Mustangs rule the track

Waters thanks his pit crew for repair job after crashing out of first race

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’s 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 much-needed 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 did not finish 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 runnerup admitted he had been unsure if he would be able to attack the second race after seeing the damage.

“I am a lot happier than what I was after the first race this 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.