Will Davison led from lights to flag to claim race two victory in a heated encounter at Winton Raceway, but it was a charging Mark Winterbottom who stole the limelight with his rise from 21st to second.
The #5 Orrcon Steel/Ford Credit Falcon passed eight cars on lap one and then stayed out a long time until its mandatory pit-stop, with 'Frosty' consistently lapping around half a second faster than championship rivals Garth Tander and Jamie Whincup, who started third and first respectively. The plan saw him emerge from the pits on lap 27 ahead of both, with only Davison in front of him.
"The team kept saying on the radio that I was close to winning the race," said Winterbottom, who extended his lead at the top of the championship standings as a result of his performance, "We just kept pushing and trying to make up as much time as we could. I was racing the clock for the entire 40 laps and sometimes a race like that is more rewarding than a victory."
Winterbottom's heroics, prompted by the puncture which dropped him down the order in race one, took attention away from Davison's second career race win, which came when he led from start to finish in a cool and calculated performance.
“It's very different from the last win,” the Jim Beam driver said, “The last one was a little unexpected, but this time I can come out of my skin and enjoy it a little more. The best part is that we've come here with no expectations and nailed it.”
As often happens in the middle race, there was carnage at the start. Steven Richards appeared to tag namesake Jason going into turn two, spinning his Kiwi colleague into no man's land. That left race one surprise Michael Caruso with nowhere to go, and he ploughed into Jason, while Russell Ingall and Mark Skaife also got caught up in the melee and had their races ended on the spot.
Jason Richards waited trackside for the field to come past before giving his namesake a one-fingered salute to let him know what he thought of the incident.
