Walkinshaw Andretti United driver Ryan Wood has blasted James Golding’s racing as “piss poor” after an incident ended his outing in Perth.
The pair locked horns late in Sunday’s 83-lap, 200km sprint at Wanneroo Raceway when PremiAir Nulon Racing’s Golding had run wide at turn one.
Wood made the most of his opportunity and moved into fifth on the inside, but Golding was unwilling to give up ground.
With eight laps to go, Golding made side-on contact with the second-year driver and ended up running both cars off.
Wood, who at one point was as high as second after qualifying fifth, was unable to finish the race.
Golding finished 22nd after being slapped with a drive-through penalty for the incident.
“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, so that was pretty awesome,” Wood told Fox Sports.
“For someone that’s pretty experienced, it was pretty piss poor.
“I expect better than that, and I know I’m no princess out on the racetrack.
“I race hard, but I’m pretty sure I race pretty fair most of the time, so I didn’t feel like that was the case then.”
Golding apologised for the incident, with the pair seen talking in the garages after the race.
“I got on the (tyre) marbles, and by that point, once you’re on the outside, you can’t really disappear,” Golding told Fox Sports.
“We’re 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 we’re all racing hard out there.
“It’s racing. S**t happens sometimes.”
Wood believed Golding should have been punished earlier for an incident with Triple Eight driver Will Brown.
Golding was defending his position in fourth when the nose of Brown’s car hit his right rear and sent him wide at turn seven.
On-track aggression has been dialled up this year as the series undergoes a massive format shake-up.
Wood has himself drawn scrutiny from stewards, handed a drive-through penalty in Melbourne after sending Erebus driver Jack Le Brocq into the wall on the opening lap.
“There should have been penalties before that with the same driver,” Wood said.
“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.”
It is a frustrating end to the weekend for Wood, who had claimed the opening sprint for his first Supercars win.
Wood was cruelly denied back-to-back wins on Saturday after suffering a suspension failure.
“Just gutted for our whole team because they produced us with a race car to put ourselves in a position to win all three races this weekend,” Wood said.
“I don’t know who’s walked under a ladder or something, but yeah, definitely going to get some spells put on us for some good luck.”
Broc Feeney extended his championship lead by taking out the final sprint, followed by Matt Payne and James Courtney in second and third, respectively.
