Lowndes, Whincup win Bathurst

The Triple Eight duo took Ford's first win at the Mountain since 1998 as they managed to hold off the Toll HSV Dealer Team Holden of Rick and Todd Kelly by half a second in the closing laps, both drivers setting their fastest race lap with just four laps remaining.

Third and fourth were the two Stone Brothers Racing Fords, James Courtney and Glenn Seton beating Russell Ingall and Luke Youlden by just five-thousandths of a second, with the Jack Daniel's Racing Holden of Steven Richards and Paul Dumbrell completing the top five.

It was fitting that Lowndes won the race which saw the inaugural presentation of the Peter Brock Trophy, Brock having been a mentor to Lowndes in his early career at the Holden Racing Team. Lowndes' emotions spilled over on the podium, unable to hold back tears as he held the trophy aloft.

By winning, Lowndes extended his lead in the championship to 101 points over Rick Kelly, as every driver dropped their worst round so far as they head into the final rounds. Mark Winterbottom and Russell Ingall sit around 300 points behind Kelly, with Jamie Whincup, Garth Tander and Steven Richards around 500 to 570 points behind Lowndes.

With 321 points up for grabs at each of the remaining four events, it is almost certain that the title winner will come from this group, with Lowndes and Rick Kelly clearly the favourites.

The race had a bizarre start, pole sitter Mark Skaife out before turn two as a slipping clutch left him vulnerable as they headed up Mountain Straight, rookie Jack Perkins unable to avoid them, both cars out almost before the race begun.

The big names kept falling, early race leader Jason Bright and Mark Winterbottom suffering engine problems, while the second Holden Racing Team car of Jim Richards and Ryan Briscoe crashed out at The Dipper before 25 laps had been completed.

Next to fall was the Falcon of Steven Johnson and Will Davison, when Johnson spun at Reid Park and slammed into the wall.

The race continued to be interrupted by the safety car as cars spun and buried themselves in the sand or the wall.

After dramas earlier in the weekend, the situation was almost revisited when Paul Radisich was squeezed by another car exiting the Chase on lap 72, Radisich ploughing head on into a tyre wall at around 200 km/h. After cutting the roof open to extract him, he was taken from the track, in a serious but stable condition.

Lap 105 saw the exit of Super Cheap's Greg Murphy and Cameron McConville when they hit the wall in the Esses after possibly slipping on some oil.

During all this action, the cars of Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup and the Kelly brothers continued to run near or at the front, the Kellys leading from lap 105 to 109 before the Triple Eight Falcon took the lead which it began to stretch before the final pit stops with just under 30 laps remaining.

The gap, which after the stops was nearly ten seconds, began to close and it was beginning to close rapidly when the tenth and final safety car came out with nine laps remaining after Jason Richards took a 250+ km/h trip through the sand before coming to rest safely, having taken a flying leap across the race track at around 200 km/h along the way.

The race restarted with seven laps remaining, the lead duo nose to tail. That was how it stayed to the finish, a lunge on the last lap at the Chase by Rick Kelly only able to move him on to the bumper of Lowndes, not past, as Lowndes held on to take a nail-biting win.

Pos Drivers                            Car                   Time
 1. Craig Lowndes/Jamie Whincup        Ford Falcon BA        6h59:53.5852
 2. Rick Kelly/Todd Kelly              Holden Commodore VZ   +     0.5868
 3. James Courtney/Glenn Seton         Ford Falcon BA        +     9.5404
 4. Russell Ingall/Luke Youlden        Ford Falcon BA        +     9.5460
 5. Paul Dumbrell/Steven Richards      Holden Commodore VZ   +    10.7907
 6. Steven Ellery/Paul Morris          Holden Commodore VZ   +    14.3898
 7. Tony Longhurst/Steve Owen          Holden Commodore VZ   +    17.7381
 8. Nathan Pretty/Paul Weel            Holden Commodore VZ   +    19.5688
 9. Alex Davison/Grant Denyer          Ford Falcon BA        +    20.0446
10. Craig Baird/Jason Bargwanna        Ford Falcon BA        +    22.4515
11. John Bowe/Brad Jones               Ford Falcon BA        +    24.8674
12. Richard Lyons/Allan Simonsen       Ford Falcon BA        +    29.9987
13. Greg Ritter/Cameron McLean         Holden Commodore VZ   +     1 lap
14. David Besnard/Max Wilson           Ford Falcon BA        +     1 lap
15. Owen Kelly/Mark Noske              Holden Commodore VZ   +     2 laps
16. Jose Fernandez/Tony Ricciardello   Ford Falcon BA        +     2 laps
17. Dean Canto/Lee Holdsworth          Holden Commodore VZ   +    32 laps
DNF Andrew Jones/Jason Richards        Holden Commodore VZ
DNF Cameron McConville/Greg Murphy     Holden Commodore VZ
DNF Warren Luff/Adam Macrow            Ford Falcon BA
DNF Tony D'Alberto/Anthony Tratt       Holden Commodore VZ
DNF Marcus Marshall/Jonathan Webb      Ford Falcon BA
DNF Fabian Coulthard/Paul Radisich     Holden Commodore VZ
DNF Dale Brede/Michael Caruso          Ford Falcon BA
DNF Matt Halliday/David Brabham        Ford Falcon BA
DNF Jason Bright/Mark Winterbottom     Ford Falcon BA
DNF Will Davison/Steven Johnson        Ford Falcon BA
DNF Ryan Briscoe/Jim Richards          Holden Commodore VZ
DNF Alan Gurr/Kayne Scott              Holden Commodore VZ
DNF Jack Perkins/Shane Price           Holden Commodore VZ
DNF Mark Skaife/Garth Tander           Holden Commodore VZ