'I was probably done': Payne explains moment of madness
Matt Payne survived wild moment at The Chase en route to victory
Payne hit the wet grass while battling Cooper Murray for the lead
Payne inherited lead, eventual victory after Murray/James Golding clash
With nine laps to go, Matt Payne’s Bathurst hopes should have been dead in the water.
23-year-old New Zealander Payne and 48-year-old Garth Tander pulled off an 18th-to-first mountain miracle on Sunday in the Repco Bathurst 1000.
It wasn’t without incident, though, with Payne firing off the road in the closing laps during a stunning battle for the lead with Erebus Motorsport rookie Cooper Murray and PremiAir Racing's James Golding.
Payne put pressure on leader Murray in the closing laps of the race, with the Penrite Ford and Chiko Chevrolet running side-by-side down Conrod Straight.
The #100 Penrite Mustang went around the outside at the fast right-hander, but Payne touched the wet grass. The outcome was Payne getting crossed up and running off the road, helping Murray and Golding go through.
As luck would have it, Golding and Murray collided, Payne ending up victorious.
Speaking post-race, the Kiwi admitted he thought he was over and our.
“I was going down the straight and I thought, ‘This is it. I just have to stick here and go for it’,” Payne said post-race.
“I just hung around the outside and just caught the left-rear on the grass. I couldn’t pull it up in time, but I felt like I had a pretty good crack.
“It was a pretty wild moment. I thought after that I was probably done, so, it’s pretty cool to come back from that.”
Golding led Payne across the line, but was penalised over the incident that left Murray “heartbroken.”
Payne had the best view of the clash, and knew Golding was up against it in completing a clean overtake.
“I saw Jimmy had a really good run going up to [Griffins Bend]. I sort of knew he was going to go and I knew it was going to be pretty tricky passing there,” Payne explained.
“It was pretty greasy on the inside. Those two made contact and luckily I could just sweep through on the inside.
“Cooper was putting up a pretty good fight, but I think he just lost a little bit of car speed ultimately at the end there.”
Payne is second seed for the Elimination Final at the Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500 on October 24-26.
