Motorsport: Lowndes enjoys first-up win in V8 final

Championship contender Craig Lowndes won the first race of the triple sprint weekend at the V8 Supercars final round at Phillip Island yesterday but made no significant ground in the championship.

Pole-sitter Lowndes had slipped back to third during the race but doggedly fought back into the lead to win from Holden's Garth Tander and Ford's Marcos Ambrose.

The victory gives Lowndes 64 points but series leader Russell Ingall, who led by 49 points heading into the race, emerged unscathed as Holdens collided around him to finish in fifth position. Ingall's top-five finish ensured the Ford driver 56 points and he will hold a 41-point buffer in tomorrow's two 32-lap races.

Two-time series champ Ambrose finished third only closed his deficit to Ingall by four points and still trails by 82 - making a third consecutive championship highly unlikely. Tander's HSV Dealer team-mate finished fourth and Greg Murphy sixth.

It was a diabolical day for Holden's series contenders as Todd Kelly, Mark Skaife and Steven Richards all speared off track and finished back in the field, ending their faint title aspirations.

Skaife ran off the track in a frenetic opening lap and rejoined the race in 28th position before climbing to 15th.

Kelly and Richards were locked in a three-way battle with Ford's Jason Bright on lap 11 but ended up bumping each other off the track as Ingall luckily slipped past.

Kelly recovered to finish 13th while Richards was black-flagged for the incident and tailed off to 27th position.

- HERALD ON SUNDAY