Payne cruises to Jason Richards Trophy
Home hero Matt Payne has lifted the Jason Richards Memorial Trophy in style by dominating the Taupo Super440 finale, defined by an ultra-aggressive move for the lead.
Carrying the expectations of the home crowd, Payne rose to the occasion, snatching the lead with a sensational move on Cameron Hill in the first at Turn 4 and he did not look back.
The Kiwi led Hill home by 3s as the MSR driver carried on his strong form from the Grand Prix, while Chaz Mostert made some late moves to snare another podium.
After winning Saturday’s opening race of the weekend, Payne was a convincing winner of the Jason Richards Memorial Trophy, being the third Kiwi with Scott McLaughlin and Shane van Gisbergen to achieve the honour and seventh overall.
“It is pretty special and incredible. I am lost for words,” Payne said having won from sixth on the grid.
“That was a long race and long time out in front. I knew I had to get the lead early.
“There was action aplenty at the start, but the #19 Penrite Racing Mustang has been a rocket ship all weekend.
“We could not be happier.
“I woke up this morning thinking about it and this is the one we wanted. To be standing here as a Kiwi and finally getting it my hands is really special because of what Jason achieved and his legacy.”
Earlier an incredible first lap saw the seas parted for Hill to snatch the lead as Ryan Wood and Brodie Kostecki locked horns, only for Payne to go rallying and snare P1 from the MSR driver’s grasp.
Kostecki still salvaged fourth, while Triple Eight teammates Broc Feeney and Will Brown recovered from their poor qualifying efforts to follow each other home in seventh and eighth respectively.
With Cameron Waters only managing 12th, Brown’s lead in the Sprint Cup extended to 34 points with Payne jumping up to third in the standings ahead of Feeney.
The action started instantly as Kostecki and De Pasquale had an even launch off the front row.
However, the Team 18 driver’s hopes of taking the lead disappeared at the first corner where he locked up, ran wide and found the grass, sacrificing a heap of positions dropping from second to seventh.
Meanwhile on the inside of the corner Allen was spun to the back by Mostert, who was at the end of a chain of cars applying nose to tail contact.
Thanks to De Pasquale’s mistake, Kostecki retained the lead from pole, but Wood was right behind him and determined to give the home crowd some more entertainment.
The WAU youngster got a grand run coming out of Turn 7 and pulled alongside Kostecki.
This positioned Wood on the inside of the fast, sweeping Turn 8 and he went for it.
However, the Kiwi was a bit too ambitious, forcing Kostecki into the dirt at speed in a manoeuvre that saw him slapped with a 5s penalty.
The drama did not end there as Kostecki also went off at the following right hander and drifted to seventh where Wood also carried too much speed and could not hold onto the lead.
As a result, the seas parted for Hill to soar into P1 with Payne following through in his slipstream.
Wood slotted back into the pack in third, only to immediately lose that position as well with Randle nailing an aggressive move at the first turn.
After eight laps of shadowing Hill, Payne launched his assault on the lead and made it stick in thrilling style.
Having forced his MSR rival to cover at the first turn, the Kiwi dropped back behind the #4 Camaro before unleashing a bold dive at Turn 4.
Although Hill tried to block, but nothing was going to stop Payne from barging his way past.
The #19 Grove Mustang not only climbed the kerb, but also did some rallying to barge through and soar into the lead.
Hill was ganged up by the Mustangs with Randle also snatching second, while Wood also threatened.
There was further action further back with Macauley Jones spinning into the Turn 7 gravel after a wheel-to-wheel skirmish with Waters.
All the drama at the front of the field meant the leading 20 cars were covered by just 10s until Payne skipped a second clear of Randle.
It was enough chaos for Triple Eight to make the call of pulling Brown out of there, being the first to pit on Lap 11 and hunt clear air.
It paid dividends as he emerged third in the train, having enjoyed a three-lap undercut before the leaders started boxing with Wood the first to follow.
Payne waited until Lap 17 and retained a 1s advantage over Hill, who jumped Randle.
Kostecki was the last of the contenders having waited until Lap 21 and slotted in just ahead of Wood.
The DJR driver used his fresh tyres to climb to fourth ahead of Heimgartner, while Brown was doing the opposite on aging rubber.
The #1 was picked off with ease, falling from third to the back end of the top 10 which now included teammate Feeney, who completed an impressive charge from 20th on fresh tyres.
Waters had also made similar ground, but unfortunately a lot of his good work was undone by a slow right front tyre change.
Unfortunately for Allen more woes followed at the start of the second stint as his battle with fellow rookie Cameron ended in tears.
Another youngster in Murray found trouble, receiving a 15s penalty for a clash with Percat.
The second round of stops were surprisingly sparked by Kostecki, who switched to the undercut on Lap 39 and it paid off.
The likes of Hill and Randle reacted instantly, but could not prevent dropping behind the #38, while Payne, who had built a 3s advantage changed tyres two laps later and retained his margin.
Feeney had strong pace at the start of the final stint, shooting up to eighth having made swift moves on Davison and Wood.
As the top two were evenly spaced out, the biggest battle at the front was for third with Kostecki, Randle and Mostert and it was convincingly won by the WAU driver.
In consecutive laps, Mostert caught both Randle and Kostecki off guard at Turn 1 with the latter an impressive switchback for third.
Despite the Kostecki and Mostert rivalry reigniting, the DJR driver had no answer due to a loss of rear grip.
This allowed Mostert to begin hunting down Hill, who was 5s up the road with 12 laps left, but he could not get close enough.
The biggest battle towards the front of the field in the closing laps was for sixth with Heimgartner having Feeney on his tail.
The Triple Eight driver waited until the last lap to have a crack and made contact with the Kiwi at Turn 4, but could not still find a way through.
The cheers were saved for Payne, who completed a dominant drive to get the Jason Richards Memorial Trophy back in Kiwi hands.
After another memorable weekend in Taupo, Supercars return to Australia for the Tasmania Super440 on May 9-11.
Image: Mark Horsburgh
Results Race 10 61 laps Taupo
Pos Driver Team Laps Margin
1 Matt Payne Grove Racing 61 01:31:45.5077 +5
2 Cameron Hill MSR 61 +3.1941 +2
3 Chaz Mostert WAU 61 +8.2887 +6
4 Brodie Kostecki DJR 61 +9.7418 -3
5 Thomas Randle Tickford 61 +13.7824 –
6 Andre Heimgartner BJR 61 +15.5153 +2
7 Broc Feeney Triple Eight 61 +15.7324 +13
8 Will Brown Triple Eight 61 +22.1458 +4
9 Will Davison DJR 61 +25.4585 +4
10 James Golding PremiAir 61 +26.9005 –
11 Ryan Wood WAU 61 +28.4420 -8
12 Cameron Waters Tickford 61 +28.6661 +6
13 Richie Stanaway PremiAir 61 +29.2056 +4
14 Jaxon Evans BJR 61 +32.7597 –
15 Jack Le Brocq Erebus 61 +36.7584 -4
16 Anton De Pasquale Team 18 61 +37.5103 -14
17 David Reynolds Team 18 61 +38.3575 +2
18 Kai Allen Grove Racing 61 +48.1595 -11
19 Macauley Jones BJR 61 +1:00.6643 -3
20 James Courtney BRT 61 +1:03.4719 +3
21 Aaron Cameron BRT 61 +1:08.9938 +3
22 Cooper Murray Erebus 61 +1:10.1510 -7
23 Nick Percat MSR 61 +1:21.2979 -1
24 Bryce Fullwood BJR 61 +1:22.7492 -3
Taupo Super440
Practice 1 – 1: A. Heimgartner 1:26.8830 2: Anton De Pasquale +0.0258 3: Matt Payne +0.0830
Practice 2 – 1: Ryan Wood 1:25.9778; 2: Brodie Kostecki +0.0435; 3: Thomas Randle +0.0838
Race 8 Qualifying – 1 Matt Payne 1:25.7006; 2 Brodie Kostecki +0.0705; 3 Cameron Waters +0.1646
Race 9 Qualifying: 1 Brodie Kostecki 1:26.3482; 2 Chaz Mostert +0.0712; 3 Broc Feeney +0.1939
Race 8 (37 laps) 1 Matt Payne 2 Cameron Waters 3 Ryan Wood
Race 10 Qualifying 1 Brodie Kostecki 1:25.6303; 2 Cameron Hill +0.0122; 3 Anton De Pasquale +0.1009
Top 10 Shootout 1 Brodie Kostecki 1:25.7052; 2 Anton De Pasquale +0.1677; 3 Ryan Wood +0.1947
Sun 13.05: Supercars Race 10 (61 laps)
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