Motorsport: Radisich climbs back from rocky start

Paul Radisich produced a fine drive for Team Kiwi Racing to climb from the back of the grid to 12th in the opening round of the V8 Supercars in Adelaide yesterday.

Radisich, who was forced out of the opening race on Saturday in the first bend, climbed from 27th on the grid in yesterday's 250km race.

Jamie Whincup in a Ford won from Holden's Todd and Rick Kelly.

Radisich was delighted with the effort after a tough start to the championship. "It's encouraging that we seem to have a top-10 car straight out of the box this year," he said.

"It was tough yesterday to get taken out in the first corner after we had qualified in the top-10.

"The crew did a great job to have us back out there and they tidied things up well today. There's still an issue with the front left side of the chassis which we will fix this week."

The Team Kiwi Racing crew worked their pit strategy well to get Radisich in clear air and challenging for a place in the top-10 late in the race.

"There was so much carnage out there you had to be careful ... in the end we decided to button off and take the points on offer."

They compete in the non-championship round at Melbourne next weekend before the next championship round at Pukekohe.

- NZPA