The impact flipped Brad into the air, causing the car to roll almost completely over before landing on its left side. Although he struggled to get out of the car, Brad was unhurt.
The deployment of the safety car caused other problems on a different part of the track. After the kink on the back straight, Paul Morris slowed suddenly, apparently due to a flat right-front tyre. Caught by surprise, drivers dove left and right to avoid him, but Todd Kelly could not stop in time and hit Paul Morris hard in the rear. Morris continued, but Kelly had to retire.
The race restarted on lap 25, and Lowndes made an easy pass on team-mate Ellery. Jason Bright showed his pace by setting fastest lap on lap 30, but undid all his hard work shortly afterwards, spinning off at turn two. Paul Dumbrell was lucky to avoid Bright who came to rest on the edge of the track.
Besnard had an eventful race, first running wide at the final turn, then being spun by Winterbottom at the hairpin. Ambrose developed handling problems with his right-front corner, and decided to allow the faster Ingall by. Matthew White was having self-inflicted problems, a pit lane speeding infringement attracting not only a drive-through penalty, but also a fifteen second stay in his pit box.
From there on, it was a simple task for Murphy, cruising to an easy victory. As in race one, Ingall followed him home, and Skaife overcame his damaged tyres to take fourth. The hordes of Murphy fans had the prospect of yet another Pukekohe sweep to look forward to, with Ingall looking to be the only challenger to the unstoppable Kiwi in race three.
1.
Greg Murphy Super Cheap Auto Racing
2.
Russell Ingall Caltex Racing
3.
Marcos Ambrose Pirtek Racing
4.
Mark Skaife Holden Racing Team
5.
Craig Lowndes Team Betta Electrical
6.
Paul Radisich Team Kiwi Racing
7.
Steve Ellery Team Betta Electrical
8.
Steven Richards Team Perkins Racing
9.
Paul Weel Super Cheap Auto Racing
10.
John Bowe Team BOC
