Lowndes displays Brock touch
FORD win 1, 2 and 3 at the Mountain

By Paul Gover and Stephen Ottley
October 08, 2007

CRAIG Lowndes turned on the Peter Brock magic again at Mount Panorama yesterday.

Lowndes and Jamie Whincup were best of the best at Bathurst for the second year in succession, and there was real magic through the final laps as Lowndes fought to maintain control on a treacherously slick track while fending off a hounding pack of V8 Supercar hopefuls.

He had to run down race leader Mark Winterbottom, avoid a collision when his rival ran off the road, then pass Steven Johnson and make his move stick as James Courtney also attacked him over the dying laps.

Lowndes had a margin of just 0.7sec over Courtney and David Besnard at the flag, with Johnson and Will Davison completing the first Ford trifecta since 1988.

"This is still Brocky's mountain," Lowndes said.

"He is the ultimate champion.

But it was great to get my third win today and go back to back with Jamie."

Even so, the Prince of Panorama has become the new king, and his win has reignited the fight for this year's V8 Supercars championship.

Whincup and Lowndes are top of the points table after the pre-Bathurst leaders, Rick Kelly and Garth Tander, were sidelined with dangerous brake problems in their Toll-HSV Dealer Team Commodore.

The season has four races still to run with the finale at Phillip Island on the first weekend in December.

The action at Bathurst began early when the field was released while Cameron McConville's Commodore, which had expired on the warm-up lap with a broken engine, was still stranded alongside the track.

This was just the first in a series of problems up and down pit lane, including fires for the BOC Falcon of Andrew Jones and the Jack Daniels Commodore of Jack Perkins, crashes by Marcus Marshall and Dean Canto in Commodores, and brake dramas that delayed and eventually eliminated the Toll-HSV Commodores of Kelly and Tander and Paul Radisich and Craig Baird.

As always, the first 100 laps at Bathurst were fast and frantic but really only set the stage for the fight to the finish.

Whincup and Richards were fighting for first in their Falcons, with Lowndes and Winterbottom picking up the battle after jumping into the leading cars at the final stops.

Mark Skaife looked to pose a threat despite earlier delays, Jason Bright was in the mix with a Falcon that had been fast all day, and the SBR Falcons of Courtney and Russell Ingall were closing the gap.

And then it rained.

The chaos began as the top of the mountain became a high-speed skating rink.

But Winterbottom did not get that far when he slid off the road at The Chase at more than 250km/h and ripped the bottom out of the leading FPR Falcon. He pitted for repairs before limped home in 10th.

Then Bright crashed after leading, Ingall tagged the wall and was punted into the gravel by rookie Shane van Gisbergen, and Skaife also hit the wall.

"I got no warning at all," Ingall said.

"There was nothing I could do."

Skaife said: "Certain drivers were totally out of control when it turned slippery, then it was over and out for us."

The carnage led to a classic three-way contest over the final laps, as Lowndes had to pass Johnson and then fend off Courtney. Greg Murphy meanwhile improved to fourth in his Commodore as Ritter tore up to sixth on wet tyres before fading to ninth. Richard Lyons and Allan Simonsen finished fifth in the second Vodafone Falcon.

"I was really cautious over the final laps," Lowndes said.

"It really was pretty slippery."

Courtney said: "I never gave up. I tried everything, but I just could not make it stick."

Johnson said: "We put everything we had into that, but it didn't quite pay off."

But Courtney and Davison summed it up the best.

"That was an unbelievable race," Davison said.

Courtney said: "It was a pretty crazy day."

News Limited

Did anyone watch the Great Race yesterday?

I saw bits of it. Some very good racing and a great finish. Just over 1 sec separated the first 4.

Ford 1, 2, 3 - yeehaa. Great that Craig won and also good to see DJR back on the podium. I read they have a technical partnership now with Team Vodafone Racing which has helped put them back where they belong - at the pointy end.

I am a Ford man (can you tell?) but it was also good to see Mark Skaife doing well until his little mishap. I respect him for what he has achieved as well as for being a great driver.

It was a great race, lots of action. I watched the telecast from 6.30am till 5pm, working on the internet at the same time. Great to see FORD in a trifecta