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David Reynolds today emerged as the best of the Castrol runners in the 65-lap conclusion to the Coates Hire Ipswich 300 at Queensland Raceway, taking his Kelly Racing prepared, Stratco-backed Commodore to fifth place in a gruelling encounter won by Craig Lowndes.
Lowndes continued the domination by TeamVodafone and closed the Championship gap to team-mate ? Jamie Whincup ? in sight of the endurance races. Whincup suffered a throttle issue on the starting grid, ultimately fighting back to 10th. The brilliant Tim Slade was second and Shane Van Gisbergen completed a golden day for Stone Bros Racing in third.
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Reynolds was the only driver in the top 10 in the Castrol colours ? yesterday?s point man, Rick Kelly turned around by Whincup on the final circulation.
Russell Ingall came home in 11th after an epic late race battle with James Courtney ? the pair banged door handles for much of the last couple of laps. Greg Murphy finished in 13th for Pepsi Max Crew. Todd Kelly in the Castrol-backed Jack Daniels racer had a turnaround in form, carding a solid 15th.
Rick Kelly was able to hold onto 17th, whilst the soft tyre woes at Ford Performance Racing continued ? Mark Winterbottom 19th, followed home by Tony d?Alberto and Will Davison in 21st. Paul Dumbrell could manage just 24th ? whilst Steve Owen failed to complete the final two laps of the race when the car dropped after his final pitstop.
There will be plenty of head-scratching over the next few weeks, particularly at FPR, however with the V8 Supercars Season of Endurance set to get underway at Phillip Island, September 16-18 ? the game changes once again.
CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS:
1. Jamie Whincup ? 1895
2. Craig Lowndes ? 1797
3. Shane van Gisbergen ? 1502
4. Rick Kelly ? 1418
5. Steven Johnson ? 1345
6. Mark Winterbottom ? 1321
7. Garth Tander ? 1321
8. Will Davison ? 1302
9. Alex Davison ? 1255
10. Lee Holdsworth ? 1140
15. Greg Murphy ? 893
16. Steve Owen ? 865
19. Paul Dumbrell ? 843
20. Russell Ingall ? 837
22. David Reynolds ? 784
24. Todd Kelly ? 721
25. Tony D?Alberto ? 661
