Team Betta Electrical’s Craig Lowndes took the lead of the V8 Supercar Championship Series in Sydney today and while he remains a strong favourite for the title has assumed a new arch rival in Toll HSV’s Rick Kelly.

Lowndes had a dominant weekend at Oran Park in Sydney’s west to assume the lead when former number one and Kelly team-mate Garth Tander had his first poor round of the year to relinquish his position. Tander slipped back to third with Kelly moving up to second.

It was the end of the reverse grid for the year but that was a race where Lowndes won the event. He then dominated the final race of the weekend to take the win from Kelly and the resurgent James Courtney who claimed his first podium position of his V8 Supercar career.

“We are pretty happy. We are at the right end of the field and staying out of trouble. We have got to refocus now on the endurance rounds,â€￾ Lowndes said.

“We are in the position at this time the season that we wanted to be. There are still a lot of races to be had and a lot of points to be made. This time last year we were about eighth and we managed to come back to second.

“We are definitely looking at the Championship now.â€￾

Kelly is not so sure that Lowndes is a clear cut favourite.

“We’ve been pretty conservative this year and not trying to be too aggressive,â€￾ he said.

“It’s working at the moment and Craig or Garth could have a bad round. We will keep doing what we are, re-assess after Bathurst and see what we have to do from there.â€￾

Courtney may not be able to win the Championship but has proven himself after returning from a decade of racing overseas to race V8 Supercars.

“It’s good to break the ice and be here at the end of the weekend,â€￾ Courtney said.

“We were pretty comfortable at the last round when we were headed for a podium but then it got taken away from us.

“It’s good for the guys who have had a really tough start to the year. We are becoming quite strong but probably still haven’t got the car speed of these guys yet.â€￾

Holden Racing Team’s Todd Kelly’s luck seemed to have changed today – until the first lap of race three that is.

A big incident between Kelly, Jason Bright, Steven Richards and Paul Dumbrell ended the races of Kelly and Richards. Bright and Dumbrell limped through with severe damage to their cars.

Kelly’s passenger door was literally ripped off while Richards’ front end was pushed back virtually to the windscreen. Bright was airborne momentarily on Kelly’s car but managed to slide through and get back to pit lane to repair the damage.

The Holden Racing Team gun was second for the weekend and a chance of overcoming Lowndes until the crash. His team-mate Mark Skaife also had a great day until race three which he failed to finish with some kind of problem.

It followed a masterful drive from the great Skaife in the best reverse grid race of the year by far, somewhat ironic as it is the last appearance of the format for 2006.

It was an uncanny drive by Skaife to win the middle race from an amazing 30th place on the starting grid. It was even more incredible given that but for a gear box problem he no doubt would have won the first race yesterday.

Equally Lowndes was in brilliant touch after starting not far in front of Skaife and finishing third for the race behind Garry Rogers Motorsport’s Lee Holdsworth who produced his best drive of the year to finish third.

Lowndes’ effort was even more remarkable given that he spun early in the race and was pushed back to dead last.

was a great day, was there from 730am til the end of the last race!

sydney turned out a good day for it, im red as from the sun... but none the less was some very good racing and great entertainment

good news

go lowndes!

Watched it on tv, was good to watch the Fords stickin it to them lol