Hometown hero Brodie Kostecki has been panned by a rival for a costly "dumb" move on a day when Supercars Championship leader Matt Payne triumphed and Broc Feeney helped Triple Eight break a rare drought.
With 11 laps remaining in Saturday's opening 120km sprint race of the Perth Super 440, Kostecki was desperately clinging to fourth spot when disaster struck as the fast-moving Kai Allen moved to the inside.
Kostecki attempted to cut Allen off as they approached the braking zone to turn one, but it only resulted in Kostecki being nudged off the track and spinning out in the gravel trap.
Grove Racing rising star Allen was cleared by race control of any wrongdoing, and ended up finishing sixth.
Kostecki, who is fourth in the overall championship, finished dead last.
"He was blocking me for about 10 laps, which I didn't really like, and it was hurting my tyres," Allen said of the incident.
"Ultimately, he didn't want me to be up the inside of him, and turned in.
"It's so unfortunate. Like within that situation, you don't want to see a car going on the gravel trap, and especially with him and his championship fight.
"I think it was pretty dumb. I probably wouldn't have done that. I would have let him go."
Allen said he was happy he stood his ground, believing he didn't do anything wrong.
"I'm still learning out here. Brodie actually used to mentor me. So it's funny that I'm racing hard now," Allen said.
"It's unfortunate that he's gone into the gravel trap, ruined his race. But at the same time, I don't think I did anything wrong."
Payne, who started on pole, held his nerve to post his fourth win of the season, with Ryan Wood in second and Anton De Pasquale finishing third.
But Payne's bid to go back-to-back came undone in Saturday's second race, despite getting off to a hot start from pole.
Feeney, who finished seventh in race one, overtook Payne on lap 28 and roared to victory from there.
Payne finished second, with Allen, Chaz Mostert, Will Brown and Kostecki rounding out the top six.
The victory by Feeney ended Triple Eight's seven-race streak of not finishing on the podium.
The last time they had endured a lean run of similar proportions was in 2006, when when they went eight races without a top-three finish.
"It's probably just more of a relief, to be honest," Feeney said of breaking the lean trot.
"We've been searching a bit. The last couple of rounds I've just felt a little bit lost.
"We've still got a fair bit of work to do. I was made to look pretty silly in that first stint. Matt disappeared into the distance, but it came alive in that second stint, so stoked to be back here."
Despite not being able to convert his pole position in race two into a win, Payne was still able to extend his Championship lead over Feeney to 107 points by the end of Saturday's action.
The rivalry between Feeney and Payne is set to continue on Sunday in an 80-lap, 200km showdown to conclude the Perth leg.
The results so far in Perth means Ford has now wrapped up the manufacturers' championship for 2026, given their tally of 19 wins this season can't be beaten.
