Lowndes, Whincup secure Bathurst three-peat
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Bathurst winners Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes of Ford celebrate on the podium at Mount Panorama on October 12, 2008. (Getty Images: Cameron Spencer)
Ford duo Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup won their third straight Bathurst 1000 V8 Supercar crown with another dominant performance at the Mount Panorama circuit on Sunday.
After starting from fifth on the grid the pair took the lead on lap 34 and never looked back as Lowndes put in a clinical finish in front of the 53,000 spectators gathered at the track.
Lowndes was simply sensational in closing out the final stages of the marathon 161-lap race as he was made to fight off dogged attacks from Kiwi Greg Murphy and fellow Ford driver James Courtney in the final 10 laps.
Murphy, driving with Jason Richards in a Holden, sensationally passed Steven Richards on the 159th lap and held off the fast-finishing car of Courtney and David Besnard for second.
Steven Richards was also challenging for the lead in the latter stages of the six-and-a-half hour race, but his failing Ford saw him slip from second to fourth in the final standings.
Whincup, who assumed the Championship series lead from Mark Winterbottom with the win, praised Lowndes's cool finishing and said the third win in a row was something special.
"It's unbelievable, '06 was something else, '07 was even better and this is amazing," he told Channel Seven after the race.
"I'm not a greedy person but I'll take it.
"This place is amazing, this is where all my dreams have come true.
"How good was Lowndesy in the last stint? He just does it and nails it every time, he's unbelievable."
Not since 1984, when Bathurst legends Peter Brock and Larry Perkins secured a third-straight title, has a pair won a hat-trick at the Mount Panorama circuit.
Lowndes moved to fifth on the all-time Bathurst winners list with his fourth victory at Mount Panorama, having previously won with Murphy when driving for Holden back in 1996.
Horror day for Tander, Skaife
It was a horror day for Holden duo Garth Tander and Mark Skaife, who started on pole but fell to the back of the pack when Tander was left stranded on the start line when his clutch slipped.
To add insult to serious injury, race officials then slapped Tander with a 10-second penalty for jumping the start.
The pair eventually finished 12th after five-time Bathurst winner Skaife twice hit the walls as he struggled with steering problems as the race wore on.
Tander also saw his series lead disappear as he fell to third in the overall standings.
