On lap 44 Michael Caruso made his way past Rick, with Craig Lowndes and Garth Tander able to follow him through. Russell Ingall also made his way past on lap 53, with Rick able to hold of Mark Wintebottom to finish in seventh position.
Rick Kelly will now work hard overnight with race engineer David Swenson to refine the set-up of the #15 Jack Daniel's Racing Holden Commodore with the aim of gaining more car speed for tomorrow's second race.
Todd Kelly started from 17th in the #7 Jack Daniel's Racing Holden Commodore, but the timing of his second pit stop did not him allow the same advantage that Rick enjoyed, dropping him back down to 17th after steady progress early.
A spirited drive by Todd saw him climb back up the order to jump into the top 10 past Paul Dumbrell with five laps remaining.
Jamie Whincup won today's opening race of the Dunlop Townsville 400 ahead of Will Davison and Garth Tander.
JACK DANIEL'S RACING QUOTEBOARD
Rick Kelly - #15 Jack Daniel's Racing Holden Commodore:
"I think it was a combination of a good strategy and a bit of good luck with the second pit stops that put us in a good position," said Rick Kelly.
"It was a very tough race out there. This track is a stop-start sort of track, so 72 laps around here is quite tiring.
"With a few improvements to the car tomorrow and by staying out of trouble we should definitely get us some more points
"Overall, I'm pretty happy with that result. We just need to tweak our Jack Daniel's Commodore a bit to get some more speed out of it."
Todd Kelly - #7 Jack Daniel's Racing Holden Commodore:
"We would have liked to have done a little bit better than that," said Todd Kelly.
"There is still a lot of work to do with the car but with the way that second pit stop panned out with the Safety Car, we lost a fair bit of ground there and that's where Rick jumped us.
"It's just the best that we could do. We've got a bit of work to do to improve the Jack Daniel's Commodore and with a bit more luck with the pit strategy tomorrow we should be a little further up the field."
2009 V8 Supercar Championship Standings
After Race 11 of 26
1. Jamie Whincup 1422
2. Will Davison 1266
3. Garth Tander 1083
4. Craig Lowndes 1026
5. Steven Johnson 939
6. Rick Kelly 903
7. Lee Holdsworth 897
8. Mark Winterbottom 855
9. Russell Ingall 830
10. Shane Van_Gisbergen 798
19. Todd Kelly 573
Dunlop Townsville 400 - Race One
1. #1 Jamie Whincup 71 laps
2. #22 Will Davison
3. #2 Garth Tander
4. #888 Craig Lowndes
5. #34 Michael Caruso
6. #39 Russell Ingall
7. #15 Rick Kelly
8. #5 Mark Winterbottom
9. #14 Cameron McConville
10. #7 Todd Kelly
Top 10 Shootout
1. #33 Lee Holdsworth 1:12.7327
2. #18 James Courtney 1:12.8082
3. #2 Garth Tander 1:12.8263
4. #34 Michael Caruso 1:12.8977
5. #22 Will Davison 1:12.9407
6. #8 Jason Richards 1:13.0736
7. #9 Shane Van Gisbergen 1:13.0858
8. #17 Steven Johnson 1:13.2687
9. #1 Jamie Whincup 1:13.3629
10. #111 Fabian Coulthard 1:13.6079
Saturday Qualifying
1. #18 James Courtney 1:12.4747
2. #1 Jamie Whincup 1:12.6426
3. #111 Fabian Coulthard 1:12.8161
4. #2 Garth Tander 1:12.8248
5. #9 Shane Van Gisbergen 1:12.8251
6. #34 Michael Caruso 1:12.8374
7. #17 Steven Johnson 1:12.8520
8. #33 Lee Holdsworth 1:12.8635
9. #22 Will Davison 1:12.9526
10. #8 Jason Richards 1:12.9893
17. #7 Todd Kelly 1:13.4012
19. #15 Rick Kelly 1:13.5178
DUNLOP TOWNSVILLE 400 DETAILS:
Circuit: Reid Park Street Circuit
Location: Townsville, Qld
Circuit Length: 2.9 kilometres
Format: two 72-lap races (Saturday and Sunday)
Debut event
WEEKEND SCHEDULE
All times are local Australian Eastern Standard Time
Sunday 12 July 2009
11:00am - 11:20am: Qualifying (for Race 2)
1:35pm: Race 2 (72 laps)
TELEVISION SCHEDULE - SEVEN NETWORK
Times subject to amendment - please check local guides.
Sunday 12 July 2009
12:00pm - 12:30pm (Support Races)
12:30pm - 4:00pm (V8 Supercars)
**11:30pm - 1:15pm and 4:30pm - 6:00pm in Adelaide
**11:00am - 2:45pm in Perth
