'I'm not gonna back off': Payne, Waters at odds

Ford rivals Matt Payne and Cam Waters are divided over their Darwin Saturday run-in that the Penrite Racing labelled as “dangerous.”

Tickford Racing driver Waters led Payne’s Penrite Racing Ford through the opening stint of Saturday’s betr Darwin Triple Crown race, before Payne stopped on lap 19. Payne’s stop included a hold of five seconds for a false start.

The Monster Ford stopped six laps later, and emerged back on track as Payne arrived at full speed. Waters initially weaved to warm his tyres, and Payne attacked.

Waters then appeared to move to the inside, forcing Payne to back out. Over team radio, Payne said: "Bro, that is so dangerous there coming out and weaving like that.”

Payne said he backed out of the move to avoid turning Waters and attracting a penalty.

“From my point of view, he was obviously weaving a lot coming out of the pits,” Payne told Supercars.com.

"I chopped and changed which way I was gonna go. He was sort of moving across, and then obviously I decided to commit to the inside, which is the safer option.

"And then he sort of made his decision after… he reacted off me, and then moved pretty hard down on the inside.

"At the time, I just had enough time to back out of it, but I didn't wanna risk either spinning him or trying to get another penalty.”

Waters received a bad sportsmanship flag for moving under brakes, something he didn’t agree with. When asked post-race if he was surprised to receive a warning, Waters replied: “Very surprised."

Motorsport Australia Driving Standards Advisor Craig Baird clarified to Supercars.com that Waters' actions were "borderline," given he made "multiple moves" to deny Payne.

“I'm not sure why I got it to be honest, I probably need to ask the stewards. Obviously they think I deserved that bad sportsmanship flag, but I didn’t think there was anything of it," Waters continued.

“You come out of the pits, you weave a little bit, and I blocked. It is what it is.”

When informed about Payne's “dangerous” radio message, Waters wryly replied: “I'm sure he would've been complaining about how dangerous it was, for sure. It was obviously very dangerous from his position."

When asked if Waters should have received harsher punishment, Payne replied: “I don't know. Like, it's very tough because it's so specific to this track. Like, it's something that you don't usually have to deal with.

“It's just hard from my side because I've got no idea what he's gonna do when I'm flat out down the straight, and I'm not gonna back off.

“It's just hard with the weaving because he’s going different directions, and you don't know if he's gonna commit to the corner just normally or he's gonna try and block."

The final day of the betr Darwin Triple Crown begins with Boost Mobile Qualifying at 10:45am local time/11:15am AEST.