Motorsport: Ambrose drives Ford to victory in Adelaide

Defending champion Marcos Ambrose gave Stone Brothers Racing and Ford the perfect start to the season with victory in the opening round of the V8 Supercar Championship in Adelaide yesterday.

Craig Lowndes and five-time champion Mark Skaife, who came together in the first corner of the first lap, worked their way through the field to take up the podium placings.

Ambrose was in a class of his own, winning both races with comparative ease, with his New Zealand owners Stone Brothers Racing also in total command with their machinery and pit strategies.

Ambrose took maximum points from the round ahead of Lowndes and Holden's Todd Kelly.

The best of the New Zealanders in the second race was Paul Radisich who gave the revitalised Team Kiwi Racing Holden a real fillip when he drove from 23rd place on the grid to finish 10th.

Craig Baird fought his way through the field to finish 17th for his new WPS Ford team, while Simon Wills was 19th for Team Dynamik Holden.

It proved a tough day for the rest of the Kiwis, with Greg Murphy, Steven Richards and Jason Richards all with major problems. Murphy was out early with a gearbox problem in his Super Cheap Auto Holden, while Steven Richards was in outstanding form in the Castrol Perkins Holden. He worked his way to second after negotiating both compulsory stops before clipping a sweeping corner on the front straight which forced a tyre change. He also went off again later.

Jason Richards came to grief on the same corner a lap later when he was given nowhere to go following Greg Ritter and crashed heavily after he had moved the Tasman Motorsport Holden into the top 10.

"It was so frustrating for us. Its been a tough weekend, Jason Richards said. "We had an alternator problem on Saturday and today we were going really well. We had track position until Ritter crashed in front of us.

"I had nowhere to go. It's really gutting for me and for the team. But now we need to get the car ready and really focus for Pukekohe which is going to be really special for all the Kiwi drivers for the final time there."

Ambrose was totally dominant in a brilliant display.

"It was a magnificent weekend. My team gave me a great car and things went so well," Ambrose said.

"It's great to get maximum points and it takes some pressure off the championship. Now I am just going to focus on winning races."

It was an encouraging effort for Team Kiwi Racing and Radisich after a mistake that pushed them back through the field on Saturday.

"A top-10 finish here was excellent, given we started on 23rd place, Team Kiwi manager David John said. "We had to make an early stop for tyres and take on a big fuel load accordingly as the only way to leapfrog the field. That meant Paul had a slower car in the middle of the race.

"We know we have a fast car that was very competitive. That is very encouraging as we now turn our attention to the New Zealand round in Pukekohe. We want to do well there in front of our home fans and because this is the final time the V8 Supercars will be seen at Pukekohe."

The second round of the championships is the PlaceMakers V8 International at Pukekohe on April 15-17.