Only hours before their respective Nations clash in the Rugby League World Cup Australian Ryan Briscoe and New Zealand’s Scott Dixon fought out a thrilling Gold Coast Indy 300 and it was the Aussie that came out on top.

Briscoe became the only Australian driver to win the race hanging on to beat the reigning Indycar Champion by less than a second.

Briscoe took the lead after home town hero Will Power crashed out while leading. Back in the pits Power was gutted by his mistake.

“It was a really bad mistake, the worst of my life.” he said. “It was a very bad day for me and I am very disappointed.”
Even Briscoe had some sympathy for his fellow Aussie. “ I really feel bad for Will Power. He had a real fast car.“ said Briscoe.

Dixon closed on Briscoe late in the race as the Australia had to save fuel, but just failed to catch the flying Sydney-sider “We were quicker in different spots. He was quicker than me, but we were quicker on the backside. I don’t know, if he had made a mistake, we could have got him.“

Third place went to Ryan Hunter who was hoping a good performance would help him cement a full time drive for 2009. “I got held up by (Alex) Tagliani for good while there, but the guys did a great job in the pits to get us by him, and I did my usual deal at Surfers. I’ve never been out of the top-five here.“

Alex Tagliani, a Gold Coast favourite thanks to locally born wife Bronte finished fourth. “I’m very happy with this result for the Conquest team, Brandon (Fry) and Eric (Zeto) worked so hard on the engineering aspect of the car. They saw potential in Detroit and were very excited with the feedback they received. They were able to take that prepare for this race in Australia. I’m pretty sure that the winter will be much sweeter for this with this good result.”

Briscoe’s win may well be the first and last as speculation grows that the race would be the last time the series visits Australia.

However in an encouraging sign for the races future Queensland Sports Minister Judy Spence said that she was confident that the race would “be back next year and for many years to come.”

POSTSCRIPT: for the handful of people who might care Australia easily accounted for New Zealand with a comfortable 30-6 win in the opening fixture of the Rugby League World Cup on Sunday evening in Sydney.