Amid a dramatic final race of the NZ swing in Christchurch on Sunday, Payne fell just 16 points short of defending the JR Trophy that he won last year.
There was some luck involved in him being so close to eventual winner Broc Feeney, such as Ryan Wood’s engine expiring seven laps from the end of the race when he had all but sewn up the trophy.
Another contender in Brodie Kostecki was then ruled out in a wild clash with Chaz Mostert two laps from home.
But Payne had his own bad luck across the Ruapuna weekend as well.
He lost ground during the phantom safety car debacle in Friday’s opener, which contributed to his pole position only being converted to a fourth place finish.
Even more costly was the first of the two Saturday races.
Payne emerged from his mandatory pit stop with the best tyre condition and right behind leaders Kostecki and Kai Allen, but his hopes of victory were quickly dashed when his car shed its right-rear wheel on his out-lap.
That ultimately left him down in 19th.
Given he went on to win the final two races of the weekend, even a podium in that first Saturday race would have been enough to win the JR Trophy once Wood and Kostecki ran into trouble on Sunday evening.
“Absolutely, it sucks,” said Payne when asked if he wished the first Saturday race had played out differently.
“I wish I could keep [the JR Trophy], because that’s the one trophy I really, really like, apart from Bathurst and the championship. That one is up there as well.
“If I didn’t have a bad race [on Saturday] I would have been more in the running and potentially could have won it.
“It sucks, but it’s motorsport at the end of the day. It’s what happens. We live and breathe it and we learn and we keep going.
“I’m just glad that when I had the opportunity to get good points and execute, that we did.”
Payne also spoke about the heartbreak of seeing close friend Wood miss out on the JR Trophy due to the late failure.
“Obviously I saw on the big screen that he was the one that caused the yellow, and obviously it’s huge disappointment from his side,” he said.
“To have a mechanical like that, when you’re already having a little bit of a tough day, fighting for everything… I don’t know, it really sucks, especially when the JR [Trophy] was on the line for him.
“I would have really loved to have seen that happen. But this is motorsport, it can suck sometimes and it’s completely out of your control.
“Those things just happen. I’m really gutted for him. But I know he’ll bounce back pretty strong.”
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