But then Simon Tabinor who could do nothing to pass the lime green Batteries Direct Ford Falcon AU, got the magic start he was looking for in the next race . . . and that set the Eurostars Diesel Holden Commodore to win races two and three and take the round overall.

“I bagged up the rear tyres getting away while Simon made a great start,” Lovell admitted. “From there it was going to be very difficult to get past him. I was unable to do that, particularly as the brakes went away from lap four onwards.”

Tabinor’s victory draws him a little closer to the series leader and readies him for their next showdown at Winton at the end of June. “It is good to beat Matt on his own turf but the next round is on mine . . . and I would expect him to want to try to return the favour,” remarked the British born Victorian.

Having scored a third in race one, Sam Milton (Nippys AU) followed up with a fifth and a third to be second for the round. He looked likely to repeat the race one effort in race two until his tyres went off and national series rookie Josh Keane (VT) and Andrew Nowland (AU) went past. “I went out with a little too much tyre pressure which was only good in the first few laps,” Milton said.

Third overall for the weekend went to Keane who nabbed a third the morning race then surged through to the lead of the last. But brake problems saw him spear off at turn seven midway through. He recovered to fifth in that one.

Lovell struggled through the third race as brakes issues returned and gearbox woes added to his frustration. He eventually finished 15^th yet fourth overall and just one point off a podium result.

Fifth went to Tony Evangelou, his Falcon starting off pitlane in the second, sixth to Robert Lonie and his Commodore which moved the combination to outright third, and seventh to the Trophy Class winning Commodore VN of Peter Holmes. Nowland was a retiree from race one, charged from the back of the grid in his Coffey Ford AU in the second to fourth and in the third race, he ultimately took second ahead of Milton.

After being innocently turned around in race one, series veteran Geoff Brown (Davey Metal Industries Falcon) climbed to eighth in race two and finished the round ninth overall whereas Ian Chivas completed the top ten in his Sillegate Group AU.

Second in Trophy Class for the meeting was the Commodore VN of Naomi Maltby ahead of the Falcon EA of Mark Bryan, it sustaining damage around the front end and limping home in race three.