It was the first win for the Valvoline Cummins Race Team since Cameron McConville's Winton victory in 2004, and Holdsworth's first major since joining the series fulltime in 2006.
The championship was heating up.
With the all-important endurance races at Sandown and Bathurst to come, and only eighty-seven points separating the top four drivers, it would prove advantageous to ensure points finishes in the longest races of the year.
Team Vodafone stepped up to the plate at Sandown, with Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup teaming up in the same car to claim victory in the Just Car Insurance 500.
Rick Kelly regained the championship lead with a well earned second place alongside Paul Radisich, whilst Ford Performance Racing's Steven Richards backed up an outright podium at Oran Park with a third place alongside Owen Kelly.
Keen to defend their 2006 Bathurst victory, Lowndes and Whincup faced many challenges in the Great Race' the largest being a nail-biting save by the latter, after slipping off the tarmac at the pit lane entry and nearly bogging the #888 Falcon in the sand.
Despite this, the Blue Oval's darling duo held on for an emphatic second major at Mount Panorama, in what was the first all-Ford podium of the year, with James Courtney and David Besnard finishing second for Stone Brothers Racing, and Steve Johnson and Will Davison claiming third for Jim Beam Racing.
Importantly, a non points finish from Rick Kelly and Garth Tander saw Ford claim the lead of the championship for the first time in 2007.
With just four rounds remaining, series organisers would have been secretly cheering at the tight tussle at the top of the table.
The Indy support race at Surfers Paradise compounded the margin for the series lead, as Garth Tander clinched his third round win for the year, whilst Whincup endured a horror result which saw his lead eaten away to just nine points.
Whincup again suffered in Bahrain, losing his lead after several incidents on the track, and allowing Tander to slide into the top spot, ahead of Craig Lowndes in second.
With just two rounds remaining, Jamie Whincup's luck appeared to have evaporated.
The Toll HSV Dealer Team had run a slick and consistent operation all year, Garth Tander was king of the paddock, and Team Vodafone had been playing a year-long game of chasey, in which it had always been it'.
