Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the world!
On the 19th – 21st June 2026 was Round 6 of the Supercars Championship, the Betr Darwin Triple Crown held at Hidden Valley Raceway in the “Top End” (Darwin).
This year was the 30th anniversary of the Betr Darwin Triple Crown and boy it was a good show.
Chaz Mostert hit his own milestone, celebrating his 400th race on Saturday. Congratulations Chaz.
For Race 17 Brodie Kostecki had earned the pole position. Alongside him on the front row was Anton de Pasquale.
As the race went green Brodie Kostecki took the lead for the first of 35 laps.
By turn 5 Cameron Waters had passed Anton de Pasquale for second place.
The first car to pit was Ryan Wood on lap 6.
Brodie Kostecki pitted on lap 8, while Cameron Waters stayed on track to mind the lead spot.
Matt Payne now held 2nd place and Kai Allen was 3rd.
In the middle of the race the rest of the cars cycled through their mandatory pit stops.
Towards the end there was only 1 car remaining to stop, James Golding. Once he did Brodie Kostecki assumed the lead.
Cam Waters was once again in 2nd place, followed by Anton de Pasquale.
With 8 laps remaining the two Grove Racing teammates, Kai Allen and Matt Payne got by Anton de Pasquale for positions 3 and 4.
David Reynolds’ car was overheating. With 2 laps remaining the car couldn’t take any more abuse and stopped in a risky spot of the track. The safety car was deployed for the rescue.
The drivers had to stay in formation behind the safety car and limited to 80km per hour. The leaders were reasonably spread out but now they were queued up and close together.
Ironically David Reynolds managed to get his car going again and was back in the race before the rescue team reached him.
The safety car left the track and it was a 1 lap dash to the checkered flag.
Before the first corner Cameron Waters managed to pass Brodie Kostecki for the number 1 spot. In a flash so did Kai Allen and Matt Payne. Brodie Kostecki was now in 4th place and had lost his podium finish in that single lap.
The 3 leaders crossed that finish line bumper to bumper. It was a very tense way to finish the race.
Race 17 results:
1st Cameron Waters – Tickford Racing
2nd Kai Allen – Grove Racing
3rd Matt Payne – Grove Racing
In Race 18 Cameron Waters started on pole position with Brodie Kostecki alongside him.
Cameron Waters took the lead from the start in the first of 70 laps.
Brodie Kostecki held second place. Broc Feeney had moved up from his start in 6th place but then dropped back to 5th place. He was still 1 spot up from his start position.
As the starting laps melted away in the Top End, Matt Payne got around Brodie Kostecki for 2nd position.
Behind the scenes, Matt Payne was being investigated for jumping the gun at the start. The officials reviewed footage and issued him with a 5 second time penalty. The penalty would have to be served in one of the 2 mandatory pit stops.
Soon after the first 10 laps Ryan Wood ran wide at turn 1 dropping oil on the track. His teammate Chaz Mostert was up ahead in 4th place. As he came around on the next lap he slid on the oil and ran wide. This dropped him from 4th down to 14th place.
Ryan Wood was already in the garage trying to work out his power steering issue.
Matt Payne was the first to pit on lap 20. It was still early in the race, so he chose to serve his 5 second penalty at this stop rather than later.
In the middle of the race Cameron Waters was still leading.
Waters was wide at one turn with Kai Allen approaching on the inside. Waters drove across Kai Allen’s car as they came through the turn. The blocking move is considered bad driving form and called “moving under brakes”. If the stewards issued him with a penalty, his lead would be at risk. In the end they only issued a warning.
Soon enough Cameron Waters folded to Kai Allen’s attacks and Kai Allen became the new leader.
Towards the end of the race Kai Allen had a 7.5 second lead over Cameron Waters.
In the end Kai Allen crossed the finish line with an 8.8 second win over Cameron Waters. It was 9.3 seconds back to Brodie Kostecki in 3rd place. Although they were spread out it was an exciting race to watch.
Race 18 Results:
1st Kai Allen – Grove Racing
2nd Cameron Waters – Tickford Racing
3rd Brodie Kostecki – Shell V-Power Racing Team
EOS 11
In Race 19 Cameron Waters started on pole position with Matt Payne alongside him.
There were 2 drivers, Thomas Randle and Brodie Kostecki who had cool suit failures in race 18 and suffered heat exhaustion and dehydration.
Luckily legend Mark Winterbottom, currently acting as commentator was able to step in and substitute for Thomas Randle.
Another driving legend, Todd Hazelwood was in the area racing in the Trans AM competition. He was only too willing to help out his old mate Kostecki.
As the lights went out Cameron Waters got the jump and led into turn 1 for the first of 70 laps. Matt Payne was right behind him in second place.
Todd Hazelwood was the first to take a pit stop on lap 12.
Around the middle of the race Anton de Pasquale was in the lead with a gap of around 3 seconds. Matt Payne passed Cameron Waters for second place. Broc Feeney was 3.3 seconds back in 4th place.
Matt Payne was constantly putting Anton de Pasquale under pressure for the leading spot. Surprisingly Pasquale held his nerve.
With 4 laps to go Chaz Mostert in 7th place had an engine failure. The safety car was sent out to manage the drivers while Mostert was rescued.
Unfortunately, the last 3 laps were under safety conditions (driving behind the safety car, staying in formation and limited to 80kms p/h) so it wasn’t a challenging finish.
Anton de Pasquale took his 2nd win for the year. Matt Payne was in 2nd place followed by Cameron Waters.
Race 19 results:
1st Anton de Pasquale – Team 18
2nd Matt Payne – Grove Racing
3rd Cameron Waters – Tickford Racing
Cameron Waters won the Darwin Triple Crown for 2026.
The next event is the NTI Townsville 500 10 – 12 July.