Triple Eight sizzling in Adelaide scorcher.

Team Betta Electrical has scored a strong 1-3 finish during the opening race of the 2006 V8 Supercar Championship at the Clipsal 500 Adelaide.

Craig Lowndes led his younger teammate Jamie Whincup in what was a top effort all round from the Triple Eight Race Engineering-run outfit. Starting behind five Holdens and with only two cars in the top ten, Ford's V8 Supercar contingent looked like enduring a tough start to the season, however that all changed when the frontrunning Commodores began to falter.

It started with Tasman Motorsport's Jason Richards. After qualifying fourth on the grid, Richards lasted less than ten laps, when on the fifth lap he began losing rapid ground to his surrounding rivals. As it turned out, engine issues that had emerged in pre-season testing were the main issue behind Richards' woes and he was soon forced to retire from the race.

Things weren't going terribly flash for Ford's reigning champion either. Russell Ingall made an excellent start, but it lasted no longer than the very first corner of the race, a tap from Greg Murphy forcing him into Paul Radisich at the chicane and resulting in both the Caltex Ford and Radisich's Team Kiwi Racing Holden being forced to pit for repairs.

When the pit window opened, many of the front runners to the opportunity to pit-in. Jamie Whincup, Jason Bright and John Bowe all peeled in for tyre changes on lap seven, followed by debutant James Courtney on lap eight and former champions Mark Skaife and Craig Lowndes on lap nine.

Skaife had started from pole position, but had been overtaken by teammate Todd Kelly on the first lap, yet both Holden Racing Team Commodores were punching out ultra-competitive times - reminiscent of the pace each Holden showed in qualifying and the shootout.

However the lead of 'Team Red' was soon to evaporate in a smear of oil. Skaife and Kelly had encountered a struggling Sirromet Holden of Paul Morris, and struggled to overtake him for several laps. After eventually getting past, Skaife peeled into pitlane to remove an oil smear that had obscured his windscreen vision.

Falling to eight place, Skaife continued to run at the front despite this setback, but things went horribly wrong for him on lap thirty six. Brake failure heading into Turn Four was the first indicator that something in the lead Holden Racing Team Commodore was wrong, and it was most obvious when, at the notorious turn eight sweeper, the steering in Skaife's Holden failed to turn properly at reduced speed, and resulted in the car smacking into the exit wall on Dequetteville Terrace.

After running faultlessly on Friday, the HRT boss was heartbroken with the car failure at the most punishing turn on the V8 Supercar calendar, and is now reassessing his championship charge.

"It just went 'Bang' in the front and no steering at all, and straight into the fence. It's the hardest I've ever hit the fence," said Skaife.

"It was quite a frightening one when you turn the wheel and nothing happens - I was obviously hard on the brakes as I went in to the fence, but it doesn't take much speed off."

"We haven't assessed the car yet but it hit real hard - I'd say it will need a left front rail. It was a brand new car, a half-a-million dollar too, you don't need that sort of stuff happening!

"We thought we were very strong here this weekend and in contention for the championship but this is a big blow to the series for us because points are hard to come by."

With the safety car being brought out, it wasn't much longer before another catastrophic incident occurred at Turn Eight.

In his debut race for Stone Brothers Racing, former Japanesse GT racer and ex-Formula One test driver, James Courtney, met a similar fate to Skaife (ironically his former boss). Courtney crossed up at the sweeper and smashed the wall, then slid across the track and collided with the opposite wall - also narrowly clipping Jason Bargwanna's WPS-Orrcon Falcon.

It was also a difficult end to an encouragingly progressive race for Autobarn Racing and new driver Steve Owen. Knocking on the door of a top ten finish at around the three quarter mark of the race, Owen's Commodore finished in the wall at the hairpin exit on lap fifty-seven, with the driver apparently suffering from heat exhaustion.

It was proof of the record heat in Adelaide this weekend. The Clipsal 500 is traditionally held in March - one of the hottest periods of the year for the city - and temperatures on 500 weekend are always high, and today was no exception - with the ambient temperature reaching levels in excess of 46 degrees centigrade.

Brad Jones' gearbox malfunctioned only minutes from the finish and forced the Team BOC pilot to retire from the race with only five laps to run.

"Obviously we are bitterly disappointed. To be inside the top ten with less than ten laps to go and to then have what appears to be some sort of mechanical failure with the gearbox is heartbreaking for the team," said Jones.

"On the positive side though, the car was working much better today. I would still like a little more grip from the front of the car, but in all, we have proved that we have the pace to be up the front."

Up the front the Toll HSV Dealer Team's Rick Kelly was flying the Holden flag high, after the race restart with just six laps to run, Kelly was holding up a persistent Jamie Whincup in the second Team Betta Falcon. Despite Whincup's best efforts, Kelly was just too good - and delivered his team a second place finish.

"I had a bit of a bee under my bonnet after making a couple of mistakes in the Shootout yesterday. That put me back to eighth, so I was keen to get a good result today," said Kelly.

"I got off the line pretty well, although I had to go on the grass a bit to get poor Jamie (Whincup). So after making up a couple of spots at the start, we plugged away. We had a little bit of a braking problem over the weekend, but the blokes have done a great job, to get the bias right. Today we were able to press on and we'll make a couple of other changes for tomorrow."

Super Cheap Auto Racing's Cameron McConville stamped his presence on the category as a genuine threat to the championship after rising from twenty-first on the grid to fourth ahead of his tenth-starting teammate Greg Murphy in fifth. Todd Kelly recovered from a mid-race dogfight to finish sixth ahead of Steven Richards who also recovered from a bottom fifteen start to claim seventh place.

"Without doubt, that is the hottest conditions I've ever experienced during a race. My cool vest stopped working at half-race distance and I had to turn it off, so that final Safety Car period, which went for about 10 laps, was a Godsend," said McConville.

"My car balance was good and I had a great start. Our pit strategy worked perfectly - we were able to pit near the Safety Car periods - and it dragged us up through the field."

Garth Tander was one of the big losers dropping from third to eighth after seventy-eight laps, whilst Russell Ingall recovered from his disastrous start at the chicane to claim ninth place. Steven Johnson rounded out the top ten in the FirstRock Mortgage Centre BF Falcon.

"It was like a pinball machine at the first corner. I copped a couple of hits and I was gone for all money. Then I was hit again and that straightened me up and I grabbed first gear and got going again," said Ingall.

"That was certainly the toughest race I have ever driven. My water bottle actually ran out mid-way though the race, which is never handy when it is somewhere between 50 and 60 degrees in the car.

"I will also need to make some modifications to my suit and things like the ventilation system. That should make things a lot easier tomorrow. It was pleasing to finish ninth after being last and in the pits after the opening lap, but I certainly had to work hard for it."

One final V8 Supercar race will be conducted tomorrow at the Clipsal 500 Adelaide - once again covering 250 kilometres - to decide the outright winner for the weekend.

Clipsal 500 Adelaide - Race One - Top Ten

1.Craig Lowndes Team Betta Electrical, BF Falcon 02hrs 04:18.5229s
2.Rick Kelly Toll HSV Dealer Team, VZ Commodore +00:01.2594s
3.Jamie Whincup Team Betta Electrical, BF Falcon +00:01.6186s
4.Cameron McConville Super Cheap Auto Racing, VZ Commodore +00:02.7743s
5.Greg Murphy Super Cheap Auto Racing, VZ Commodore +0:05.3537s
6.Todd Kelly Holden Racing Team, VZ Commodore +00:06.7349s
7.Steven Richards Jack Daniel's Racing, VZ Commodore +00:08.3811s
8.Garth Tander Toll HSV Dealer Team, VZ Commodore +00:09.4768s
9.Russell Ingall Caltex Racing, BF Falcon +00:14.0299s
10.Steven Johnson FirstRock Mortgage Centre BF Falcon +00:19.1363s