Feeney, Payne inches away from disaster in early seconds

Broc Feeney and Matt Payne were in another league in the Tasmania finale, but both drivers were alarmed by wheel-to-wheel contact just seconds into the race.

The Ford duo cruised to first and second in the Tyrepower Tasmania Super 440 finale, with Feeney turning the tables on Payne after the 2025 finale.

As lights went out in Race 16, Payne looked on course to demote pole man Feeney, but contact between the two helped Feeney return to the lead through Turn 3.

From there, Payne had no answer for Feeney, who extended his championship lead to 90 points.

Speaking post-race, Feeney lamented a poor start, saying: "I've had some pretty good starts lately, so shame to not get the best launch.

“Side by side through [Turn] 1, we made wheel-to-wheel contact and, as we know with these cars, it sort of spits the wheel out of your hands and that. Had a good battle there.

"The whole race was just intense, trying to find what lap times Matt's doing, what the gap's like. In a different way, but kind of similar to last year, you know. I was chasing him down at the end and just focused on getting to him.

“Ironic that we're both here 1-2 again."

Payne quipped that the contact forced him into the kerb, ensuring he had no chance to attack Feeney when it mattered at the hairpin.

“The start was really good. I fought around the outside,” Payne said.

“A little bit of wheel-to-wheel contact, which kind of pushed me off onto the kerb, and I couldn't quite get enough drive off that.

"We fought hard, but I was just trying to chase him as much as I could throughout the whole race. He did a pretty good job, didn't really make any mistakes, and I feel like I didn't really make any mistakes.

“He was a little bit quicker today, unfortunately.”

Feeney leads Payne heading to the betr Darwin Triple Crown on June 19-21.