The BigPond 400 wrapped up today at Barbagallo Raceway in Perth , with the final two 50 lap races.

Rick Kelly crossed the finish line in sixth position in Race 3 in what was a tough race to move forward. For the Round, Kelly achieved fifth position and picked up 210 Championship points towards his V8 Supercar Championship campaign. In the second race earlier today Kelly picked up a position on his sixth place grid position to finish in fifth, a few mistakes throughout the race cost him a couple positions higher up in the field.

Paul Dumbrell managed to salvage a few positions from his twenty second starting position – a race 2 incident put him back in the pack, to finish in 16^th position. Dumbrell managed to gain some position with his pit stop strategy in the third race, and was confident with his car pace late in the race.

Things were starting to turn Dumbrell’s way with a top ten qualifying position and sitting inside the top ten early in the first race before a long pit stop however put him further back in the field. In the second race Dumbrell was involved in a turn one incident with Cam McConville part way through the race, McConville hitting him from behind and spinning him around, forcing him back in the field, where he finished in twenty second.

A light shower fell mid way through Race 2 threatening to force teams to pit for wet weather tyres however held off for the duration of the race.

Ford’s Mark Winterbottom lead Races 2 and 3 from start to finish as he did in yesterday’s Race 1, closely followed by the Toll Holden Racing Team Commodore of home town hero Garth Tander . Jamie Whincup round out the top three.

After four rounds Kelly slips back in the Championship standings to second behind Toll Holden Racing Team’s Garth Tander . Tander leads Kelly by 14 points. Kelly is positive he can get back on the podium and get some Championship points back. Dumbrell gained 164 valuable Championship points towards his Championship campaign.

The next round of the V8 Supercars is in four weeks time at Sandown Raceway in Melbourne .

#15 Rick Kelly (Race 2: 5^th, 57.5591, Race 3: 6^th, 58.0189)

“We finally got our act together in Race 3 today and got a reasonable start, but I got jumped by Will Davison. We had a good pit stop and to be honest drove ten tenths the whole race but it was just a tough one to move forward. We really had to push hard every lap to keep sixth and in today’s last race that’s the best we could do.”

“It is a bit unfortunate that in Race 2 I made a couple of mistakes that put me two spots back and being in that track position that’s pretty much where I stayed for the last one.”

“GT has moved into position one (in the Championship) and he and his team are doing a great job, we just have to try and lift to that standard because that’s what it is going to take to stick with these guys. Jamie (Whincup) is also up there pushing hard as well.”

“I need to do a better job and collectively it would be great if we could get back on the podium and get some points back.”

#16 Paul Dumbrell (Race 2: 22^nd, 58.4048, Race 3: 16^th, 58.2686)

“It was disappointing, we had the weekend going to plan, we were relatively quick in practice and did and OK job in qualifying having qualified in the top ten and were racing around that before a few dramas. In race one we had the pit stop drama and in race two Cam McConville turned me around, it is pretty hard to move forward from the back. We managed to make up a few spots in the last race but roll on the next round.”

“We had two sets of OK tyres so there wasn’t much to gain going either way, I just tried to get some clear track. I struggled a little bit early on for pace but got it back there later in the race.”

“Next race is Sandown, old home of the Sandown 500, now a sprint race format so it should be interesting. Nice Melbourne weather in June will no doubt bring some rain.”

V8 Supercar Championship Points (after 4 rounds)

1. Garth Tander , Toll Holden Racing Team                896 points

2. Rick Kelly, HSV Dealer Team                              882 points

3. Mark Winterbottom, Ford Performance Racing     870 points

4. Jamie Whincup, Team Vodafone                           776 points

5. Steven Richards, Ford Performance Racing         721 points

6. Craig Lowndes, Team Vodafone                            711 points

7. Will Davison, Jim Beam Racing                             640 points

8. Lee Holdsworth, Valvoline/Cummins                      626 points

9. James Courtney, Jeld-wen Motorsport                   577 points

10. Fabian Coulthard, Glenford Tools             569 points

23. Paul Dumbrell, Autobarn Racing Team           334 points