Cam Waters converts pole to victory in Townsville opener
Cam Waters secured his second win of the Supercars season after converting pole position into victory in the opening race of the weekend in Townsville.
Qualifying had seen Waters romp to pole position with a lap three tenths of a second quicker than anyone else during the top ten shootout – marking the fourth time this year he would earn a place at the head of the grid.
The Tickford Racing man was joined on the front row by Chaz Mostert, with Thomas Randle and Will Davison on the second row to complete a Ford 1-2-3-4 – with Jack Le Brocq the best of the Chevrolet racers.
Davison had earlier topped the first qualifying session, where championship leader Will Brown failed to secure a shootout spot, leaving him back in 13th place for the opening race of the weekend.
Waters held onto the lead from Mostert at the start of the race with the pair then running together throughout the opening stint but shortly afterwards, Mostert managed to find a way ahead to hit the front having hit the lane earlier and got heat into his tyres by the time Waters stopped four laps later.
The pair continued to fight through to the second stops with Waters again pitting later and rejoining back in fifth, although he quickly raced back onto the tail of his fellow Ford man and took the lead – aided by a heavy rain shower – before going on to secure the win.
Behind them, third went to Brown as he produced a strong run through the pack from his lowly starting position to round out the podium and extend his lead over team-mate Broc Feeney in the points after he could only manage seventh spot – a one place gain from where he had lined up on the grid.
Matt Payne and Tom Randle took fourth and fifth from Le Brocq and Feeney with the top eight completed by Davison.
Anton De Pasquale was the only retirement after a lap one clash with Nick Percat and Brodie Kostecki that forced all three into the pits for repairs.
Whilst De Pasquale would ultimately be forced out after three laps, Kostecki and Percat would end up way down the order, as did Jason Evans after being tagged by Kostecki as he tried to recover to the pits.
