Tander completes triple in race three

Tander led from start to finish apart from a few laps during the compulsory pit stop shuffle, again heading home the Vodafone Ford duo, though in reverse order from race two, Craig Lowndes second ahead of Jamie Whincup.

Another two Fords completed the top five, Jim Beam Racing's Will Davison leading home Ford Performance Racing's Mark Winterbottom.

Tander's teammate Rick Kelly recovered from his race two dramas to finish in sixth place, but it was not good enough to prevent his teammate overtaking him in the points.

Holden Racing Team's Todd Kelly had a busy race, an attempt to pass Paul Morris for tenth at the end of lap one but instead got shuffled down the order to fifteenth place as other cars took advantage.

Later in the race on lap 24 Kelly was dicing with Steven Richards for twelfth, the duo exiting the final turn side-by-side, Richards moving to the right to regain the track just as Kelly dropped back a little but maintained his line. With less than a car's width between Kelly and the edge of the track, Richards went spinning off the nose of Kelly's car.

Kelly received a drive-through penalty for the incident, relegating him to 19th where he finished. His teammate Mark Skaife was involved in a last lap incident with James Courtney, Skaife spinning after contact from Courtney's car. Courtney was penalised post-race, falling from seventh to 18th while Skaife eventually recovered to finish 17th.

Tander's three wins gave him the overall round win ahead of the Team Vodafone pair of Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes.

The championship has a new leader, Garth Tander taking over from Toll HSV teammate Rick Kelly, Tander with 369 points to Kelly's 359. The Team Vodafone Fords of Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes are next on 285 and 263 points, with the Holden Racing Team duo of Todd Kelly and Mark Skaife completing the top six on 261 and 249 points.

Pos  Driver                Car                   Laps
 1.  Garth Tander          Holden Commodore VE    38
 2.  Craig Lowndes         Ford Falcon BF         38
 3.  Jamie Whincup         Ford Falcon BF         38
 4.  Will Davison          Ford Falcon BF         38
 5.  Mark Winterbottom     Ford Falcon BF         38
 6.  Rick Kelly            Holden Commodore VE    38
 7.  Greg Murphy           Holden Commodore VE    38
 8.  Jason Richards        Holden Commodore VE    38
 9.  Russell Ingall        Ford Falcon BF         38
10.  Lee Holdsworth        Holden Commodore VE    38
11.  Jack Perkins          Holden Commodore VE    38
12.  John Bowe             Ford Falcon BF         38
13.  Dean Canto            Holden Commodore VE    38
14.  Cameron McConville    Holden Commodore VE    38
15.  Paul Morris           Holden Commodore VE    38
16.  Shane Price           Holden Commodore VE    38
17.  Mark Skaife           Holden Commodore VE    38
18.  James Courtney        Ford Falcon BF         38
19.  Todd Kelly            Holden Commodore VE    38
20.  Alan Gurr             Ford Falcon BF         37
21.  Jason Bargwanna       Ford Falcon BF         37
DNF  Steven Richards       Ford Falcon BF         33
DNF  Jason Bright          Ford Falcon BF         29
DNF  Steve Ellery          Holden Commodore VZ    28
DNF  Max Wilson            Ford Falcon BF         24
DNF  Paul Weel             Holden Commodore VE    19
DNF  Steve Owen            Holden Commodore VZ    17
DNF  Simon Wills           Ford Falcon BF         12
DNF  Andrew Jones          Ford Falcon BF         11
DNF  Steven Johnson        Ford Falcon BF          9