Todd Kelly wins wet race one

The Jack Daniel's driver charged up from tenth on the grid to second in four laps on slicks at the damp start of the race. He took the lead when Tander pitted for slicks on lap 12 just before the safety car came out.

Kelly relinquished the lead when he pitted for wet tyres, but his superior pace allowed him to retake the lead on lap 35 and ease away for the win.

Team Vodafone's Jamie Whincup took second after a near-race long battle with Mark Winterbottom, Whincup taking the lead at the start before slipping a few places to faster cars.

Whincup then gained ground relative to his rivals when he pitted, leading those who took wets, and temporaily retook the lead overall at the end of lap 34 from Russell Ingall before being overtaken on the next lap by Todd Kelly.

Completing the top five were two drivers who had superb races, Will Davison finishing fourth after starting eighteenth and Shane van Gisbergen fifth after starting sixteenth.

Remarkably, van Gisbergen's result was somewhat of a disappointment, having been right behind winner Kelly as they pitted for wets, an off as he rejoined costing him three positions, unable to regain the ground back or show quite the pace he did early in the race.

Craig Lowndes, Jason Bright, Steven Johnson, Fabian Coulthard and Lee Holdsworth completed the top ten finishers in a race which started on a damp track, and only got wetter as the race progressed.

Pole man Garth Tander's championship hopes took a blow after a race he'd possibly rather forget. Losing the lead to Whincup at the start, he took it back on lap 3. He went off at the end of the back straight at the end of lap 11, taking this opportunity to pit.

A slow pitstop to remove debris from the intake and problems putting on the wheels cost another second or two. Then, at the hairpin on his out lap, cold tyres on a slightly damp track saw him outbrake himself, ending up just on the edge of the gravel trap.

As is customary in the series, reverse is hard to engage, and Tander lost 35 seconds as he recovered from his minor off. His stationary car as he tried to engage reverse brought out the safety car, which saw most of the field take their compulsory pitstop.

Tander restarted 25th, but at least he was right with the rest of the field and in a position to charge back. However, along with his teammate Mark Skaife, both Supercheap Auto cars and both Brad Jones Racing cars, he decided to stay out on slicks to the finish.

Initially this proved to be a good move, Ingall leading and Tander up to third at half-distance. But ten laps later, and Ingall began his fall from the lead down to his eventual thirteenth place finish, while Tander slipped all the way back down to 20th, a lap down.

With five races remaining, Whincup extended his lead over Winterbottom by six points to 193 points over Winterbottom, with Tander now 354 points behind Whincup with only 500 remaining. Whincup's teammate Craig Lowndes' title hopes are over despite a top-ten race finish.

Pos  Driver                Make     Time
 1.  Todd Kelly            Holden   52:25.8991
 2.  Jamie Whincup         Ford     +   1.0294
 3.  Mark Winterbottom     Ford     +   1.4104
 4.  Will Davison          Ford     +   7.3147
 5.  Shane Van Gisbergen   Ford     +   7.7963
 6.  Craig Lowndes         Ford     +  14.8414
 7.  Jason Bright          Ford     +  16.2617
 8.  Steven Johnson        Ford     +  32.3169
 9.  Fabian Coulthard      Ford     +  36.0834
10.  Lee Holdsworth        Holden   +  36.9951
11.  Jason Richards        Holden   +  38.3805
12.  Michael Patrizi       Ford     +  40.6396
13.  Russell Ingall        Holden   +  47.6200
14.  Cameron McConville    Holden   +  52.4528
15.  Andrew Thompson       Holden   +  54.4012
16.  Greg Murphy           Holden   +  54.5304
17.  Michael Caruso        Holden   +   1 lap
18.  Marcus Marshall       Ford     +   1 lap
19.  Rick Kelly            Holden   +   1 lap
20.  Garth Tander          Holden   +   1 lap
21.  Paul Dumbrell         Holden   +   1 lap
22.  Andrew Jones          Holden   +   1 lap
23.  Paul Morris           Holden   +   1 lap
24.  Tony D'Alberto        Holden   +   1 lap
25.  Mark Skaife           Holden   +   1 lap
26.  Daniel Gaunt          Ford     +   2 laps

Not classified/retirements:

     Driver                Make     Laps
     Jack Perkins          Holden    12
     Steven Richards       Ford       2
     James Courtney        Ford       2