THERE was no fairytale ending, but Cam Waters sure enjoyed his NASCAR debut.
Waters was scored in 30th place at the end of the Long John Silver’s 200 at Martinsville Speedway but his race was over 20 laps before the finish, the victim of a multi-car tangle ahead of him.
Starting from 22nd in a race run under lights in frigid conditions, Waters had his #66 Tradie-backed Ford F-150 running in the midfield for most of the race, occasionally sitting on the fringe of the top 10 during the pitstop cycles.
The first ripple came with 35 laps to go, when Waters was turned around as he slowed to avoid an incident in front of him.
He resumed and recovered to 23rd, only to sustain significant front-end damage 10 laps later amid a concertina caused when the #38 Ford of Layne Riggs was tapped into a spin coming off Turn 2.
Despite the early finish, Waters was beaming after his first experience of stock car racing on a half-mile paved oval.
“What a blast, I had a ball out there,” Waters said.
“The racing is so intense … it’s just relentless! You never stop looking for a gap while defending position.
“Yeah, we ended up out of the race within sight of the finish, which is a real shame for the whole team, but I had nowhere to go both times and ended getting turned around by hits from behind.
“It was absolutely wild, but I learnt so much today and I can’t wipe the smile off my face right now.
“I’m definitely keen to do more of this where my Supercars schedule permits.”
Waters might not have too long to wait for his next Trucks Series start.
Fox Sports reported that Waters will return to the ThorSport Racing squad for the round at the 1.5-mile Kansas Speedway on May 4, a race that fits between the Taupō and Wanneroo Supercars rounds.
