Cam Waters holds off SVG for first win of 2021
Cam Waters has taken his first win of the 2021 Supercars season after holding off Shane van Gisbergen in the last race of the round at The Bend Motorsport Park, securing the first winner’s trophy for Tickford Racing this season.
Off the back of a DNF in the previous race, Waters converted the speed of the #6 Ford Mustang to the victory, his second solo win in the Supercars category after winning on the shorter circuit at The Bend last year.
Waters had been threatening to win throughout 2021 so far but was unable to close the deal, finally breaking through in the 11th race of the season and completing a clean sweep of the weekend for Ford teams.
Pole-sitter Anton de Pasquale kept the lead during the first lap thanks to a strong start, the Dick Johnson Racing car ending up in a controlling position over the pack until only a few laps in when the #11 developed an engine issue, forcing him in to the garage.
Cam Waters inherited the lead thanks to de Pasquale’s woes, leading the Triple Eight duo of Shane van Gisbergen and Jamie Whincup who were trying to keep the second DJR car of Will Davison behind, also coming under attack from Walkinshaw Andretti United’s Chaz Mostert and the Blanchard Racing Team car of Tim Slade.
With the first pit stops for the front runners getting underway on lap six, Davison retained his place ahead of Slade with a decent gap to the #3 car, Whincup slotting between the two when he came in for his new tyres on the next tour.
Waters came in from the lead at the start of the 13th lap, getting out in front of Davison as van Gisbergen stayed out to do his trademark long run, finally stopping on lap 16 and coming out behind Waters who had just done the quickest lap of the race.
It didn’t take long for the #97 to get under the wing of the #6 with van Gisbergen needing less than a lap to get within striking distance of Waters, taking half a chance at Turn 1 but unable to make the move stick, meaning the order remained unchanged over the next few laps.
Despite late pressure, Waters held on for the win as the lead pair came home six seconds clear of Davison in third, Whincup and Mostert completing the top five. Nick Percat was able to finish in sixth but struggled to complete the in-lap, getting to the line ahead of Slade, James Courtney, Scott Pye and Andre Heimgartner as the top ten finishers.
