."We'll sit down in the next week or so and work out the implications of the company (Opes Prime) going into voluntarily administration and where we might need to look to find further sponsorship dollars for the end of the year." Frost said the team would discuss removing the Opes Prime logo from the bonnet of Kelly's car at its meeting mid-week.
© 2008 The Sunday Age