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Todd Kelly wins Adelaide race 1

Holden Racing Team's Todd Kelly scored the debut win for Holden's VE Commodore in its maiden race in the first race of the Clipsal 500 in the Adelaide Parklands

Kelly held off pole sitter James Courtney throughout the second half of the race, Courtney able to keep up with and pressure Kelly, but never looking like being able to make a pass.

The podium was completed by Team Vodafone's Jamie Whincup, who recovered from an early off while leading on lap 8 which dropped him to 16th. Back to tenth by lap 20, strong mid-race pace saw him fifth by lap 51 of 78, before taking fourth on lap 73 and third on the second-last lap.

Rounding out the top five was Toll HSV's Rick Kelly, a great result after starting 15th, and Ford Performance Racing Mark Winterbottom, who looked like completing the podium before fading in the closing laps.

Unusually, there were no safety car periods, though there was still carnage, three cars making light contact into turn one at the start and John Bowe crunching the wall fifteen laps later after a front right suspension failure.

Jason Bright finished tenth in his first race for Britek, a place ahead of Steven Richards in his first race for FPR.

They both beat home a pair of former series champions in 13th and 14th. Team Vodafone's Craig Lowndes looked set for a top ten finish, possibly even a top five, before getting caught behind Max Wilson after making both compulsory pit stops.

Lowndes went to make a run down the inside of Wilson on lap 37, but thought better of it. However, he still clipped the back of Wilson who spun, Lowndes later receiving a drive-through penalty from which he never really recovered.

He still finished a place ahead of the teammate of the race winner, Mark Skaife showing pace early in the race before drifting back down the order from one-third distance onward.

Pos  Driver                Car                   Laps
 1.  Todd Kelly            Holden Commodore VE    78
 2.  James Courtney        Ford Falcon BF         78
 3.  Jamie Whincup         Ford Falcon BF         78
 4.  Rick Kelly            Holden Commodore VE    78
 5.  Mark Winterbottom     Ford Falcon BF         78
 6.  Garth Tander          Holden Commodore VE    78
 7.  Greg Murphy           Holden Commodore VE    78
 8.  Russell Ingall        Ford Falcon BF         78
 9.  Steven Johnson        Ford Falcon BF         78
10.  Jason Bright          Ford Falcon BF         78
11.  Steven Richards       Ford Falcon BF         78
12.  Dean Canto            Holden Commodore VE    78
13.  Craig Lowndes         Ford Falcon BF         78
14.  Mark Skaife           Holden Commodore VE    78
15.  Jason Bargwanna       Ford Falcon BF         78
16.  Steve Owen            Holden Commodore VZ    78
17.  Max Wilson            Ford Falcon BF         77
18.  Adam Macrow           Ford Falcon BF         77
19.  Jack Perkins          Holden Commodore VE    76
20.  Jason Richards        Holden Commodore VE    76
21.  Cameron McConville    Holden Commodore VZ    76
22.  Shane Price           Holden Commodore VE    76
23.  Alan Gurr             Ford Falcon BF         75
24.  Lee Holdsworth        Holden Commodore VZ    74
25.  Andrew Jones          Ford Falcon BF         73
DNF  Brad Jones            Ford Falcon BF         48
DNF  Paul Dumbrell         Holden Commodore VE    47
DNF  Will Davison          Ford Falcon BF         38
DNF  Paul Morris           Holden Commodore VZ    31
DNF  John Bowe             Ford Falcon BF         16
DNF  Fabian Coulthard      Holden Commodore VZ     6

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