Matt Payne won Race 3 of the Perth Super440. Image: InSyde Media
Payne complained of a vibration in the laps after a side-to-side hit as he passed Feeney exiting the pit lane following his final pit stop.
Slow-motion footage of Payne’s left rear wheel showed the tyre all out of shape. Despite the drama, he held on to win by more than one second.
As it turned out, Feeney had a similar drama and was close to detonating his wheel too after the tyre came close to coming off the bead.
“I knew Broc was going to be quick and I knew that we were going to run the strategy we did to try and undercut them at that point,” said Payne.
“We banged wheels and then something just felt off, the car was so loose, it was so hard to drive.
“Up until that point it was mega but I just had to make sure to bring the [corner] entries back, not carry in too much speed.
“A credit to Broc. He raced me really clean, even when he bumped me and I lost it. He redressed, which was really cool. Big respect to him.”
Is this the deciding moment of the race?
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There was drama even before the race began. Ryan Wood reported an issue with his Walkinshaw Supra and pulled into the pits on the warm-up lap.
Feeney and Cameron Waters were evenly matched into Turn 1, but the inside line gave the Triple Eight Mustang the advantage.
Jobe Stewart had the save of the day on the first lap at Turn 6 when his Erebus Camaro cranked sideways.
Moments later, contact between Will Brown’s left front corner and Rylan Gray’s right rear cast the DJR Mustang off the road at Turn 6 and skating through the sand.
For the clash, Brown was given a 15-second penalty to serve in the first round of pit stops.
BIIIIIG contact between Will Brown and Rylan Gray!
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After his power steering problems in qualifying, Grove Racing’s Kai Allen wasted little time from 23rd on the grid. He made up seven places inside the first 10 laps to 16th.
On Lap 10, Allen got to Brown’s outside exiting Turn 1. They rubbed wheels approaching Turn 2, which shot the Grove Mustang off the road.
At the head of the field, Payne got a good exit out of Turn 6 on Lap 14 to take second away from Waters on the straight to Turn 7.
The biggest mover in the opening stanza among the top 10 contenders was Chaz Mostert, who rose six places to sixth by Lap 16.
Mostert pitted on Lap 21 and came out behind Cameron, who successfully undercut the Walkinshaw Toyota.
Cameron climbed the kerb at Turn 2, had a massive tank-slapper, but escaped without more than a few hits of the lock stops.
That could have been a disaster! Aaron Cameron and Chaz Mostert have a big moment on pit exit!
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Jack Le Brocq threw away two spots at the final turn when he began warring over position with James Golding. The Matt Stone Racing driver out-braked himself and speared off the road, skipping through the sand.
As Lap 30 approached, Feeney began to catch the tail of the lead lap. That brought Payne into the picture and the gap to just a few car lengths.
Feeney was the first to pit on Lap 29 with Waters and Kostecki in tow. There were immediate concerns for Kostecki, whose Mustang didn’t get a full fuel fill. That ultimately required him to make an additional pit stop.
Despite the lapped traffic, Payne elected to stay out. He eventually stopped on Lap 34 and slotted back in behind Feeney.
Once the pit stops shook out, it was Feeney who led Payne, Waters, Kostecki, De Pasquale, Mostert, Cameron, Golding, David Reynolds and Thomas Randle.
Allen was the biggest mover after the first round of pit stop, knocking on the door of the top 10.
Golding began to bemoan his tyre life and soon found himself on the outside of the top 10 as Reynolds, Randle and Allen all blew by just after the halfway mark.
Payne’s tyre offset began to pay dividends in the second stint. By Lap 48, Feeney had the New Zealander eyeing up a pass for the lead.
Payne looked like he might pass Feeney but pulled into the pits on Lap 50 for his final stop for an undercut. Feeney reacted a lap later.
Feeney returned to the race track in front of Payne. The Kiwi went to the outside at Turn 2, banging doors up with his Australian rival up the hill to force Feeney into a slide and relinquish the position.
Among the benefactors of the second round of pit stops was De Pasquale, who vaulted Waters and Kostecki.
Once the second round of pit stops were done, Payne held a slender lead over Feeney. De Pasquale was 11 seconds in arrears with Waters not far behind in fourth. The top 10 was completed by Kostecki, Mostert, Allen, Cameron, Ojeda and Reynolds.
Payne began to report a left rear vibration, which coincided with Feeney closing the gap to the lad to just a few car lengths.
Despite the drama, Payne held on. Feeney tried to mount an attack but couldn’t find a way through.
De Pasquale was third ahead of Waters. Perhaps most impressive was Allen who recovered to fifth.
The top 10 was completed by Cameron, Ojeda, Reynolds and Randle. The third pit stop for Kostecki ultimately relegated him to 12th.
Results: Repco Supercars Championship Bosch Power Tools Perth Super440, Race 3
Pos
Num
Driver
Team
Car
Laps/Diff
Gap
1
19
Matthew Payne
Grove Racing
Ford Mustang GT
80 laps
2
88
Broc Feeney
Triple Eight Race Engineering
Ford Mustang GT
1.2795
1.2795
3
18
Anton De Pasquale
Team 18
Chev Camaro ZL1
12.418
11.1385
4
6
Cameron Waters
Tickford Racing
Ford Mustang GT
14.8003
2.3823
5
26
Kai Allen
Grove Racing
Ford Mustang GT
17.7891
2.9888
6
1
Chaz Mostert
Walkinshaw TWG Racing
Toyota GR Supra A90
25.6189
7.8298
7
3
Aaron Cameron
Blanchard Racing Team
Ford Mustang GT
30.0547
4.4358
8
31
Jayden Ojeda
PremiAir Racing
Chev Camaro ZL1
31.7162
1.6615
9
20
David Reynolds
Team 18
Chev Camaro ZL1
35.3671
3.6509
10
55
Thomas Randle
Tickford Racing
Ford Mustang GT
39.7254
4.3583
11
8
Andre Heimgartner
Brad Jones Racing
Toyota GR Supra A90
40.4873
0.7619
12
17
Brodie Kostecki
Dick Johnson Racing
Ford Mustang GT
41.0334
0.5461
13
99
Cooper Murray
Erebus Motorsport
Chev Camaro ZL1
43.3229
2.2895
14
7
James Golding
Blanchard Racing Team
Ford Mustang GT
45.4799
2.157
15
4
Jack Le Brocq
Matt Stone Racing
Chev Camaro ZL1
48.7086
3.2287
16
777
Declan Fraser
PremiAir Racing
Chev Camaro ZL1
49.1451
0.4365
17
888
William Brown
Triple Eight Race Engineering
Ford Mustang GT
52.7809
3.6358
18
9
Jobe Stewart
Erebus Motorsport
Chev Camaro ZL1
53.2831
0.5022
20
14
Cameron Hill
Brad Jones Racing
Toyota GR Supra A90
55.8473
2.5642
21
11
Jackson Walls
Triple Eight Race Engineering
Ford Mustang GT
1 lap
6.6042
21
96
Macauley Jones
Brad Jones Racing
Toyota GR Supra A90
1 lap
8.3552
22
10
Zach Bates
Matt Stone Racing
Chev Camaro ZL1
1 lap
3.5531
23
38
Rylan Gray
Dick Johnson Racing
Ford Mustang GT
13 laps
11 laps
DNS
2
Ryan Wood
Walkinshaw TWG Racing
Toyota GR Supra A90