COOPER Murray has roared to a come-from-behind win on Super2 debut in the opening leg of the Newcastle round.
The Eggleston Motorsport driver had clinched pole position earlier in the day but was beaten to the first corner by a fast-starting Jack Perkins once the race belatedly got underway.
From there, Murray set about hunting down the 36-year-old, with little to separate the top four.
Indeed, there was still just 1.4s covering Perkins, Murray, Zak Best and Kai Allen come Lap 5.
There was a change for the lead the very next lap as Murray made an excellent pass down the inside at Turn 11 and withstood his Erebus rival’s efforts to fight back.
It wasn’t long before the first Safety Car of the season, called on Lap 7 after Jason Gomersall found the Turn 8 wall, with both Aaron Love and Jordyn Sinni caught up in a relatively light-contact melee.
Race control managed to get the race restarted before the extended 2:23pm cut-off, but that did little to worry Murray who stretched his lead to 1.5s on the first lap back under green flag conditions.
The final margin was 1.9786s as Murray became the first driver to win a race on Super2 debut since Cameron McConville in 2010.
There wasn’t too much front-of-field action in the dying stages, with Perkins, Best, Allen and Jay Hanson rounding out the top five, ahead of Brad Vaughan, Matt Chahda, Ryan Wood, Jay Robotham and Cameron Crick.
Cameron McLeod was the best of the Super3 cohort in 15th outright.
It was a tough start for Love, the Blanchard Racing Team rookie classified 24th after copping a pitlane penalty for spinning Jim Pollicina.
The latter was one of three non-finishers, joining Sinni and Nash Morris, who suffered a broken steering arm on Lap 2.
RESULTS: Dunlop Series, Race 1, Newcastle
| Pos | No. | Driver | Team | Car | Time/Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 88 | Cooper Murray | Eggleston | Holden | 16m07.6566s |
| 2 | 70 | Jack Perkins | Erebus | Holden | +1.9786s |
| 3 | 17 | Zak Best | Anderson | Ford | +2.6226s |
| 4 | 26 | Kai Allen | Eggleston | Holden | +3.3926s |
| 5 | 49 | Jay Hanson | Image | Holden | +4.2529s |
| 6 | 5 | Brad Vaughan | Tickford | Ford | +5.0129s |
| 7 | 18 | Matt Chahda | MCM | Holden | +5.3489s |
| 8 | 2 | Ryan Wood | WAU | Holden | +5.8437s |
| 9 | 3 | Jay Robotham | MWM | Ford | +6.4775s |
| 10 | 38 | Cameron Crick | Eggleston | Holden | +7.4935s |
| 11 | 25 | Zach Bates | WAU | Holden | +8.9885s |
| 12 | 43 | Lachlan Dalton | BJR | Holden | +9.4351s |
| 13 | 30 | Aaron Seton | Gomersall | Holden | +9.7873s |
| 14 | 11 | Zane Morse | AIM | Ford | +10.0827s |
| 15 | 92 | Cameron McLeod | RMRC | Nissan (S3) | +11.8317s |
| 16 | 999 | Jobe Stewart | Image | Holden (S3) | +12.6996s |
| 17 | 97 | Matthew McCutcheon | Eggleston | Holden (S3) | +13.1027s |
| 18 | 117 | Jett Johnson | Johnson | Nissan (S3) | +14.0152s |
| 19 | 89 | Ryan Gilroy | AIM | Holden (S3) | +16.2752s |
| 20 | 22 | Mason Kelly | Kelly Racing | Nissan (S3) | +20.0913s |
| 21 | 39 | Chris Smerdon | MSR | Holden (S3) | +34.007s |
| 22 | 33 | Callum Walker | Walker Racing | Holden | +34.4412s |
| 23 | 6 | Elly Morrow | Tickford | Ford | +50.4685s |
| 24 | 78 | Aaron Love | BRT | Ford | +57.7126s |
| 25 | 219 | James Masterton | Masterton | Ford | +1m19.4898s |
| 26 | 35 | Jason Gomersall | Gomersall | Holden (S3) | +2 laps |
| DNF | 7 | Jim Pollicina | MoComm | Holden (S3) | 10 laps |
| DNF | 54 | Jordyn Sinni | Eggleston | Holden | 7 laps |
| DNF | 67 | Nash Morris | Morris | Holden | 2 laps |
