Dumbrell wins chaotic opener
Paul Dumbrell has walked away with the first win of 2016 in a crash-marred first race of the V8 Supercars Dunlop Series.
After starting from fourth on the grid, Dumbrell took the lead on lap three from South Australian Josh Kean, who secured the lead at the race start from second on the grid.
ARMOR ALL Pole Position winner Todd Hazelwood was slow of the start, soon coming under siege by the charging pack, falling back to fifth.
Meanwhile, Kean soon succumbed to charging teammate Andrew Jones, who finished the race in second, while Hazelwood took the chequered flag in 22nd and three laps down after a tyre failure saw him collide with Steve Owen.
Despite the collision, Owen managed to finish the race in fifth.
Prodrive Racing Australia chargers Garry Jacobson and Jack le Brocq came home in third and fourth respectively, ahead of Garry Rogers Motorsport prodigy Richard Muscat in fifth.
Click here for the full results.
While Muscat managed to dodge the carnage, teammate James Golding finished 13th after being collected by Josh Kean, who clipped the PAYCE Commodore when he tried to rejoin the field on lap 17 after spinning at the final corner.
The contact caused extensive damage to the front of Kean’s Wynn’s Commodore, which was furthered when Kean speared into the tyre wall at the first turn, bringing out the second safety car.
The bad luck didn’t stop there for Brad Jones Racing, with Macauley Jones grazing the wall at turn four when he ran out of room on the lap 14 restart.
He was then turned around in the final few laps of the race, which backed him into the wall and heavily damaged the rear of the car.
The first safety car was deployed when Dan Day hit the wall at turn four and parked on the apex, unable to start his Image Racing Falcon.
Turn eight saw its second Dunlop Series victim of the weekend when 16-year-old Jake Kostecki smacked the concrete barrier on the opening lap, ending his race, while Chelsea Angelo was dealt a pit lane penalty after making contact with Kurt Kostecki at turn six.
The format for the Dunlop Series resets tomorrow, with qualifying kicking off at 8.45am to set the grid for race two, which begins at 12.20pm.
