A nutty end to V8 series at Pukekohe

[Andrew 30]

One misbehaving nut decided Pukekohe's final V8 Supercars meeting.

Garth Tander's seemingly inevitable victory in the last heat - which would have given him a remarkable six straight race wins - was derailed when a wheel nut jammed during his compulsory pit stop.

The West Australian still tied for overall victory in the crash-strewn meeting with his Toll HSV teammate Rick Kelly, but Kelly was given the official round win because he won the last race.

One of the crashes cost Tander the chance to win the round as a long safety-car period left him with only one lap to get his Holden past Team Kiwi Racing's Paul Radisich and gain the extra points he needed.

Tander had not realised the last few laps of the race were being cut to fit into Australian television schedules after earlier smashes had caused delays.

"I had a crack at Paul (Radisich) at the hairpin but I would have tried harder there if I had known it was the last lap," he lamented. "The pit stop took too long and then there was a lot of traffic in pit lane and I had to wait to merge. Then I was back in the pack and there was some pretty average driving going on."

Next year the New Zealand round of the championship shifts to Hamilton. Tander said he had enjoyed racing at Pukekohe.

"It's incredibly fast and there's been some big shunts here," he said. "The walls are close but that adds to the excitement."

Kelly, the defending champion, admitted he felt lucky to win the final race and the round.

"He (Tander) was quicker than us all weekend here as well as Perth," he said.

Tander had won all three races at the preceding round in Perth, and was a convincing victor in the two first heats at Pukekohe. Third overall was Vodafone Ford driver Jamie Whincup with placings of fourth, second and fifth.

"I'm very happy with third," he said. "Power-wise we're a bit off the Toll cars."

Kelly's older brother, Todd, finished fourth overall for the Holden Racing Team, ahead of Stone Brothers Ford driver James Courtney, Whincup's teammate Craig Lowndes and Todd Kelly's teammate Mark Skaife.

The results preserved Rick Kelly's 13-point lead over Tander in the championship - between them they have won all but one of the races so far this year. Todd Kelly is third from Whincup, Skaife, Courtney and Lowndes.

Radisich was the top New Zealand driver, 11th overall in his TKR Falcon after finishing a fine seventh in the last race.

It was a brave effort from Radisich, as he was still suffering pain in his chest and ankle as the result of a heavy crash at Bathurst last year.

The worst crash of the final race saw Queenslander Paul Morris slam the wall over the hill after tangling with Brad Jones. His Sirromet Commodore rolled twice, ending upside down at the side of the track.

"I passed him and gave him heaps of room, and next thing I was upside down," Morris said. "It wasn't too flash."

In race two yesterday, New Zealand driver Jason Richards had a terrifying moment when his suspension failed as he started braking - from 270kmh - at the end of the main straight.

Tyres streaming smoke, his Tasman Holden ploughed straight ahead, bounced over the gravel trap and hit the tyre wall head-on.

"I've been in a race where someone was killed there," Richards said.

"I don't mind saying I thought I was going to die. It was frightening, I had absolutely no control."