At the top of the table, Craig Lowndes maintains the lead of the Drivers’ Championship despite having his gap to Rick Kelly reduced by his Sandown result. Kelly keeps second place for the second round running – chipping away at the Team Betta Electrical driver’s lead with a podium finish and sitting within 100 points of top spot. Third place is held by Mark Winterbottom who jumped Tander on the adjusted ladder after a win at Sandown with team leader Jason Bright.
There were some big losers in the Betta Electrical 500 Melbourne. Greg Murphy and Cameron McConville dropped far down the order after their huge drop from fourth at one stage to the back of the pack in the 500 kilometre race. Murphy conceded a whopping six places, whilst McConville dropped four. Other big losers included Holden pair Mark Skaife and Steven Richards – both falling three apiece.
Ford’s successful win at the Sandown 500 was the tip of an iceberg of good news for the manufacturer. Not only is the Blue Oval now two wins away from clinching the manufacturers’ title, but its drivers didn’t suffer huge losses on the points table, indeed many pilots such as Jason Bright, Jamie Whincup and Will Davison jumped three places on the championship ladder, whilst Mark Winterbottom entered the top three of the adjusted points table.
With Bathurst fast approaching, drivers in the title fight must aim to finish well – dramatic losses at this round are forgivable, but discouraged. In theory, any driver to have endured a poor point haul up to and including Bathurst, still has a chance to challenge for the title, however failing to finish races after the 1000 will pose a serious threat to any 2006 title aspirations.
![Craig Lowndes - Team Betta Electrical [pic: BAM Media]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/260661.jpg)
