The Bend Supercars: Van Gisbergen triumphs in wet finale

A downpour shortly before the start meant the race initially got underway behind the Safety Car.

That only last two laps, though, the race going green with Waters in the lead on Lap 3.

The second half of the opening lap saw three different leaders in what was a brilliant scrap between Waters, van Gisbergen and Anton De Pasquale.

First it was De Pasquale that lunged Waters to lead, only for the Shell Ford driver to then drop back to fourth was Waters, van Gisbergen and Feeney got through.

Van Gisbergen then briefly led over Waters before the Tickford driver got back through on the main straight.

Waters and van Gisbergen continued to battle for the next two laps until van Gisbergen ran slightly wide on Lap 5 and Feeney snuck into second.

The rookie then slid off the road on the next lap, allowing van Gisbergen to pick up the battle for the lead with Waters.

Van Gisbergen briefly got ahead again on Lap 7 and then at the start of Lap 8, but couldn't make either move stick.

The Kiwi kept the pressure on for the next three laps until Waters finally ran too deep into the penultimate corner.

He kept his car on the road but the slight delay was enough for van Gisbergen to sneak through into the lead.

Once in front there was no stopping van Gisbergen, his lead over two seconds within a couple of laps before ballooning from there.

He took his stop on Lap 23, the penultimate lap, before cruising to a 8.7s victory.

"That was awesome," said van Gisbergen of the early battle with Waters.

"It's always good racing someone who has nothing to lose. He drives hard, but respectful as well.

"It was awesome. Once I got in front I struggled a bit with no train tracks to follow, but then I pulled away.

"What an awesome weekend, I can't thank the team enough. I've struggled with feeling in the car all weekend but it's been super fast."

Waters cruised to second place ahead of Erebus driver Brodie Kostecki, who was impressive in tough conditions on his way to third.

Will Davison and Chaz Mostert both put in stirring drivers after an early coming together.

Mostert got into the back of Davison during the frantic early laps, the Shell Ford left facing the wrong way as Mostert copped a 15-second penalty for his efforts.

Davison spun again while beginning his recovery but was then able to charge through to finish fourth, ahead of Feeney and Will Brown.

Mostert, meanwhile, charged through the field after serving his penalty to finish a remarkable eighth, right behind De Pasquale.

Nick Percat and Lee Holdsworth rounded out the Top 10.

James Golding and David Reynolds looked to be on for good results midway through the race as they charged into the Top 10.

However they had a coming at Turn 6 in the second half of the race which dropped Golding back to 14th, and forced Reynolds into the pits with significant damage.

He was ultimately classified 22nd, four laps down.

There was trouble between the Matt Stone Racing teammates, meanwhile, with Todd Hazelwood taking Jack Le Brocq out of the race in the early stages.

Hazelwood kept going but could only manage 21st.

Wildcard Zak Best was classified last after being withdrawn from the race due to a broken wiper motor.

Thanks to his latest victory van Gisbergen will take a 393-point lead over Waters to the next round of the series at Sandown Motor Raceway on August 19-21.

The Bend SuperSprint Race 3 results

Cla	#	Driver	Car	Time	Gap	Interval
1	97	Shane van Gisbergen	Holden Commodore ZB	-
2	6	Cameron Waters	Ford Mustang GT	8.7109	8.711	8.711
3	99	Brodie Kostecki	Holden Commodore ZB	17.2306	17.231	8.520
4	17	Will Davison	Ford Mustang GT	25.5051	25.505	8.275
5	88	Broc Feeney	Holden Commodore ZB	31.8322	31.832	6.327
6	9	Will Brown	Holden Commodore ZB	32.6306	32.631	0.798
7	11	Anton De Pasquale	Ford Mustang GT	32.8623	32.862	0.232
8	25	Chaz Mostert	Holden Commodore ZB	33.3410	33.341	0.479
9	2	Nick Percat	Holden Commodore ZB	34.8295	34.830	1.489
10	10	Lee Holdsworth	Ford Mustang GT	38.4134	38.413	3.584
11	3	Tim Slade	Ford Mustang GT	46.5096	46.510	8.096
12	5	James Courtney	Ford Mustang GT	47.4082	47.408	0.899
13	20	Scott Pye	Holden Commodore ZB	47.8889	47.889	0.481
14	31	James Golding	Holden Commodore ZB	49.3800	49.380	1.491
15	18	Mark Winterbottom	Holden Commodore ZB	49.8655	49.866	0.485
16	49	Jordan Boys	Holden Commodore ZB	59.9304	59.930	10.065
17	14	Bryce Fullwood	Holden Commodore ZB	1'21.4235	1'21.424	21.493
18	22	Chris Pither	Holden Commodore ZB	1'45.9922	1'45.992	24.569
19	4	Jack Smith	Holden Commodore ZB	1 lap
20	96	Macauley Jones	Holden Commodore ZB	1 lap
21	35	Todd Hazelwood	Holden Commodore ZB	1 lap
22	26	David Reynolds	Ford Mustang GT	4 laps
	56	Jake Kostecki	Ford Mustang GT	7 laps
	34	Jack Le Brocq	Holden Commodore ZB	21 laps
	78	Zak Best	Holden Commodore ZB	21 laps
View full results