Photo: HDT

Rick leaves Adelaide in third

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A commendable 6th place in Race 2 today for Rick Kelly after what was an action packed final race at the Clipsal 500. The combined points tally from Race 1 and Race 2 means Kelly finishes the weekend and Round 1 of the 2008 on 192 points and sitting third on the Championship points table.

The HSV Dealer Team proved they had a quick car earlier today when Rick Kelly posted the fastest time in the 20 minute warm up session, with a time of 1:21.9056. Team-mate Paul Dumbrell finished 7th fastest in the session..

For Paul Dumbrell his Race 2 ended agonisingly close to the finish line, when a drama with the #16 Autobarn Racing car put him out of the race.

Over 291,000 people attended the Clipsal 500 over the four days, a record breaking crowd for the 10th Anniversary of the event. After the running of Race 2 today, Jamie Whincup took the top spot, closely followed by two Holden drivers Lee Holdsworth and Cameron McConville.

Under the recently clarified V8 Supercar Championship ruling, Whincup is declared the Clipsal 500 winner by virtue of claiming Sunday’s race. He also takes maximum points from Adelaide by winning back-to-back on the weekend.

With Round 1 out of the way and Eastern Creek less than two weeks away, the HSV Dealer Team will be looking to improve on their Clipsal result.

Rick Kelly said: “Finishing the weekend in third position, on points, is a ‘get out of jail free’ card I guess. We’ve had a few issues across the Clipsal, but I got a good start in Race 2 today and was lucky to stay out of trouble, when lots of drivers were finding it.

“Third placing is probably a decent result after all of that and we’ll just get things nailed down ahead of Eastern Creek. I was probably a bit cautious at times today, but I think we did a good job to get the car home given everything that went on today.

“The engineers and the rest of garage are all working well together and Erik Pender has done a great job – we’ve been tested and we got through.”

Team mate Paul Dumbrell said: “Definitely not the way I wanted to start the year. We had some dramas early in today’s race so I was basically just motoring around, trying to pick up some points. The car just went straight on at Turn 8, not far from the finish. It’s shattering for the team and the boys who worked so hard to get us ready for this weekend.

“I am just looking forward to Eastern Creek in a fortnight – that’s now Round 1 for me.”