Startline struggles solution in Payne's sights

Matt Payne was grateful to his team to get him back in the game in the Townsville finale, after the Penrite Racing star added to his run of poor starts this season.

The Bathurst champion has emerged as the one to beat, opening up a 92-point lead over Triple Eight rival Broc Feeney heading to next weekend's Bosch Power Tools Perth Super 440.

Payne is ranked second in qualifying, behind only Brodie Kostecki.

However, a series of costly getaways could have denied Payne shots at adding to his three wins so far this season, headlined by three average getaways in Townsville.

Payne has repeatedly been beaten off the line in recent rounds, and even incurred a false start penalty in the second Darwin race.

That's not to say he hasn't been good off the line — notably, he converted pole position into early leads in Melbourne and Christchurch. He stole the lead from pole man Ryan Wood in Christchurch, while he threatened to steal the lead from Feeney in Tasmania, only to be on the wrong side of contact.

You're only as good as your last start, though, with Payne falling from third on the grid to fifth by the time the field rounded Turn 3 in the Townsville finale.

An undercut call and solid pace put Payne back into contention for second, which he delivered after Ford rival Cam Waters was forced to fuel-save in the final stint.

“Team did a great job today on the strategy, I didn’t make it easy for them with the start I had. That’s on me,” Payne said post-race.

“They did a great job undercutting, and doing what we needed to do to move through the pack.”

Per Supercars data analyst Scott Sinclair, Payne's 17th ranking on lap 1 is still better than Finals contenders Anton De Pasquale (18th), Ryan Wood (19th) and James Golding (22nd).

Tardy starts could prove the difference as the season wears on, with teams already pointing out how slow pit stops have arguably cost them wins.

Poor start or not, Payne lamented being beaten on sheer pace by Kostecki, who won his sixth race of the season in a canter in the Townsville finale.

“Brodie was really quick today,” Payne said of the Sunday race.

“We made a couple of changes that possibly weren’t in the right direction.

“We didn’t quite nail it, we’re a hairline away. That’s what happens in this sport, you don’t have to be far away to lose a race by seven or eight seconds."

Track action in Perth commences on Friday August 31.

Matt Payne's rollercoaster off the line in 2026