Post the trip across the Tasman for the Supercars Taupo event and then following the team debrief, Waters again packed his race gear and jetted back to the USA; this time heading to Kansas for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series event taking place on May 5 with ThorSport Racing.
The timing worked even to catch the High Limit Racing Sprint Car event at Kansas City, where competitor (to Waters in Australia in Sprint Car) James McFadden was racing and placed 3rd and whilst this was all happening back in Australia Waters’ passion project a 1974 XB Couple was being delivered into the Melbourne Showgrounds for the prestigious MotorEx car show.
As Waters wasn’t available to pull the covers back on the spec build, it instead was revealed by award winning innovative designer and this car’s builder Rob Zahabi (Rides By Kam). To assist with seeing everything unfold, Gary Reid from Showtime Entertainment video called so all the action was able to be consumed in real-time. Competing in the ‘STREET ELITE SHOWCASE AWARDS’ the car ended up winning DESIGN & EXECUTION, took 2nd place in BODYWORK, 3rd place in ENGINEERING and also PAINT. It will now be eligible to compete for the Meguiar’s Superstars Super Six in 2025.
Kansas Speedway was the venue for Waters second attempt in the Ford F-150, this time out on a much longer banked oval, measuring 1.5miles (2.414 km) and encompassing four turns. In comparison his recent Supercars event delivered 15 turns and a length of 3.2km. Qualifying with a time of 31.146s in 20th position, was a time only four tenths off pole sitter Chase Purdie.
Waters who this time escaped the carnage at Martinsville where he was out of the race, finished the full 134 laps running mostly in the mid pack, but finished strongly passing multiple competitors to place 19th. When benchmarked to Marcos Ambrose who took eight starts to record his first top 20 finish in the same series, this was a solid result.
Tickford Racing Team Principle/owner Rod Nash commented “Having the opportunity to gain valuable seat time in-between Supercars events is a plus. It was great to see Cam learning the track and the nuances to the Truck Series where tyre degradation no doubt plays out in a similar fashion to Supercars events. We look forward to having Cam back on deck as we build into the Perth Supercars round”.
Waters noted “I had a great trip. Brooke and I went over a bit earlier and spent a few days in LA before heading to Charlotte for some important time on the Ford Simulator. The Ford sim really helped elevate my learning and get me up to speed. It was great to have David Ragan on hand to help and give me some tips”.
“Once we got to Kansas we spent the first night at the High Limit Sprintcars watching fellow Aussie James McFadden”.
“Race day went well. Each session I got quicker. In the race the biggest thing was working out how to race in the dirty air as it affects the handling massively. Towards the end of the race, I was really starting to feel comfortable, so I wish I had another caution and another 100 laps to pass a few more trucks!”.
“On our way back home now and I’m pumped for Perth. The team and I are hungrier than ever to get some descent results on the board and get back to winning races.”
The team is excited about Waters’ return and dialling up his attack in preparation for Supercars Perth event May 17-19 at CARCO.COM.AU Raceway.
