Marcos Ambrose cemented his championship claim with a fabulous display in race two at Symmons Plains where he was clearly the class of the field, powering away from the start and taking the win to mean he is only a handful of points away from taking a second title with one race in Tasmania to go.
For Ambrose Sunday's first race was a fitting display of his championship credentials. A stunning start was highlighted by a poor start from Rick Kelly next to him on the grid. By the end of the first lap the gap was 1.8seconds between the two. By the end of lap two it was 2.7seconds.
Kelly's slow start meant the attentions of Steven Richards and some rubbing between the two Commodores ensued. This meant the race one winner would have more reason than just stratgey to come in early for the compulsory tyre change as smoke was coming out from a front arch, but the Kmart team were once again stunning on pitstop pace.
Ambrose came in two laps later but all the gap he had made once more evaporated in the pits. Back out on track Rick Kelly wasn't able to stay with the SBR Falcon that returned to the track right in front of him for long and soon he had the attentions of brother Todd behind him to keep him occupied.
Russell Ingall and Criag Lowndes were right with the younger Kelly's team-mate, Greg Murphy from the pitstops, with first Ingall and then Lowndes ending up right with the Kiwi. Murph had been unhappy with his car's setup on Saturday and still didn't have the speed of team-mate Kelly, but Ingall couldn't find a way past, though he kept Murph honest, and behind him Lowndes in the FPR car – again looking strong – was very solid too.
Leading Holden driver Jason Bright wasn't having a good weekend for his championship hopes and in the latter stages of the race pitched WPS driver David Besnard around at the chicane. Besnard then found cars in the way as he tried to get back into the action and ended up stranded on the bank. The safety car was out, and another hard-won Ambrose advantage had disappeared.
