Source :- PERTH NOW NEWS
Hometown Supercars hero Brodie Kostecki was guilty of a self-inflicted tangle as Matt Payne took out the opening race of the Perth Super 440 at Wanneroo.
With 11 laps remaining in Saturday’s opening 120km sprint race, Kostecki was desperately clinging to fourth spot when disaster struck as the fast-moving Kai Allen moved to the inside.
Kostecki attempted to cut Allen off as they approached the braking zone to turn one, but it only resulted in Kostecki being nudged off the track and spinning out in the sand.
Grove Racing star Allen was cleared by race control of any wrongdoing, and ended up finishing sixth.
Kostecki, who is fourth in the overall championship, finished dead last.
Brenton Grove, the team principal of Grove Racing, had no doubt Allen had done nothing wrong.
“Brodie was blocking for quite some while and Kai had overlap,” Grove said.
“So at some point when the car is up the inside and you keep closing the door in the middle of the braking zone, that’s what happens. Maybe a lesson for the future.”
Payne, who started on pole, held a 4.4 second lead when the safety car was brought out.
The 23-year-old held his nerve to post his fourth win of the season, extending his lead at the top of the championship standings to 118 points.
Ryan Wood came second, with Anton De Pasquale finishing third.
Payne’s closest rival in the championship standings, Triple Eight star Broc Feeney, qualified a disappointing 13th and was still languishing in 11th place when the race was restarted after Kostecki’s crash.
Feeney made the most of the safety car, slicing his way through the field after the restart to finish seventh.
His teammate Will Brown finished 12th, meaning the powerful Triple Eight team have now gone seven races without a podium.
It marked the first time Triple Eight have endured such a lean run since 2006 – when they went eight races without a top-three finish.
Payne was disappointed to lose his pole position to Cam Waters after the first corner, but he was proud of the way he fought back to snare the win.
Waters ended up finishing fourth.
“I almost felt like the first lap or two, I probably didn’t feel like I was as strong,” Payne said.
“And then the temps started coming up, rears started getting there, and then all of a sudden, it started to light up, and I thought, ‘Oh, I’ve actually got a nice bit of package underneath me, I need to try to make a move’.
“Then I got Cam at turn seven, which was was quite a big pass.”
The result of Saturday’s opening race in Perth means Ford has now wrapped up the Manufacturers’ championship for 2026, given their tally of 18 wins this season can’t be beaten.
