No team from the English capital has ever won Europe’s most prestigious club competition and that trend looks set to extend for at least a further year after Chelsea suffered a devastating defeat at the hands of SS Napoli on Tuesday night.

A brace by Ezequiel Lavezzi and a neat Edinson Cavani goal ensured SS Napoli of a 3-1 home victory over Chelsea in their 2011-12 UEFA Champions League Round of 16 First Leg Tie at the San Paolo.

The result saw the Blues winless streak extend to five games and heaped ever more pressure on first year manager Andre Villas-Boas who denied reports on the weekend that his job was on the line over this tie.

Just six days removed from fellow premiership side and fellow London side Arsenal suffering a humiliating defeat at the hands of another Italian team in AC Milan, Chelsea went into the southern Italian city looking to turn around their recent bad form.

The Blues who entered the contest without a win in four games took the surprising lead through Juan Mata in the 27^th minute but the visitors defensive frailties were on show once again just 10 minutes later.

Shocking defending by the visitors, who were without captain John Terry saw the home side equalise through Ezequiel Lavezzi and the hosts then took the lead on the stroke of halftime through Uruguayan international striker Edinson Cavani.

Lavezzi then ensured his side, in their first ever Champions League campaign would take a two goal lead into their return leg at Stamford Bridge following his second of the game just after the hour mark.

Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas publicly acknowledged that speculation over his future with the premiership club will continue to increase unless he puts a stop to this club’s current run of poor form.

“Speculation will continue as the results don’t happen,” Villas-Boas said at the after match media conference.

Should Villas-Boas be removed from his Chelsea post then he may be replaced by former Blues boss and current Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho who witness his side blew their opportunities in their 1-1 away draw against CSKA Moscow in their Round of 16 First Leg Tie.

Real Madrid, the competition second favourite took the lead through a 28^th minute Cristiano Ronaldo strike before midfielder Pontus Wernbloom ensured the home side kept their unbeaten record against Spanish side’s intact with a equaliser in the third minute of second half stoppage time.

Despite the ending the result still pleased Mourinho who is confident his side can progress through to the quarter-finals when they host the Russian heavyweights in a fortnight’s time.

“Their goal was frustrating, but we earned a good result I’d be happy to have in every knock-out tie in which we play the return leg at home,” Mourinho told reporters after the game.

Sri Lanka has moved into second place on the points table following a comprehensive 51-run victory over a slumping India side in their Commonwealth Bank Series One-Day International in Brisbane on Tuesday.

Following winning the toss and electing to bat Sri Lanka behind up and coming all-rounder Lahiru Thirimanne (62) and veteran Tilakaratne Dilshan (51) posted a solid score of 6 for 289 from their allocated 50 overs.

Chasing 290 for victory India was never in the hunt as their old guard once again let them down as they were dismissed for 238 in the 46^th over at the GABBA.

The likes of the legendary Sachin Tendulkar (22) and Gautam Gambhir (29) failed to go on with solid starts whilst explosive opener Virender Sehwag (0) didn’t even contribute as he was dismissed second ball in the innings.

Paceman Nuwan Kulasekara (3 for 40) was named man of the match but he had plenty of support with three other Sri Lankians also taking wickets with quick Thisara Perera being the chief destroyer with four wickets.

The victory saw Sri Lanka move up to second place on the table on 11-points, a point ahead of the last place India with hosts Australia atop on 14-points.

Remarkably India had lead the tri-series table only a few days ago but back-to-back defeats has seen the world champions slip back to last place and in danger in missing the finals.

Sri Lanka 6 for 289

Lahiru Thirimanne 62 (62)

Tilakaratne Dilshan 51 (72)

Ravichandran Ashwin 2 for 50 (10 overs)

Irfan Pathan 2 for 54 (10 overs)

India all out 238

Virat Kohli 66 (83)

Irfan Pathan 47 (34)

Thisara Perera 4 for 37 (7.1 overs)

Nuwan Kulasekara 3 for 40 (nine overs)

A day after he was dropped for the remainder of the Commonwealth Bank Series Ricky Ponting has conceded that his One-Day International career is now officially over.

Ponting, 37 announced the decision during a media conference in Sydney on Tuesday morning and despite not actually saying that he was retiring from limited overs cricket he said that national selector John Inverarity had told him he wasn’t in the team’s plans as they prepare for the World Cup in three years time.

“It’s a little bit hard to come here today and say I’m retiring when I’ve already been left out of the side,” said Ponting. “I don’t expect to play one-day international cricket for Australia any more and I’m pretty sure the selectors don’t expect to pick me either.”

The Tasmanian’s dismal summer in the most popular format of the game (where he scored a combined 18 runs from five matches for an average of an abysmal 3.6 runs) saw him dropped from the ODI squad.

Ponting will now leave the One-Day International scene as Australia’s greatest run scorer with 13,704 runs at an average of 42.03 and currently sits second on the all time list behind Indian great Sachin Tendulkar.

The 37-year-old played in 375 ODI’s (the most by an Australian) and is a three-time World Cup winner (1999; 2003; 2007), with two of those as captain (2003; 2007).

Arguably his greatest ever limited overs innings occurred at the 2003 World Cup Final where he belted an unbeaten 140 not out from 121 balls as Australia crushed India on their way to their second of three consecutive titles.

Despite announcing his retirement from the ODI scene Ponting did not call it quits from international test cricket and is looking forward to the up-coming tour of the West Indies.

Ponting who has played in 162 tests for Australia confirmed that he will play a couple of Sheffield Shield games for Tasmania and even maybe even play at club level in order for him to be ready for the tour of the West Indies.

“I will continue playing Test cricket and I’ll continue playing for Tasmania as well,” exclaimed Ponting. “I think I’ve proved to myself and to everybody else that I’m still capable of dominating Test cricket as I did in the last series against India. I’m looking forward to getting back and playing the last couple of Shield games for Tasmania this year and then heading to the West Indies hopefully with some runs under my belt.”

“With the two Shield games I’ve got before the West Indies tour it’s important I spend as much time as I can around the Tasmanian side and get the training required and preparation required to play those games as well and then go to the Caribbean. When we get back from there it will be back into a pre-season maybe even with my club team, Mowbray Cricket Club in Tassie, they might even see a bit more of me as well.”

Ponting departs the limited over scene after five consecutive single figures scores (2; 1; 6; 2; 7) in the Commonwealth Bank Series and although conceding that nothing technically was wrong with his batting he did admit to the physical pinch of the summer which saw him play in six tests before the ODI’s.

“My body has been able to get through the rigours of this summer really well and I think my mind has just been a little bit behind where my body’s been,” explained Ponting. “When you’re not as sharp as you need to be at international level, then you can expect you’re not going to play as well as you like either.”

“The thing with the Test summer for me, yes I spent a lot of time in the middle and yes I made a lot of runs, but the work I had to do outside to get my game back to where it was towards the end of the Test series I’ve had to work harder than ever in my career and I worked harder than everybody else in the Australian team right through the last 12 months. At some stage that was going to catch up with me and I think just being not quite as sharp as I needed to be at the start of the one day series has played a bit of a part in why I haven’t scored those runs.”

Ponting said that he holds no ill feelings towards the national selectors and although disappointed with their decision accepted it.

However the Tasmanian said that he ‘put his neck on the line’ for the ODI side by steeping in captain in Michael Clarke’s absence.

He said that he was a bit hesitant to take the role but knew it was the best for the team, especially since David Warner was the vice-captain but national selectors didn’t think the opener was ready to lead the side yet.

“I honestly felt deep down that it was best for the team that I took that role on and tried to get the team through the last couple of games in the best way possible,” said Ponting. “With the amount of experience I had it was probably a pretty easy decision.”

“I captained nearly 170 games, so it was going to come a bit easier to me than it was going to come to someone who had never captained international cricket before. I took that on, almost put my neck on the line a little bit for the team, but that’s what I’ve always done and that’s what I’ll always continue to do.”

Despite his ODI career coming to an end and his unbelievable career in international cricket drawing to a close Ponting believes he still has plenty to offer and hopes to be in the test team as Australia first tour the West Indies then play host to South Africa in November.

“The passion for the international game of cricket for me has not died or changed one little bit,” concluded Ponting. “I still don’t see a finish line as far as my international career is concerned. Now that one-day cricket isn’t there any more we all know that day is coming closer and closer for me. I don’t think I’m the sort of person who is going to want to have a massive farewell series. I’ll make a decision when I think that I can’t contribute to winning games for Australia.”

Following years of talk of ‘tanking’ the AFL have finally taken action by scrapping their priority pick system from the draft.

AFL Football Operations Manager Adrian Anderson made the announcement at a media conference at AFL House on Tuesday afternoon as the league got rid of the special assistance rule, under which poor performing clubs were granted priority picks in that year’s draft.

Instead a new stricter criteria for assistance has now been developed to replace the old rule, which has consistently been linked to tanking.

“Everything we’re aware of, and the studies that have been done, say there’s no evidence of actual tanking occurring,” Anderson said.

“There’s no doubt that there is an unhealthy obsession if you like, in some quarters, with the whole idea that there could be tanking.”

The AFL commission will now decide who will be handed priority picks and there will be a formula they will use, but none of the 18 clubs will be allowed to know what is.

Under the old rule any team that won four games or less during the home and away season was allowed to a selection prior to the second round of the draft; whilst any club who puts together two consecutive year’s of having won four games or less would be entitled to a pick in the first round.

What had become extremely controversial is that clubs were getting a priority pick after just one season and that most recent example was the West Coast Eagles (back in 2010) who had a poor season and drafted key forward Jack Darling (pictured) with their priority pick in that year’s draft.

Anderson spoke of the new system, which was yet to be finalised but will take into account a number of factors which include:

- The club’s premiership points over a period of years (the number of years hasn’t been determined yet)

- Any finals appearance in recent years

- Any premierships in the last few seasons

- It’s percentage over a number of years

- The club’s injury rate during the season

“The commission accepted a recommendation that stricter conditions for any special assistance should be developed,” Continued Anderson.

“The old rule had become a permanent feature of the draft that skewed the draft in favour of the bottom clubs of that particular year, relative to other clubs near them on the ladder.”

“The draft, along with the salary cap rules, are designed to ensure an even spread of talent between the clubs and clubs should not be over-compensated for a short period of poor performance.”

“As clubs have become more sophisticated with talent identification and development of young players, the success around early picks in the draft has become much greater.”

After an 18-month absence veteran midfielder Mark Bresciano has been re-called into the national side as Australian coach Holger Osieck named his 19-man squad for the up-coming 2014 FIFA World Cup Asian Qualifying clash against Saudi Arabia.

The 32-year-old Bresciano, a veteran of 57 caps has not represented his country since the 2010 World Cup after ruling himself out of the national squad.

However 18-months on and the veteran of two World Cup campaigns has been named in the Australian 19-man squad which will take on Saudi Arabia in their final Group D clash.

Australia has already secured their place in the second and final round of qualifying ahead of their match to be played at Melbourne’s AAMI Park on February 29 but that still didn’t stop Osieck from naming a strong side.

The likes of fellow veterans and two Hyundai A-League stars in Harry Kewell (Melbourne Victory) and Brett Emerton (Sydney FC) have also been included as too is the likes of goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer as well as captain Lucas Neill.

Unlike previous years Schwarzer is just one of three European based players included in the squad with nine players from the A-League dominating the squad and that includes debutants Erik Paartalu (Brisbane Roar), Michael Marrone (Melbourne Heart) and Matt Ryan (Central Coast Mariners).

Osieck said that the absence of some European stars (Tim Cahill and Brett Holman just to name a couple) provided a great chance for locals to prove themselves on an international level but the German coach insisted the match would be taken seriously.

“Look at the core group of our squad, we have all the experience you can ask for, top-class footballers with great pedigree and great performance for Australia,” Osieck said at a media conference on Tuesday.

“We want to win here, we are not here for fun.”

Australia 19-man Squad:

Goalkeepers: Mark Schwarzer; Matt Ryan

Defenders: Lucas Neill (captain); Mark Milligan; Sasa Ognenovski; Jade North; David Carney; Michael Marrone; Michael Thwaite; Matthew Spiranovic

Midfielders: Mark Bresciano; Nick Carle; Harry Kewell; Brett Emerton; Erik Paartalu; Adam Sarota; James Troisi

Strikers: Archie Thompson; Alex Brosque

Ricky Ponting’s One-Day International career is all but over after being sensationally dropped for the remainder of the Commonwealth Bank Series.

Australia’s leading scorer in the 50 over format of the game has struggled this summer with scores of 2,1,6,2 and 7 in five limited overs matches against India and Sri Lanka.

Ponting, who will turn 37 next month, has served as stand-in captain for the last two matches in the absence of the injured Michael Clarke and his fifth consecutive failure against India in Brisbane may have brought down the curtain on one of the greatest ODI careers.

National Selector John Inverarity announced the decision in a media conference on Monday where he revealed the 13-man Australian squad which will play the remainder of the ODI series.

Inverarity said that Ponting, who in his illustrious career has never made five single-figures in succession, will be missed but the time had come to move on in the most popular format of the game.

“The team will not seem the same without him, but moving on from the omission of players who have been outstanding over a long period of time is the nature of elite sport,” Inverarity told a packed media conference.

“Ricky’s record speaks for itself. He is one of the truly great performers in the history of Australian ODI cricket, with his reputation enhanced further by him captaining Australia to two World Cup victories.”

“Ricky’s contribution goes far beyond his batting statistics and his brilliant fielding. The example he sets in every respect and his extraordinarily positive influence in the dressing-room is acknowledged by all.”

“He is held in the highest possible regard by his team-mates and there is no higher accolade than this. Ricky being prepared to take over the captaincy in Michael Clarke’s recent absence for the sake of the team is yet another example of his selfless attitude and team-first focus.”

Australia’s 110-run over India at the GABBA may have been the last time we see Ponting play a ODI match as like Mark Taylor and Steve Waugh before him he was not given a send off match.

Ponting said he had no intention of stepping aside following the victory on Sunday night and amid suggestions of a farewell game Inverarity all but ended that idea stating that the decision is just part and parcel of the sport.

“Ricky Ponting has been dropped from the ODI side and the national selection panel has spoken about moving towards the 2015 World Cup,” continued Inverarity.

“The door is never closed on anybody, but it’s a strong indication there. We were very keen for Ricky to play in these games because we intended to blend in some younger players, and his influence for them has been remarkable. But we need to at some stage move on.”

“We’re not ruling him out because one never knows what’s around the corner … but we’ve certainly got 2015 in mind, and we knew at the beginning of the series when we wanted those young players to be blended in, in the presence of Ricky.”

“In elite sport there’s no place for sentiment. There are always the two schools of thought, going out on your own terms and that, and the members of the national selection panel were unanimous in their view. It was discussed by email last night, a few calls last night and was confirmed this morning. That’s the decision and that’s elite sport.”

Inverarity added that Ponting now may call it quits in all forms of the game but would like to see him continue on in the test arena where he excelled over the summer scoring a double century and a ton to be Australia’s second leading run scorer behind captain Michael Clarke.

“He made a double-century in his last Test match and we are hoping he remains available for Test cricket, but there can be no guarantees.” Inverarity exclaimed.

“Ricky is going to consider his future over the next couple of days and talk it over with his family and with his manager. He’s wondering whether he retires completely from ODI cricket … and then of course there are the implications for Test cricket.”

“For a man who plays cricket like Ricky has over the last 15 or more years, he has been an integral part of the team in ODIs and Test matches. If he drops out of the ODIs then there is a possible lack of momentum there. There are three Tests in the West Indies, then as I understand it no more Test matches until October-November.”

Ponting who has now returned back to Sydney following playing his 375^th and what looks like his final ODI is expected to speak publicly about his axing and his immediate future on Tuesday.

But in what was good news for Australia all-rounder Shane Watson has made a successful return from injury and has also been named in the 13-man squad.

Watson has missed the majority of the summer due to a calf/hamstring complaint he picked up on the tour of South Africa and has only just returned back to the sport having played grade cricket and then first class cricket for New South Wales this last few weeks.

But the future looks bleak for one of his teammates in Brad Haddin with the 34-year-old’s ODI career also looking like it’s finished after Inverarity admitted that Mathew Wade is the number one wicketkeeper for both the ODI and Twenty20 teams.

Veteran quick Ryan Harris has been re-called to the side with youngster Mitchell Starc being the one to give way as Australia look to take out the Commonwealth Bank Series as they prepare for the tour of the West Indies.

13-man ODI Squad:

Michael Clarke (captain)

Shane Watson (vice-captain)

David Warner

Michael Hussey

David Hussey

Peter Forrest

Dan Christian

Matthew Wade (wicketkeeper)

Ben Hilfenhaus

Brett Lee

Ryan Harris

Clint McKay

Xavier Doherty

Seven-time winners Liverpool has advanced through to the 2011-12 FA Cup Quarterfinals following a comfortable 6-1 home victory over Championship side Brighton & Hove Albion FC in their Fifth Round clash on Sunday.

Remarkably the Seagulls contributed three own goals as the Reds booked their place in the final eight of the competition where they will meet and host fellow premiership side Stoke City.

Defender Martin Skrtel kicked things rolling with the game’s opener in the fifth minute before the visitors stunned the Anfield crowd with a 17^th minute equaliser via Kazeenga LuaLua.

The Reds would re-take the lead just before the interval as midfielder Liam Bridcutt netted his first of two own goals.

Record signing Andy Carroll, who was later named man of the match, doubled his side’s advantage with a fine finish in the 57^th minute before Bridcutt ensured his horror night continued with his second own goal 13 minutes later.

The Seagulls weren’t done there as Lewis Dunk joined the party with an own goal of his own in the 73^rd minute and Luis Suarez netted his first goal since serving out an eight-match ban with five minutes remaining.

It was a relief for Suarez as the Uruguayan international had only moments before missed a penalty as the Reds sealed their place in the quarter-finals of the world’s oldest cup competition.

Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard was delighted with his team’s performance as Kenny Dalglish now prepare for their 2011-12 Carling Cup Final against Cardiff City to be played at Wembley next Sunday.

“It’s always nice to first of all get the win and then to win convincingly,” Gerrard told ESPN. “In the end we went through the gears and got better and better as the 90 minutes went on and we deserved our goals.”

“The important thing was to focus on this game. The Carling Cup final was in our minds because we have a massive game at Wembley next week but we want to go to Wembley again in the FA Cup so today was just as important.”

Next up for Liverpool is a date with a fellow premiership team in Stoke City who despite going down to 10-men early in their game managed to walk out of Broadfield Stadium with a 2-0 away victory against minnows Crawley Town in their Fifth Round encounter.

Last year’s finalist were able to avoid a shock exist and did so being reduced a man for the best part of 75 minutes following midfielder Rory Delap receiving his marching orders in the 16^th minute.

Jonathan Walters opened the scoring for the visitors in the 41^st minute before Peter Crouch ensured Tony Pulis side of a date at Anfield with his side’s second in the 51^st minute.

“It is a great achievement by the football club to have made a third successive quarter-final appearance,” Pulis said afterwards.

However the big surprise of the day came at the Lamex Stadium where League One side Stevenage secured themselves a Fifth Round Replay following a 0-0 home draw with high flying premiership club Tottenham.

Stevenage who started the day 47 placing’s below the Spurs managed to hold their own against their much more fancied opponents who will now have to host the replay in just under two weeks time.

“When you are playing against a talented side you are going to have to absorb pressure but I thought we defended magnificently,” a delighted Stevenage manager Gary Smith told ITV afterwards.

“We had one or two half-chances we should have made a little bit more of – our dead ball situations are better than that – but overall the performance was outstanding. I’m overwhelmed, it’s terrific.”

FA Cup Quarter-Final Draw:

Liverpool v Stoke City

Everton v Sunderland

Chelsea or Birmingham City v Leicester City

Tottenham or Stevenage v Bolton

West Coast started life without Mark LeCras with convincing wins over Essendon and archrivals Fremantle in their NAB Cup Round One encounters in Perth on Sunday evening.

The Eagles, who will be without the services of key forward/midfielder LeCras for the entire 2012 season due to a serious knee injury recorded 21-point and 20-point victories respectively over the Bombers and Dockers.

In the first of the trio of games the Eagles, without the likes of established stars Dean Cox, Daniel Kerr, Nic Naitanui, Luke Shuey and Andrew Embley took on the young Bombers side and ensured the victory within the opening 20 minutes.

West Coast slammed on five goals to one in the first half and cruised to a 0.9.3 (57) to 0.5.6 (36) victory over Essendon at Subiaco.

The Eagles then had a rest as the Bombers and Dockers did battle and with new senior coach Ross Lyon at the helm for the first time the home side did not let him down with a convincing display.

Following a tight opening half the Dockers exploded into life in the second as they booted five goals to one to run out 36-point winners over the Bombers.

Fremantle recorded a 1.7.5 (56) to 0.3.2 (20) victory over Essendon but Ross Lyon’s men couldn’t repeat the dose against bitter rivals West Coast in the final match of the night.

After a great first half where both teams threw themselves at the contest, Eagles youngster Gerrick Weeden, who terrorised the Essendon backman in the first game booted the only goal of the half with 12 seconds remaining.

But West Coast released the shackles and last year’s surprise packets ran away with the game with premiership ruckman Dean Cox slotting two goals as the Eagles ran out 0.4.6 (30) to 0.1.4 (10) victory over the Dockers.

Ben Hilfenhaus could not have timed his return to the one-day arena any better as the Tasmanian snared a five wicket haul as he lead Australia to a bonus point victory over India in their Commonwealth Bank One-Day International (ODI)  in Brisbane on Sunday.

In his first ODI match in just over two years Hilfenhaus was superb as he took a career best 5 for 33, whilst fellow quick Brett Lee chipped in with three wickets as Australia cruised to a 110-run win at the GABBA.

Batting first half centuries to Michael Hussey (59) and Peter Forrest (52) ensured Australia posted a solid total of 5 for 288 from their allocated 50 overs.

In reply the Indian batsmen had no answer to Hilfenhaus and Lee as the pair took eight of the 10 wickets between them as the reigning world champions were bowled out for 178 with 39 balls remaining.

Hilfenhaus who was later named man of the match was instrumental in restricting the Indian batsmen and along with Lee caused havoc after the tourists were set 289 for victory.

The pair ripped through the Indian top order to leave the tourists reeling at 4 for 36 before captain MS Dhoni (56) and middle order batsman Suresh Raina (28) steaded the innings somewhat.

However after the pair put on 46 for the fifth wicket, the tourists biggest partnership of the innings Raina fell to the bowling off all-rounder Dan Christian with the score at 5 for 82.

From there the home side didn’t let their foot off the accelerator with only Dhoni proving to be the only resistance as Australia snapped their two game losing streak and saw them return back to the top of the table.

The bowling effort by the hosts was matched earlier by their batting display with openers David Warner (43) and Matthew Wade (45) setting the hosts on their way.

Despite the slowness of the innings (Australia brought up their 50 in the 10^th over) the home side kept their wickets in hand which would be crucial especially late in the innings.

Yet another failure by stand in captain Ricky Ponting (7) as well as the dismissals of Hussey and Forrest saw the home side at 5 for 223 with six overs remaining.

But that was more than enough for the big hitting duo of David Hussey (26 not out) and Dan Christian (30 not out) who smashed 65 runs off the final 36 balls as Australia set the reigning world champions a target they never really threatened to chase.

Australia 5 for 288

Michael Hussey 59 (52)

Peter Forrest 52 (71)

Irfan Pathan 3 for 61 (10 overs)

India all out 178

MS Dhoni 56 (84)

Suresh Raina 28 (41)

Ben Hilfenhaus 5 for 33 (9.3 overs)

Brett Lee 3 for 49 (10 overs)

Rolling Starts, a new-look point system, and all cars built to identical specifications what else could a racing fan want and for twenty-thousand New Zealand rev-head’s that is what they got at the opening round of the highly anticipated NZ V8 SuperTourers when the green flag finally dropped on the Hampton Downs circuit over the weekend.

Images copyright: Richard Gee | V8 SuperTourers.

Local hero Greg Murphy wowed fans with his clinical racing display over the entire race weekend with his experience, and his appetite to win on display as he claimed the first two race victories in his Mike Pero backed M3 Motorsport Holden Commodore – however not everything went right for the Kiwi superstar who was handed a drive through penalty in the final of three races.

The final race, a thirty-lap encounter that was dubbed the feature race of the weekend’s calendar, was turned into a scrappy affair when two safety car periods left the final ten laps of the event a race to the finish line after all competitors were twice brought to within inches of each other under the control of the safety car.

The chances of Greg Murphy for victory looked to be gone after he was handed a drive through penalty on lap 12 for collecting the back of Kayne Scott’s Farmer Racing Services Holden Commodore, however, the 39-year-old veteran of the sport fought his way back into contention throughout  the fight to the line only to see his chances once again diminish after being spun by Andy Booth on the second last lap.

Former A1GP Pilot Jonny Reid led for most of the final race in his International Motorsport FG Falcon only for him to get swamped at the final re-start and falling back to ninth, however, it was all eyes on his team mate Ant Pedersen who showed a cool head on young shoulders as he fought against the best New Zealand Motorsport had to offer and claimed the chequered flag.

Despite the seventh place finish for Greg Murphy, after Andy Booth was given a 40-second penalty for making contact with the New Zealand ace, he has still earned enough points to be crowned the round champion ahead of Kayne Scott and Jonny Reid.

Championship points after Round 1

1 Greg Murphy 625
2 Kayne Scott 497
3 Jonny Reid 471
4 Ant Pedersen 455
5 Andy Booth 445
6 John McIntyre 411
7 Scott McLaughlin 380
8 Andy Knight 375
9 Eddie Bell 339
10 Steven Richards 328
11 Andre Heimgartner 285
12 Craig Baird 267
13 Geoff Emery 198
14 Paul Manuell 166
15 Richard Moore 133
16 Colin Corkery 102