Radisich, Rydell give Triple Eight top ten debut.

The Betta Electrical Sandown 500 had all the drama that the weather could throw at it, but the experienced pairing of Paul Radisich and Rickard Rydell weathered the storms to being new V8 Supercar team owners Triple Eight Engineering a maiden top ten finish.

At the beginning of the race, the wind and the cold were the main factors the drivers were taking into account. Within two hours, the rain had been and gone on two occasions, only to be followed by hail at lap 115. Team plans, which had been carefully thought through, came unstuck for a variety of reasons, and team managers had to be thinking on their feet throughout, as the conditions confused their strategies.

The race got underway under cloudy skies, but Radisich had said prior to the start he was 'comfortable the day would unfold well for Team Betta Electrical whether it rained or not'. True to his word, the Kiwi got off to a great start, when he gained a place into turn one on the opening lap.

By lap eight, the race had settled into a rhythm with Marcos Ambrose leading by eight seconds, while Radisich remained in a strong fourth place. On lap 39, however, the heavens opened and the rain started. This saw a flurry of activity in pit-lane, but it wasn't until lap 68 that Rydell took over behind the wheel.

Around the same time, Ambrose handed over to team-mate Russell Ingall, but things did not go smoothly for the points leader's team, as Ingall went off almost as soon as he had got into the car. The incident was the first time the safety car was needed, and it remained out for two laps while the blue Ford was recovered. Radisich commented that the track was 'slippery, but not as dangerous as in the past, even though conditions are still quite treacherous."

By lap 105, the skies were looking even more threatening, sending team managers scurrying to rethink their strategies as far as driver changes. Rain starting again at lap 111 caused more chaos, and there were only five drivers in the lead lap at this point. All the signs suggested a repeat of the last Sandown 500,, when the race was shortened by rain to 157 laps - and, as if to reinforce the point, hail began to fall on lap 115.

This brought about very dangerous conditions, and Paul Dumbrell went off and hit the tyre wall which meant the rescue trucks had to come out again, firstly to remove Dumbrell's car and, secondly, to repair the tyre wall. Rick Kelly in the Kmart car also had problems, with the rear wing coming loose after an incident in pit-lane, but Rydell was driving as though he had been in a V8 Supercar all his life. The Swede continued to hold the fourth place secured early on by Radisich, finally ceding it when he handed back to the New Zealander under the safety car on lap 121.

The race resumed on lap 127 but, with 20 minutes to go, was not going to be able to run its full 161-lap distance. By lap 131, Radisich had pushed his way through the field to get to back into eighth position but, with time running, out the Kiwi could only manage to take one more place and finished in a creditable seventh to give new owners Triple Eight a solid start to its V8 involvement.