It didn't take long for chaos to ensue. Rick Kelly stalled at the start and left drivers scrambling every which way to avoid hitting the rear of his stranded car. A couple hundred meters down the road, cars began ricocheting off each other. Caught out in the melee was local favourite, Murphy. The damage sustained was enough to force him out of the race then and there.
To add to local fans woes, Paul Radisich was spun at the hairpin on the safety car restart and relegated him to the rear of the field. Tander was judged to have jumped the start and was issued a drive-through penalty. Mark Skaife assumed the lead of the race with Russell Ingall in hot pursuit. Andrew Jones was issued a drive-through penalty for failing to stay in formation at the safety car restart. A couple laps after taking said penalty, he slid off the track at turn one and spun. Teammate Jason Richards was struggling with faulty power steering. Multiple laps down, the Kiwi kept circulating for points and to attain a good grid slot for the reverse grid race on Sunday.
Rick Kelly was experiencing the unique issue of a faulty clutch from the opening laps. Aside from some difficulty in engaging first gear after his pitstop, Kelly managed to nurse his car to the end. With a handful of laps to go, Steven Richards slid off at the hairpin and lost a top five placing. Todd Kelly was also suffering from power steering issues and retired a few laps from home owing to a fire within the cockpit. For teammate Skaife however, there were no such issues. Winning his first race of the season ahead of Ingall, with Jason Bright rounding out the podium.
Miraculously, Paul Weel Racing were able to repair Murphy's car overnight to have be able to compete come race two and would start from the pitlane. It was a reverse-grid race with both Tasman Motorsport cars starting on the front row; a silver lining to their torrid first race on Saturday.
Richards led away from his teammate with Steve Owen following through into third. Being the first reverse-grid race in four years, carnage was expected. And it did not disappoint. At the usual trouble spot of the hairpin, Warren Luff sent Mark Porter into a spin. In the process, the rear of Porter's car tagged Radisich, sending the Team Kiwi racer around as well. Porter and Luff got away but Radisich was left facing the wrong way. Dean Canto managed to stop in time, only for the following cars - who could not see the chaos ahead - to slam into the back of Canto and into Radisich. The incident inflicted extensive damage to the cars of Jamie Whincup, Bowe, Jason Bargwanna and Steven Richards. Along with the cosmetic damage, Richards' power steering had failed. Bargwanna's front spoiler had broken and trapped the front wheels, forcing him off into the gravel trap at the hairpin on the next lap. Predictably, all of this led to the deployment of the safety car. And to further compound these troubles, rain started to fall upon the circuit.
Aided with a fast car and optimal grid position, Tander began making his way up the order. Despite the threat of rain, drivers still came in for their compulsory stops as planned. Precipitation not sufficient to warrant concern amongst the teams. Luff was issued a drive-through penalty for his first lap misdemeanors. Bowe suffered a major crash at the end of the front straight as a result of a jammed throttle. With extensive damage inflicted upon the barrier, the red flag was thrown and the race was stopped. Because the race was effectively 'reset', the restart was conducted as a standing start. The regulations permitted Whincup and Radisich to take the restart despite 'retiring' before the red flag was shown.
Tander led away from Richards at the restart. Porter exacted his revenge on Luff on lap 13, only for the local driver having to retire from the race due to damage. McConville and Brad Jones came to blows at the hairpin, and multiple drivers behind inflicted damage upon each other. Jones came in to retire whilst Bright pitted for what he believed was a puncture. Whincup's race eventually came to an end due to mechanical problems. James Courtney was experiencing braking problems which led to him spinning Murphy at the ever-so-troublesome hairpin. Lowndes received a drive-through penalty for a driving infringement pertaining to Rick Kelly. Tander cruised home to victory with Jason Richards second and Mark Winterbottom in third.
The grid order was set based on an aggregate of results from races one and two. This left Skaife on pole position with Ingall alongside him on the front row. Extensive damage to the car meant Bowe would not start the final race.
Off the line, Bright bogged down heavily and rapidly fell down the order. Skaife established an affirmative lead while the rest of the pack finally managed to negotiate the hairpin without wanton destruction. Johnson held a strong fourth place but flat-spotted the tyres in the opening laps and ceded position to Lowndes. Winterbottom meanwhile was leaning heavily on Skaife for the lead after the pitstop cycle had finished; the Ford Performance Racing driver paying back the faith put into him after a tricky first couple of years as a main game driver. Will Davison struggled with the handling of his car under brakes and careened into the wall at turn two. He was able to continue the race, but only after being freed from the tyre bundle by the marshals. With marshals on a live race track, the safety car was brought out.
Max Wilson speared off the circuit with suspension damage and retired from the race. Todd Kelly's weekend was further compounded when he locked up into the hairpin, flat-spotting his front tyres, forcing him to pit, and fell toward the tail-end of the field. Winterbottom's charge began to fade and started to fall into the clutches of Lowndes. Dean Canto's car was leaking fluid and eventually expired with a handful of laps to go. Up the front, Skaife remained untroubled to the flag to take his first round win since Bathurst last year. In controversial circumstances, Lowndes finished in second after performing what looked to be a bump-and-run on Winterbottom, who finished in third.
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