V8s: The reign of Whincup

Jamie Whincup held off Garth Tander (left) in a car he described as "pretty close to perfect today". Photo / Alan Gibson

Jamie Whincup has the bragging rights to the Australian V8 Supercars Hamilton street circuit round of the series.

As the cars sat waiting on the grid for the lights to go out, it was three wins apiece to Garth Tander and Whincup. But the TeamVodafone driver held all-comers at bay to win the second race handsomely from Tander and Michael Caruso.

"GT [Garth Tander] got a great start and I couldn't match that. Once I got past we settled into a great pace and the car was pretty close to perfect today," said Whincup.

"It was a rocket ship and I was able to control the race from the front."

In winning both races, Whincup made it nine wins from 10 in New Zealand for Holden.

The only Ford win came last year when Whincup's Triple Eight outfit ran Fords.

By finishing second, Tander has clawed his way to fifth on the championship points table, up from 28th after the first round.

It wasn't the best of weekends for the New Zealanders. Despite most of the Kiwis showing good, quick pace in practice, qualifying their cars at the sharp end of the grid proved elusive. Shane van Gisbergen showed flashes of quick pace, but just couldn't get it together in the races. His best finish was eighth in race two after a fumbled pit stop. He has now dropped to sixth on the table.

"We didn't qualify too well and we didn't really have decent car speed," said van Gisbergen. "We got to the end but I couldn't really pass anyone. We manage to salvage a few points so that's good."

The hometown hope for a race win on Saturday, van Gisbergen saw his race ended before a lap was completed after he thumped into the wall at Samsung corner. Whincup gain the lead early and held on to beat Tander and James Courtney despite the appearance of the safety car late in the race.

"I'm very happy, but it was a tough race," said Whincup. "We really won ... in the pits."

The Kiwis faded badly during the 90-minute race with the best of them, Jason Richards, in 11th.

"We didn't have the speed I expected and that was a bit of a surprise," said Richards. "We were fast in the first sector and last sector but were weak in the middle part."

NZV8 drivers John McIntyre and Kayne Scott provided most of the weekend's entertainment at the non-championship round on the streets of Hamilton. In all three races it was mayhem and carnage and half the field had panel damage by lap three. Some of the mid-field drivers have yet to realise four wide into turns one and two just doesn't go.

Tim Edgell held off McIntyre and Scott in race one until he spun on the penultimate lap. McIntyre beat Scott and Andy Knight.

In race two, Scott and McIntyre were in a class of their own and battled the entire race, with McIntyre winning and Eddie Bell a distant third.

McIntyre won race three, followed by Knight and Andrew Anderson, after Scott had an altercation with the wall on the first lap.

Kiwi Chris Pither won the honours in the Trans Tasman Ute Challenge after winning two races to Aussie Kim Jane's one. Pither won the final race by a good five seconds.