Reigning Repco Bathurst winners Brodie Kostecki and Todd Hazelwood have added another endurance race to their growing partnership by winning The Bend 500.
Kostecki held off a determined Cam Waters during the final stint to give the Shell V-Power Racing Team a boost heading to the Mountain.
It was a Ford 1-2-3 at the top of the standings as Waters and Mark Winterbottom for Monster Castrol Racing were runners up ahead of Matt Payne in the lead Penrite Racing entry alongside veteran Garth Tander.
Pre-race favourites Broc Feeney and Jamie Whincup encountered fuel delivery problems in their Red Bull Ampol Racing Camaro leading to 19th by the chequered flag.
Whincup had led early from Supaglass Racing’s Cam McLeod, but a spin for the latter dropped he and Finals aspirant Cam Hill out of contention.
Hazelwood started and made solid ground enabling Kostecki to build a margin throughout the stops.
Whincup was hamstrung at the first stop by the fuel delivery problem, then preceded to leave the circuit twice following the long delay.
The worry of Supercars’ new safety car procedure was not a worry as it was not required across the 102-lap journey.
Fourth came as a result of solid recovery drive from Will Brown and Scott Pye to be first of the Camaros.
Veterans Nick Percat and Tim Slade scored a surprise top five in the Bendix Racing Chevrolet ahead of a charging Ryan Wood in the Mobil 1 Truck Assist Racing Mustang shared alongside Jayden Ojeda.
Erebus Motorsport rookies Cooper Murray and Jobe Stewart finished an impressive seventh ahead of the second Mobil 1 Optus Racing Mustang of Chaz Mostert alongside Fabian Coulthard, while Thomas Randle was seventh in the Monster Castrol Racing entry shared with James Moffat.
Completing the top 10 were DEWALT Racing’s Anton De Pasquale and Harri Jones.
The title gap has closed to 188 between Feeney and Payne, while three drivers confirmed their places in the Finals. Waters, Mostert and Kostecki all have qualified.
The next round of the Repco Supercars Championship is at Bathurst on October 9-12.