Lowndes wins again in race 3

Lowndes showed the way throughout the race to lead home four Holdens, the Toll HSV duo of Rick Kelly and Garth Tander leading home Holden Racing Team's Todd Kelly and Mark Skaife.

It was more than enough to guarantee Lowndes the overall round victory, with Rick Kelly's three second places good for second overall, the podium completed by race one winner Mark Skaife.

At the start of the race, Lowndes got a great getaway to lead from Rick Kelly, Jamie Whincup, Tander, Mark Winterbottom, Skaife and Todd Kelly. Again the leaders pitted early, Rick Kelly, Winterbottom and Skaife pits on lap six, Lowndes, Tander and Todd Kelly two laps later.

However, the lead pack had lost a car, Jamie Whincup pulling into his pit garage with an oil leak. He returned to the track but finished five laps down in 26th place. His teammate Lowndes and Rick Kelly began to move away from the second group, led by Tander in third through to Skaife in sixth.

Slowly Tander edged away from the group, which saw a change in positions on lap 18 when Todd Kelly took fourth place from Winterbottom at the hairpin. More action was about to happen when Alan Gurr had a huge accident at turn four a lap later, bringing out the safety car.

The race restarted on lap 23, Lowndes slowly making a break from the group behind. On lap 26 Skaife made his way past Winterbottom at turn one, having previously passed him two laps earlier thanks to a nudge, Skaife choosing to give the place back rather than risk being given a penalty.

Lowndes continued to stretch his advantage as the laps wound down, while the group of four Holdens behind him ran close together but no-one was able to make a pass.

Rick Kelly's consistent strong performances allowed him to stretch his lead over teammate Garth Tander to 39 points in the championship, Todd Kelly now 91 points behind his brother in third place. Despite his race three drama Jamie Whincup remains fourth, 14 points ahead of Mark Skaife with Craig Lowndes six points further back in sixth.

In fact, the top six places remain unchanged, with everyone falling further behind points leader Rick Kelly except Craig Lowndes in sixth. He closes his gap to Kelly by five points - however Lowndes is still 123 points behind him.

Pos  Driver                Car                   Laps
 1.  Craig Lowndes         Ford Falcon BF         42
 2.  Rick Kelly            Holden Commodore VE    42
 3.  Garth Tander          Holden Commodore VE    42
 4.  Todd Kelly            Holden Commodore VE    42
 5.  Mark Skaife           Holden Commodore VE    42
 6.  Mark Winterbottom     Ford Falcon BF         42
 7.  Will Davison          Ford Falcon BF         42
 8.  Steven Richards       Ford Falcon BF         42
 9.  Jason Richards        Holden Commodore VE    42
10.  Lee Holdsworth        Holden Commodore VZ    42
11.  Russell Ingall        Ford Falcon BF         42
12.  Paul Morris           Holden Commodore VE    42
13.  Jason Bargwanna       Ford Falcon BF         42
14.  Greg Murphy           Holden Commodore VE    42
15.  Dean Canto            Holden Commodore VE    42
16.  Max Wilson            Ford Falcon BF         42
17.  Paul Dumbrell         Holden Commodore VE    42
18.  Steven Johnson        Ford Falcon BF         42
19.  Steve Owen            Holden Commodore VZ    42
20.  Cameron McConville    Holden Commodore VZ    42
21.  Jack Perkins          Holden Commodore VE    42
22.  Simon Wills           Ford Falcon BF         42
23.  Andrew Jones          Ford Falcon BF         42
24.  John Bowe             Ford Falcon BF         41
25.  Fabian Coulthard      Holden Commodore VZ    41
26.  Jamie Whincup         Ford Falcon BF         37
DNF  Alan Gurr             Ford Falcon BF         17
DNF  Jason Bright          Ford Falcon BF