Tander wins race two

Tander was in control from start-to-finish, never looking in too much danger of succumbing his lead. Steven Richards took his second consecutive second place, while Craig Lowndes took third to give Ford their first podium finish of the weekend.

The championship battle changed little, apart from Marcos Ambrose who spun late in the race. Despite the spin, he still sits third in the chase, 94 points behind Ingall but still 34 points ahead of Todd Kelly and 40 ahead of Mark Skaife.

Lowndes moves up to second, 63 points behind Ingall, who had a lacklustre race but still has a strong grip on the title.

The start saw Tander lead ahead of Richards, with Ambrose moving ahead of Rick Kelly with Craig Lowndes slotting into fifth.

The safety car made an early appearance after Mark Skaife took to the grass at turn one and nudged a tyre bundle onto the track, while elsewhere Cameron McConville was sent spinning into the grass.

The compulsory pit-stops saw no change to the order at the front of the field, but a mid-race safety car period bunched the field back up.

This allowed Craig Lowndes to make a slick move on Rick Kelly at the hairpin to take fourth. Elsewhere Greg Murphy was having a great race, taking sixth from Ingall on lap 38.

The big news in the closing laps was when third-placed Marcos Ambrose locked his fading brakes into the hairpin on lap 37 and spun. With two pit stops for two flat tyres, he dropped from third to 27th.

Up at the front, Tander took the win ahead of Richards, Lowndes, Rick Kelly and Greg Murphy, who took the place from Paul Dumbrell on the final lap.

Result of race two:

Pos  Driver              Car
 1.  Garth Tander        Holden Commodore VZ
 2.  Steven Richards     Holden Commodore VY
 3.  Craig Lowndes       Ford Falcon BA
 4.  Rick Kelly          Holden Commodore VZ
 5.  Greg Murphy         Holden Commodore VZ
 6.  Paul Dumbrell       Holden Commodore VY
 7.  Steven Johnson      Ford Falcon BA
 8.  Jason Richards      Holden Commodore VZ
 9.  Russell Ingall      Ford Falcon BA
10.  Paul Radisich       Holden Commodore VZ
11.  Todd Kelly          Holden Commodore VZ
12.  Mark Skaife         Holden Commodore VZ
13.  Steve Ellery        Ford Falcon BA
14.  Max Wilson          Holden Commodore VZ
15.  Cameron McConville  Holden Commodore VZ
16.  Paul Morris         Holden Commodore VZ
17.  Jason Bright        Ford Falcon BA
18.  Craig Baird         Ford Falcon BA
19.  Glenn Seton         Ford Falcon BA
20.  Dean Canto          Holden Commodore VZ
21.  Brad Jones          Ford Falcon BA
22.  Mark Winterbottom   Ford Falcon BA
23.  David Brabham       Ford Falcon BA
24.  Paul Weel           Holden Commodore VZ
25.  David Besnard       Ford Falcon BA
26.  Matthew White       Ford Falcon BA
27.  Marcos Ambrose      Ford Falcon BA
28.  John Bowe           Ford Falcon BA
29.  Owen Kelly          Holden Commodore VZ
30.  Jason Bargwanna     Ford Falcon BA
31.  Anthony Tratt       Holden Commodore VY
DNF  Jamie Whincup       Holden Commodore VZ