Tearful reunions for Tickford families

Cameron Waters has hailed the imminent opportunity to catch up with loved ones as a major morale boost for Tickford Racing.

Tickford is one of five Victorian Supercars squads to have been on the road since early July in order to keep the sport going during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Ford outfit recently decided to fly up a number of their crew’s partners and children, who then spent their mandated fortnight in quarantine in the Northern Territory.

A reunion is now just around the corner, at the conclusion of the Robson Civil Projects Townsville SuperSprint that wraps up today.

Team boss Tim Edwards, below, has himself just come out of two weeks quarantine to join his team at the circuit in Townsville, having been missing from the paddock since March.

“Monday morning there’s a big reunion going on because we’ve got a lot of partners that are quarantining up in Darwin at the moment,” Edwards explained.

“We get down to Brisbane after this and there’s going to be a lot of tears I’d imagine between wives and kids and parents.”

Waters said that light at the end of the tunnel had lifted spirits in the camp.

“There’s a few happier boys in the team for sure. It’s awesome to have the families come up now, it’s really what they needed,” he said.

“They were putting in the hard efforts before the families were up but it’s definitely the morale boost to get us through to the end of the year.

“It’s been great to see them all come together through this period and keep the sport going.

“It’s been amazing to see the morale and everyone help each other out to get through it.”

Images of and messages from family members adorn the walls of the Tickford garage in Townsville, pictured below.

Former Tickford driver Chaz Mostert, who yesterday took his fourth podium of 2020 for Walkinshaw Andretti United, added it had been a gruelling period for everyone in the sport.

While Mostert lives on the Gold Coast, WAU is another of the Melbourne based squads doing it particularly tough.       

“I think for most teams down pitlane, four back-to-back weekends is pretty tiring,” he said.

“I can definitely see through the paddock a few people that are pretty worn out, including drivers, it has definitely been hard yards for everyone to get through this four weeks of racing.

“Obviously for our team and Tickford and a lot of other Melbourne teams as well, it has been extremely hard on the whole crew.

“We don’t talk about it a lot but it’s been a very challenging year for the whole state of Victoria and the teams that are involved in it.

“We’re obviously very lucky that everyone sacrifices to make this championship keep going, especially those teams.

“I’m just super proud of all the boys definitely in my team that have come together in this tough time and they’re still trying to perform at their highest to get results like they did today.”

After a pair of Sunday races in Townsville, teams will enjoy a week off before getting to work on preparing for the first of two events at Tailem Bend in South Australia on September 19-20.

The 2020 Virgin Australia Supercars Championship will then conclude with the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 on October 18.