With nine laps to go in the 100th Supercars race at Wanneroo Raceway, Golding ran wide through Turn 1 and gave Wood an opportunity to get to his inside.
The pair ran side-by-side out of Turn 1 and up to Turn 4, banging doors out of the first corner.
With the inside line, Golding slid into the outside of Wood and got loose. The secondary contact condemned their days. Wood got spat off the road and parked his car well out of the way while Golding suffered steering damage.
Golding was deemed to be at fault for the incident and was given a drive-through penalty, which he served after repairs were made to the #31 Chevrolet Camaro.
Golding and Wood had been running fifth and sixth respectively in the order behind Tickford Racing’s Cameron Waters.
Speaking post-race on Fox Sports’ broadcast, Wood said Golding deserved a penalty earlier than that.
“I was racing someone that shouldn’t have been in that position with the way he raced everyone else before that – and he finished me off,” said Wood.
“That was pretty awesome. For someone that’s pretty experienced, it was pretty piss poor, to be honest.
“I expect better than that and I know I’m no princess out on the race track. I race hard but I’m pretty sure I race pretty fair at times. I didn’t feel that was the case then.
“Honestly, just gutted for our whole team because they produced us a race car to put ourselves in a position to win all three races this weekend.
“I don’t know who has walked under a ladder or something, but there’s definitely going to be some spells put on us for some good luck.
“There should have been penalties before that with the same driver,” Wood added.
“It doesn’t matter when someone gets a penalty after they finish someone off. It shouldn’t get to that point. I’m sure I got a lot worse for a lot less this year.”
MASSIVE DRAMA IN THE RACE FOR THE SPRINT CUP!
GOLDING AND WOOD FIND EACH OTHER AND RUN EACH OTHER OFF THE ROAD.#RepcoSC #Supercars pic.twitter.com/ViTw8chJbc
— Supercars (@supercars) June 8, 2025
Wood said he would go speak to Golding after the interview, and was captured having a discussion with the PremiAir Racing driver.
For his part in the incident, Golding said “shit happens” and that he believed that it was a racing incident.
“From my point of view, obviously Woody got up the inside coming out of Turn 1 and went side-by-side through the next corner. Gave each other room and then we were still side-by-side coming into Turn 4,” Golding explained.
“Obviously got onto the marbles and… yeah, I mean, by that point once you’re on the outside you can’t really disappear.
“We were both racing hard. Unfortunately, when we bumped it broke my steering, which pulled me hard right into him and ended his race.
“Sorry to those guys, but yeah, we’re all racing hard out there. Unfortunately, these things happen.
“Overall, really stoked with the day. The car was really fast.”
On the conversation with Wood, Golding echoed his initial assessment and sentiment of the incident.
“Yeah, we chatted about it,” he said. “Basically the same thing. It’s racing. Shit happens sometimes.”
On Fox Sports’ coverage, five-time Supercars champion Mark Skaife said Wood and Golding could both bare some of the blame.
“I heard all the commentary and I had a look at it again, it’s a real six in one, half a dozen in the other that one,” said Skaife.
“Both of them contributed to that incident and in the end the broken steering was the thing that carted them both off.
“I have some compassion for James Golding. I know that at the end he probably could have backed out of it and done that, but that’s not the racing driver mentality. That’s not what we do.
“The same thing applies to the bloke on the outside. He could have backed it off, but Will Brown was right in behind.
“This one is a tough racing circumstance. To me, the bloke who should have been penalised was James Golding because he made the original mistake and he ends up running wide.
“When they get to there [Turn 4], it’s over and out.”
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