VAN GISBERGEN AND WATERS’ GO SPRINTCAR RACING

Feature photo: Shane van Gisbergen on the dirt

Shane van Gisbergen and Cam Waters have opened their 2023 racing accounts with mixed results on dirt. Van Gisbergen and Waters — who finished first and second in the 2022 Supercars season — are competing at speedways this summer.

It’s the first competitive speedway season for van Gisbergen, with Waters returning for a third summer.Both Supercars drivers competed on New Year’s Day — van Gisbergen in Auckland, and Waters in Warrnambool.

Van Gisbergen’s debut last week featured a spin as he wowed a crowd of over 10,000.

Come Sunday at Western Springs Speedway, and van Gisbergen was forced to alight from his car in Heat 1 due to a fire. The 75-time Supercars race winner quickly pulled into the infield, and the flames were put out. Quick repairs saw van Gisbergen return to place fifth in the second heat before he finished ninth in the feature, which was won by Jamie McDonald.

The top 10 was a marked improvement on van Gisbergen’s 14th placing in last week’s feature race.

Across the Tasman, van Gisbergen’s Supercars rival Waters took to his Chief Racing car in rural Victoria. Waters started fifth in the fourth heat, but ended up sixth after two poor restarts.

The Tickford Racing driver was forced to compete in the B-Main, and he finished third at the death. Waters started from the back of the grid for the A-Main and eventually finished 11th.

Still, it was a better showing after he crashed out of the previous meeting when he hit a rut.“Awesome to be back here in Warrnambool for the last night of Speedweek,” Waters said.

“A huge field that was great to be a part of, probably one of the hardest fields I’ve been in.“Time trials were great, we were second quickest. Had an okay run in the heat which put us in the front of the B-Main.

“It was really good after the last couple of finals we haven’t finished… it was great to finish one. We’ll go better in the title.” Van Gisbergem will also race again on Friday at Western Springs.