Brodie Kostecki and Kai Allen collided in Perth opener
Kostecki sent into the sand, Allen declared rival should have conceded
Kostecki says remarks were "pretty funny," insists "I'm there to race"
Brodie Kostecki has responded to Kai Allen's claims that the 2023 champion was racing "dumb" before their controversial collision in Saturday's opening race in Perth.
Kostecki and Allen engaged in a ding-dong battle for fourth in the opening race of the weekend, the 2023 champion furiously defending the 2023 Super2 champion despite a distinct pace disadvantage.
Try as he might, Allen couldn't find a way past in the 10-lap squabble, before the Penrite Racing driver launched a bold move at Turn 1 on lap 39, tipping the Shell V-Power Mustang into the sand.
Officials deemed neither driver was predominantly or solely to blame for the incident, with Allen finishing sixth and Kostecki a thrice-lapped last. Allen then declared that Kostecki should have conceded the position given the nature of the season with Finals.
However, Kostecki has now hit back, taking to his Lucky Dogs podcast to say that Allen's comments were "pretty funny".
"Kai said a few things afterwards, said it was dumb that I was blocking for 10 laps and didn't let him go with the way the championship is and stuff like that," Kostecki explained.
"I found that pretty funny because I'm there to race, and in that scenario I thought maybe if I could hold him off for six laps his tyres would overheat, and boy was I wrong.
"I was 10 laps in, I was going, 'What have I done, what mess have I created?' because there was a line of cars starting to line up behind me.
"I was hoping Anton [De Pasquale] was going to get stuck into Kai, but I don't think Anton was quite fast enough to hang on to Kai, or have a crack at Kai. And then Kai was quite smart, he would let me go for five laps so I could run away like a little mouse, and then he just chased me back down when there was a gap from Anton and then start attacking me again.
"I actually quite enjoyed it until I was hanging out of the sand trap, but that's how it goes sometimes."
Kostecki also questioned why Allen wasn't penalised, given other instances of a driver turning into a corner whilst another driver is beside them, though admitted he "got what he deserved".
He notably singled out Triple Eight rival — and podcast co-host — Will Brown's Sunday run-in with Rylan Gray, and also the infamous collision between Broc Feeney and Ryan Wood at last year's Adelaide Grand Final.
"Look, I deserved it in my eyes, so I wasn't that upset with it because I was being pretty rude for 10 laps," Kostecki continued.
"The front-on one, there was actually the live shot of when Kai was actually behind me, you could see that there was no overlap down the straight, and then you see Kai's onboard stuff afterwards, he went for an ambitious dive.
"I was maybe a metre in front of him, or a metre and a half, and that's a pretty big margin to make up in a corner that you turn and brake in.
"Obviously we had the crash, and then they make it look like it's a turn down for what, or whatever, but in my eyes, there's been a lot of incidents this year, for example Woody at AGP [on Thomas Randle], even Woody and Broc for the championship, there's no difference in those two incidents and Woody gets a penalty.
"You got a penalty for something that's kinda similar in a way, if anything yours was probably not a penalty. I know Rylan's my teammate, but there's a bit of race craft stuff he's gotta learn. It was rude, but I don't think it was worth a penalty.
"I was fine with it because I deserved it, but I just hope it's consistent moving forward, that's all I can wish for."
As a result of the collision and a Sunday refuelling bungle, Kostecki dropped to fourth in the standings, and out of Repco Sprint Cup contention. The Sprint Cup concludes in Ipswich from August 21-23.
