Waters 'had to be smart' in Brown battle

Cam Waters was thinking championship amid his fiery late-race battle with Will Brown.

Brown beat home Waters to fourth in the Penrite Sandown Oil SuperSprint opener on Saturday.

It was a smart recovery by Waters, who started a lowly 12th for the race.

Car speed aided Waters’ run, but Brown proved a roadblock to his podium hopes.

Time and again, Brown denied Waters’ advances in the closing laps, the cars avoiding incident.

Waters lost second in the points to Anton De Pasquale, who finished third.

The Tickford driver said he was “happy” with fifth, but cited Brown a frustrating obstacle.

“I kept having good runs, he’d block, I’d go where he wasn’t,” Waters said.

“He tried to run me out of road in all the brake zones.

“He was hanging on for everything he had.

"I would’ve liked a little bit more room from him.”

Waters is third between De Pasquale and Race 24 winner Will Davison, the trio covered by 50 points.

The Tickford spearhead admitted a younger Waters would have wiped Brown out of contention.

However, with a title fight in mind, Waters had to settle for fifth.

“But it was cool racing with him, that’s what we get paid to do,” Waters said.

“A couple of years ago, I probably would’ve taken Will out then.

“I thought it’d be smarter to finish, get the points.

“There’s nothing in in the championship from second to fourth."