By Matthew Agius

Garth Tander has extended his lead in the 2007 V8 Supercar Championship Series with a strong performance in the opening race of the Falken Tasmania Challenge.

After qualifying his Toll HSV Commodore with the fastest lap around Symmons Plains in a touring car, Tander proceeded to almost completely dominate the opening race of the weekend.

Starting from pole, the West Australian driver conceded position twice to front-row starter Mark Winterbottom, but a clinical pit stop on lap nine saw the Toll HSV Dealer Team put their championship leader back into the race lead, and he was unmatched for the remainder of the fifty-lap sprint.

The race was quite unspectacular, save for several incidents which saw safety car periods break up proceedings.

The first such incident occurred on the opening lap, when Valvoline Cummins Race Team driver, Dean Canto, and Glenfords Racing's John Bowe each collided with the tyre bundle at turn two.

Both cars endured front-end damage, as the structure was thrown onto the racing line, forcing race control to send the safety car out to clear the debris from the track.

Track conditions went yellow again, when on lap thirty-seven an incident between James Courtney and Shane Price saw the safety car released to retrieve the latter's stricken Jack Daniels Commodore.

Tander won the race ahead of rival championship contender Jamie Whincup, and Ford's Mark Winterbottom.

The Toll HSV Dealer Team driver is firming up as the likely man to win the title, after further extending his lead over Team Vodafone's Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup, in addition to his own team mate, Rick Kelly.

Steven Richards backed up his team mate's third placing, with a solid performance in fourth, ahead of Lowndes and Kelly.

The Holden Racing Team had mixed success in this race, with Mark Skaife finishing in a solid seventh place, whilst Todd Kelly claimed twelfth position.

Jim Beam Racing had another strong performance, with Steven Johnson and Will Davison placed eighth and ninth, ahead of the two Tasman Motorsport Commodores of Jason Richards and Greg Murphy.