KEY POINTS:
Russell Ingall said it was going to be a crashfest and it didn't take long for the action to unfold in race one of the V8 Supercars yesterday.
Ironically, it was Ingall who was at the centre of the action as up to 10 cars were involved in
a pile-up on the first lap when he hit Steven Johnson. The 44-year-old was forced to retire, along with Johnson and Shane Price. They were soon joined by Michael Patrizi who ran into the wall.
Ingall's prophecy seemed to be coming true as the first seven laps were run virtually under the guidance of the safety car. The 58,418 fans might have enjoyed a little carnage, but a procession behind a safety car was not what they had come to see.
The fans wanted to see Fords tangling with Holdens at more than 250km/h and they got it in an exciting start to Hamilton's life as a stop on the V8 circuit.
Garth Tander could become the answer to a trivia question on who was the driver to win the first-ever Hamilton street race.
Last year's championship winner took over the lead from Holden team-mate Mark Skaife halfway through the race and held off Rick Kelly, who won last year's Pukekohe event, in second. Kiwi-born Steven Richards was third and first Ford home.
Richards started on pole but locked his brakes on the first lap and allowed Tander, who started alongside Richards in second, through. The carnage on the first lap, however, saw teams dive into the pits, allowing Skaife, who had started ninth, into the lead.
"It's fantastic to win the first ever race here," Tander said. "The car was really good. I think we got lucky on the first lap when Richo locked the brakes and went wide because he would have been difficult to get by.
"They probably need to massage the chicane a little bit. But I don't think we need to change the track a whole heap. Other than that, I think it's fantastic. People are critical of the bump into three but you're not going to pass through there anyway.
"It's the nature of a new track and a street circuit that we will all find where you can pass and where you can't. It sounded like a few found where you couldn't."
Greg Murphy was one of them. The Kiwi displayed moments of brilliance, particularly as he had a brand new Holden to contend with, but ultimately had a frustrating day.
He set the fastest lap of the day - 1 min 25.536 secs - clipped Craig Lowndes in the first couple of laps and then limped into the pits on the sixth lap minus his left front wheel. The four-time Bathurst winner returned later, knowing many of the crowd had come to see him race, and placed 23rd of the 24 cars that finished the race.
Young Kiwi Shane van Gisbergen also had tyre trouble, puncturing with only three laps to go. The 18-year-old had been one of the quickest on the track and had moved up to ninth after starting 11th on the grid.
Yesterday's result saw Rick Kelly close the gap on championship leader Jamie Whincup, who was forced to sit out the weekend after slamming into the wall during qualifying. The consistent Kelly is now only 20 points behind on the table and will likely move ahead after today's two races.
"We had a good race out there and we were happy to sit behind Garth," Kelly said. "We didn't have the pace to get catch and get past so that wasn't an option out there.
"We were just trying to keep things consistent and bring the car home. If we can get a little bit more speed out of me and the car we should be at least where we were today.
"It's difficult to move forward but quite easy to move back."
Tander and Kelly will start today on the front row of the grid when the first of the two V8 Supercar races goes at 11.30am.
