news: Whincup crushes the field in Townsville

Jamie Whincup on his way to victory in Race 15

Jamie Whincup has dominated the opening race of the Sucrogen Townsville 400, leading almost every lap of the 72-lap event.

The TeamVodafone driver decimated the field in Race 15 of the V8 Supercars Championship Series, with the only glitch in his race being a slow start.

Both Garth Tander (Toll Holden Racing Team) and Mark Winterbottom (Orrcon Ford Performance Racing) passed Whincup at the start, but it only took him a handful of laps to reassert his position to claim the top spot.

Tander took second ahead of Winterbottom. Lee Holdsworth (Fujitsu/GRM) took a consistent fourth place – never threatening a podium place, and holding out a late challenge from championship leader James Courtney, who finished an eventful fifth.

In the opening stages of the race, Courtney clashed with his Jim Beam Racing team-mate Steve Johnson, turning Johnson around and out of the running. Despite some minor damage to Courtney’s front bar, he raced on to fifth to marginally hold his title lead over Whincup. However, Courtney’s position may be in jeopardy with a stewards meeting to follow regarding the clash with Johnson, who recovered from the spin to take 11^th place.

After a poor qualifying position, Russell Ingall mounted a mega comeback in his Supercheap Auto Racing Commodore VE. ‘The Enforcer’ eventually finished sixth after a great battle over the last few laps with Team BOC’s Jason Richards, who was equally as strong during the race after a difficult qualifying session.

Shane van Gosbergen (SP Tools Racing) passed Steve Richards (Dunlop Super Dealers FPR) with five laps to go to take eighth place, while Paul Dumbrell (The Bottle-O Racing) rounded out the top 10.

Craig Lowndes was provisional fastest in qualifying, but his day only got worse. A mistake and the top 10 shootout, followed by a clash with the concrete wall at the opening corner put paid to his run.

In the ‘did not finish’ category was Jason Bright, Tony D’Alberto and Andrew Thompson. Bright had engine problems, while D’Alberto did not start the race after rear end problems plagued his entry.

V8 Supercars Race 15 result

1	1	Jamie Whincup	72
2	2	Garth Tander	72
3	5	Mark Winterbottom	72
4	33	Lee Holdsworth	72
5	18	James Courtney	72
6	39	Russell Ingall	72
7	8	Jason Richards	72
8	9	Shane Van Gisbergen	72
9	6	Steven Richards	72
10	55	Paul Dumbrell	72
11	17	Steven Johnson	72
12	47	Tim Slade	72
13	4	Alex Davison	72
14	24	Fabian Coulthard	72
15	15	Rick Kelly	72
16	19	Jonathon Webb	72
17	7	Todd Kelly	71
18	22	Will Davison	71
19	34	Michael Caruso	71
20	12	Dean Fiore	71
21	21	Karl Reindler	71
22	11	Jason Bargwanna	71
23	51	Greg Murphy	71
24	30	Cameron McConville	70
25	16	Tony Ricciardello	70
26	888	Craig Lowndes	61
DNF	14	Jason Bright	44
DNF	3	Tony D’Alberto	31
DNF	10	Andrew Thompson	27

V8 Championship Series

1.	James Courtney	1809
2.	Jamie Whincup	1791
3.	Shane Van Gisbergen	1502
4.	Craig Lowndes	1479
5.	Mark Winterbottom	1473
6.	Garth Tander	1380
7.	Lee Holdsworth	1338
8.	Rick Kelly	1286
9.	Michael Caruso	1187
10.	Steven Johnson	1112
11.	Paul Dumbrell	1011
12.	Jason Richards	1008
13.	Russell Ingall	971
14.	Jonathon Webb	927
15.	Tim Slade	882
16.	Tony D’Alberto	849
17.	Will Davison	843
18.	Todd Kelly	822
19.	Jason Bright	794
20.	Steven Richards	699
21.	Alex Davison	675
22.	Fabian Coulthard	645
23.	Jason Bargwanna	624
24.	Dean Fiore	551
25.	Daniel Gaunt	539
26.	Greg Murphy	513
27.	Tony Ricciardello	477
28.	Karl Reindler	402
29.	Andrew Thompson	335
30.	Cameron McConville	33
31.	Paul Morris	26