Matt Payne and Broc Feeney got away with it after their clash
Both Ford drivers had tyre scares after clashing disputing the lead
Payne outlasted Feeney to extend championship lead
Matt Payne admits “something just felt off” with the tyre drama that threatened to derail his march to victory in Perth.
Payne picked off Feeney as the latter rejoined, with the two Mustangs making wheel to wheel contact.
Throughout the final stint, Payne complained of a vibration from his left rear tyre, and when he drove his car to PIRTEK Victory Lane, the extent of the damage became apparent.
For both Payne and Feeney, the tyre had come off the bead — the specific part of the tyre that contacts the rim of the wheel — and yet, they both finished the race.
Both tyres were more than an inch off the bead, and Payne — just as it was in Bathurst last year with a broken spindle — got away with it.
"Oh my god, I don't even know where to start. Oh man,” a relieved Payne said.
"I knew Broc was going to be quick, and I knew that we were going to run the strategy we did to try and undercut him at that point.
"I've just ever so slightly squeaked, we banged wheels, and something just felt off. The car was just so loose, it was so hard to drive, up until that point it was mega.
"I just had to make sure to bring the entries back, not try and carry too much speed. Credit to Broc, he raced me really clean, even when he bumped me and I lost it, he readdressed which was really cool.
"And he wasn't hitting me too much which was really cool as well, so big respect to him.”
Feeney said he was “gutted” not to win, but didn’t have as much of an issue despite his own wheel damage, his being on the right rear.
“It’s half popped the tyre off the rim there,” Feeney said.
“I couldn’t feel that when I was out there, to be honest.”
Payne will take a 118-point lead over Feeney to Ipswich on August 21-23.
