Bathurst rocked by two huge crashes in qualifying chaos

Penrite Racing’s Matt Payne secured provisional pole, but not before two huge crashes marred Bathurst 1000 qualifying.

Penrite Racing’s Matt Payne has secured provisional pole at Bathurst after topping a wild and pulsating qualifying session on Friday afternoon.

It was an incredibly tight battle as Payne finished just 0.006 seconds ahead of Cam Waters and 0.011 from Broc Feeney in a session that produced two brutal crashes.

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“The competition is incredible out there, everyone is driving at such a high limit,” Payne said.

“I got out of the car and was almost about to have a heart attack because I was breathing that hard.”

There was a red flag just minutes into qualifying when former winner Dave Reynolds slammed into the wall at The Dipper.

“Ohhh f**k, sorry,” Reynolds roared while screeching to a halt.

Dave Reynolds crashed in the opening minutes of qualifying.

“He’s so angry with himself, this is a bloke who has won this race,” Neil Crompton said on Fox Sports.

Reynolds conceded he was pushing too hard on one of the most difficult and unforgiving corners in Australian motorsport.

“I’m fine, I’m just really angry that happened. We’re pushing the limits and every now and again that happens,” he said.

“I was pushing really hard, obviously it’s qualifying, my car was getting better but I probably shouldn’t have stayed up at that second lap because obviously the tires start to go away and everything gets way more skatey.

“I was probably pushing too hard for the conditions and I got bitten bad.”

The second red flag came at the other end of the session when Will Davidson bounced off two walls before Nick Percat stopped to check on him in a nice act of sportsmanship.

“I’m very good friends with Will and basically grew up with him in Melbourne and he obviously had that crash in Tassie and I thought this is no good for his lower back, so I just got to him as quick as I could,” Percat said.

“I know as a driver you don’t want to feel trapped so I wanted to help him out and he’s a good mate. It was great to see he was all right, just a bit winded, but the track is biting hard.”

The 61st edition of the Bathurst 1000 will take place on Sunday when drivers race 161 laps on Mount Panorama.

The Bathurst 1000 is the tenth race of the Supercars season, with competition leader Will Brown currently 189 points clear of second-placed Chaz Mostert.

Every track session will be broadcast live on Fox Sports and streaming platform Kayo Sports, with Saturday’s coverage beginning at 8.30am (AEDT).

Originally published as Bathurst rocked by two huge crashes in qualifying chaos