Ryan Wood and James Golding may have exchanged a handshake after the chequered flag in Perth, but there was no hiding the tension between the pair after a fiery clash ended both of their chances at a strong result in Race 16 of the Supercars Championship.
The drama erupted in the final laps as Golding and Wood battled for fifth. Golding dived up the inside at Turn 4, making contact and sending Wood off the road and out of the race instantly. Golding continued, but moments later ran wide at Turn 6 and was forced into the pits with steering damage.
The PremiAir crew worked swiftly to get him back on track, but race control had already issued a drive-through penalty for the Turn 4 incident. Golding returned to pit lane to serve it before rejoining the race, eventually crossing the line in 22nd, just ahead of Cameron Hill.
Stewards later issued the PremiAir Racing driver a drive-through penalty for his role in the clash, a penalty Wood felt came too little, too late.
Speaking after the race, a clearly frustrated Wood didn’t hold back in his assessment of Golding’s driving.
“I was racing someone that shouldn’t have been in that position with the way he raced everyone else before that – and he finished me off,” said Wood.
“That was pretty awesome. For someone that’s pretty experienced, it was pretty piss poor, to be honest.
“I expect better than that, and I know I’m no princess out on the race track. I race hard, but I’m pretty sure I race pretty fair at times. I didn’t feel that was the case then.
“Honestly, just gutted for our whole team because they produced us a race car to put ourselves in a position to win all three races this weekend.
“I don’t know who has walked under a ladder or something, but there’s definitely going to be some spells put on us for some good luck.
“There should have been penalties before that with the same driver,” Wood added.
“It doesn’t matter when someone gets a penalty after they finish someone off. It shouldn’t get to that point. I’m sure I got a lot worse for a lot less this year.”
Golding, meanwhile, was more relaxed in his assessment and labelled the clash a racing incident.
“From my point of view, obviously Woody got up the inside coming out of Turn 1 and went side-by-side through the next corner. Gave each other room, and then we were still side-by-side coming into Turn 4,” Golding explained.
“Obviously got onto the marbles and… yeah, I mean, by that point, once you’re on the outside, you can’t really disappear.
“We were both racing hard. Unfortunately, when we bumped, it broke my steering, which pulled me hard right into him and ended his race.
“Sorry to those guys, but yeah, we’re all racing hard out there. Unfortunately, these things happen.
“Overall, really stoked with the day. The car was really fast.”
While the stewards handed down their penalty, it did little to cool the post-race atmosphere, with the clash likely to simmer for a while yet, even if the handshake suggested otherwise.
Header Image: Fox Sports
