S Richards wins chaotic race three

Richards took over the lead after early leader Jamie Whincup went up an escape road after locking a brake on lap 10. The Ford driver led the rest of the way despite a safety car period late in the race.

Second at the finish was the Tasman Motorsport Holden of namesake Jason Richards, with Russell Ingall in his Stone Brothers Ford completing the race three podium.

His teammate James Courtney was next in the order, with Mark Winterbottom finishing fifth after starting 17th. Meanwhile, Garth Tander took the overall round win ahead of Ingall and Jason Richards.

While the first two races saw relative calm, the final race did its best to make up for it. The safety car came out on lap six as the result of a chain reaction of events.

John Bowe ran wide at the end of the back straight. As he exited the corner, Shane van Gisbergen slid into Bowe's car and then spun across the front of it. As he came back across the track drivers swerved to avoid, but Craig Lowndes and Todd Kelly made contact as they did so.

It sent Lowndes into a slide which he caught, but Kelly now had a flat left front tyre which saw him spin at the next turn. Bowe resumed racing but then was left with nowhere to go except to run into side of Kelly's stationary car, damaging the front of his and the doors on the left side of Kelly's car.

Between the incident occurring and the safety car being called, Ingall fell from second to fifth as he made a poor run on to the first straight at the back of the circuit.

Not surprisingly, every car headed to the pits when the safety car was called. This was not good news for two-car teams who only had one pit bay and boom to share between their cars, resulting in some drivers losing several positions, while others lost ground as they waited for the 'fast lane' to be clear to exit into.

The contact was not limited to the track, with second-placed Tander being released into the 'fast lane' as Greg Murphy drove by, the two cars making contact.

The race restarted on lap 8, but more drama was about to take place. On lap 10 Tander was given, as expected, a drive-through penalty for his pit lane contact with Murphy.

What made the situation worse was that Murphy had actually missed his pit bay and therefore, was in a position in the lane where neither he, Tander or either team expected him to be.

Just as Tander received news of his penalty, there was action on the track in front of him. Leader Whincup had a massive lock-up into the turn three left hander and ran down the escape road, handing the lead to Steven Richards.

Whincup resumed in 21st but was soon charging back up the order, while Tander dropped to 23rd as he slowly picked cars off.

A safety car for debris closed the order back up with the race restarting nine laps remaining. Richards led, while Whincup was now up to 13th and Tander 18th.

With gaps closed up, Whincup was on a charge. By lap 23 of 27, he had moved his way up to seventh and was on the rear of Jason Bargwanna and James Courtney.

Lap 25 was when it all went off again. Courtney looked inside Bargwanna as Whincup went to look at Courtney into the the turn three left hander. Bargwanna made just enough room to allow Courtney by, but then got very sideways exiting the corner and lightly bumped Whincup as he swerved to avoid and pass Bargwanna.

Dean Canto was sitting behind both of them and saw the opportunity to pass Bargwanna, getting alonside into the turn four left hander. However, Canto thought he could get Whincup too and stuck his nose inside Whincup.

However, it was somewhat of a desperate move and it ended as such moves usually do, with Whincup being tapped into a spin. In an effort to arrest the spin, Whincup floored the throttle.

As he spun, cars dived left and right, drivers losing and gaining places as they did so. Whincup was again hit by Canto as Canto was squeezed between another car and Whincup as he tried to make his way past, both Whincup and Canto forced to retire before the finish.

What had been a good recovery for Whincup after his earlier mistake turned into a disaster.

Ironically some of the biggest beneficiaries of this melee were Whincup's championship rivals. Craig Lowndes moved from tenth to seventh at the finish, Rick Kelly from 11th to sixth and Garth Tander from 14th to eighth.

What this all meant was that the championship battle is closer than it would have been had the order stayed as it was.

Whincup continues to lead, but Tander is now only nine points behind. Craig Lowndes is 19 points behind Tander, and Rick Kelly is seven points behind Lowndes, 35 points covering the four drivers battling for the title.

Pos  Driver                Car
 1.  Steven Richards       Ford Falcon BF       
 2.  Jason Richards        Holden Commodore VE  
 3.  Russell Ingall        Ford Falcon BF       
 4.  James Courtney        Ford Falcon BF       
 5.  Mark Winterbottom     Ford Falcon BF       
 6.  Rick Kelly            Holden Commodore VE  
 7.  Craig Lowndes         Ford Falcon BF       
 8.  Garth Tander          Holden Commodore VE  
 9.  Cameron McConville    Holden Commodore VE  
10.  Max Wilson            Ford Falcon BF       
11.  Will Davison          Ford Falcon BF       
12.  Jason Bargwanna       Ford Falcon BF       
13.  Greg Murphy           Holden Commodore VE  
14.  Lee Holdsworth        Holden Commodore VE  
15.  Simon Wills           Ford Falcon BF       
16.  Alan Gurr             Ford Falcon BF       
DNF  Dean Canto            Holden Commodore VE  
DNF  Jamie Whincup         Ford Falcon BF       
DNF  Steven Johnson        Ford Falcon BF       
DNF  Mark Skaife           Holden Commodore VE  
DNF  Andrew Jones          Ford Falcon BF       
DNF  Shane Price           Holden Commodore VE  
DNF  Jack Perkins          Holden Commodore VE  
DNF  Steve Owen            Holden Commodore VZ  
DNF  John Bowe             Ford Falcon BF       
DNF  Shane Van Gisbergen   Ford Falcon BF       
DNF  Todd Kelly            Holden Commodore VE  
DNF  Owen Kelly            Holden Commodore VE  
DNF  Paul Dumbrell         Holden Commodore VE  
DNF  Paul Morris           Holden Commodore VE