2008 Big Pond 400 - Race 1

Race 1

Race 1 was held on Saturday 10 May. Mark Winterbottom took his second race victory of the year, a surprisingly comfortable win ahead of the HRT pair of Mark Skaife and Garth Tander. Tander was pushed hard by Steven Richards and Craig Lowndes. A collision at race start saw Jason Bright touch Greg Murphy who in turn made contact with Michael Caruso, sending Bright and Caruso out of control towards turn 7, where crossing the track Caruso struck Shane Van Gisbergen. The incident triggered a safety car. Jamie Whincup and Will Davison charged through to seventh and eight positions from poor qualifying places. James Courtney was fighting amongst that group but fading rear tyres led Courtney to attempt defensive moves that raised the ire of race control, leading to first the bad sportsmanship flag, then a black flag drive through penalty which dropped him down field.