The Repco Supercars Championship had only one 19-lap dash at Albert Park for the MSS Security Melbourne SuperSprint and it was Will Brown taking a start-to-finish victory as Red Bull Ampol Racing continued its unbeaten run to begin the season.
Brown was never too far in the lead as Monster Castrol Racing’s Cam Waters then teammate Broc Feeney were the pursuers until both fell back following contact.
Waters had lost second to Feeney and attempted to regain it almost immediately at Turn 13, but contact was made and the Tickford Racing driver was the biggest loser dropping to seventh.
Feeney lost second to Winterbottom, but regained it on the next lap, but a rare mistake on the final lap allowed the veteran DEWALT Racing driver to finish runner up and Penrite Racing’s Matt Payne to stand on the final step of the podium.
An incident at the start involving Payne and Shell V-Power Racing Team’s Anton De Pasquale exiting Turn 4 resulted in the latter retiring after wheel-to-wheel contact caused steering damage.
Behind the top three, Feeney held on for fourth from Shell V-Power Racing Team’s Will Davison, the Bendix Racing Camaro of Nick Percat and polesitter Waters.
Erebus Motorsport duo Jack Le Brocq and Todd Hazelwood finished ahead of PremiAir Nulon Racing’s Tim Slade completed the top 10.
David Reynolds was 11th after struggling during the race as Ryan Wood scored his best result so far in 12th.
A battle between Bryce Fullwood, Cam Hill, Thomas Randle and James Golding went sour when the Castrol Mustang locked up at Turn 10 hitting the rear of the Tyrepower Racing Camaro to send it into a spin. Randle was penalised 15s for the contact.
Qualifying starts the second half of the weekend for the Repco Supercars Championship at Albert Park at 9:00am AEDT tomorrow.