SATURDAY RE-CAPAn early morning and it started with the Race 1 qualifying session, The Session took place with Whincup sitting on provisional pole with the Top Ten shoot out still to go. Fabian Coulthard was once more quick, And the suprise of the session had to be Frenchman Alex Premat rounding it out in 4th spot! Frosty and Reynolds put in a solid performance to continue through to the shootout as well as young Scotty McLaughlin.
Before the shootout however, We had another qualifying session. The session for Race 2. This one, didn't have a shootout and it was Fabian Coulthard who took the Pole in his Lockwood Racing Commodore. Craig Lowndes also scored a front row start with Whincup on the row behind. The two Pepsi Max Fords started from 4th and 5th. Also should be noted a solid effort by Rick Kelly to push his Altima up the order for a 12th place start and Lee Holdsworth grabbing a 13th place start in his E63.
Then next up, The Shootout. It resulted in Whincup holding onto Pole as well as Coulthard securing a 1st row start. WInterbottom would start from the 2nd row as well as Jason Bright. Alex Premat plumeted down the order to 7th and Scott McLaughlin gained another 5 spots starting from the 3rd row of the grid. Lowndes would start from 10th after he outbraked himself.
Race 1 came up, And it was an interesting one. Frosty & Whincup both had tyre Dramas, Their excessive use of the Kerbing resulted in their tyres popping off the bead. Scott McLaughlin quickly found himself in the lead of the short 35 lap race. He put in a flawless performance to claim his first ever V8 Supercar race win at the age of 19, It was made a little bit sweeter being his home race. Garry Rogers was stoked, as well as Scott! He is definately going to be a star in years to come. Jason Bright put in a good effort to take 2nd, Lowndes taking 3rd. Coulthard lost a few spots and finished in 5th. Whincup was 26th and Frosty finished in 18th with a slight recovery from his tyre issues, An unfortnate mechanical failure resulted in Alex Premat, who was pumped after scoring 7th in the Shootout not finishing the race, He managed to help Scott McLaughlin to victory however by holding 2nd place at bay for a portion of the race. Will Davison was the highest placed Ford in 7th.
Now it was time for Race 2, A real shocker for Frosty - But it must be said, I am a happy Ford supporter, You have to take a chance every now and again to win races, and unfortunately today, it didn't pay off. Coulthard started from pole BUT, He blew it. A false start resulted in a 10 second penalty at the end of the race which saw him finish in 10th. Jamie Whincup won his first race of the season when Frosty locked up when trying to make a passing move on the final lap, It saw Frosty finish in 13th. WIll Davison put in a solid effort to grab 3rd ahead of Garth Tander. Scott McLaughlin had a shocker of a race after he was involved in an incident between Jason Bright & James Courtney, Courtney tagged the rear quater of Bright and spun himself into McLaughlin who was just trying to avoid the whole incident. Van Gisbergen and Bright did a good job to recover their cars and continue on in the race. Rick kelly put in a good effort to get his ALtima upto 7th, and James Moffat finished with his Altima in 9th. The best showing for the Nissans yet. Allthough it was a Shocker for our man Frosty - One thing we can look forward to is tomorrow, a further two races. And Frosty has Pace, and tyre life.
GO FORD!
