Matt Payne won Sunday's race in Taupō to claim the Jason Richards Memorial Trophy. Photo / Photosport.
Matt Payne won Sunday's race in Taupō to claim the Jason Richards Memorial Trophy. Photo / Photosport.
The fight for the Jason Richards Memorial Trophy went down to the last race of the Supercars weekend – with New Zealander Mathew Payne reigning supreme in Taupō.
After a short hiatus across the Ditch in the hands of last year’s winner Anton De Pasquale, the Jason Richards Trophy is now back in the hands of a Kiwi.
“That’s the one I probably want the most,” Payne said straight after the final race. “I woke up this morning thinking about it, and most of the day, but I knew I had to park that thought and run my own race.
“To be standing here and getting our hands on the trophy is super special for myself, being a New Zealander and what Jason achieved and his legacy and who he was as a person.
“It’s really, really awesome to be standing here and I’m very grateful for the guys [team] who helped make it happen, and it couldn’t have been a better weekend really. It’s a dream come true.”
Payne emulated his win in Saturday’s opening race with a consummate display of race craft by keeping the chasing pack at bay once he grabbed the lead from Cameron Hill. He dominated the weekend overall, consistently challenging at the front both in qualifying and racing and now has four Supercars race wins to his name.
Payne is now only the fifth Kiwi to win on home soil.
“It’s pretty special [to win]. It’s incredible and I’m a bit lost for words, to be honest. I managed to get the lead early on, which I knew I had to do,” he said.
“I knew I had to get a good start as I knew we had good pace. I know Brody [Kostecki] and Woody [Ryan Wood] really wanted it.
“The number 19 Penrite Racing Mustang was a rocket today and the guys did an awesome job and I can’t be more happy.
“We lost our way a little in qualifying, worked really hard on the car for a couple of hours and got a bit lucky at the start. We did everything right during the race and got the win,” said Payne.
Three Kiwi drivers made the pre-race Top 10 Shootout. Wood continued his great weekend form, qualifying third to sit on the second row alongside Hill and behind pole-sitter Kostecki and De Pasquale. Two more New Zealanders made the top 10 with Payne in sixth and Andre Heimgartner in eighth.
The opening lap of the 61-lap race was as chaotic as expected with the leading drivers aggressively vying for track position. De Pasquale ran wide at turn one, dropping to sixth, while Wood pushed Kostecki wide on to the grass mid-lap, dropping him to seventh and allowing Hill and Payne to grab the lead.
Thankfully, the red mist dissipated and things settled into some sort of rhythm with Hill leading from Payne, Thomas Randle, Wood and Heimgartner. Unfortunately for Wood, he was hit with a five-second penalty due to a clash with Kostecki.
Payne eventually snatched the lead from Hill on lap eight and stretched his legs to pull out a 1.2s lead shortly afterwards over Randle, who had also managed to get past Hill.
Matt Payne celebrates after topping the Taupō weekend. Photo / Photosport
Red Bull Racing duo Will Brown and Broc Feeney continued their weekend-long struggles, qualifying 12th and 20th respectively. Race pace was much improved and after the first round of pit stops, Brown had climbed to fourth and Feeney to 15th. Up front the race order was Payne, Hill, Randle, Brown, Heimgartner, Kostecki and Wood, who had served his five-second penalty.
At the halfway mark, the race had settled into a rhythm with Payne still in control, eking his lead out to 2s with Kostecki making inroads, moving into fourth. Yesterday’s race-two winner Chaz Mostert was starting to make his presence felt too, having stealthily moved up to fifth with Heimgartner lurking just behind.
A slick second pit stop saw Payne keep his lead after the rest of the field had completed theirs. The running order behind the Kiwi was now Hill, Kostecki, Randle, Mostert and Heimgartner with Wood in 10th.
With 10 laps to go, Mostert had hauled himself up to into third behind Hill with Payne still out front. Fellow Kiwis Heimgartner and Wood had also improved, sitting sixth and ninth respectively. As the chequered flag fell, Payne took the bragging rights from Hill, Mostert, Kostecki, Randle and Heimgartner, with Wood 11th and the other Kiwis, Richie Stanaway and Jaxon Evans, 13th and 14th respectively.
As the Supercars head to the next round in Tasmania on May 9-11, Brown leads the championship on 651 points followed by Cameron Waters (617 points) and Payne (605pts). The rest of the Kiwis are Heimgartner (10th, 426pts), Wood (12th, 378pts), Evans (17th, 239pts) and Stanaway (22nd, 197pts).
