Tim Slade has hit out at Cameron Waters for a “bonehead” clash at the fastest part of Symmons Plains International Raceway during Race 4.
Only three laps after his pit stop, Slade was working on passing Waters out of the Turn 4 hairpin.
The pair bumped wheels briefly on corner exit before running side-by-side on the run to Turn 6.
The CoolDrive Racing entry slid across the track, taking an advertising board with him, lucky to avoid the trailing pack of cars.
Slade bemoaned the incident, chastising Waters for his part.
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“The move was done,” said Slade.
“We had a lot more pace than him and got overlap out of the hairpin. Had a run on him and thought it was ‘you beauty, let’s go’. Just a bonehead move, pushed us off the track.
“I guess maybe just a little bit of frustration that a little new team of five with one of their old cars is beating them, so maybe worry a little less about us and worry about everyone else.”
Although the gravel trap would slow the #3 Ford Mustang, Slade said he feared his car would make contact with the wall.
“It’s obviously extremely fast there,” he said.
“When you come off the track and you’re going backwards, got a bit of air, I instantly thought about the wall down at the outside of Turn 6.
“Next thing was thinking about another car going around the corner and cleaning them up as we went through backwards at a bit of pace.
“Fortunately, I didn’t hit anything more and do some serious damage. Got back on, but obviously only 15th. I think we were definitely capable of a lot more.”
For the incident, Waters was given a drive-through penalty. In the end, he finished 17th from 12th on the grid.
Slade would come home 15th, a total of 10 places down on where he started.
The Tasmania SuperSprint concludes with Race 5 at 15:55 local time/AEDT.
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