The four Albert Park sprints were littered with incidents, a handful of which drew either in-race or post-race penalties.
For those starting deeper in the pack, the races were largely a matter of survival.
David Reynolds was among those caught up in the Turn 1 melee on Sunday, declaring that he “qualified in the mosh pit and got trampled on”.
The Team 18 star had driven through from 20th on the grid to seventh in the Saturday evening race, later noting he’d benefited from some misplaced youthful enthusiasm.
“There were a lot of dickheads that crashed. These young kids these days, holy shit, man, they are stupid,” he said on the Cool Down Lap.
“They are so dumb, it’s so funny. Like, if you just roll around and stay out of trouble, you’ll make spots just through other people’s stupidity.”
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Triple Eight star Will Brown was in the thick of the action for much of the weekend, drawing a penalty for contact with Cooper Murray in the Friday race.
‘Gut-wrenching’: Murray, Bates recount Feeney ‘flick-spin’ shunt
Saturday’s heat included involvement in a three-wide squeeze with Murray and Jack Le Brocq and a subsequent tangle with Aaron Cameron that spun both Mustangs.
“Feels like, to be honest, everyone’s just out there using their doors and their bumpers,” Brown said at the end of the weekend.
“That’s pretty much what the racing has come to, it’s that if you can’t get by them easily then just run into them, and that’s what everyone’s doing.”
Brown shared the Sunday podium with winner Brodie Kostecki and third-placed Thomas Randle, who had been the biggest victim of the Saturday chaos.
Randle’s Tickford Racing Mustang suffered heavy damage after a tap from Ryan Wood’s Toyota at Turn 5 put him into the outside wall.
Wood was slapped with a 30-second penalty and later apologised for the incident, having also been involved in a similar clash last year that spun Le Brocq.
“I think there are a few elements to it,” surmised Randle of the weekend’s wild racing.
“The nature of this circuit is so wide and the corners lead on to really long straights with decent braking zones, so it’s easy to lose momentum or get a run on someone.
“And there are no pit stops, so the only way to make up positions is by doing it on the track. I mean, it’s awesome racing to watch.
“I think the driving standards across the couple of days from people have been questionable, but everyone wants the same bit of real estate. You’re all trying to go for the win.”
Triple Eight team manager Mark Dutton also weighed into the driving standards conversation in the wake of Sunday’s carnage involving Broc Feeney.
Feeney was turned around at Turn 1 by Kai Allen, who had received a nudge from Macauley Jones after earlier colliding with Wood off the start.
The incident escalated when Feeney hit the throttle as the car rotated, spinning across the track into the path of the hapless Murray and Zach Bates.
“I think a few of the drivers out there forget that we are racing for sheep stations, not on PlayStations,” said Dutton.
“Our lads know that, they will drive accordingly, but sometimes they get caught up in things that other blokes are getting up to.”
Those who suffered damage on Sunday only have a matter of days to turn their cars around ahead of the boat trip to New Zealand for the upcoming double-header.
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