It is the first race of the 2007 V8 Supercar Championship Series and Kelly, who lined up in a new billion dollar baby VE Commodore, said it was a good sign for things to come.

"To be honest I'm a little bit blown away," he said in a statement. "To maintain that momentum with a brand new car is unbelievable. The pace we had was just awesome."

It was a day of fast finishes, with second place-getter Courtney snatching the lap record away from Jason Richards (set last year), after relinquishing pole position early in the race. Kelly did things the hard way, working his way up from 15th after hitting an oil spill earlier in the day.

 1.  Todd Kelly            Holden Commodore VE    78
 2.  James Courtney        Ford Falcon BF         78
 3.  Jamie Whincup         Ford Falcon BF         78
 4.  Rick Kelly            Holden Commodore VE    78
 5.  Mark Winterbottom     Ford Falcon BF         78
 6.  Garth Tander          Holden Commodore VE    78
 7.  Greg Murphy           Holden Commodore VE    78
 8.  Russell Ingall        Ford Falcon BF         78
 9.  Steven Johnson        Ford Falcon BF         78
10.  Jason Bright          Ford Falcon BF         78
11.  Steven Richards       Ford Falcon BF         78
12.  Dean Canto            Holden Commodore VE    78
13.  Craig Lowndes         Ford Falcon BF         78
14.  Mark Skaife           Holden Commodore VE    78
15.  Jason Bargwanna       Ford Falcon BF         78
16.  Steve Owen            Holden Commodore VZ    78
17.  Max Wilson            Ford Falcon BF         77
18.  Adam Macrow           Ford Falcon BF         77
19.  Jack Perkins          Holden Commodore VE    76
20.  Jason Richards        Holden Commodore VE    76
21.  Cameron McConville    Holden Commodore VZ    76
22.  Shane Price           Holden Commodore VE    76
23.  Alan Gurr             Ford Falcon BF         75
24.  Lee Holdsworth        Holden Commodore VZ    74
25.  Andrew Jones          Ford Falcon BF         73
DNF  Brad Jones            Ford Falcon BF         48
DNF  Paul Dumbrell         Holden Commodore VE    47
DNF  Will Davison          Ford Falcon BF         38
DNF  Paul Morris           Holden Commodore VZ    31
DNF  John Bowe             Ford Falcon BF         16
DNF  Fabian Coulthard      Holden Commodore VZ     6