Lowndes takes win in race three

Lowndes led from start to finish, but it was team-mate Jamie Whincup's crash on the second-last lap that may prove to be a significant moment in this year's championship.

With championship contender Will Davison limping around after damaging his steering early in the race, Whincup seemed on track to catch up most of the margin he lost to Davison following yesterday's incident in race one. But with just over a lap remaining, he understeered into the wall near the end of the lap as he approached some lapped cars.

He then rebounded into the wall on the other side, ending up with broken left front suspension. It is not clear whether the team will be able to repair the damage in time for this afternoon's second race.

Failing to greet the chequered flag, Whincup scored no points, while Davison, who actually completed less laps than Whincup, finished 21st and scored points to continue to narrow the margin to Whincup.

Second place was taken by Mark Winterbottom for Ford Performance Racing, with Davison's team-mate Garth Tander, recovering well from his qualifying outside the top ten. Fourth was Russell Ingall, while the two Jim Beam Racing cars carved through the field from 13th and 19th to finish sixth and seventh.

Pole man Jason Bargwanna had an up and down race. Losing the lead to Lowndes at the start, he was forced to pit just after the first safety car to fix an engine miss. But after dropping to 24th, he made the most of the rest of the race and the two subsequent safety cars to finish ninth.

While Winterbottom finished second, for a long time Rick Kelly ran in that position. But he was blackflagged for a minor fuel leak, and after he pitted for the black flag, he then suffered a flat tyre, second place turning into 20th by the chequered flag.

As bad as his day was, Fabian Coulthard and Cameron McConville had a much worse one, both cars not even making it to turn one after they were involved in an incident just after the start, Coulthard tagged by another car, bouncing into McConville with both cars hitting the wall, Coulthard's hitting it extremely hard.

Pos  Driver                Make                  Time
 1.  Craig Lowndes         Ford Falcon FG        1:13:55.2217
 2.  Mark Winterbottom     Ford Falcon FG        +     2.2340
 3.  Garth Tander          Holden Commodore VE   +     3.6111
 4.  Russell Ingall        Holden Commodore VE   +     6.2527
 5.  James Courtney        Ford Falcon FG        +    11.4425
 6.  Steven Johnson        Ford Falcon FG        +    15.8620
 7.  David Reynolds        Holden Commodore VE   +    17.7280
 8.  Jason Bright          Ford Falcon FG        +    20.9609
 9.  Jason Bargwanna       Holden Commodore VE   +    24.4739
10.  Jason Richards        Holden Commodore VE   +    25.3749
11.  Paul Dumbrell         Holden Commodore VE   +    26.1219
12.  Steven Richards       Ford Falcon FG        +    26.5370
13.  Tony D'Alberto        Holden Commodore VE   +    27.0634
14.  Greg Murphy           Holden Commodore VE   +    27.4996
15.  Dean Fiore            Holden Commodore VE   +    35.5398
16.  Alex Davison          Ford Falcon FG        +    35.9163
17.  Tim Slade             Holden Commodore VE   +    40.7022
18.  Todd Kelly            Holden Commodore VE   +    41.1379
19.  Shane Van Gisbergen   Ford Falcon FG        +     1 lap
20.  Rick Kelly            Holden Commodore VE   +     1 lap
21.  Will Davison          Holden Commodore VE   +     3 laps
22.  Lee Holdsworth        Holden Commodore VE   +     5 laps

Not classified/retirements:

     Driver                Make                  Laps
     Jamie Whincup         Ford Falcon FG         32
     Michael Caruso        Holden Commodore VE    19
     Mark McNally          Holden Commodore VE    13
     Michael Patrizi       Ford Falcon BF          8
     Jack Perkins          Holden Commodore VE     8
     Cameron McConville    Holden Commodore VE     0
     Fabian Coulthard      Ford Falcon FG          0