Owen wins Phillip Island race one
Team Vodafone's Steve Owen continued where he left off in qualifying, leading from start to finish in race one of the L&H 500 at Phillip Island
Owen was never really threatened despite a safety car period early in the 14 lap race.
However, there was an intense battle for second place, held for most of the race by Garth Tander under extreme pressure from Jason Bargwanna.
With just under two laps remaining Bargwanna finally found his way past, with Shane van Gisbergen doing likewise later in the lap. Tander just held off Jason Richards who charged up and made a series of bold passes after starting 11th.
About half the field chose to take the compulsory tyre stop to be taken in either of today's races, with the highest finishing runner of those cars being Warren Luff in 16th place, the team choosing to pit Luff after a poor start dropped him from second to sixth.
A similar decision was taken by Team Vodafone after Mark Skaife fell from 10th to 20th at the start, with Skaife finishing 21st after his pitstop thanks to a few passes along the way.
Pos Driver Make Time
1. Steve Owen Holden Commodore VE 25m54.9169s
2. Jason Bargwanna Holden Commodore VE + 1.1354s
3. Shane Van Gisbergen Ford Falcon FG + 2.2886s
4. Garth Tander Holden Commodore VE + 3.2249s
5. Jason Richards Holden Commodore VE + 3.5646s
6. Todd Kelly Holden Commodore VE + 4.1858s
7. Dean Canto Ford Falcon FG + 9.7165s
8. Tony D'Alberto Holden Commodore VE + 16.9470s
9. Jonathon Webb Ford Falcon FG + 17.0486s
10. Greg Murphy Holden Commodore VE + 19.5747s
11. Dean Fiore Ford Falcon FG + 25.0222s
12. Marcus Zukanovic Holden Commodore VE + 25.8383s
13. Taz Douglas Holden Commodore VE + 28.6938s
14. Mark Noske Holden Commodore VE + 29.3096s
15. Ant Pedersen Ford Falcon BF + 35.0647s
16. Warren Luff Ford Falcon FG + 52.4650s
17. Luke Youlden Ford Falcon FG + 53.8889s
18. David Besnard Holden Commodore VE + 54.7094s
19. David Reynolds Holden Commodore VE + 55.0208s
20. Steven Johnson Ford Falcon FG + 57.4429s
21. Mark Skaife Holden Commodore VE + 59.6751s
22. Jack Perkins Ford Falcon FG +1m00.8631s
23. Owen Kelly Holden Commodore VE +1m08.8811s
24. James Moffat Ford Falcon FG +1m11.7781s
25. David Brabham Ford Falcon FG +1m12.4049s
26. Matthew Halliday Holden Commodore VE +1m20.2481s
27. Paul Morris Holden Commodore VE +1m36.8554s
28. Karl Reindler Holden Commodore VE + 1 lap
29. Craig Baird Holden Commodore VE + 1 lap
Not classified/retirements:
Driver Make Laps
Andrew Thompson Holden Commodore VE 8
Michael Caruso Holden Commodore VE 1
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