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Bathurst’s biggest comeback! Campbell/Crick win from 66th
CAMERON Crick and Dean Campbell have roared to an incredible victory after starting the Hi-Tec Oils Bathurst 6 Hour from 66th on the grid.
Crick/Campbell in the #118 BMW denied Jayden Ojeda and Simon Hodges a rare three-peat, their (and George Miedecke’s) #1 finishing a narrow second.
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Class A2 combination Aaron Seton, Todd Hazelwood and Jason Gomersall (#30 Ford Mustang) meanwhile punched above their weight to snatch third, making them the first non-BMW on the outright podium since 2019.
Crick had gone from 66th to 32nd on the opening lap. He was 10th by Lap 8 and fourth by Lap 11.
A late Safety Car all but sealed the deal, or so it seemed with Race Control orchestrating a grandstand finish.
But there was no stopping Crick, as Cameron Hill and Tom Sargent’s record win from 63rd was outdone.
Ben Kavich in the #92 he’s sharing with Thomas Randle led the field at the midway mark, but Tim Leahey got the #23 back to the front soon enough.
A strong afternoon for the #10 HSV of Brandon Madden/Brock Giblin met an abrupt end when the latter found the fence at the Grate heavily to warrant the eighth Safety Car period of the race on Lap 62.
Leahey had just pitted to give way to Will Davison, and there was about to be plenty more driver changes to insert each entry’s nominated gun for the run to the flag.
Class A2 competitor Hadrian Morrall (#9) had cycled his way back to the front for the Lap 65 restart, with Kyle Evans (#71) and Michael Osmond providing a buffer to the leading Class X BMW of Jayden Ojeda (#1) in fourth.
Ojeda was up to second by the completion of the next flying lap, albeit eight seconds behind Morrall.
Not among the 17 cars on the lead lap to this point included Grant Johnson (#90), Tom McLennan (#81) and Tom Shaw (#115) in 21st, 22nd and 28th respectively.
Will Davison (#23), Cameron Crick (#118) and Thomas Randle (#92) engaged in an entertaining battle for fifth, with Crick eking ahead.
Ojeda though was in the box seat, taking the lead on Lap 71, and with all six of the #1’s compulsory pitstops already ticked off.
Behind Ojeda and Morrall, Crick, Davison and Randle together moved up to be third/fourth/fifth ahead of Aaron Seton (#30) in sixth.
Randle grabbed fourth from fellow Ford Supercar driver Davison on Lap 73, capitalising on some lapped traffic to launch an outrageously bold overtake on the run to Reid Park.
The #92 however has battled all weekend with limp mode woes and continued to yo-yo around the leaderboard, soon slumping to sixth behind Davison and Seton, and subsequently peeling into pitlane and out of contention.
Crick, who started 66th, moved by Morrall into second on Lap 75 and continued to show outstanding pace to chip away at Ojeda’s lead.
The buffer at the front was rapidly slashed from 12 seconds to three and then to less than one, although Crick unlike Ojeda still had the burden to serve of one more 90-plus-second compulsory pitstop.
It was clear nevertheless that track position was very much craved, Ojeda going on the full defensive on Lap 81, still with 110 minutes remaining.
The top two relegated Randle to be a lap down, and when Morrall pitted for a driver change as Tyler Mecklem hopped back in, there were just seven cars on the lead lap: Ojeda, Crick, Davison, Seton, the resurgent #25 of Bradley Carr, Osmond and Rob Gooley (#60).
Crick continued to attack and did seize the advantage with an aggressive overtake of Ojeda around the outside at the Chase on Lap 82.
From there, the Matt Stone Racing Supercars wildcard continued to show blistering speed to start opening up an advantage.
But perhaps he’d pushed too hard, his heroics hitting pause when a right-front tyre failure prompted an untimely pitstop on Lap 84.
Crick resumed in fourth, with Ojeda, Davison and Seton back ahead.
Davison inherited the lead when Ojeda made a four-tyre stop on Lap 88, with a touch over 90 minutes still to run, the #1 returning in fifth.
Seton then stopped, possibly for the last time given its fuel tank capacity larger than the BMWs, offering hope of a maiden non-BMW 6 Hour victory.
Davison took his turn for a fuel and tyre service, as did Carr, clearing the way for Crick and Ojeda to be back at the front – the former ahead by 39 seconds – albeit both with a definite need for another stop.
So, a tantalising, intriguing final stanza to decide the Easter Sunday successors.
Ojeda made his final stop on Lap 100, and Crick followed suit three laps later with a four-tyre stop.
That gave Davison a lead to the tune of 17 seconds, but with Crick absolutely the favourite now.
There was another twist in the tale, the Jarrod Hughes-driven #50 Mustang grinding to a halt upon exiting pitlane to spark a Lap 107 Safety Car with approximately 45 minutes to go.
The Davison BMW opted to roll the dice on fuel and not pit, so kept the lead from Crick and Ojeda, while the top A2 trio all pitted and rejoined with Seton fourth, Mecklem fifth – and last on the lead lap – and Lindsay Kearns (#25) sixth.
As Hughes was retrieved, two more cars separately broke down, including the A1 class-leading Commodore of Barry Sternbeck (#69), and the #20 Mazda of Carter Fox.
The drama kept unfolding under yellow flag conditions, Mecklem suffering mechanical gremlins that necessitated another stop, before a flat front-left tyre forced Davison to stop after all.
So, when racing resumed on Lap 111 (less than 30 minutes to go) Crick was up top once more by just two seconds over Ojeda, with Seton, Mecklem and Davison rounding out the top five.
Ojeda pushed hard at the resumption, but wasn’t able to reel in Crick before the Safety Car came out yet again on Lap 119.
After successfully clearing the three-wheeled Mazda of Grant Bray, there was no dodging a caution phase when Mecklem got beached deep into the Chase.
The Mecklem Mustang was recovered in time for a one-lap dash and adding to a grandstand finish was Race Control’s decision to allow Ojeda to overtake lapped cars to get to the rear of Crick.
So, Crick started the final lap with just seven tenths in hand and with 6.213km to navigate.
He withstood the blowtorch to take the chequered flag first with a record 2m21.8817s.