Todd Kelly wins race one

Kelly led from start to finish apart from a brief period during compulsory pit stops, his toughest challenge coming at the start when he went wheel-to-wheel with teammate Mark Skaife and Holden rival Garth Tander. Tander ran third early before moving ahead of Skaife during the pitstops.

Skaife meanwhile had a busy time in the second half of the race, holding off Jason Bright before Bright spun at Honda hairpin in his efforts to pass Skaife, giving Skaife a small tap along the way. Bright finished the race in tenth place.

This gave Lowndes, who had been right behind Bright, his best chance of passing Skaife. Exiting the next turn, Siberia, Lowndes got completely alongside Skaife as they ran to the next bend at the Hayshed.

Skaife and Lowndes entered the corner side-by-side before Skaife clipped the inside kerb and understeered into the side of Lowndes, sending Lowndes onto the grass at over 200 km/h.

Somehow Lowndes recovered without losing a position, and was soon back on Skaife's bumper, looking for a way past as Skaife drove defensively, managing to hold onto third to the finish just ahead of Lowndes.

With Rick Kelly finishing one place behind Lowndes in fifth position, the gap between the two title protagonists has closed again, Kelly now leading by just three points, with 214 remaining. The gap between Mark Winterbottom, who finished race one in seventh and winner Tander for third place, has also closed, down to 67 points.

Pos  Driver                   Car
 1.  Todd Kelly               Holden Commodore VZ
 2.  Garth Tander             Holden Commodore VZ
 3.  Mark Skaife              Holden Commodore VZ
 4.  Craig Lowndes            Ford Falcon BA
 5.  Rick Kelly               Holden Commodore VZ
 6.  Will Davison             Ford Falcon BA
 7.  Mark Winterbottom        Ford Falcon BA
 8.  Steven Richards          Holden Commodore VZ
 9.  James Courtney           Ford Falcon BA
10.  Jason Bright             Ford Falcon BA
11.  Steve Owen               Holden Commodore VZ
12.  Greg Murphy              Holden Commodore VZ
13.  Dean Canto               Holden Commodore VZ
14.  Russell Ingall           Ford Falcon BA
15.  Cameron McConville       Holden Commodore VZ
16.  Paul Dumbrell            Holden Commodore VZ
17.  Warren Luff              Ford Falcon BA
18.  Lee Holdsworth           Holden Commodore VZ
19.  Steven Johnson           Ford Falcon BA
20.  Max Wilson               Ford Falcon BA
21.  Jason Bargwanna          Ford Falcon BA
22.  Jason Richards           Holden Commodore VZ
23.  Shane Price              Holden Commodore VZ
24.  John Bowe                Ford Falcon BA
25.  Paul Morris              Holden Commodore VZ
26.  Jamie Whincup            Ford Falcon BA
27.  Brad Jones               Ford Falcon BA
28.  Tony Evangelou           Holden Commodore VZ
29.  Jose Fernandez           Ford Falcon BA
30.  Andrew Jones             Holden Commodore VZ
DNF  Marcus Marshall          Ford Falcon BA