April 8, 2026 • 12 mins
Taupō and Christchurch are set for high-octane V8 Supercars action over the next two weekends.
It’s the first time the Supercars championship has held two rounds in New Zealand, and the driver who collects the most points over the two rounds will be awarded the Jason Richards Memorial Trophy, named after the Kiwi driver who succumbed to cancer in 2011.
Matt Payne is one of three Kiwis racing and will be hoping for the same success he had last year, when he won in Taupō.
He told Mike Hosking that it’s been a while since they’ve had back-to-back rounds, especially in New Zealand.
“It’s a little bit different logistically,” Payne explained.
“Everyone gets used to it, but for everyone, I think it’s good to stay on the roll.”
“Obviously the more racing we can do, the better, and two weekends in New Zealand is, yeah, dream come true for me.”
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Supercars is back and not just back but back here
double hitter, first time Taupo, then followed by Christich. Of
course bathists when a Matt Pain is looking to repeat
last year's if it's win, he won, and of course
Matt pains with us. Matt, good morning, How am I
you good? I'm extremely well? Work us through the season
so far? Fourth with a bunch of fourth and points
(00:21):
with a bunch of podiums. Are you traveling well? Do
you think?
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Yeah? I think look season, you know it's it was
a little bit of a shame at the last two races,
obviously with a couple of DNFs, but all in all,
I think we've been We've been a little bit better
than last year. Our qualifying speed has improved for a
little bit, which is good, and our consistency was there
last year, which is which is going to help with
the championship. So yeah, fourth is probably not a not
(00:48):
a good showing or where we should be, but you know,
still on the top five, which is which is where
you need to be for the championship.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Okay, random question, given you haven't had a win so
far or a poll, would you rather have wins points
to win the championship.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
To win the championship, I'd rather have wins. If I
was going to win the championship, regardless, I'd i'd rather Yeah,
I'd rather wins for sure. But podiums, if that's going
to mean I'm going to be there that all are
I'll do with that too.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
What about the value of poles outside of bragging rights
and on certain tracks where pole really counts, what's the
value of poll.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
It's pretty big for us because it's a it's a
meaning that you know your your car is the fastest
out of out of everyone's, which is which is huge,
and that's a pretty strong statement to carry into the race,
especially when if you get a good start and you're
out in front, you know there's the possibility of people
thinking that you're just going to pull away and drive away,
(01:52):
which which you know you always hope is going to happen.
But for us, it's it's about giving us ourselves the
best opportunity to to score as many points and hopefully
grable when in the process of doing that.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
What have you been doing in the last time we
saw you out was Melbourne and there's been the gap,
of course, But do you drive in that time at
all or not.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
No, we can't do a lot of testing. We only
get we only get the two days a year unfortunately,
so we're pretty limited in terms of that. We've got
a pretty pretty good simulator at the workshop that we
use Kai and I, so we've been on that a lot.
We've actually got Roe Perna on that as well, which
has been cool to figure that place out. It's pretty interesting.
(02:36):
But yeah, just you know, it's it's a little bit
hard not being able to drive the car all the time.
Obviously it's been a few weeks since it was our
last outing, but for us, we're pretty used to just
getting it in going and not having much time to
turn it up.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
So what's this going to? What's this mean for you
these next two weekends in that sense, do you get
us sort of a rhythm and momentum going when you
got back to backs like this?
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Yeah, one hundred percent. You know, it's it's been a
long time since we've had back to backgrounds, Especially for
us in New Zealand. It's a little bit different logistically,
and you know, we obviously run out of the container here,
so that's a little bit of a different process for
all of us. Even the boys, unpacking, packing it back up.
It's all a little bit different. Everyone gets used to it.
(03:25):
But for everyone, I think it's good to stay on
the roll. I know everyone will be pretty tired by
next Sunday, but we do get a little bit of
a break fortunately while the cars are being shipped back,
so when there's no cars in the workshop, there's not
too much to do. But yeah, for us as drivers,
it's really cool. We obviously the more racing we can do,
(03:47):
the better. And two weekends in New Zealand is yeah,
drink untrue for me for sure.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
You mentioned do you have no experience at all on re.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
No. The only relapse I've ever done was taking some
of the Crusaders for hot laps and a Mustang, so
I've never raced there. I didn't get to go to
the South Island and my cars and my car's journey
in New Zealand, so yeah, probably Andre and Ryan have
the most experienced there. But yeah, for us it's new track.
(04:18):
We were always not too bad at getting to grips
with it, so yeah, hopefully we'll be all right.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Good on you and of course you owned Taupo, you're
the man.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Yeah, yeah, I like to think of it that way.
You know, we've been fortunate that we've had a pretty
competitive CARVI. We've been there both years and last year.
You know, for me to get out and have two wins,
you know, my first time having more than a more
than one win in a weekend was was bloody unreal.
(04:51):
And just to get the trophy also to win on Sunday,
I think it was very very special for a lot
of people.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
What do you make of the Toyotas so far? What's
the feedback the paddick of the Toyotas and their arrival.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
Oh, look, to be honest with you, I think they've
actually done a pretty good job. You know, we're obviously
three years in development now with the cars just to
chassis alone, so that obviously helped string things along. But
especially for a new aero kit, new body kit, new motor,
I think they've done really well. The startup looks pretty good.
(05:26):
They look pretty competitive on tires as well, which is
the main thing for us. So I think they could
be pretty dangerous by halfway through the year, towards the
end when they really start firing, I think they could be.
They could be pretty quick.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Tell you what I read last night since we last
had you on the program. I read there were some
ratings in Australia they were talking about motor Nothing grew
in terms of ratings on television, streaming and all that stuff.
Nothing grew more than motorsport. And you guys at Supercars
were part of it. If one grew, you guys grew.
So it's obviously on the up and up. Do you
feel that on any given weekend?
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Yeah, Look, it's a good good question to ask because
I noticed last year compared to the two years that
I've done before, that there was a lot more people
at the track. There was a lot more engagement with
our fans, there was a lot more hype around the sport.
It's probably the biggest change we've had obviously with the
final stuff now, that was pretty highly anticipated, especially for
(06:25):
some of the battles, and to be honest with you,
the drama and the action that turned out was everything
I think or more than what people expected, and it's
exactly what the sport wanted. I guess if you're Brock Feeney,
you didn't want it, no, because it was bad for him,
But for everyone else, I think it was the perfect
(06:47):
recipe for action and that's what people want at the
end of the day.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
Exactly your performance Matt as a driver. I referenced this
question because Reynolds is out there for the five hundredth
time this weekend, which is quite so not many people
do that many your performance as a driver in terms
of growth, what do you what are you learning and
what does experience bring for you?
Speaker 2 (07:09):
I think for for us, we're always learning, you know,
every time we jump in the car, and and basically
when you're back at the workshop, you're always trying to
You're always trying to find that that next thing that's
gonna give you half a percent or give you not
even that you just you're trying to find every advantage
you can get. And for us, that's that's a lot
(07:31):
of work, you know, And for someone like like Dave
has been in the sport a long time, he's obviously
seen a lot and and uh and being been through
a lot, and it's very very interesting, you know how
that could that that makes a huge difference to your
kind of view on on on a race weekend or
you know, he obviously will do things differently to how
(07:53):
I do things and think of things differently, and it's
very interesting what you learn over the years and you
know that till that all helps you in the end
when you when you want to guard onto the track
and drive.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
What's your what's your assessment of what you think your
sweet spot is in terms of development versus age? Does
age offset you know, so like some hot headedness early on,
or do you need to be young and crazy to
take the risk that the old guy who's been there,
had done it before and put it in the wall
would not do anymore?
Speaker 2 (08:25):
I think you. I think there's an element, you know,
a couple of tracks what you have on the calendar
that you need to be young and crazy, Gold Coast
and Bathist probably being some of those where you just
you almost need to blank out what can and can't
go wrong and and just drive. And that's that's not
easy to do for some people. I really enjoy that
(08:47):
part of it. But but for me, I'm always trying
to to keep my trajectory in terms of improvement and learning,
you know, on a on a linear scale and constantly improving.
The moment a flatlines and you're not trying to improve
yourself is when you can be worried about going to
the weekend and not getting the results you want. So
(09:09):
for me, it's it's in terms of just trying to
keep that upward as age slowly creeps up on me.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
Do you know, are you of great value? Is this
a specific skill the car itself, Knowing the car, knowing
what you want from the car and can get out
of a car, and what's possible dovetailing in with your
ability to drive it.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Yeah, look, it's it's a super car, is an interesting
racing car, quite a lot different to a lot of
other cars in the world, and it does take a
certain set of certain set of skills, I must say,
to probably drive it to one hundred and one. But
also it's about, you know, giving the right feedback when
(09:56):
you're coming off the track, knowing sort of what you
need and don't need for the next session, knowing the racecraft.
There's a whole lot that goes to it. And obviously,
now that you know I've been doing this for a
while now, it feels like, you know, I sort of
feel like you get into a bit of a sweet
spot where you kind of know and don't know where
(10:18):
your limits are, and that's kind of you know where
you want to operate, and obviously you know when you're
driving really well and you know when some laps there's
a little bit left on the table and I kind
of know where to hit my spots and on the
track and I know that, you know, that was that
was basically all I had. You know, that's what I
want to be able to say when I come off
(10:39):
the track.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
Good on you. Full of expectation this weekend, I'm assuming.
I mean, you can't think any other way, can you.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Now, We're always trying to go and we're always trying
to win. That's how that's our goal, you know for us,
you know, second in the team's championship where we've developed
into a pretty pretty front running team, which is pretty
cool over the last couple of years. So you know,
that step we made last year was awesome. I just
hope we can we can continue that and try and
(11:08):
you know, stay up the front. And really, you know,
I would say, I would, you know, challenge Red Bull,
but they're behind us at the moment as well. So exactly,
it's everyone's as competitive as as they've ever been. That's
that's how I see it.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
That Red Bull, if you looked at it, I mean
they got all the pieces back on it from Melbourne
because most of it fell apart.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
It was a little bit of a nasty crash. But
those guys, they run a pretty high, highly classed operation,
so I'm sure they would have nailed everything.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
Is a europe can look beautiful this morning? Is it fantastic?
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Yeah, unreal. It's probably one of the coolest courses I've
been to this Unfortunately, I'm not going to be able
to able to do it justice with my swing, but
I'm sure it'll make some good video.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
Well, go well this weekend and the next weekend. Always
good to catch up.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
With you, Verdi.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
Thanks Mike, really nice to talk. Matt Payne, who is
with the Super Cows, is coming weekend. He's at Kinlock
Has in the golf course on a beautiful Tapoe morning.
For more from the Mic Asking Breakfast, listen live to
news Talks. It'd be from six am weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.
Supercars is back and not just back but back here
double hitter, first time Taupo, then followed by Christich. Of
course bathists when a Matt Pain is looking to repeat
last year's if it's win, he won, and of course
Matt pains with us. Matt, good morning, How am I
you good? I'm extremely well? Work us through the season
so far? Fourth with a bunch of fourth and points
(00:21):
with a bunch of podiums. Are you traveling well? Do
you think?
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Yeah? I think look season, you know it's it was
a little bit of a shame at the last two races,
obviously with a couple of DNFs, but all in all,
I think we've been We've been a little bit better
than last year. Our qualifying speed has improved for a
little bit, which is good, and our consistency was there
last year, which is which is going to help with
the championship. So yeah, fourth is probably not a not
(00:48):
a good showing or where we should be, but you know,
still on the top five, which is which is where
you need to be for the championship.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Okay, random question, given you haven't had a win so
far or a poll, would you rather have wins points
to win the championship.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
To win the championship, I'd rather have wins. If I
was going to win the championship, regardless, I'd i'd rather Yeah,
I'd rather wins for sure. But podiums, if that's going
to mean I'm going to be there that all are
I'll do with that too.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
What about the value of poles outside of bragging rights
and on certain tracks where pole really counts, what's the
value of poll.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
It's pretty big for us because it's a it's a
meaning that you know your your car is the fastest
out of out of everyone's, which is which is huge,
and that's a pretty strong statement to carry into the race,
especially when if you get a good start and you're
out in front, you know there's the possibility of people
thinking that you're just going to pull away and drive away,
(01:52):
which which you know you always hope is going to happen.
But for us, it's it's about giving us ourselves the
best opportunity to to score as many points and hopefully
grable when in the process of doing that.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
What have you been doing in the last time we
saw you out was Melbourne and there's been the gap,
of course, But do you drive in that time at
all or not.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
No, we can't do a lot of testing. We only
get we only get the two days a year unfortunately,
so we're pretty limited in terms of that. We've got
a pretty pretty good simulator at the workshop that we
use Kai and I, so we've been on that a lot.
We've actually got Roe Perna on that as well, which
has been cool to figure that place out. It's pretty interesting.
(02:36):
But yeah, just you know, it's it's a little bit
hard not being able to drive the car all the time.
Obviously it's been a few weeks since it was our
last outing, but for us, we're pretty used to just
getting it in going and not having much time to
turn it up.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
So what's this going to? What's this mean for you
these next two weekends in that sense, do you get
us sort of a rhythm and momentum going when you
got back to backs like this?
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Yeah, one hundred percent. You know, it's it's been a
long time since we've had back to backgrounds, Especially for
us in New Zealand. It's a little bit different logistically,
and you know, we obviously run out of the container here,
so that's a little bit of a different process for
all of us. Even the boys, unpacking, packing it back up.
It's all a little bit different. Everyone gets used to it.
(03:25):
But for everyone, I think it's good to stay on
the roll. I know everyone will be pretty tired by
next Sunday, but we do get a little bit of
a break fortunately while the cars are being shipped back,
so when there's no cars in the workshop, there's not
too much to do. But yeah, for us as drivers,
it's really cool. We obviously the more racing we can do,
(03:47):
the better. And two weekends in New Zealand is yeah,
drink untrue for me for sure.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
You mentioned do you have no experience at all on re.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
No. The only relapse I've ever done was taking some
of the Crusaders for hot laps and a Mustang, so
I've never raced there. I didn't get to go to
the South Island and my cars and my car's journey
in New Zealand, so yeah, probably Andre and Ryan have
the most experienced there. But yeah, for us it's new track.
(04:18):
We were always not too bad at getting to grips
with it, so yeah, hopefully we'll be all right.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Good on you and of course you owned Taupo, you're
the man.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Yeah, yeah, I like to think of it that way.
You know, we've been fortunate that we've had a pretty
competitive CARVI. We've been there both years and last year.
You know, for me to get out and have two wins,
you know, my first time having more than a more
than one win in a weekend was was bloody unreal.
(04:51):
And just to get the trophy also to win on Sunday,
I think it was very very special for a lot
of people.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
What do you make of the Toyotas so far? What's
the feedback the paddick of the Toyotas and their arrival.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
Oh, look, to be honest with you, I think they've
actually done a pretty good job. You know, we're obviously
three years in development now with the cars just to
chassis alone, so that obviously helped string things along. But
especially for a new aero kit, new body kit, new motor,
I think they've done really well. The startup looks pretty good.
(05:26):
They look pretty competitive on tires as well, which is
the main thing for us. So I think they could
be pretty dangerous by halfway through the year, towards the
end when they really start firing, I think they could be.
They could be pretty quick.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Tell you what I read last night since we last
had you on the program. I read there were some
ratings in Australia they were talking about motor Nothing grew
in terms of ratings on television, streaming and all that stuff.
Nothing grew more than motorsport. And you guys at Supercars
were part of it. If one grew, you guys grew.
So it's obviously on the up and up. Do you
feel that on any given weekend?
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Yeah, Look, it's a good good question to ask because
I noticed last year compared to the two years that
I've done before, that there was a lot more people
at the track. There was a lot more engagement with
our fans, there was a lot more hype around the sport.
It's probably the biggest change we've had obviously with the
final stuff now, that was pretty highly anticipated, especially for
(06:25):
some of the battles, and to be honest with you,
the drama and the action that turned out was everything
I think or more than what people expected, and it's
exactly what the sport wanted. I guess if you're Brock Feeney,
you didn't want it, no, because it was bad for him,
But for everyone else, I think it was the perfect
(06:47):
recipe for action and that's what people want at the
end of the day.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
Exactly your performance Matt as a driver. I referenced this
question because Reynolds is out there for the five hundredth
time this weekend, which is quite so not many people
do that many your performance as a driver in terms
of growth, what do you what are you learning and
what does experience bring for you?
Speaker 2 (07:09):
I think for for us, we're always learning, you know,
every time we jump in the car, and and basically
when you're back at the workshop, you're always trying to
You're always trying to find that that next thing that's
gonna give you half a percent or give you not
even that you just you're trying to find every advantage
you can get. And for us, that's that's a lot
(07:31):
of work, you know, And for someone like like Dave
has been in the sport a long time, he's obviously
seen a lot and and uh and being been through
a lot, and it's very very interesting, you know how
that could that that makes a huge difference to your
kind of view on on on a race weekend or
you know, he obviously will do things differently to how
(07:53):
I do things and think of things differently, and it's
very interesting what you learn over the years and you
know that till that all helps you in the end
when you when you want to guard onto the track
and drive.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
What's your what's your assessment of what you think your
sweet spot is in terms of development versus age? Does
age offset you know, so like some hot headedness early on,
or do you need to be young and crazy to
take the risk that the old guy who's been there,
had done it before and put it in the wall
would not do anymore?
Speaker 2 (08:25):
I think you. I think there's an element, you know,
a couple of tracks what you have on the calendar
that you need to be young and crazy, Gold Coast
and Bathist probably being some of those where you just
you almost need to blank out what can and can't
go wrong and and just drive. And that's that's not
easy to do for some people. I really enjoy that
(08:47):
part of it. But but for me, I'm always trying
to to keep my trajectory in terms of improvement and learning,
you know, on a on a linear scale and constantly improving.
The moment a flatlines and you're not trying to improve
yourself is when you can be worried about going to
the weekend and not getting the results you want. So
(09:09):
for me, it's it's in terms of just trying to
keep that upward as age slowly creeps up on me.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
Do you know, are you of great value? Is this
a specific skill the car itself, Knowing the car, knowing
what you want from the car and can get out
of a car, and what's possible dovetailing in with your
ability to drive it.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Yeah, look, it's it's a super car, is an interesting
racing car, quite a lot different to a lot of
other cars in the world, and it does take a
certain set of certain set of skills, I must say,
to probably drive it to one hundred and one. But
also it's about, you know, giving the right feedback when
(09:56):
you're coming off the track, knowing sort of what you
need and don't need for the next session, knowing the racecraft.
There's a whole lot that goes to it. And obviously,
now that you know I've been doing this for a
while now, it feels like, you know, I sort of
feel like you get into a bit of a sweet
spot where you kind of know and don't know where
(10:18):
your limits are, and that's kind of you know where
you want to operate, and obviously you know when you're
driving really well and you know when some laps there's
a little bit left on the table and I kind
of know where to hit my spots and on the
track and I know that, you know, that was that
was basically all I had. You know, that's what I
want to be able to say when I come off
(10:39):
the track.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
Good on you. Full of expectation this weekend, I'm assuming.
I mean, you can't think any other way, can you.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Now, We're always trying to go and we're always trying
to win. That's how that's our goal, you know for us,
you know, second in the team's championship where we've developed
into a pretty pretty front running team, which is pretty
cool over the last couple of years. So you know,
that step we made last year was awesome. I just
hope we can we can continue that and try and
(11:08):
you know, stay up the front. And really, you know,
I would say, I would, you know, challenge Red Bull,
but they're behind us at the moment as well. So exactly,
it's everyone's as competitive as as they've ever been. That's
that's how I see it.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
That Red Bull, if you looked at it, I mean
they got all the pieces back on it from Melbourne
because most of it fell apart.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
It was a little bit of a nasty crash. But
those guys, they run a pretty high, highly classed operation,
so I'm sure they would have nailed everything.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
Is a europe can look beautiful this morning? Is it fantastic?
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Yeah, unreal. It's probably one of the coolest courses I've
been to this Unfortunately, I'm not going to be able
to able to do it justice with my swing, but
I'm sure it'll make some good video.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
Well, go well this weekend and the next weekend. Always
good to catch up.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
With you, Verdi.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
Thanks Mike, really nice to talk. Matt Payne, who is
with the Super Cows, is coming weekend. He's at Kinlock
Has in the golf course on a beautiful Tapoe morning.
For more from the Mic Asking Breakfast, listen live to
news Talks. It'd be from six am weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.
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