Will Davison notches first win behind the wheel of a Ford

A WILL Davison-Mark Winterbottom Ford quinella ended Holden's three-year domination in Adelaide yesterday.

A WILL Davison-Mark Winterbottom Ford quinella ended Holden's three-year domination in Adelaide yesterday.

Cheered on by a fourth-day Victoria Park crowd of 82,100, Davison's Clipsal 500 series win following his second-place finish to Jamie Whincup on Saturday, also gives him the early lead, and Ford fans early bragging rights, in the race for the V8 Supercars championship silverware.

It was also the 29-year-old Davison's first win in just his second season behind the wheel of a Ford, after defecting from Toll Holden at the end of 2010.

Whincup, who started from pole yesterday, struck trouble 37 laps into the 78-lap race, slipping from first to finish fourth behind Garth Tander, limping across the line with a misfiring engine.

Holden driver James Courtney was another driver who was dogged by bad luck all weekend. He failed to finish race one on Saturday, and again struggled to keep pace with the likes of the Fords of Davison and Winterbottom yesterday.

Craig Lowndes, who arrived in Adelaide armed with a new three-year deal to drive for Roland Dane's Triple Eight team, also had an early setback to his championship hopes, after being docked 25 points for an incident following Saturday's opening race. A hearing by race stewards before the start of race two yesterday found Lowndes guilty of careless driving following an incident with Jack Daniel's Racing's Todd Kelly.

The Commodores of Greg Murphy and Jonathon Webb didn't make it to the grid yesterday after both cars were heavily damaged following a collision in morning qualifying.

New Zealander Murphy had smashed into the back of Webb's car. The damage to the Pepsi Max Crew Holden is so extensive it won't even be fixed in time for the non-championship round at the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne in a fortnight.