Tom Bewley has managed to convert his pole to a fourth-place finish in Race 1 at The Bend, with Marco Giltrap climbing five places to eighth, while Clay Osborne was unlucky to retire on the first lap.
Off the line, Bewley got a slower jump than those around him and slipped to second by Turn 1. Osborne’s luck failed to turn after his qualifying engine issues, as a rear-end knock damaged the steering and sent him to the pit lane.
Five minutes in, Bewley had dropped to third behind Harri Jones and David Russell, with Giltrap further back in eleventh.
Pressure soon arrived in the form of a fast-looking Aaron Love, but the Kiwi held him off and began to edge clear.
Giltrap made progress as the race wore on. With twenty-five minutes remaining, he held the fastest lap and had gained four places, sitting around two seconds behind Dylan O’Keefe and was slowly reducing the gap.
The race was turned on its head with twenty-two minutes to go when Jacque Jarjo bottomed out and spun at the exit of the very fast Turn 5, leaving the Pro-Am driver stranded on the inside of the circuit. At the time of the safety car, Bewley ran third, Giltrap ninth, and Osborne remained in the pit lane.
The race resumed with seventeen minutes to go, and Bewley instantly came under pressure from Love. Love ultimately had too much pace for the Kiwi and forced Bewley to fourth soon after. Giltrap was able to strike to get past O’Keefe with fifteen minutes to go, moving the Kiwi into eighth.
The gap between Love and Bewley started to increase and sat at a second with eight minutes remaining. Further back, Giltrap has closed up to the back of eighteen-year-old debutant Diesel Thomas, with the Kiwi challenging for seventh.
Out front, Jones sat a comfortable second and a half ahead of Russell
With four minutes remaining, Giltrap sat four tenths behind Thomas. However, Giltrap was unable to make his move as he had to settle for eighth, after a phenomenal drive from thirteenth.
Jones took a comfortable win after pulling away on the restart, as he finished ahead of Russell, Love, and Bewley.
Osborne was unable to get back out on track by the end of the race, resulting in the Kiwi losing second place in the championship.
Race 2 for the weekend will commence at 2:45pm tomorrow.
