Winterbottom dominates race 1

Winterbottom led from start to finish apart from a brief period during the compulsory pitstops, taking the win ahead of the Holden Racing Team duo of Mark Skaife and Garth Tander.

Tander, however, spent the last 20 laps of the 50 lap race fighting off a pair of Fords, with Steven Richards and Craig Lowndes on his tail, but unable to find a way past.

Rick Kelly was next in sixth, ahead of a remarkable charge through the order by Team Vodafone's Jamie Whincup, who finished seventh after starting the race in 22nd position.

Will Davison, Todd Kelly and Cameron McConville completed the top ten, Kelly struggling with fuel pick-up issues near the end while McConville battled with a flat-spotted tyre.

A driver who looked like finishing in the top ten was Jeld-Wen Motorsport's James Courtney. However, in the second half of the race he was struggling for traction and came under pressure from the pack behind including Rick Kelly, Todd Kelly and Will Davison.

A few too many blocks earned him a bad sportsmanship flag, and one more block after that earned him a drivethrough penalty, dropping him down to a 20th place finish.

However, at least he made it to the finish, unlike Jason Bright, Michael Caruso and Shane van Gisbergen, all eliminated in a lap one incident when Bright and Caruso were passing each side of Greg Murphy.

As they headed towards the final turn, Bright edged slightly to the left as Murphy was still in between the two cars. Both Bright and Carsuo were turned across the front of Murphy, Bright then hitting Caruso sending him out of control across the grass, clipping the rear of van Gisbergen.

Caruso and Bright both ended up stuck in the sand on the exit of the final turn, while van Gisbergen limped to the pits to retire with heavy damage to the rear of his car.

Pos  Driver                Make     Time
 1.  Mark Winterbottom     Ford     53:09.6602
 2.  Mark Skaife           Holden   +   2.5942 
 3.  Garth Tander          Holden   +   5.8616 
 4.  Steven Richards       Ford     +   6.1819 
 5.  Craig Lowndes         Ford     +   7.7449 
 6.  Rick Kelly            Holden   +  14.6887
 7.  Jamie Whincup         Ford     +  15.7918
 8.  Will Davison          Ford     +  17.9581
 9.  Todd Kelly            Holden   +  22.2126
10.  Cameron McConville    Holden   +  24.3086
11.  Russell Ingall        Holden   +  27.6225
12.  Greg Murphy           Holden   +  30.7598
13.  Steven Johnson        Ford     +  30.9230 
14.  Andrew Jones          Holden   +  32.0295
15.  Paul Dumbrell         Holden   +  32.8031
16.  Paul Morris           Holden   +  33.9470 
17.  Fabian Coulthard      Ford     +  36.2225
18.  Shane Price           Holden   +  37.0634
19.  Michael Patrizi       Ford     +  42.0412
20.  James Courtney        Ford     +  45.3731
21.  Tony D'Alberto        Holden   +  45.6018
22.  Marcus Marshall       Ford     +   1 lap
23.  Kayne Scott           Ford     +   1 lap
24.  Lee Holdsworth        Holden   +   1 lap

Not classified/retirements:
                           
     Driver                Make     Laps
     Jason Richards        Holden    22    
     Andrew Thompson       Holden     7    
     Shane Van Gisbergen   Ford       0
     Michael Caruso        Holden     0
     Jason Bright          Ford       0