Luck desserts Morris in the desert.

Having seen his best qualifying result of the season end in retirement in the opening race of the Desert 400, things didn't get much better for Paul Morris after a tough trip to Bahrain for the Sirromet Wines driver that saw him hit with penalties in races two and three while attempting to bounce back from his earlier woe.

Morris said he accepted blame for the first contact with Todd Kelly's Holden Racing Team Commodore, which resulted in the 39-year-old Gold Coast racer losing championship points, but he did not believe he was to blame for the second incident. The pair also had on-track contact on October 21 during the opening lap of the third and final race of the previous championship round in Surfers Paradise. On that occasion Morris was forced out of the race because of damage to his car.

In race two Morris was 14th, worth three championship points, but Kelly didn't finish following the coming together between the two. A post-race investigation of contact between them found Morris had breached the careless driving. Stewards imposed a penalty of 38-seconds added to Morris' race time. He dropped to 23rd in the revised results.

There was further contact between Morris and Kelly in the final race and neither finished. After the incident Morris was issued with a pit-lane penalty and a ten-seconds holding penalty while in pit lane.

"It was my mistake in today's first race," he said. "I tried to go up the inside of Rick [Kelly] and went off the racing line. I locked a brake and hit Todd. It was completely my fault. However, I didn't agree with the penalty I got in the last race. He was passing me and turned into me. That's what put me off the track. The accident bent the front rail and busted the air box of my car.

"There is some damage to fix when we get the car back to Australia to have it ready for Tasmania. I had a good car here so it's disappointing not to get some points. The main thing we need to improve is mid-corner front grip, which you notice when you're running with the fast guys. We made some changes for the last race and the car looked after its tyres better."

Owen Kelly, driving a Sirromet Wines VZ Commodore, was 19th in the second race and 17th in the final race having earlier finished the opening race of the weekend in 20th place.

"Finishing all three races is a big help in terms of learning more about the car," he said. "We made some big steps forward with the set-up, and we didn't have any of the brake issues that hurt us a couple of weeks ago on the Gold Coast. I'm feeling more positive about the last couple of rounds. I had an ordinary start in the first race today. It was a battle because we made some changes to the car and the front and rear didn't feel connected. I decided to stay out of trouble and drive at a pace that I was comfortable with.

"The car was much better in the last race after some rear suspension adjustments. The grip and balance were improved. I kept the car straight to look after the tyres. Max Wilson and I had a good race. I think the steering on my car was bent when my left-front hit his right-rear. It pulled the steering wheel out of my hands."