Boys won Sunday's Super 2 feature race and leads the championship, but only after a huge crash on Friday morning threatened to put him out of the weekend's event.

The season's first practice session was held in perfect conditions and Boys was on top of the time sheet with a few minutes to go.

However, coming into the chase at the bottom of Conrod Straight at over 270km/h, the brakes locked badly and he was off the track and found the fence.

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"I had to get right out of the brakes and then it just wouldn't turn - it was a big hit, but luckily it sort of went in a bit sideways, not straight head on, which eased the damage to the engine area," Boys said.

A heroic effort from Boys' crew saw the car back on track for afternoon practice with no loss of pace.

Boys qualified fourth for Saturday's race and crossed the line third, only a tenth of a second behind second.

"It was good to get a podium though and we learned a lot for Sunday," he said.

"I made a small mistake in my Sunday qualifying run, but it was really important to get a front row start, so I was pleased to be second."

Armed with the knowledge from Saturday that his car didn't handle well when following, Boys knew he had to grab the lead early to maximise his chances of winning.

"I knew that if Tyler (pole sitter Tyler Everingham) got away, that I'd struggle to get close enough to make a pass with the way it was on Saturday," he said.

The pair were side by side up the mountain and Boys had the inside line through turn two and took the lead.

The next 12 laps were some of best racing seen on the iconic circuit as Boys absorbed the pressure his younger rival threw at him.

The gap fluctuated but was never more than a second and a half, and, for the most part, Everingham was just a metre or so away.

Round two is at Winton on May 29 and 30.

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