Cam Waters has broken his winless streak by winning the opening race of the Darwin Triple Crown at Hidden Valley Raceway.
After pacing practice, Waters was fourth in the Monster Castrol Racing Mustang, but was second into Turn 1 behind Shell V-Power Racing Team’s Brodie Kostecki and ahead of DEWALT Racing’s Anton De Pasquale after he was pushed wide.
From there, Waters ran long and when he came out in second was able to outlast Kostecki to take the victory ahead of the two Penrite Racing Ford Mustangs of Kai Allan and Matt Payne.
Kostecki was fourth, but let his three Ford rivals ahead through easier than normal to ensure a strong finish to take full advantage of Broc Feeney’s struggles in 14th.
The start was even, but to the detriment of De Pasquale as Kostecki fed him wide to enable Waters to snatch second.
Jayden Ojeda may have continued his great form in Qualifying, but this was reversed in the race when he dropped from fifth to 12th.
Kostecki blocked Waters and the field in respond backed up leading to the beginning of the pit stops through Mobil 1 Truck Assist Racing’s Ryan Wood on lap 7.
De Pasquale went in the very next lap, then Kostecki came in leaving Waters, Allen and Payne to run long.
Initially, the strategy dropped the trio down the order and work to do, but fresher tyres enabled all three to make progress.
Feeney was way back before his stop and dropped further when he locked up on cold tyres at Turn 2 fresh from his visit to the pits.
Kostecki didn’t fight when Waters took the lead at Turn 1, while the Penrite Racing pair made light work of De Pasquale to push him off the podium.
Then, with three laps to go Allen and Payne passed Kostecki just before a safety car was required after David Reynolds was stationary after being spun by Jack Le Brocq.
Setting up a one lap dash, but there was little positional change as Waters led home Allen, Payne, Kostecki, De Pasquale, Mobil 1 Optus Racing’s Chaz Mostert, teammate Ryan Wood, Ojeda and Macauley Jones completed the top 10.
Le Brocq copped a 15s penalty and was classified last in the field behind the driver he spun Reynolds.
Feeney holds a cutdown 59-point lead to Payne and will be a point of interest whether the Red Bull Ampol Racing driver can turn his form around during the weekend.
Repco Supercars Championship action will continue with Race 15 Qualifying at 10:45am ACST/11:15am AEST.