On lap 22, Triple Eight pilot Steven Ellery crashed heavily at the notorious turn eight. Ellery went wide into the 200+km/h right hander, understeering away from the racing line, locking his brakes, finally smashing into the unforgiving barriers, bringing forth the first appearance of the safety car for the 2005 season.
Ambrose and Ingall took this as an opportunity to get their pit stops out of the way, while Rick and Todd Kelly elected to stay on the circuit, taking the race lead into Holden hands.
Rick led Todd at the restart, although it was not long before the Kelly brothers had to make their respective pit stops, after which they rejoined the field much further down in the race order. In retrospect perhaps they should have completed their pitstops under safety car conditions, although team managers could be excused for experimenting with tyre strategies after the shock success of Team BOC at the Melbourne Grand Prix.
The safety car saw action again when Jason Bargwanna wandered off-line at turn eight, drifting onto the ‘marbles' on the circuit, becoming a passenger in the second massive shunt of the race. The concertina effect of the safety car compressed the field, although the Stone-powered Falcons in the first three positions were unchallenged for the remainder of the race.
One of the class performances of the race was that of Westpoint Racing, or DJR. The team has considerably lifted its game since last season, and this is particularly evident in their Adelaide performance so far, where Steven Johnson and Glenn Seton improved on their qualifying performances to finish inside the top ten.
A second 250km race awaits the V8s on Sunday, where
Crash.net will be brining you all the news and results from the Australian V8 Supercar series.
Top Ten: Race 1
1
Marcos Ambrose Pirtek Racing
2
Russell Ingall Caltex Racing
3
Craig Lowndes Betta Electrical Racing
4
Steven Johnson Westpoint Racing
5
Steven Richards Team Perkins Racing
6
Greg Murphy Super Cheap Auto Racing
7
Garth Tander HSV Dealer Team
8
Todd Kelly Holden Racing Team
9
Glenn Seton Westpoint Racing
10
Jamie Whincup Tasman Motorsport
