Skaife Wins Race One

Ambrose seemed set to take the win in a race which saw three safety car periods as cars raced closely, sometimes a little too closely. But dirt dropped onto the track on the racing line from Craig Lowndes recovering from an off late in the race saw Ambrose slide wide, allowing the closely following Skaife to sneak through into the lead and hold on to take the win.

Ambrose had led the way from the end of lap one when he passed Lowndes for the lead, with the Ambrose, Skaife and Lowndes trio showing the way for most of the race until Lowndes went off at turn one on lap 38, precipitating Ambrose losing the lead a lap later.

This handed third place to a very speedy Steven Richards, who was right on Ambrose's tail at the finish despite Richards trailing smoke for the second half of the race. Completing the top five placings were Russell Ingall and Greg Murphy, who did well after being very slow away at the start.

Lowndes late-race off dropped him to 21st place, while Todd Kelly's race ended early after running wide and then having contact with Murphy, which saw Kelly's steering break, putting him off the track to bring out one of the three safety car periods.

Result of Perth V8 400 Race One, Barbagallo Raceway, Wanneroo:

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