Title ends in controversy in final race

Winterbottom held off Kelly's teammate Garth Tander by just over a tenth of a second in a hard but fair battle in the closing laps, the duo finishing the season third and fourth in the championship.

But it was all overshadowed by what happened on lap two between the two championship contenders. The tension had already been increased when a stalled car around the back of the circuit led to the original start being aborted.

When the race got underway Todd Kelly got the jump but Lowndes made a terrific start to get on his outside into turn one, the outside line allowing Lowndes' rival Rick Kelly alongside into turn two, the two rubbing panels before Lowndes reasserted his second place through the corner.

Lap two and they were still nose to tail, Todd Kelly just ahead of Lowndes who ran a defensive line into the Honda Hairpin. Behind Lowndes Rick Kelly either braked too late or went for a gap that wasn't quite there and hit Lowndes, pushing him into the side of brother Todd, with both Todd Kelly and Craig Lowndes sent into a spin.

Rick Kelly escaped unscathed, Todd managed to rejoin safely in 13th while Lowndes, broadside in the hairpin, was hit heavily in the front by Will Davison who was left with nowhere to go, badly damaging the steering on Lowndes' car, giving it several degrees of toe out. Lowndes completed the lap in 15th but was 23rd one lap later.

For his part in the incident, Rick Kelly quickly received a drive-through penalty, dropping him to 30th and last place, but while his car was undamaged and still had speed, Lowndes continued to struggle and drift down the order, dropping to last after pitting on lap six.

From there on it was a matter of continuing for both drivers, Kelly making slow but steady progress to finish 18th, while Lowndes pitted two more times for front tyres to finish four laps down in 29th.

When Kelly was penalised this moved Mark Winterbottom into the lead, a lead he took to his solo victory. However, he had to cope with a resurgent Garth Tander in the closing laps, who after starting eighteenth was up to seventh after the melee on lap two, steadily picking off rivals throughout the remainder of the race.

Third was a return to form for Tasman Motorsport's Jason Richards, FPR's Jason Bright fourth with Todd Kelly recovering from the spin to finish in fifth place.

For the round, Todd Kelly's two wins gave him the overall round victory ahead of race three winner Mark Winterbottom with Todd Kelly's Holden Racing Team teammate Mark Skaife completing the race podium.

Kelly's 18th versus Lowndes' 29th gave Kelly a 37 point margin at the conclusion of the race, Winterbottom 182 points behind Lowndes with Tander a further 124 points behind Winterbottom. Jason Bright completed the top five, 97 points behind Tander.

The championship battle may not be over yet however, with Lowndes' team Triple Eight considering a post-race protest depending on the conclusions of a post-race review of the incident involving Lowndes and Rick Kelly.

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