Latest / Full Credit to the Noise / Sandown 500 daily: Saturday
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- Sandown Saturday daily: Hello and welcome to the Saturday edition of our daily podcast from the Sandown 500. My name is Andrew Van Leuren and I'm joined by Speed Cafe's managing editor, Stefan Bartholomeys. Stefan, that was a really good car race. I feel like that was the race that finals really needed. It was just, there was no collusion theories, no teammate interference at all. It was just hard racing from good race car drivers, seemingly realizing that there's a lot on the line here. I just, I loved it. Yeah, can't disagree with any of that. It was a cracking car race, and you can't help but think that the intensity that the finals brings and the consequences that are on the line helped make it the spectacle that it was. Absolutely. So let's run through the headline results, I guess. Brody Kastecki won the race ahead of Matt Payne and Cam Waters, and where that leaves things in terms of the finals points heading into the second semifinal. on Sunday is that Matt Payne continues to lead the points. Brody Kastecki is second, but he is also locked into the grand final thanks to his win today. Chaz Mostett sits third and Brock Feeney is fourth, one point ahead of Cam Waters, who is fifth and just below the cut line, followed by Anton Di Pasquale and Will Brown. We'll get on to all of the talking points in a moment, but Yeah, that's a big statement from Brody to go and win that race and lock himself into Adelaide, particularly after what happened last year, where he couldn't even get to the sand down part of the finals. Yeah, really impressive in this back half of the year. They've been the ones turning it up this time, despite having that issue of George Collins, the race engineer injuring himself and Tommy Moore has stepped into that role and he's seemingly in it now for the rest of the season, even though George is is there helping out. But Yeah, that was the sort of race that Brody just loves. He obviously had a great car and he had cracking battles with not only his mate Will Brown but Matt Payne and Cam Waters as well. Yep, absolutely. So where do we how do we do this? I don't even know how we go about Find an order to analyze this thing. That was the image that's in my mind from that race is that battle between Brody and Will. Mm-hmm. It felt like Will was really desperate to make a point and get one over Brody. Yep. And the red mist descended and he just couldn't really accept the fact that he didn't have the car to fight him. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it's something that those guys have talked about on their podcast in terms of when people say, the drivers are too Too pally, they like each other too much. It's not like the old days where they hated each other. And they've actually talked about the fact that the last person you ever want to be beaten by is your best mate. And it kind of had that feeling of like, yeah, Will didn't quite have the car. He ended up in the lead after that round of early pit stops from the first safety car there. And then should have just conceded that it was gone and that it was over, and did just try a little bit too hard into four there and and loop the car. And probably needlessly because Banking a heap of points even wherever he dropped back to would have put him in a far better position than being eighty-eight points away from safety, effectively. that's he's potentially thrown his season away with with a little bit of red miss there. I really thought he'd taken out Brody as well when he made that contact. Brody's obviously done a good job to hang on to it, but credit to Will, he really owned this. really well on the broadcast after the race. He was really upfront and apologetic and his line that ego got in the way that it's what it looked like from the outside. But for him to to come forward and actually say it in those words, that was impressive. What I really do like about this format is that he's got a mountain to climb tomorrow, but there is a very clear path to Adelaide for him. And that's to win the race. Well the mountain he's got to climb is that team has got to work out how to keep the rear tire under it for the whole race. And obviously Brock Feeney sunk down the order in the in the final lapse there and he warned us about this yesterday. That's right when he was second in practice and he said, Yeah, the the green tire masked all the problems we have, but we didn't actually have a good race car today. And that really that really came through. Yeah. Cam Waters, I thought that was let's contrast this to his Saturday here last year, which really put him massively on the back foot and and effectively ruled him out of contention to go to Adelaide. Obviously things got worse on the Sunday with the clash with with Matt Payne and that sort of stuff, but he's not in a completely dissimilar situation this time around because he has to he still has to get above the cut line. So he has to outscore Brock Feeney. Or who's Chaz Mostett to to get through on points or he has to go out and win tomorrow. But it feels like it's a very different scenario because he's got some car speed. I mean he led the race briefly. He clearly didn't have the pace to to to win the race. You could see that even in the first stint where he very quickly dropped off the back of of Matt Payne when he didn't get ahead at the start. and he could have easily finished fourth today as well if it w if it wasn't for the fact that Chaz Mostet kind of blew his chance to get to get past him. But It feels like yeah, that that K Cam's just in a different position this time and he is actually in with a fighting chance of getting something done tomorrow. Yeah, definitely. So he's still gonna need to be a bit smart about it tomorrow. Like he sort of ended the day in the presser saying the same sort sort of things he was saying this time last year, where it's like podium or t on the tilt trade tomorrow. But he's actually in there with a real good chance. yeah, clearly they didn't have the long run pace and Again, Triple Eight, I think the doomsday scenario for Tickford was to have an early second stop forced by a safety car and then a massive run to the flag that exposed all those guys that didn't have a great balance over the over the long run. But yeah, he w his day was set up by a great shootout lap. Mm. Yep. Just classic cam in that session. And classic cam he had a had a battle with his mate Chaz Mostad near the end. List This race seemed to really give us everything. Yeah, we had that battle with Brody Kastecki over into Dandy Road as well, where they were going at it pretty hard. and again, like for the lead, like it's it's just hard races, a lot on the line. It was just that was great. And, you know, Matt Payne really brought him into the the fight. Like it was it just felt like there was this war between the finalists at the front of the field all day. Let's let's bring Matt Payne into it in a second. But I asked Cam afterwards what he thought of that. Turn six move from Brody and he laughed it off as I'll put that in the memory bank for tomorrow. So Brody went down the inside and they both went off the track and Brody took the spot. What was your view of that? I feel it was messy enough that it's hard to say, well, that driver's at fault and deserves to be penalised for it. Like it was it was just a mess. So I I certainly had no kind of thoughts that Brody should have to redress or whatever. they both kept the boot into it. They both ended up off the road. They both got back on the road. To me, I was pretty happy with the play on there. Yeah, I was the same. It is the unfortunate thing about tarmac runoffs that kind of encouraged this, but they both centered in so hard that they were both going off the track anyway. And Brody was like all the way up alongside. So it felt fairly okay to me as well. What what about the just going back to Cam and Chaz? So Chaz has obviously redressed that and there was no word from the officials on whether it would have been a penalty, but do you think it it was inevitable they would have stung him? I my first thought when it happened was you can't you can't do that. It did look like he got into the rear bar and and ran him wide and then passed him. So I wasn't at all surprised to see Chaz redress it. I think that was probably a pretty smart thing to do because obviously you run the risk, even if you cop a five second penalty, that there's a safety car two laps from home and the field gets bumped up and you drop a whole bunch of positions and you make life really hard for yourself. So that was a I did go down to Walking Shore after the race. I had a chat with Sam Scaffidi, Chaz's engineer. I said, Did you tell him to redress? He said, No, we we hadn't given him any instruction. He just decided that was the safer way to to play it. You know, I I guess it was ultimately no further action, but from what I can understand of the timeline, because I I think Tigford had would have put a put a complaint in of the timeline. You don't know if that's because the stewards didn't think there was any further action required or because the redress had been executed and that they said, Okay, well these guys have sorted it out and we'll just let it play on. but I would be really surprised if there hadn't been a redress and there was no further action on that. I haven't gone back and watched it a thousand times, but that was my thoughts. What what do you think? It's just such a cool bit of road where they hammer the curbs through two and three and you can just see it coming that Chaz was setting him up to to make the move. And as soon as he's shown the nose, Cam's turned it down so hard that it's kind of why they make the contact. Yeah. But if you look at it, it's the contact's behind the rear wheel. So the gut feel is that's probably a five second penalty. But your point there that Chaz made the decision to redress, that shows that it's Chaz's fault 100%. Because a driver doesn't decide to do that unless they know they know exactly. This is, and I've always said this there is absolutely like drivers know when they've done the They might argue otherwise, but they fully know. if they've done the wrong thing or someone's done the wrong thing by them. So I think that really says it all. And and like I said, pretty smart decision making from Chaz because if he had been penalised, you'd just run that risk. The way the race played out, he might have had plenty of time to get down the road and even gap cam or whatever, but it's a heck of a risk to take to have a five second penalty hanging over your head. in the late stages of the race, no opportunity to to clear it in a pit stop and just hoping no one fences it two lats from home and the race ends under safety car and then yeah, you're basically out of contention. So Yeah, and and a fourth was a good result for him today. Obviously he spat it off the road in the shootout and had to start tenth and they were pretty concerned after not having a good pace yesterday in practice. So I think they would have been pretty happy with that. Yeah, the the the vibe in the garage was was pretty good, I think. compared to where they were this time twenty four hours ago, they were they were pretty happy with what they'd sell, which for the day they'd obviously like to be further ahead. Everyone's goal today was to go out and win and and you can just put your feet up on Sunday then and not worry about it. But yeah, again, they're still massively i in the show. They've got some okay car speed and they go into Sunday like well and truly in contention to to go through to Adelaide. So back to Matt Payne. So he had a really interesting day because those guys have achieved what they've worked so hard on to bring a fast car to sand down. Again, a great pole lap from Matt, but didn't get the win in the end. The race car was good as well. Like I think if you look at like the best thirty percent of laps, he actually had a better car than than Brody. But a couple of just fine, fine margins in the pit stop. They just cut it too fine on the first one. They just went for too much fuel. And obviously being the end garage, yeah, you either slot in in front or you're gonna be in a bit of pain. Yeah. And and then again on the second stop, like we heard Tommy Moore talking to Brody about saving fuel. Like I'm sure if they had their time again, the Grove guys would have put a bit less in it on that second stop and then just kept the track position and and made Matt save. Yeah, I think so too. I think he was probably lucky to get away without a penalty for contact in Pit Lane as well after the was it the second stop where there was proper contact. So are we seeing a little bit more sort of play on, do you think, from race control in this final scenario? It happens in the footy codes. Like it is that maybe what we're seeing? Yeah, it it did feel like that. And that's why I thought or maybe the Chaz Cam won, he may have gotten away with it. But Anyway, I think the other thing though with Matt today was there was and he admitted this when I asked him about it in the presser as well, that there were a couple of moments where he was just that little bit too conservative. Yep. And last year obviously quite famously he got into a fight with Cam. He didn't need to be in and it cost him. So better to be on the other side, the too conservative rather than too aggressive. Yeah. But he just there was a couple of times where he pulled his nose out. And even that one at turn six where Brody past him, Matt was on the inside with decent overlap. Yeah and Brody just turned it down full confidence and Matt got out of it. Yep. Yes, no, he definitely did. I I also thought when Cam and Brody were having their their battle down there and off the road, like, you know, I think if this was the act the the second race of the grand final and you need to be in front to win, he probably could have really got his elbows out and tried to get to the front. But He did seem to have that kind of workmanlike attitude to it. he's leading the points. he's got a good points advantage. He's at the front. Probably the only thing that could really have derailed him massively today was like you say, what happened last year. Gets into a fight, ends up off the road and and dumps a heap of points. So I think you could see his his approach to it today. Yeah, that was clearly the plan going in. And as you say, with his points advantage, he's a hundred and four points to the cut line. So only 150 points to win a race. He is in a great position for tomorrow. Yep. the other finalist, Anton Di Pasquale. We haven't spoken about him. He finished sixth. There was a fair bit of talk coming into the weekend about how competitive everyone expected him to be. And, you know, the Chev's pretty good in a straight line and all that sort of stuff. So I reckon that's probably a little bit disappointing for Anton. He's obviously came into the weekend with the most ado to to get through. he's been helped out a little bit by Will Brown having an absolute shocker, but still you would there was no real signs today that that that's a front running car. and he probably heads into tomorrow and you know needing a win to get through as well. Yeah I think they'd be disappointed with their car speed considering team 18 was quite good here last year. Yeah. They were basically line ball Cooper Murray in the premiere car. Cooper just got him in the shootout and Anton's one ahead in the race and Anton had James Golding blow by him late. Yep. Obviously the BRT day was more sour than sweet, but for for Jimmy to get a top five for them, at least gave them something. Yeah, how do you think things are going in the BRT garage right now? It is nine thirty six PM as I sit here in this moment. I reckon there's still a fair bit of work to be done there if they're gonna get that Aaron Cameron car. Back on track tomorrow. You had did have a chat with with Tim Blanchard, team owner down there. you do at your home round have the option of asking supercars if you can take the car back to your workshop to work on it, but that was something they decided not to do. Yeah, correct. Tim said that, hey, we've got all our gear here, so if we need to run home to grab something we will, but we're gonna try to repair this thing on site. And he was optimistic that they can repair it unless they find something that in his words is a showstopper as they go through the process because when I spoke to him it wasn't too long after the race and they were still in a bit of a yeah a bit of a pull it apart and and start the clean process rather than the actual obviously the rebuild. But yeah he he thinks that the the a little bit of contact early in the race has pushed the exhaust in into the side skirt. And it's caught fire from there. It really seemed to to go up in the way that you'd expect some some fuel or something like I thought it was a fuel or oil o oil on So obviously the fuel tanks right there and everything. So he did say that like we need to actually do some more work to find out definitively what it is. But obviously a hugely dramatic moment and the main thing was that Cam got out okay. He was he was smart, he knew where the the fire marshals were, he pulled it up and he got out and press the firebomb button and he was fairly calm about it afterwards when he spoke on the TV. It was the most sensible camo interview I've ever seen. yeah it is always it doesn't matter how much motorsport you consume, how long you watch it, when there's fire involved and and a driver in a closed car like that, it always it gets your heart going and it was good to see him out quick and as you say, he pulled up in the right spot. He activated the firebomb really quickly and and that's up that's helped limit some damage. But man, when something's burning that hot In the back of the car. you could see the vinyl wrap just bubbling and and that means things are getting real hot real quick. Yeah, and normally you see the fire really underneath where this was yeah, licking out of that that rear guard. it was quite a quite a spooky scene. Absolutely. Anything else you want talk about? I'm sure we'll press stop on this and there'll be a thousand things that we forgot, but no, I mean it just sets up a really good good Sunday and And even with Brody, and he said this after the race that points are still really important for him tomorrow because you want those seeding points heading into Adelaide. They've increased the the seeding spread a little bit this year. Yeah, being top two is massively important. So yeah, it's it's something that he's focused on grabbing every point he can get. Well, I can't wait to see what happens tomorrow. We will of course have all of the action from Sandown covered on speakfa dot com. So make sure you are Visiting that website regularly across the day tomorrow, and we'll be back in this podcast feed tomorrow night with a Sunday edition of our daily podcast.