Waters win seals Ford domination
TICKFORD Racing star Cameron Waters rebounded from a big first-race shunt to seal a clean sweep for the Ford Mustangs at The Bend after holding out championship leader Shane van Gisbergen for his first win of the year.
But after securing a pair of podiums on Sunday, it was van Gisbergen who emerged as the round winner to extend his series lead by 51 points to 190 over teammate Jamie Whincup just four events into the season.
After being taken out of the opening race as collateral damage in a dramatic first-lap tangle, Waters’ crew was able to repair the car for the second race for him to claim his first race win since triumphing in the final race at Tailem Bend last year for a muchneeded points boost.
Holding out van Gisbergen in a tight race to the finish, Waters completed a weekend sweep for Ford after Andre Heimgartner’s win on Saturday and Anton De Pasquale’s victory in the opening race on Sunday.
The Mustangs had not claimed a victory this year until the round in South Australia.
Waters suffered a DNF in the first Sunday sprint race when he was forced to limp back to the pits after being collected in the multi-car tangle, mangling the right rear of his car.
Last year’s championship runner-up admitted he had been unsure if he would be able to attack the second race after seeing the extent of the damage.
“I am a lot happier than what I was after the first race (on Sunday) morning,” Waters said.
“I did not think I would be up here after seeing all the damage after, obviously, the crash – so massive credit to the boys for fixing it, it was pretty bad and they gave me a fast, great car.
“I’ve got really good guys (working) on my car and a really good team around me.
“They went over absolutely everything.
“We just took a swing at it, a calculated guess and it was fast.”
Waters said he was confident he could hold off van Gisbergen, who was in fierce pursuit.
“It was obviously better in my seat than his seat, but I had a really good car and looked after its tyres,” he said.
“There were a few corners where he had a bit over me, but I just made sure he was close enough to me through those quick corners to make sure he got a bit of aero wash and heat those quick tyres up and managed to save it.”
On his 32nd birthday, van Gisbergen’s second place behind Waters followed his third place in the first Sunday sprint race after falling to his lowest finish for the year on Saturday.
The Triple Eight star, who won the opening six races of the season, admitted the overall round result had been better than expected given the car’s struggle for pace.
“It doesn’t feel like a round win, we struggled for pace all weekend, but just consistent and stayed out of trouble,” van Gisbergen said.
Will Davison finished third behind Waters and van Gisbergen to claim his second podium of the day for Dick Johnson Racing after his second place in the first race.
His pair of podiums pushed him up into fourth place in the championship standings ahead of Waters, who slipped to fifth after missing out on points in the first race.
Whincup and Chaz Mostert, who also suffered a DNF after car damage in the firstlap incident in the opening race, rounded out the top five in the final race.