Murphy dominates race 1

Murphy led from lights to flag apart from a couple of laps during pit stops, as he took a relatively comfortable victory. Second was Craig Lowndes, back on form after his error at Bathurst with third place taken by Bathurst winner Mark Skaife.

The race saw a major shift in the complexion of the championship, with three of the frontrunners having disastrous races. Steven Richards, Todd Kelly and Marcos Ambrose all struck trouble within the opening two laps, and will start race two from 27th, 31st and 32nd respectively, as championship leader Russell Ingall consolidated by taking fourth place.

Going into the race with a two point lead, Ingall now has a 60 point lead over Ambrose and 134 point lead over Kelly, with the rest of the field further back. More importantly, while Ingall will start race two from fourth, his two closest challengers, Kelly and Ambrose, will start from the last row on a track notoriously hard to pass on.

The start of the race saw a frantic dash to the turn one chicane, Murphy leading as the two teammates of Todd Kelly and Mark Skaife jumped the chicane to avoid contact with each other, with Steven Richards and Marcos Ambrose in close pursuit. Ambrose dived inside Richards to take fourth place early in the lap.

But before lap one was over Steven Richards was heading for the pits with damage after clipping the wall on the exit of turn four, and Marcos Ambrose was slowing with a clutch problem that would end his race almost immediately. Lap two saw more drama as second placed Todd Kelly retired with smoke pouring from the front of his car.

From there the race settled down, with the only drama to follow involving Mark Skaife when he was forced to concede second to Lowndes after missing the first chicane on lap 25, Murphy taking the win ahead of Lowndes, Skaife, Ingall and Cameron McConville.

Result of race one:

Pos  Driver              Car
 1.  Greg Murphy         Holden Commodore VZ
 2.  Craig Lowndes       Ford Falcon BA
 3.  Mark Skaife         Holden Commodore VZ
 4.  Russell Ingall      Ford Falcon BA
 5.  Cameron McConville  Holden Commodore VZ
 6.  Jason Richards      Holden Commodore VZ
 7.  Steve Ellery        Ford Falcon BA
 8.  Jason Bright        Ford Falcon BA
 9.  Rick Kelly          Holden Commodore VZ
10.  Garth Tander        Holden Commodore VZ
11.  Craig Baird         Ford Falcon BA
12.  David Besnard       Ford Falcon BA
13.  Paul Radisich       Holden Commodore VZ
14.  Steven Johnson      Ford Falcon BA
15.  Jamie Whincup       Holden Commodore VZ
16.  John Bowe           Ford Falcon BA
17.  Brad Jones          Ford Falcon BA
18.  Anthony Tratt       Holden Commodore VY
19.  Greg Ritter         Ford Falcon BA
20.  Dean Canto          Holden Commodore VZ
21.  Mark Winterbottom   Ford Falcon BA
22.  Paul Dumbrell       Holden Commodore VY
23.  Glenn Seton         Ford Falcon BA
24.  Paul Morris         Holden Commodore VZ
25.  Matthew White       Ford Falcon BA
26.  Max Wilson          Holden Commodore VZ
27.  Steven Richards     Holden Commodore VY
DNF  Alex Davison        Holden Commodore VZ
DNF  Paul Weel           Holden Commodore VZ
DNF  Jason Bargwanna     Ford Falcon BA
DNF  Todd Kelly          Holden Commodore VZ
DNF  Marcos Ambrose      Ford Falcon BA