Harrison Duske takes inaugural AU4 victory at The Bend

TAILEM BEND–Harrison Duske led from pole and "pushed all the way" to hold off the AU4 Championship field and take the inaugural series victory at The Bend.

"My arms are so dead! I think I need to hit the gym a bit more," said Duske.

"Awesome to finish first, my first race. I was so happy, still am!"

"We definitely wanted to win, but it's the first race of the three this weekend, so I'll try and do my best in all of the races I can and see what the end result is."

The Tasmanian led away cleanly from the line as a close battle emerged behind him between Noah Killion, Imogen Radburn, and Isaac McNeill.

Radburn was quickly battling Killion for second off the start and the Sydney driver had a twitch from the rear at the base of the hill on the far side of the circuit, sending him into a spin off in the dirt on the outside of the track.

It was then a three-horse race, with Radburn under intense pressure from McNeill as the two traded places over the opening five laps.

Radburn was soon back up to second and chased down Duske, getting within half a second of the Tim Macrow Racing driver with around ten minutes to go before losing his tail and consolidating second.

"I was pushing, I was real nervous, to be honest," said Duske.

"I caught a little gap and then they just caught up to me, and then the back markers came into play, and they'd caught up again.

"I was quite nervous, but then I think their tyre must have gone, or mine just picked up, and I went quicker and pulled a bit of a gap."

He had a reason to be nervous, with Radburn admitting she had seen herself in the lead of the race once she caught up with him.

"It was like, okay, well which move are we going to make?," said the AGI Sport driver.

"I had a go at two moves coming into turn one, but the wind today is ridiculous, we're losing at least 10 to 15 km/h down the straight, so it makes it pretty hard unless you have a tow.

"I did get a tow at the start and towards the end, tyres went off, and then you're just battling for yourself and just making it home. But it was a really good race to start the weekend and start the season.

"I was hoping for top three, let alone top two, compared to where we were last year. So it's a big step forward, and all the testing and hard work overseas has paid off," said Radburn.

McNeill was third, marking three different teams in the top three positions, while Killion made his way back through the field with a recovery drive to fourth, earning pole position for race two with the fastest lap of the race.

Jensen Marold was once again a standout in the Gen 1 category, taking victory from pole position with an outright seventh-place finish.

Killion will now start both races on Sunday from pole position, while Duske will have to fight from the rear of the pack in race three after failing to set a time before Q2 was brought to an end by the red flag.

The strategy? "Try and get to the front," said Duske.

"Today was a bit colder so track times weren't ask fast as the other day, but I think we're all pushing to the limit and we'll just see what it ends up like.

"I think the aero wash is quite big in these cars, I haven't experienced it yet but I'm sure I will tomorrow, starting seventh, but we'll see what it brings."

Race two is underway at 10.45am AEST on Sunday and race three at 2.25pm.

AU4 Championship - The Bend Race 1 Result

Gen 2
1) Harrison Duske
2) Imogen Radburn
3) Isaac McNeill
4) Noah Killion
5) Brock Burton
6) Cohen Kokotovich
7) Georgia Morgan - DNF

Gen 1
1) Jensen Marold
2) Koby Wilson
3) Andrew Fitzpatrick
4) Jesse James Samuels
5) De'argo Stewart
6) Chloe Lane
7) Nick Filipetto
8) Lawrence Katsidis

Fastest Lap - Gen 2
1) Noah Killion 1:50.7196
2) Harrison Duske 1:51.0404
3) Imogen Radburn 1:51.1207
4) Isaac McNeill 1:51.4903
5) Cohen Kokotovich 1:51.6576
6) Brock Burton 1:53.3967
7) Georgia Morgan 1:54.1196