Cam Waters turned pole-sitter Brodie Kostecki's advantage into dust off the line and then survived a 20-lap siege to win the opening race of the Townsville 500, a result that reshaped the Supercars championship even though he was not the man who left Reid Park on top of it.
Waters out-dragged Kostecki into the first corner and controlled the race from the front, but the Tickford Ford never had breathing room. Kostecki pitted on lap 24 and, after dropping as far as 5.8 seconds behind with 10 laps to go, hunted the leader down to within two tenths at the flag. Waters held on by 0.2s for his second win of the season and his fourth at the Townsville street circuit, enough to draw level with Scott McLaughlin for third on the event's all-time list, behind Jamie Whincup (12) and Shane van Gisbergen (10).
"It's great to go to two completely different tracks and be competitive," Waters said, having also won last month in Darwin. "It shows that all the hard work through the start of the year has kind of paid off."
He marked the win with a burnout he had denied himself a round earlier. "I didn't do one in Darwin, so I was like I've got to do one today," Waters said. "I did ask just to be polite, but I would have just said I didn't have a radio."
Kostecki had the pace to make it uncomfortable but not quite enough road to make it count. "Probably (just needed) another corner or two, to be honest," he said. "Thought about having a big dive down at the last corner, but Cam's a pretty smart racer. He sort of placed his car in a spot where I'd have to crash into him."
The bigger story unfolded behind them. Matt Payne brought his Grove Racing Ford home third despite nursing a suspected engine problem, and the podium was enough to vault him to the top of the standings. Broc Feeney, who had arrived in Townsville with a 15-point cushion, qualified only 16th and could recover no better than 10th, handing Payne an 11-point lead.
Payne refused to read too much into it. "We've shown our consistency over the year, and we've had a lot of podiums, probably haven't had as many wins as I would like," he said. "It's good to finally get on the other side of it, but the championship is still a long way away."
The result completed a Ford lockout of the top four, with Kai Allen and Chaz Mostert filling out the top five and continuing a run of form that has swung momentum toward the Blue Oval at the northern Queensland street track.
The racing came after an unusual disruption: qualifying was delayed when a suspicious device at the circuit prompted a police inspection, with Kostecki claiming pole once the session resumed. With another race still to come across the Townsville 500 weekend, Payne's slender lead over Feeney sets up a title fight that, as Waters' charge showed, remains anyone's to seize.
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