Rick Kelly's hopes of a decent result in the first race of the Falken Tasmania Challenge at Symmons Plains Raceway on Saturday went out the window early on.

Kelly, who had qualified seventh in the #15 HSV Dealer Team Commodore, was involved in an incident with Steven Richards and a number of other cars on the second lap, which left his car badly damaged on the drivers' side.

He was subsequently forced him to pit to change a shredded tyre and fix the broken bodywork. Rejoining in 27th and a lap down he was always going to have his work cut out and he eventually ended up in 19th.

"Variable weather conditions always produce that type of racing and unfortunately we got involved again in someone else's incident at turn two," said Rick.

"I am not exactly sure what happened up there, I was just focusing on our car and we got hit as we went through by Steven Richards.

"I don't think it was any fault of his I think he got pushed our way as I was just trying to sneak around without getting hit. Unfortunately we weren't able to do that.

"That buggered our race really, we had two cut tyres and it is a little bit disappointing because today was the sort of race we could have moved forward in."

Kelly's team-mate Paul Dumbrell meanwhile also got mixed up in the carnage and by the end of the race his car had suffered damage at the front and rear. He finished 21st.

"After good speed yesterday we just missed out on a top ten in qualifying by a fifteenth, then obviously we were back in the pack and we had a few dramas," he added.

"In the damp conditions we didn't have much drive and that put us back in the field. There were a few people crashing into each other and I lost a few spots there as well. Now I am just looking ahead to tomorrow."