Almost a quarter of a century after its first race, Darwin and Hidden Valley in Supercars mode

The Supercars drivers and their legion of fans from the Northern Territory and across the country are backing Darwin’s Hidden Valley to be along-term venue for the big bangers

V8 legend Mark Skaife has backed Darwin’s Hidden Valley as a long term Supercars venue. Picture: Mark Stewart

FIVE-TIME Supercars champion Mark Skaife says the Darwin round of the Supercars has become an integral part of the championship series.

Ingrained in Territory sports history, the 23-year-old event again attracted 30,000-plus fans over three days to watch the big bangers go around.

Now a Fox Sports commentator, Skaife has been here every year since the inaugural event in 1998 when his engine failed metres short of the finish line in the very first race.

“It’s got such a diverse feel to it versus every other event we do,’’ Skaife said. “And it’s held in a part of the year where everywhere else in Australia is cold and half the teams come from Melbourne.

“If you can extract yourself out of a cold Victorian winter and head for northern Australia it obviously has a big impact on everybody’s demeanour.

“And we love the way the locals embrace it and the same with a wide range of Australians, because the catchment area is really big.

“We do the research and people come from everywhere because it’s now one of our signature events and as a consequence we get such great support and the atmosphere is terrific.’’

Skaife is confident the rumblings of the Supercars at Hidden Valley will continue for another 23 years.

“I immediately picked up that northern Australia had been starved of professional sport and that also goes to the heart of our next event in Townsville,’’ he said.

“As a result I’m so pleased we’re at this stage now, because if you think about it now, it’s been almost 25 years of arguably the biggest event that happens in Darwin and the NT.

“We cherish it, we love it and if you ask the drivers what’s your favourite event, I would say two thirds of the field, maybe more, would say Darwin.’’

Skaife also gave some big wraps for the Northern Territory’s Major Events group and the NT Government.

“That’s across varying governments over a long time now and if you really isolate that, it’s too easy for a new regime who comes to power and says ‘I don’t like what they did’.

And who can beat Holden’s runaway championship leader Shane van Gisbergen?
“There were 25 other people (drivers) who were asking the same question this weekend and with Shane in stellar form, it doesn’t look like it’s going to dissipate,’’ Skaife said.