Courtney stretches V8 lead with win

Ford racer James Courtney won an incident-marred Sandown Challenge to stretch his
series lead heading into next month's V8 Supercar finale.
The Jim Beam Racing driver will take a 53-point edge into the Sydney 500 after
beating home Mark Winterbottom and Jamie Whincup, who still remains within striking
distance of Courtney.
For the second day in succession the race was halted by a spectacular accident and a
restart ordered.
A shortened race, a second safety car and confusion over fuel levels and tyre
options resulted in a spate of lead changes, the 200km run turning into a series of
sprint races.
On lap 34 the race was halted for the second time after a massive accident in the
same spot where Holden's Garth Tander hit the tyre wall at 265km/h on Saturday.
The second incident happened when Michael Caruso locked a brake on his Ford and ran
into the back into Will Davison's Holden.
The incident sent both cars careering into the barrier, with Davison's machine
airborne.
Again, both drivers escaped unhurt, despite massive damage.
Davison said Caruso had hit him twice at high speed.
"He hit me once about 200 metres before the corner - really hard - then hit me again
which wasn't a really smart thing to do," Davison said.
"I braced for the hit then knew it was going to be pretty high so I braced myself
for the landing."
Ford driver Paul Dumbrell continued his fine form on Sunday, taking pole position
for the second race of the penultimate round of the championship.
Dumbrell broke through for his first race win after 11 years in the sport on
Saturday and snatched pole from Winterbottom, with championship leader Courtney
started from fifth on the grid.
But Dumbrell was passed quickly by Winterbottom before the pacesetters changed as
pit stops came into play.
Tactics then became pointless as drivers tried to simply manage fuel consumption
throughout various interruptions until the finish.