Motorsport: Murphy in trouble as Skaife wins

If the bumps, lumps and thumps are half as entertaining as yesterday, today's reverse-grid race in the V8 Supercars series at Pukekohe will be extreme entertainment - but it is likely it will be without defending champion and local hero Greg Murphy.

While Holden fans had plenty to cheer about with the win to Mark Skaife, they witnessed Murphy take a buffeting which saw the man who has dominated Pukekohe over the last five years end up head-first into the wall on the first turn of the opening lap.

Race fans love this stuff but reports from Murphy's camp suggested last night that his car is "totalled" and he will likely not be able to continue this weekend - a bitter disappointment after his crash in the first round in Adelaide.

The race continued after a safety-car period, with Skaife having a great pit stop and taking the checkered flag ahead of reigning series champion Russell Ingall and Jason Bright - both in Fords.

Skaife said that he was happy with the result, especially after his horrific opening round in Adelaide where he collected no points.

Skaife, who crashed badly after qualifying on pole in the previous round of the series in Adelaide, made no mistakes and cruised to his first single-driver win since Perth last year.

Series champion Ingall, of Stone Brothers Racing, drove a steady race from the second row of the grid and stayed out of trouble to finish second.

It proved a strong day for Ford Performance Racing, with drivers Jason Bright and Mark Winterbottom finishing third and fourth in their best efforts of the season.

In other incidents, Rick Kelly stalled at the start, while his brother Todd Kelly failed to finish due to a power steering problem.

New Zealand's Jason Richards had a similar issue but struggled home in last place - thus securing the front of the grid for today's controversial reverse grid race.

The new reverse grid will be used for the first time in the V8 Supercars - something most of the drivers are a little nervous about.

Skaife is certainly uncertain: "Let's see what happens. If Russell [Ingall] forges through and fires a few blokes off and I come through with no damage, I'll be very happy."

Ingall anticipates a dramatic race. "I don't know how we are going to play it. It is going to be a definite survival race. It is going to be mayhem," he said.

The thrills were also plentiful in the Porsche GT3 race's spectacular crash by Dean Fulford, while the Placemakers V8 international started in dramatic fashion.

Championship leader and Holden driver Kane Scott was penalised overnight by 150 points and fined $1000 for illegally testing a fellow competitor's car. The points deduction dropped him out of the lead, now held by Ford driver Angus Fogg.

In the first race of the weekend, Fogg led from start to finish with Scott's Commodore finishing second, just ahead of John McIntyre in the Ford. Following the race, Fogg said he had problems.

"It's hard to drive at the front with no one close enough to challenge and who knows what is going to happen with the Kane Scott appeal?"

The results of yesterday's race are provisional as a protest has been filed with the stewards.

In the Paul Kelly motor series, Wanganui's Earl Bamber took the win from 16-year-old Auckland sixth former Shane Van Geisbergen, who clinched the championship with a race in hand, winning the championship in his rookie year.

The Toyota Racing Series opening heat saw several cars stall on the start line, which forced the race to be restarted. Unfortunately, more incidents in the restart saw the race stopped again.

After four restarts and three safety cars, honours went to series champion Daniel Gaunt from Christchurch, with Andy Knight second and 22-year-old visiting English driver Ben Clucas (making a one-off start in the series) coming third.