Ambrose doubles up in Adelaide.

Holden may have fought through a mixture of problems to claim third and fourth place in race two of the V8 Supercar Series opener, but the Clipsal 500 was all about Marcos Ambrose and Ford.

Current champion Ambrose was simply too good as he repeated the beating he had handed out to the field on Saturday, thrilling the record 255,600 crowd, but HRT's Mark Skaife and Todd Kelly won Holden hearts as they brought their cars back through the field, with Skaife finishing third in the race and Kelly third overall.

Betta Electrical's Craig Lowndes again finished on the podium, a remarkable feat for the Triple Eight Ford driver, who found himself at the back of the field after being turned around on the very first lap at the chicane.

From the start of the race, under blue skies in Adelaide, Ambrose was in a class of his own. Whilst team-mate Russell Ingall talked up putting himself into the lead when interviewed on the grid, the reality for the former Adelaide resident was a poor start, which allowed Steven Johnson to get ahead of him.

Whilst Ingall soon retook the place, it allowed Ambrose a real gift - as if he needed it - with the only driver likely to be able to challenge him at the start having having to work his way past the Westpoint Racing DJR Falcon. Whilst Ingall's pass of the DJR car didn't take long, Ambrose was very happy with the gift all the same.

Behind this, the issue at the Adelaide street course for those without the gift of a clear track was always going to be dealing with the traffic, and at the same time avoiding the walls.

The two other drivers to join the reigning champ on the podium at race end achieved this remarkably. Both Skaife - through his DNF in race one - and Lowndes through his enforced 180 degree turn, found themselves at the back of the field but worked their way patiently through the 33 car strong grid to the podium. Had Skaife and Lowndes started, and stayed, at the front it's unlikely the NASCAR aimed Ambrose would have had it quite so easily.

Whilst Skaife and Lowndes found their way forwards, Ambrose's team-mate Russell Ingall managed the reverse. From his second place, Ingall made a poor start. This was rectified, but then a mid-distance Ingall seemed to miss a gear along the straight and lost two positions. His work was cut out, and then it was even more so when gear selection problems in the latter half of the race meant that Ingall had to hold his Falcon in second gear.

As befits the endurance nature of the V8 Supercar season opener, incident or penalties were no hinder to a good finishing position. Witness fourth placed finisher Todd Kelly, who early on in the race was a pitlane regular with two drive-through penalties served before taking his fuel stop. He wasn't too happy with this, but the older Kelly brother still showed the speed of the second HRT Commodore.

Late returnee to the series, after only missing the non-championship Albert Park races, Max Wilson impressed with his performance in the Team Dynamik Commdore of Tony Longhurst. Max Wilson's start in the race was down in twenty-seventh place, he twice was turned around at the same corner, yet the diminutive Max was flying in the later stages of the race for his seventh placed finish.

Wilson's former team-mate at Triple Eight last year also had a solid race. Radisich looked quick again at the start of the weekend and then drove well, seemingly avoiding most of the incidents, and there were many, at the street course. The Kiwi's experience showed and a tenth was the result.

The action certainly turned up a level as the race neared its end. Greg Ritter in the Ford Credit FPR Falcon ran wide at turn six and the unfortunate Jason Richards was collected putting both cars out of the race and bringing out the safety car.

Twenty laps remained, and the massive Ambrose lead evaporated in a moment. Mark Skaife - fastest lap holder from Saturday's leg - and Sunday's fastest man, Marcos Ambrose were both in sight of each other for the restart which should have meant a perfect opportunity to check out the relative race pace between the HRT and the SBR cars. However, Anthony Tratt's car was a convenient sandwich for Ambrose, and Skaife had the attentions of old team-mate Craig Lowndes right with him.

Lowndes hassled Skaife, but the Tratt buffer worked perfectly for Ambrose who disappeared off once more. Lowdnes managed to nurf the HRT car wide, but watching on was Russell Ingall who took the two of them in one go. Unfortunately for the Caltex car driver, his gear selection woes were already in evidence, and he overshot at the next corner, undoing his fine passing move.

Ingall was later to run long into Wakefield Street and he struggled to get it back into the race and was an eventual eighteenth place finisher.

The Lowndes/Skaife battle continued till the race end. Lowndes' tyres were truly shot as the chequered flag neared, and the Skaife HRT kept the pressure on all the way. The cheers from the fans as the Holden man and the former Holden man who firmly nailed himself to the blue oval were massive, drowning out the roar of the V8s. A mistake from Skaife on the last lap however, gave the Triple Eight car some space and Lowndes led the red car across the line.

"I think we've got a good car, but we've got a star of a driver," said Triple Eight's Roland Dane. His driver more modestly gave the credit to his Ford Falcon. "The car was a jet," said Lowndes.

After a tough start to the weekend, Mark Skaife was happy. "It was a great run for us, the car was fantastic," said a breathless Skaife at the end of the race. "That's as hard as it gets, Lowdes and I were at it, the cars were pretty ordinary at the end."

But despite the strength on display elsewhere, Marcos Ambrose truly remains the man to beat. "I'm absolutely pumped up with the result, I'm just having a blast," said the reigning champion.

"It looks too easy," said Greg Murphy when watching the in-car footage of Ambrose from the commentary box. It was for the Tasmanian in Adelaide, but Murph and the rest of the V8 Supercar contenders will be hoping Ambrose doesn't have it quite all his way when they are next in action in New Zealand.

Top ten
1. Marcos Ambrose
2. Craig Lowndes
3. Mark Skaife
4. Todd Kelly
5. Paul Dumbrell
6. Cameron McConville
7. Max Wilson
8. Paul Weel
9. Rick Kelly
10. Paul Radisich