Lowndes wins race three

Lowndes took the lead from Rick Kelly following a safety car at two-thirds distance to break his streak of second places at Oran Park this weekend.

His victory gave him the overall round victory, ahead of Rick Kelly who finished second in the race and the round. Completing the top three for the race and round was rookie James Courtney.

After problems in both of the opening races, Garth Tander stormed through the field to finish in fifth place, just behind Steven Johnson.

While Tander's race three was good news, Russell Ingall's day turned the other direction. Late-race contact with Tander was followed by contact with Warren Luff, which earned him a drive-through penalty, Ingall finishing the race in 21st place.

However, there were some other drivers even worse off. Todd Kelly, Jason Bright and Steven Richards didn't make it past lap one after an incident at turn three ended their races.

Paul Dumbrell suffered damage but continued, only to spear off at high speed on lap nine, just as race leader Jamie Whincup's race went up in a cloud of smoke. Max Wilson was another driver to go off at high speed just before half-distance.

Lowndes now leads the points, 39 ahead of Rick Kelly. Kelly's teammate Garth Tander is a further 103 points behind, with Mark Winterbottom and Russell Ingall 115 and 116 points behind Tander, just under a round's worth of points behind Lowndes.

However, the next two rounds are the endurance events, where points can easily fall your way or be snatched from you in a split-second.

Pos  Driver                   Car
 1.  Craig Lowndes            Ford Falcon BA
 2.  Rick Kelly               Holden Commodore VZ
 3.  James Courtney           Ford Falcon BA
 4.  Steven Johnson           Ford Falcon BA
 5.  Garth Tander             Holden Commodore VZ
 6.  Lee Holdsworth           Holden Commodore VZ
 7.  Cameron McConville       Holden Commodore VZ
 8.  Will Davison             Ford Falcon BA
 9.  Brad Jones               Ford Falcon BA
10.  Greg Murphy              Holden Commodore VZ
11.  Mark Winterbottom        Ford Falcon BA
12.  Steve Owen               Holden Commodore VZ
13.  John Bowe                Ford Falcon BA
14.  Jason Bargwanna          Ford Falcon BA
15.  Jason Richards           Holden Commodore VZ
16.  Paul Radisich            Holden Commodore VZ
17.  Andrew Jones             Holden Commodore VZ
18.  Warren Luff              Ford Falcon BA
19.  Dean Canto               Holden Commodore VZ
20.  Marcus Marshall          Ford Falcon BA
21.  Russell Ingall           Ford Falcon BA
22.  Jose Fernandez           Ford Falcon BA
23.  Mark Skaife              Holden Commodore VZ
24.  Paul Morris              Holden Commodore VZ
DNF  Max Wilson               Ford Falcon BA
DNF  Jamie Whincup            Ford Falcon BA
DNF  Paul Dumbrell            Holden Commodore VZ
DNF  Jason Bright             Ford Falcon BA
DNF  Todd Kelly               Holden Commodore VZ
DNF  Steven Richards          Holden Commodore VZ
DNF  Fabian Coulthard         Holden Commodore VZ