Motorsport: Lowndes' streak ends with bang

Craig Lowndes' car is taken away after a spectacular crash. Photo / Getty Images

Craig Lowndes sensationally crashed out of race one of the Townsville V8 Supercars meet yesterday, ending a long-running finishing streak and denting his championship hopes.

After being buttered up in a manic first lap, a steering failure on lap 12 sent the former champion into a tyre bank, ending his race.

Lowndes was unhurt in the crash but loses his incredible streak of avoiding DNF results at 81 races.

Team-mate Jamie Whincup was able to pick up the slack, winning the race ahead of Garth Tander and Will Davison after starting in 10th, but all the focus was on Lowndes.

He told his team radio the steering wheel had "screwed up", meaning he wasn't able to veer left and stay on the track.

He said the crash "looked probably worse than what it felt like", taking a philosophical view of what it meant for his title hopes.

"It's been a hell of a year. It's been up and down like a yo-yo. That's motor racing, we take the good and the bad. The points are still there for grabs and I'm going to take them."

His Holden appeared unsalvageable for race two but excellent work from his Red Bull Racing team had him back on track for a sixth-place finish behind the impressive Tander, James Courtney and Fabian Coulthard.

The race two result was a fitting reward for effort from the Holden Racing Team pair, who qualified fastest for the first race but weren't able to convert. Their hold on the opening race of three in Townsville failed to last even half a lap as Lowndes, Tander, Courtney and Jason Bright were all involved in the opening lap fight, with Chaz Mostert and Lowndes both turned around. At least six drivers will be unsure of their race points as stewards consider the incidents from a hectic day.

Whincup is Mark Winterbottom's nearest championship challenger, still 144 points adrift. Crucially, Winterbottom stemmed the losses by improving his terrible qualifying results to finish 11th and eighth.

New Zealand's Shane Van Gisbergen had a solid day, picking up a fifth and a fourth in the two races to be sixth overall. Scott McLaughlin is one position further back after finishing sixth and 14th in the two races.

Coulthard is still the best placed of the Kiwis in fourth and recovered from a disappointing 15th in the first race to finish on the podium.

- AAP