Reynolds held off a late charge by Diesel Thomas to win by just over 0.1s as leading cars fell in a battle of attrition.
Scott Andriske came home in third position ahead of Super2 racer Ayrton Hodson, with Brandon Madden rounding out the top five.
Anthony Di Mauro led the field away from pole position, however went nowhere off the start with a mechanical issue.
The pole-sitter re-joined the field several laps down, however was not classified come the race conclusion.
Craig Thompson struggled in the early laps with front left lock-ups at the hairpin, kicked off by a late divebomb move on the opening lap to take the lead.
Thompson was shuffled back in the opening laps after being forced wide at the final corner, falling to the back half of the top 10.
Scott Dornan raced his way to the lead in the early laps, but suffered a spectacular mechanical failure while leading, with plumes of smoke bellowing from the rear.
Dornan was able to limp back to the pit lane and the race continued.
Reynolds built a lead of over 1.5s at the mid-point of the race, with Madden looking poised to chase the leader down.
A slight mistake dropped Madden down the order, allowing Thomas through to hunt down the leader.
Legend Cars Australia front runners Ruben Dan and Chais Tippett encountered difficult series debuts.
Dan did not start Race 1, while Tippett battled in the mid-pack to finish 12th.
Aussie Racing Cars returns for Race 2 on Saturday at 8:50am AEST.
Touring Car Masters
Marcus Zukanovic charged through to take victory in the exhibition Trophy Race, beating Steven Johnson by just 0.08s in a late thriller.
Adam Garwood held on to take third place in the Ford Capri Perana, despite an off-track excursion at the penultimate corner.
Danny Buzadzic came home in fourth ahead of Tim Brook rounding out the top five.
In a scrambled grid order that saw the fastest cars start at the back, Jordan Cox led the field away in the Improved Production-spec Mazda RX-7, however quickly lost the lead to faster machines.
Cox battled through and held on to sixth spot despite the straight line speed disadvantage.
Former series champion Ryan Hansford ground to a halt at the mid point of the race, with a mechanical issue side-lining the Multispares Racing Torana on the back straight.
Touring Car Masters returns for the first of three full points paying races on Saturday at 2:20pm.
Round 1 winner Scott Cameron will lead the field after qualifying on pole position this morning.
Tassie Tin Tops
Ben Purtell took victory in the ex-drift Nissan 180SX, inheriting the lead in the closing laps from Brad Sherriff.
Sherriff led the opening portion of the race from the start in his R34 Skyline, until contact from Hayden Lovell at the final corner sent the car into a spin.
Sherriff was classified in 20th position having not made it out of the pit lane, while Lovell was side-lined with steering damage.
Tim Mann held on to second position from Craig Sheehan, while Josh Barwick charged through the field in the sister car to Sherriff’s to finish fourth.
Mark Duggan rounded out the top five in the big Aston Martin DBRS9 Sports Sedan.
Tassie Tin Tops return on Saturday for Race 2 at 9:20am.
Discussion about this post