A DAY after his Bathurst 1000 team-mate Jamie Whincup re-wrote the record books in the main class, Paul Dumbrell got his own slice of the glory on Saturday afternoon in the Dunlop Series.

In the 250 kilometre, 41-lap feature race for the category, the Holden driver was never headed. It was a contest that had rain and plenty of stopping and starting, with five safety car periods.

Racing-wise, most of the action was happening seven or eight seconds behind Dumbrell as Ford pair Chris Pither and Cameron Waters staged an entertaining battle for second. Pither’s effort was impressive given he started from the back of the grid.

Waters eventually got the better of that duel and in turn tried to put some heat on defending series champion Dumbrell.

He was gaining on him in the final 10 laps, but couldn’t bridge the gap as the experienced winner showed the value of his past laps around the circuit, which includes a win in the 2012 Great Race alongside Whincup.

At one stage during yesterday’s race his lead began to push the 10-second mark.

“It was good just to get a few laps in after all the action that has happened in the last few days,” Dumbrell said.

“The idea of racing 250 kilometres is perfect to prepare for the main race, we did that, we ticked all the boxes.”

Bathurst drivers Phil Woodbury and Grant Denyer were both part of the contest and Woodbury in particular would have been happy with his performance.

He finished 15th after starting from 21st – second last – on the grid.

Denyer came home in 13th and again given the circumstances, it was an excellent display.

Denyer was shunted from the track on lap four along with Matthew Chahda, which brought about the first yellow flag of the race.

Chahda had an eventful race in general, finding himself in the dirt a couple of times.

After his own big smash on Friday, Andrew Jones did a good job to come from 10th on the grid and earn fourth spot.

Intermittent rain meant that the possibility of wet weather tyres was ever-present, but it didn’t get heavy enough to necessitate the move.

However, it was playing on Dumbrell’s mind.

“It might not have been heavy rain, but when you are going 220 kilometres an hour on the top of the track and you get some specks of rain on the windscreen, it certainly gets your heart racing,” he said.

“It didn’t have a massive impact on the race, but we were lapping 12 to 14 seconds slower during those periods than when it was dry and clear.

“Any time you can come to this track and say you’re a winner, you are very happy.”

Waters’ effort to finish second would have gone some of the way towards easing the pain of missing out on a Bathurst 1000 drive.

His chances of contesting the Great Race ended when Ford team-mate Chaz Mostert had a spectacular crash on Friday.

It also limited the damage as Waters tries to hold off Dumbrell in the battle for the Dunlop Series crown. 

He entered the weekend with a 173-point lead over the reigning champion and ended it with the margin at 149.