Tander wins race one

Tander ran second in the early laps but took advantage of the compulsory pit stop shuffle to move to the front. There he stayed despite a late-race restart after Jason Bright severely damaged his left front suspension hitting the tyres on the exit of the first chicane.

Close behind at the finish was Team Vodafone's Jamie Whincup, who moved up to third after the pit stops and set fast lap after fast lap, moving ahead of teammate Craig Lowndes just after half distance, Lowndes going on to finish third.

Behind them in fourth and fifth were Russell Ingall and Greg Murphy. Ingall had chased Murphy throughout the race after the pit stops but couldn't find a way past.

However, he got alongside on the final lap heading to the finish and snuck home seven thousandth of a seconds ahead according to the results, though it appeared to the naked eye Murphy had held on.

Sixth-placed finisher James Courtney actually led the field before the stops, having passed Tander at the start. But a minor error at his pit stop and a slightly slow pace while leading cost him, ending the race just one place ahead of Rick Kelly who had started 11th.

The bad weekends for Mark Skaife and Mark Winterbottom continued, despite appearing fairly rosy for most of the race. Starting the final lap running in 12th and 13th after starting 16th and 29th respectively, everything was looking good.

But in the closing stages of the final lap Skaife understeered wide, and as he tried to recover his car oversteered, clipping the back of Winterbottom's Ford hard in the left rear, spinning Winterbottom into the wall while damaging Skaife's front right wheel and tyre.

Instead of 12th and 13th and a few points each, neither scored points as Skaife limped home in 17th and Winterbottom in 20th.

Their teammates didn't fair any better, Skaife's teammate Todd Kelly retiring with steering problems after clipping the tyres while running seventh in the closing laps.

Meanwhile Winterbottom's teammate Steven Richards also retired after running sixth in the early laps. He hit the pit wall as he lost control entering the pits, and then was collected in the closing laps by the crashing Bright as he rebounded off the tyres.

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