MURPHY'S law in motor racing is straight forward: win the Clipsal 500 and you have staked a strong claim to taking out the season's V8 Supercar Championship.

Greg Murphy is a star driver.

But victory in the Clipsal 500 and becoming V8 Supercar champion have eluded him; just.

He aims to start changing that this week.

"Adelaide is definitely one of the races to win," Murphy, the man who has come second to Craig Lowndes here, said.
"And I believe you have to win races to win the championship."

Murphy, 33, drives a Holden Commodore in the Supercheap Auto Racing team. He's won the Bathurst 1000 race a creditable four times (1996, 1999, 2003 and 2004), he's been championship runner-up twice and fourth twice.

A year ago he switched from K mart Racing (now known as Toll HSV Dealer Team) to Supercheap, saying then that the new team had everything required to win - a good car, the personnel, the budget and all the resources.

Despite these racing riches, Murphy slipped back in the pecking order, finishing 11th on points at the end of the season.

"We had a lot of mechanical failures, while we were running inside the top five," he said.

"At the end of the year you look at the results and it looks bad. But take out all those mechanical things which were supplier issues outside our control - we were going well.

"We do have a good team. It's a good operation.

"All we can do is tell the suppliers how unhappy we are."

Murphy enjoys a laugh off the track but is a feisty character behind the wheel.

This was highlighted last season by his crash with Marcos Ambrose at Bathurst which stopped both cars and led to a toe-to-toe altercation among the wreckage.

Murphy yesterday acknowledged any climb back to the top in 2006 would not be easy, such is the nature of the competition.

Asked if he would play it safe and accumulate points in Adelaide rather than try for the win and perhaps break the car or crash, his reply was simple: "I don't know how to play it safe.

"The only time to play safe is 10 laps from home and you need to consolidate if you think that's the best you can do."

He's worked hard on his fitness in time for a race he loves.

"It's going to be tough this year," he said.