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"Today's races closed the championship gap a lot, my goal is to keep winning and see where we are at the end."

Having dropped to finish 16th after the altercation with Scott, race two was about damage limitation for Blanchard.

He ended the opening lap in ninth place, and continued to make steady ground on his way to taking second.

"Race one was pretty good for the most part, I led a lot of laps, but it was pretty disappointing to be taken out with a lap to go," Blanchard said.

"I took a couple of risks in race two to get back up to the front, but it worked out well.

"It was good to recover as well as we did in race two and reduce the damage for the championship, we'll go out and try to get some more solid points tomorrow."

Scott was given a 43-second penalty for the race one incident, and he also charged back through the order in race two.

From 17th, Scott progressed up the order to finish third, just behind Blanchard, setting the fastest race lap in the process.

Glen Wood was among the drivers to benefit from Blanchard and Scott's incident, finishing second in the opening race from 10th on the grid.

Wood accumulated another strong result in race two, finishing fourth, holding out another consistent performer in Nick Percat who claimed fourth in the opening encounter.

"I had a good run this morning in race one, I pushed hard and then had some luck at the end to get up to second," Wood said.

"Race two was very tough, we had good pace but I made a couple of mistakes which cost me a couple of positions.

"Still, I'm happy to be mixing it with the big boys."

Debutant Michael Pereira bagged a pair of sixth-place finishes today, the Melbourne resident finding his way up the order after qualifying 14th.

Gearbox problems took their toll on Kristian Lindbom and Adam Graham; Lindbom was third in race one but eliminated early from the second race, while Graham was unable to finish race one before recovering to take seventh this afternoon.

Brad Lowe and Taz Douglas both bounced back from radiator problems which eliminated them early from the opening encounter to finish eighth and ninth respectively in race two.

Sam Sewell completed the race two top 10, after finishing fifth in race one, equalling his best finish of the year.

The final race of the weekend will start at 12:05pm tomorrow, Sunday, and will be broadcast around the country as part of Channel 7's Sandown 500 telecast.

Sandown Race One Top Six

1.         Ashley Walsh

2.         Glen Wood

3.         Kristian Lindbom           

4.         Nick Percat      

5.          Sam Sewell     

6.         Michael Pereira             

Sandown Race Two Top Six

1.         Ashley Walsh

2.         Tim Blanchard

3.         Joshua Scott

4.         Glen Wood

5.         Nick Percat

6.         Michael Pereira

Current Championship Points Standings

1.         Tim Blanchard               248 points

2.         Ash Walsh                    239

3.         James Moffat                197

4.         Kristian Lindbom            172

5.         Josh Scott                    143

6.         Glen Wood                    141

Sandown Raceway Schedule

Sunday 16 September

Race Three                   12:05pm, 12 Laps