How Ruapuna big screens delivered Wood's heartbreak to Payne
Ruapuna big screens delivered Ryan Wood's heartbreak to Matt Payne
Payne led as Wood's Toyota came to a stop, robbing WTWGR driver of JR Trophy
Payne won the race, missed out on JR Trophy to Broc Feeney by 16 points
The sight of Ryan Wood stepping out of his car on Ruapuna’s big screens was the moment Matt Payne knew his mate had suffered heartbreak.
Penrite Racing star Payne was peerless in the ITM Christchurch Super 440 finale, going from lights to flag to take out his second win of the season.
Payne’s march to victory was punctuated by a late Safety Car, caused by the stricken car of Wood, who came to a halt on pit straight with seven laps to go.
Before Wood’s Toyota stopped, the Walkinshaw TWG Racing driver was in position to win the Jason Richards Trophy. However, fate had other ideas.
Payne was well up the road when Wood stopped, and first saw yellow flags and Safety Car boards. As he rounded the lap, Payne then worked out what had happened.
“Obviously I saw on the big screen that he was the one that caused the yellow, and obviously it’s huge disappointment from his side,” Payne said in the post-race press conference.
“To have a mechanical like that, when you’re already having a little bit of a tough day, fighting for everything, every metre you can get.
“It really sucks, especially when the JR [Trophy] was on the line for him. I would have really loved to have seen that happen, for us to be up there holding that, it would’ve been cool.
"But this is motorsport, it can suck sometimes and it’s completely out of your control. Those things just happen. I’m really gutted for him. But I know he’ll bounce back pretty strong.”
The likes Wood's arch-rival Feeney and mentor Greg Murphy have since paid tribute to the Toyota driver.
Payne fell just short of the JR Trophy, Feeney victorious by 16 points.
The 2025 winner could have cruised to victory, but Friday’s phantom Safety Car incident and a loose wheel in the first Saturday sprint denied Payne an historic second straight win.
When asked if he hoped Saturday’s first race had a different outcome, Payne replied: “Absolutely man, it sucks.
“I wish I could keep [the JR Trophy], because that’s the one trophy I really, really like, apart from Bathurst and the championship. That one is up there as well.
“If I didn’t have a bad race [on Saturday] I would have been more in the running and potentially could have won it. It sucks, but it’s motorsport at the end of the day. It’s what happens. We live and breathe it and we learn and we keep going.
“I’m just glad that when I had the opportunity to get good points and execute, that we did.”
