Dumbrell ignites season with Townsville triumph

Reigning Dunlop Series winner Paul Dumbrell ended Cameron Waters’ run of wins with victory in Race 2 at Townsville.

Dumbrell made the most of an impressive start which helped pave the way for the Eggleston Motorsport driver to complete a lights-to-flag win from Waters with polesitter Chris Pither in third.

The decisive move came on the opening lap when Dumbrell slid underneath Waters at Turn 2 having launched from the second row of the grid.

It proved to be messy first lap as Ant Pedersen turned Aaren Russell around at the same corner, which sparked a multiple car accident involving Brett Hobson, Geoff Emery and Kurt Kostecki.

Race Control had no option but to deploy the Safety Car to neutralise the race.

Dumbrell made a textbook restart to hold off the Prodrive Falcon of Waters, who tried to find a gap to pass the Red Bull Racing V8 Supercars co-driver.

With the restart successfully completed, Dumbrell edged away at the front as he went on to claim victory by 2.5s to end Waters’ run of seven consecutive wins.

After coming under pressure in the early laps from Todd Hazelwood and Jack Le Brocq, Pither enjoyed a relatively trouble free run to third in the Ice Break Falcon.

Le Brocq came home in fourth while Hazelwood managed to pass Simon Evans on the final lap to secure fifth.

The experienced Paul Morris finished seventh ahead of James Golding, Garry Jacobson and Taz Douglas, who completed the top 10.

Rookies Bryce Fullwood and Renee Gracie produced fine drives to finish 11th and 12th respectively.

Waters continues to lead the championship by 145 points as the Dunlop Series heads to Queensland Raceway for the fifth round on July 31-August 2.

Result: Dunlop Series Race 2, Townsville