Supercars frontrunner Cameron Waters recorded mixed results on his speedway debut in the top end.
The Victorian had a tough time of it in the Chief Racing Maxim entry on Friday for Round 11 of the Northline Speedway titles, before making amends with improved returns at the Northern Territory State Championships on Saturday.
Due to a timing failure, a random draw determined that Waters would start Heat 1 of the Northline Speedway titles in third.
During that encounter, he dropped two spots to finish fifth.
While Waters started the reverse-grid Heat 2 in seventh, he dropped a position to finish eighth.
Heat points determined the Supercars regular would start the B-Main in fourth, holding position for the better part of the race, he eventually slid down the order to finish in sixth after several red flags.
The Chief Racing Maxim crew spent Saturday going over the car, ahead of the Northern Territory State Championships that evening.
The crew’s effort immediately paid dividends, with Waters showing improved pace throughout that event.
After qualifying fourth for Heat 1, the 28-year-old found himself at the rear of the field following contact, before recovering to finish the encounter in sixth.
He would go onto finish fourth from seventh in Heat 2, and eighth from 14th in the A-Main.
Waters paid credit to the role the crew played in his improved performance.
“The crew did an awesome job getting the car sorted after the troubles from night one,” he remarked.
“I felt a bit more comfortable too.
“We had an okay run through the heats which put us out of 14 for the A-Main.
“Started to move forward in the A[-Main] but got put [to the] rear after I was deemed the cause of the yellow.
“Managed to work my way back to eighth with a speedy car.
“A massive thank you to the crew and our sponsors.”
Waters will return to Northline for his next speedway outing on August 26-27 for the opening two rounds of the ‘Chariots of Thunder’ title, before taking part in Alice Spring’s ‘Dance in the Desert’ event at Arunga Park Speedway on August 30.
Before then, he’ll be in action at the Penrite Sandown SuperSprint, which gets underway this weekend.