MOTORSPORT: Waters masterful in Townsville 2.0

Cam Waters finally put some fight into the 2021 Repco Supercars Championship with twin wins on the streets of Townsville.

A week after he was lapped by Shane van Gisbergen during a 250km contest on the same circuit, and following a massive rethink by Tickford Racing, Waters drove a masterful weekend in his Monster Mustang.

SvG still finished the weekend with the biggest points total, and a win of his own, but Waters proved this year’s runaway championship leader was not unbeatable as he drove one of the best races of his career to resist massive pressure for his second victory on Sunday afternoon.

The three-race SuperSprint weekend produced plenty of action and excitement but the Supercars series now has a COVID-induced six-week break, owing to question marks over planned events at Sydney Motorsport Park and Winton in Victoria, before returning to Queensland for another SuperSprint that has been added to the series at Queensland Raceway.

“Great battles today. Really enjoyed it. Hope it was a good show,” said van Gisbergen after his Sunday stoushes.

Waters added: “I had an absolutely mega battle with him. It was really cool.

“It’s awesome racing Shane. He is so good. We were side-by-side. Had fun.”

But Waters still wasted the first Sunday race, after a breakthrough effort on Saturday, when the team tweaked his car too far and SvG led a 1-2 by the Red Bull Ampol team after crushing his sidekick Jamie Whincup during a torrid contest between Commodores.

The pair swapped paint as SvG blocked and even their team boss Roland Dane said his tactics were right on the line for teammates.

“I guess the whole pit lane wants us to have a blue. But it’s not going to happen,” said Whincup, who was making his final appearance in Townsville on his farewell tour as a full-time Supercars racer.

Although van Gisbergen and Whincup were both hit with penalties in the first of three races, SvG after muscling Brodie Kostecki off the road and Whincup for speeding in the pit lane, they proved through the weekend that the championship is still theirs to lose.

But Waters is now the best of the Ford Mustang runners, even though the Shell V-Power pair of Will Davison and Anton De Pasquale were the best combination for the Ford fighters and each managed a podium finish as De Pasquale also got his fourth pole position of the season.

The key for Waters, according to Tickford boss Tim Edwards, was the disastrous previous weekend.

“We had a shocker last weekend so everyone worked their butts off. We had a big swing for this weekend, with a very different set-up in the car, and it worked,” he said.

“We were prepared to sacrifice this weekend to get some knowledge, but right from the opening laps in practice Cam said, ‘I like this.’ It was a bold move and it’s very rare to make such a quantum change to the cars.”

With three sprints there were plenty of winners and losers, with Tim Slade scoring a fourth and making the most forward moves of the weekend – improving by more than 30 places in total – but still too prone to mistakes in his CoolDrive Mustang.

Veteran James Courtney was solid in his Mustang, but Chaz Mostert regained some confidence in his Commodore, while youngster Todd Hazelwood starred through Sunday and ran home for an excellent fourth in the final race.

“There was nothing to lose, where I am in the championship. I just tried to make the most of the opportunity. Super-happy to get fourth,” he said.

2021 WD-40 Townsville SuperSprint
Race 1 – 39 laps

Race 2 – 39 laps

Race 3 – 39 laps

2021 Repco Supercars Championship standings: