KEY POINTS:
Garth Tander has driven a blinder in front of a capacity crowd of 60,000 at the Hamilton 400 to take the chequered flag in race two ahead of Kiwi Steven Richards.
Tander proved untouchable, starting the second of the weekend's three races in pole position after winning yesterday.
Steven Richards' well-deserved second place was helped by a poor pit stop from Rick Kelly, who faded towards the end of the race and eventually finished in sixth after starting on the front row.
There were three New Zealanders in the top ten, with Fabian Coulthard punching well above his weight to finish in eighth and tenth place went to Jason Richards, who was driving an older Tasman Motorsport Commodore than teammate Greg Murphy's brand new car.
Team Kiwi Racing's Kayne Scott came 20th, with Murphy and unlucky Ford driver Shane van Gisbergen finishing in 25th and 26th respectively, picking up bare minimum points.
This morning's race began without the drama that marred the early laps of yesterday - pole sitter Tander holds position, beats Kelly off the line
Kiwi Steven Richards reacted quickly, but didn't quite have the pace to pick off either of the Holden pairing on row one
An early incident saw Craig Lowndes hit Team Kiwi Racing's Kayne Scott, stoving in the Vodafone Falcon's front and adding further insult to injury for the luckless team's horror weekend.
Yesterday saw Lowndes' teammate and pre-event championship frontrunner Jamie Whincup crash out during qualifying, effectively ending his Hamilton 400 before it began.
By lap two Tander had started to stretch his legs, opening up a gap over HSV dealer team's Kelly.
Young Kiwi driver Fabian Coulthard has had an impressive drive this weekend, with excellent giving no quarter to FPR driver Mark Winterbottom.
But it was Steven Richards who was putting the hammer down in the early stages, putting in a fastest lap of 1:25.4670 as pushed hard to catch a determined Rick Kelly.
The pit scramble of yesterday wasn't repeated, with a handful of cars making their compulsory stops when the pit window opened at lap 5.
Race leader Garth Tander put in a blinding lap of 1:25.1756 to answer Richards before a smooth pit stop which put him back on the track in 15th position.
Kelly pitted the following lap, with a glitch fitting the left rear tyre costing him valuable time.
This put Steven Richards in good stead as he settled in one place back from Tander as he made his way back towards the front of the order, putting in an even faster lap than Tander's pre-pit effort.
He was held up by Ford young gun Michael Patrizi, who exited pit lane between his FPR Falcon and the flying Commodore of Tander.
Will Davison's car stopped in pit lane, blocking Jim Beam teammate Steven Johnson's exit and costing the Ford driver valuable race positions.
By lap 14 Tander was up into forth place, behind Jason Bright, Shane van Gisbergen and Jason Richards, who were all still to take their compulsory stops.
Talented Van Gisbergen led the race for a time, enjoying being out front of a hometown V8 Supercars race until a four-tyre pitstop on lap 19 let Tander through into first place, followed by an on-pace Steven Richards.
Van Gisbergen reentered the race in 12th behind Tasman Motorsport driver and fellow New Zealander Jason Richards.
Local hero Greg Murphy's bad luck continued after yesterday's poor finish when he clipped a tyre going through the tight chicane and damaged the brand new VE's suspension. He was forced into the garage for repairs but managed to get back on track, eventually finishing in 25th place.
He told nzherald.co.nz before this morning's race that car was feeling fast - backed up by his record lap in yesterday's race.
"I've just got to try and stay out of trouble," he said.
When the safety car eventually made an appearance on lap 25 it was not because of a race incident but because of a muffler on the circuit.
A disappointed Van Gisbergen was back in the Stone Brothers garage during the safety period, although the car was fixed an back out on track to pick up
The safety car left the circuit on lap 26, setting up a nine-lap sprint to the finish, but a turn one tangle saw Andrew Thompson's PWR Commodore take a massive hit on the left hand side, tapping Lowdnes on the way through and turning around veteran Mark Skaife.
But the knocks didn't stop there, with Michael Patrizi offering a repeat of yesterday's performance and hitting the wall almost head-on, and Jack Daniel's driver Todd Kelly also finding the barrier.
On lap 30 Garry Rogers Motorsport driver Lee Holdsworth passed a fading Rick Kelly with a brave dive under brakes to take fourth place, with Cameron McConville capitalising on the move and also getting past the HSV driver.
Garth Tander was setting a sizzling pace, dipping into the 1:24 bracket and making life difficult for Steven Richards, who chased hard but had to settle for second place, followed by James Courtney.
Top Ten
1 Garth Tander
2 Steven Richards
3 James Courtney
4 Lee Holdsworh
5 Cameron McConville
6 Rick Kelly
7 Mark Winterbottom
8 Fabian Coulthard
9 Michael Caruso
10 Jason Richards
