Ford fumble gifts Triple Eight another win

A clash between Mustangs Matt Payne and Cam Waters when fighting for the lead has gifted Triple Eight Race Engineering another 1-2 and a fifth straight win at Albert Park.

Broc Feeney secured a third win of the season ahead of teammate Will Brown, who held off Chaz Mostert to secure second, but the race was defined by the Mustang mash up.

Payne and Waters had started on the front row and fought for the lead throughout the first lap until it all went wrong on the final corner of the second lap.

Keen to fight back after losing the lead at turn 11, Waters rubbed the rear of Payne going through the penultimate corner and tried to line up a move around the outside of the final turn.

But the Monster Mustang was then collected by Payne as the Kiwi swung around to the same part of the track to open up corner entry.

The end result of the collision was two badly damaged Mustangs and a beautiful gift for Triple Eight.

Waters was so angry he furiously marched to Payne’s car to give him some words before slamming the door to the delight of the crowd.

Payne admitted he had no idea Waters was on his outside.

“I was just trying to race pretty fairly I thought but didn’t think there was any real need to hit me off in the second to last corner I guess,” Payne said.

“I was just trying to open up the last corner to give myself the best opportunity to get a good run onto the main straight and he was there.

“I didn’t even know he was there. It is unfortunate, we were in a good position to win the race.”

Waters responded by stating Payne had “pretty bad spacial awareness.”

“He did a pretty cool pass on me at 11 so I tried to get back at him at 12 and it didn’t happen,” Waters said.

“Then at 13 he just chocked it up and I got under him. I just tired to set him up for the last corner and he just cut across.

“If he didn’t know I was there it was pretty bad spacial awareness. 

“Brand new car and in the wall. It is just shit.”

Before the incident the scheduled 14-lap sprint which was ultimatly shortened to 10 laps appeared to be Ford’s best chance at breaking Triple Eight’s streak with Feeney and Brown starting fourth and sixth respectively. 

Payne appeared to get a good getaway but Waters’ run down to turn 1 was better and he soared into the lead.

Mostert had a shocker falling from third to sixth as the Triple Eight cars surged ahead with Feeney and Brown settling in behind the leaders.

There was drama at turn 3 as Cam Hill half spun as the likes of Thomas Randle, Mark Winterbottom and Andre Heimgartner were also involved going off.

Mostert and Jack Le Brocq went side by side for fifth and the WAU driver importantly won out as the Erebus steerer also fell behind to the bump-drafting Reynolds.

The race was then turned on its head when the two Fords came together, gifting Triple Eight the lead and bringing out the Safety Car.

The battle was triggered when Payne fired down inside of Waters at Turn 11 to snatch the lead.

A three-lap dash to the flag followed and Feeney’s lead was never under serious threat.

Instead the action was behind as Mostert launched a last-lap counterattack on Brown for second.

The WAU driver had a crack at turn 3 and was just able to get up alongside so the pair flew through the following left hander side by side where both went off.

Despite being on the outside for the following turn 6, Brown’s commitment into the right hander forced Mostert to back out and that proved to be the decisive move in the fight for second.

David Reynolds kept it clean to score a strong fourth, his best for Team 18, while Jack Le Brocq secured a maiden Erebus top five.

Payne and Waters will resume their rivalry when they both start in the top three once again along with Mostert in Sunday’s fourth and final race at the Melbourne SuperSprint where it is becoming clear that the racing gods are also on Triple Eight’s side.

Image: Peter Norton EPIC Sports Photography