by Adam Forwood

Greg Murphy is set to retake his throne as King of Pukekohe after winning the 50-lap race two of the Placemaker's V8 International in New Zealand, but it was almost overshadowed by a frightening incident involving Brad and Andrew Jones.

Russell Ingall had an awesome start, launching like a scalded cat to take the lead into turn one, followed by Murphy and Ellery. The Pukekohe esses produced the usual first-lap melee, this time claiming Rick Kelly who made contact with John Bowe and Steven Johnson. Kelly retired with damage to the front left corner.

Ellery's hold on third place was short lived as Skaife dove down the inside into turn five. Murphy, having won race one, was not going to be satisfied with second, and on lap five he made his move, passing Ingall at the hairpin with a beautiful late-braking move. Ingall tried to take the place back at turn six, but Murphy held him off.

Ellery was the first to pit on lap six, followed by John Bowe, who was penalised $5000 for a pit-lane collision in race one on Saturday. Bowe rejoined the track just ahead of the leaders, and was quickly lapped by Murphy. Crucially, Bowe made life difficult for Ingall, baulking him for nearly a full lap, allowing Murphy to pull out a 1.5 second lead.

Skaife was right behind Ingall and followed him past Bowe. Skaife attempted to pass Ingall under braking for the hairpin, but locked up enormously, spinning off and severely damaging his tyres. Ingall saw that Skaife was out of control, and stayed wide to let him slide by. Despite this, Skaife only changed left-side tyres during his pit stop, and would suffer from a flat-spotted right-front tyre for the rest of the race.

Murphy pitted on lap fifteen with a 2.5 second lead, and had a great 4.6 second stop. Ambrose pitted shortly afterwards and made a handling adjustment. On lap nineteen, Brad Jones had a massive accident at the very fast turn six after his nephew, Andrew, made contact with his left-rear corner. Brad spun off the track at over 180 kph and slid sideways into the tyre barrier.

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