Greg Murphy was almost sorry about winning his BNT V8 SuperTourer race at Manfeild today.

The reigning champion came into the second round, The Sound 250, with a good points lead after winning all three races at round one last month, but he looked like losing his perfect record as Simon Evans confidently led for lap after lap.

Murphy started only sixth on the grid, because of setup problems in qualifying, but was soon up to second – helped by an incident at the first corner which saw pole-winner Ant Pedersen and Tim Edgell go off the slightly damp track.

“I just made a mistake,” Pedersen confessed. “I was too eager to get back on the throttle in those wet conditions.”

Fans expected Murphy to pounce on Evans soon but the young Aucklander kept his Holden just out of range of Murphy’s similar car, till he encountered a slight electrical problem that cut his engine power every time he changed gear.

“I could see that happening,” Murphy said. “Eventually that helped me get a run on him down the back straight and passed him.

“That was a great job by Simon. If he hadn’t had that issue I don’t think I could have passed him.

“I’m almost sorry I won – he’s had such shocking luck and he deserves a win.”

Evans stayed close behind Murphy and narrowly in front of Murphy’s team-mate Richard Moore, also from Auckland.

Another young Auckland Holden driver, Andre Heimgartner, was fourth after running third early on.

Pedersen, from Hamilton, got his Ford Falcon back on the track and powered through to fifth by the end of the race. Although frustrated by his early mistake, he was pleased with the speed shown in qualifying and the rest of the race.

Christchurch driver Eddie Bell ran his Falcon in a good fifth place for much of the race before Pedersen came past, but finishing sixth would still be a great relief after the first round when his only engine blew up in qualifying. He is now racing with a borrowed engine.