CAM Waters celebrated his maiden Adelaide 500 race win with a stunning burnout worthy of the Ken Block tribute livery on his Monster Mustang.
But it could have been a very different story for the Ford flyer, if not for his quick reactions on the opening lap.
Waters was placed sixth when the drivers in front – Anton De Pasquale and Will Brown – made side-to-side contact through Turn 4.
Brown clouted the barrier. Waters jinked right in avoidance, while a blindsided Shane van Gisbergen behind drilled the right-rear of the hapless #9 Coca-Cola Camaro.
“I was super close,” Waters recalled.
“I saw the DJ car (De Pasquale) and Will interlocking wheels and whenever you interlock wheels, usually there’s chaos, so I just tried to steer clear of that.
“I was pretty fortunate that I could see it all unfolding and Shane behind me obviously couldn’t see.
“It could be all the sprintcar stuff I’m doing, there’s always shunts in that, and you’ve got to dodge a lot of cars rolling and flipping into fences and stuff.
“Pretty lucky to make it through.”
Victory in Adelaide was special for two reasons for Waters.
“It’s super close to Mildura where I grew up,” he said.
“I’ve got lots of family and friends in Adelaide and most of my family from Mildura come over as well, so I kind of treat it like a home event.”
The other, of course, was the Block tribute livery and #43 adopted for the weekend as a tribute to the action sports star who was killed in a snowmobile accident in January.
Asked of his spectacular post-race burnout, Waters said: “It was going to be big if I was to win here.
“With the Ken Block livery as well, it’s pretty special to win with that and I’m sure Ken was looking down expecting a huge burnout.
“Either the rear tyres were going to blow or the engine was going to blow, I think the rear tyres were pretty close!”
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