Saturday Wrap: Waters vs Mostert delivers, Brown's title statement

Saturday was Supercars at its tense and heart-stopping best, with Cam Waters emerging victorious after 88 enthralling laps around Reid Park.

The two-hour epic was littered with battles, with Waters and Chaz Mostert putting on a show of world-class motorsport.

While it was a day for Ford fans to savour, Will Brown again proved his championship calibre with a stunning drive from 13th to a 12th podium of the season.

After an awesome day at Reid Park, Supercars.com runs through the key talking points from the day's action.

Waters and Mostert banish old demons

Once teammates at Tickford Racing, Cam Waters and Chaz Mostert are now flying the flag for different Ford teams. In their years racing out of the Tickford stable, Waters and Mostert collided on a number of occasions, throwing away win after win. Each time they're on track, commentators and fans hold their breath as they go into battle, and Saturday was no different. However, they managed to entertain and deliver results, Waters saying: “Five years ago, it might have been a different race but I'm glad it wasn't."

So, why didn't they collide? Mostert theorised that they are able to keep it clean, simply because they aren't teammates: “I think we've raced pretty hard and generally pretty respectful but, at that time, when we were at Tickford Racing with each other, I think we were both going for team dominance or whatever it was, make Tim Edwards [then-Team Principal] get some grey hairs."

Brown's championship calibre drive

Starting 13th, Will Brown faced a big task to keep his championship lead intact. By race's end, he put more breathing space on Broc Feeney, with Brown motoring from 13th to third. Brown admitted he nearly threw it away when the rain arrived, but even then, the Triple Eight driver's race management was superb, and a real statement to the field. He didn't throw it away in the early laps, and when the pressure was on at the end, he made his moves. Another run-in with Thomas Randle could have undone his work, but he kept his cool and got past. Who knows, had he got past Randle sooner, the front two could have been in trouble...

Missed opportunity for Feeney

With another Brown showstopper came another head-scratcher from Broc Feeney, who despite starting five positions ahead of his teammate, finished four positions and five seconds behind. Feeney was by no means out of it in the closing laps, but like Taupō, didn't have the firepower to hang on when it mattered most. Critically, Brown gained 33 points, wiping away the 28 Feeney worked hard to get back over both Darwin races.

Battle for championship positions as unpredictable as ever

After having a shocker in Darwin, Waters is back in fourth in the championship. The driver who was fourth, Nick Percat, dropped to eighth after early contact consigned him to 21st and 12 laps down. A brilliant drive by Matt Payne, who finished fourth, moved from ninth to fifth. Anton De Pasquale was eighth, but after a DNF from the same incident, plummeted to 14th. The top three seem too far up the road, but the battle for fourth is well and truly alive. Any one of six drivers could hold the position after Sunday! Then, there's the ongoing teams' championship battles, with Tickford moving from fifth to third, just 23 points behind Walkinshaw Andretti United.

Long live long races

Three of the first five races were sprint rounds, and while there were many moments of superb racing, Townsville's 250km race was an instant classic as teams and drivers fought through strategy and changeable conditions in two rollercoaster hours of action. The race took many twists and turns, and the Waters/Mostert rivalry had at least two new chapters added to it thanks to their respective teams taking the race head-on with different strategies. Then, drivers like Brown and Payne were able to capitalise as the race wore on, while another, who we will highlight in our honourable mention, put in a brilliant recovery effort. Long may longer races live.

Honourable mention

Cameron Hill had a day out in Townsville. The Matt Stone Racing driver started 19th, was sent into a spin by Macauley Jones early and dumped to last, and was the last driver to pit on both occasions. And somehow, he finished 10th. Bravo, Cam! Given Hill's pace, could MSR spring a surprise on Sunday, with spearhead Percat taken out of contention early?