April 10, 2025 • 7 mins
Local hope Matt Payne has his eyes on a particular piece of silverware heading into this weekend's latest round of the Supercars series in Taupo.
Since 2013 - the New Zealand leg of the championship includes the Jason Richards Memorial Trophy, which honours the Kiwi driver who died in 2011 after a battle with cancer.
Payne - who enters round three of the 2025 season sitting sixth - says he'd love to lift the prize on Sunday afternoon.
Practice in Taupo starts on Friday - with two races on Saturday and one on Sunday.
D'Arcy Waldegrave catches up with Dick Johnson Racing's Brodie Kostecki ahead of the weekend's action.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sports Talk podcast with Dunsey Wildergrave
from News Talk.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Zed BE Welcome back to New Zealand. Good to see
you here again. You're probably looking for slightly better results
this time around, but you're still on the up and
up with DJR. It's only been what a couple of
months now with the new team.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Yeah, it has been so. Yeah, we've had two rounds
together and slowly been building.
Speaker 4 (00:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Obviously going to Sydney, you know, we ended the Sunday,
you know, not too bad, just knocking on the door
of a podium, and you know, going to the Grand
Prix obviously didn't didn't start off you know that great,
But yeah we got there in the end and the
car was pretty speedy towards the end of the weekend
and obviously just missing that last race in the rain
there which would have been interesting.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
What's it like running second fiddle to Formula One? This
is an odd time of year. I know that it's
been put up there being myself during that weekend because
the Aussie fans love their supercars and it's a way
of dragging the crowds along. But playing second fiddle, how
is that for you? Brody.
Speaker 4 (01:07):
I didn't know we actually were playing second fiddle.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
It's the correct hunter the short shart racing. Is that
comfortably with you?
Speaker 4 (01:17):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (01:18):
The Grand Prix always puts on a great spectacle there,
and you know it's probably a little bit hard hard
for you know, I guess the broadcast we're pretty restricted
by f one of what they can and can't show.
But yeah, it's obviously always a great race there, and yeah,
the short shart races always produced some great racing.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Yeah, and puts an emphasis on pole as well. You
get up the top there and.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
Hard to pass, right, That's exactly right.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
What about Topal what does that bring? You were there
last year didn't have the best results mid teen somewhere
I think it was. But you've got three consecutive races
coming up and the Super forty. Tell us about top
all your experiences there and how you hope to improve
from last year.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
I think, first of all, it's great to be back
in New Zealand last year and to be racing at Topaul.
The Army on the whole of Amasa's absolutely fantastic.
Speaker 4 (02:09):
It was such a great spectacle and so passionate as well.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
You know, all the new Zealanders and you could really
hear them cheering for their you know, there are home
boys as well. So yeah, it's it's always a great
round and looking forward to going to enter this weekend
and see if the weather can hold off.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
I always talk about the pummus dust because that is
an odd one, especially for foreign visitors who don't know
top wor particularly. Well, what does that bring to you
guys and the car? Do you pay much attention to
that when the wind gets up?
Speaker 4 (02:39):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (02:39):
I think you know, we obviously stayed in the lake there,
which is absolutely fantastic, but yeah, it's pretty cold there
around this time that you will we go, so the
wind is always quite cold. And obviously being being an
Aussie living in Queensland, you know where the weather's quite
nice generally, probably not so much this year of the rain.
Speaker 4 (02:57):
Yeah, it's like it's like going to the snow almost
without the snow.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Well, what kind of building you've been doing with the
with the new team in the car, what's your primary focus?
They're not yours, but but the engineers and the spanner blokes.
What are they looking to try and improve on in
this Mustang?
Speaker 4 (03:15):
I think just you know, getting a custom to it.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
It's a little bit different than you know, the old
manufacturer that I was driving last year, and I guess
just you know, trying to get on top of that
as quick as we can, and you know, we're learning
every race that the car likes something a little bit different.
So I'm very fortunate to have some great people around me,
you know, within the Cholvy Racing team and you know
some people that I worked with last year as well,
which does really spin up that process. But yeah, we're
(03:40):
still battling a few other issues as well as many
other four teams with a bit of straight line handling.
So until the category gets on top of that and
does that job properly, you will probably be hands tide
for a little bit.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
When you come to racing time. How much does the
weight of success push you down or not, because of
course you're a Barethirst winner. You picked up Gold Coast
last year as well, and look you won the championship
a couple of years back. Is that a hindrance or
help something you ignore?
Speaker 3 (04:11):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (04:11):
No, I think it's all It's all fantastic.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
I've you know, been been very fortunate to be able
to win a lot of races now a lot of
pole positions, you know, win you know, one of the
world's biggest motor racers and you know, win a championship
here in Australia, and so yeah, it's it's all fantastic.
And I guess I've you know, got that taste for
you know, success back in twenty twenty three when I
won my first race and and sort of no, you know,
(04:35):
know the job that needs to be done, and you know,
I know that I'm capable of doing it, and you
know I've got a fantastic team around me. So it's
just putting all these ingredients together and you know, mixing
them all together and you know, just gone by the recipe.
Speaker 4 (04:47):
So yeah, we're getting there slowly.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
It must be a comfort knowing that you do belong
and you can actually compete, even though the results haven't
been forthcoming this year. I think it's sitting in fifth,
but you do know, even as a younger pedler, that
this is we belong. It's got to give you strength.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
Definitely, And yeah, I'm just so fortunate to have a
team that you really believes in me, which is you know, fantastic.
So yeah, we'll you know, we'll get those Shelvy Power
Mustangs back up the front where they belong, and it
was great. The last racing in Melbourne Grand Prix was
it was great to be a you know, alongside Will
Davis and my teammate and well you know, fourth and
fifth at one point trying to drive up to the podium.
(05:24):
So it was you know, just you know, little baby
steps here and there and hopefully after a few more
rounds will be you know, containing for race wins.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Must be great. Having the support of Will Davison. He's
a seasoned campaigning you'd glean a lot of information out
of him, I hope, yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
Yeah, he's like, yeah, he's fantastic be teammates with, you know,
full of wisdom and you know he's been around the
sport for you know for a while now and you
know has you know, gone through some different teams and
has some great, great perspective on things, so it's always
good to draw from.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
It. Must be cool working for Dick Johnson. I mean
that is a huge name in motorsport in Australasia, has
been for well even when I started watching about fifty
years ago. The guy's a legend.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
Oh yeah, DJ is an agen so I's great to
see him still come into the workshop quite frequently and
those knows everyone by our name and you know the family.
Speaker 4 (06:16):
Their kids.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
So yeah, he's he's got such a great dedication. That's
you know, that's truly amazing to me. And you know,
I look forward to getting on the podium, you know,
for the first time and you know, seeing the smile
on his face.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
And just a couple of words on New Zealand. The
thought is now there's a second supercar race might be
based down and not to say he christs you know
much about that. Is there a want? Is there a
desire for the for the athletes and the teams to
come over here and race for a second time.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
Yeah, I think there's definitely a want from the fans,
which is just absolutely awesome. Remember my first time in
New Zealand a race a book of and it was
just absolutely mental. So yeah, I think I think the
back to backgrounds would be fantastic and you know one north,
one south and you know, cover both sides of the island,
and yeah, I'm sure the events will be fantastic and
(07:05):
the fans are all great here.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
And the race itself and topor just before we go,
what do you know about how to best deal with it.
Is a place you can pass in these supercars. It's
pole position paramount. There is there are parts of the
track that.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
You like that you hate, but anytime there's assault in
front of me, there's an opportunity to pass.
Speaker 4 (07:26):
So I'm sure it'll be exciting this weekend.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
It's great to see the rules have been you know,
I guess released a little bit so we can race
Thisho a little bit harder, which is great to see,
and that's.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
What we all want to see in these ten tops.
Brody Kostecki, thanks so much for joining us here on
News Talk ZB. Keep it on the black stuff, keep
it safe, go hard.
Speaker 4 (07:44):
Cheers, brother all rights, thank you thanks for having me
on the show.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
For more from Sports Talk, listen live to News Talk
zed B from seven pm weekdays, or follow the podcast
on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to the Sports Talk podcast with Dunsey Wildergrave
from News Talk.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Zed BE Welcome back to New Zealand. Good to see
you here again. You're probably looking for slightly better results
this time around, but you're still on the up and
up with DJR. It's only been what a couple of
months now with the new team.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Yeah, it has been so. Yeah, we've had two rounds
together and slowly been building.
Speaker 4 (00:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Obviously going to Sydney, you know, we ended the Sunday,
you know, not too bad, just knocking on the door
of a podium, and you know, going to the Grand
Prix obviously didn't didn't start off you know that great,
But yeah we got there in the end and the
car was pretty speedy towards the end of the weekend
and obviously just missing that last race in the rain
there which would have been interesting.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
What's it like running second fiddle to Formula One? This
is an odd time of year. I know that it's
been put up there being myself during that weekend because
the Aussie fans love their supercars and it's a way
of dragging the crowds along. But playing second fiddle, how
is that for you? Brody.
Speaker 4 (01:07):
I didn't know we actually were playing second fiddle.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
It's the correct hunter the short shart racing. Is that
comfortably with you?
Speaker 4 (01:17):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (01:18):
The Grand Prix always puts on a great spectacle there,
and you know it's probably a little bit hard hard
for you know, I guess the broadcast we're pretty restricted
by f one of what they can and can't show.
But yeah, it's obviously always a great race there, and yeah,
the short shart races always produced some great racing.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Yeah, and puts an emphasis on pole as well. You
get up the top there and.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
Hard to pass, right, That's exactly right.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
What about Topal what does that bring? You were there
last year didn't have the best results mid teen somewhere
I think it was. But you've got three consecutive races
coming up and the Super forty. Tell us about top
all your experiences there and how you hope to improve
from last year.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
I think, first of all, it's great to be back
in New Zealand last year and to be racing at Topaul.
The Army on the whole of Amasa's absolutely fantastic.
Speaker 4 (02:09):
It was such a great spectacle and so passionate as well.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
You know, all the new Zealanders and you could really
hear them cheering for their you know, there are home
boys as well. So yeah, it's it's always a great
round and looking forward to going to enter this weekend
and see if the weather can hold off.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
I always talk about the pummus dust because that is
an odd one, especially for foreign visitors who don't know
top wor particularly. Well, what does that bring to you
guys and the car? Do you pay much attention to
that when the wind gets up?
Speaker 4 (02:39):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (02:39):
I think you know, we obviously stayed in the lake there,
which is absolutely fantastic, but yeah, it's pretty cold there
around this time that you will we go, so the
wind is always quite cold. And obviously being being an
Aussie living in Queensland, you know where the weather's quite
nice generally, probably not so much this year of the rain.
Speaker 4 (02:57):
Yeah, it's like it's like going to the snow almost
without the snow.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Well, what kind of building you've been doing with the
with the new team in the car, what's your primary focus?
They're not yours, but but the engineers and the spanner blokes.
What are they looking to try and improve on in
this Mustang?
Speaker 4 (03:15):
I think just you know, getting a custom to it.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
It's a little bit different than you know, the old
manufacturer that I was driving last year, and I guess
just you know, trying to get on top of that
as quick as we can, and you know, we're learning
every race that the car likes something a little bit different.
So I'm very fortunate to have some great people around me,
you know, within the Cholvy Racing team and you know
some people that I worked with last year as well,
which does really spin up that process. But yeah, we're
(03:40):
still battling a few other issues as well as many
other four teams with a bit of straight line handling.
So until the category gets on top of that and
does that job properly, you will probably be hands tide
for a little bit.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
When you come to racing time. How much does the
weight of success push you down or not, because of
course you're a Barethirst winner. You picked up Gold Coast
last year as well, and look you won the championship
a couple of years back. Is that a hindrance or
help something you ignore?
Speaker 3 (04:11):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (04:11):
No, I think it's all It's all fantastic.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
I've you know, been been very fortunate to be able
to win a lot of races now a lot of
pole positions, you know, win you know, one of the
world's biggest motor racers and you know, win a championship
here in Australia, and so yeah, it's it's all fantastic.
And I guess I've you know, got that taste for
you know, success back in twenty twenty three when I
won my first race and and sort of no, you know,
(04:35):
know the job that needs to be done, and you know,
I know that I'm capable of doing it, and you
know I've got a fantastic team around me. So it's
just putting all these ingredients together and you know, mixing
them all together and you know, just gone by the recipe.
Speaker 4 (04:47):
So yeah, we're getting there slowly.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
It must be a comfort knowing that you do belong
and you can actually compete, even though the results haven't
been forthcoming this year. I think it's sitting in fifth,
but you do know, even as a younger pedler, that
this is we belong. It's got to give you strength.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
Definitely, And yeah, I'm just so fortunate to have a
team that you really believes in me, which is you know, fantastic.
So yeah, we'll you know, we'll get those Shelvy Power
Mustangs back up the front where they belong, and it
was great. The last racing in Melbourne Grand Prix was
it was great to be a you know, alongside Will
Davis and my teammate and well you know, fourth and
fifth at one point trying to drive up to the podium.
(05:24):
So it was you know, just you know, little baby
steps here and there and hopefully after a few more
rounds will be you know, containing for race wins.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Must be great. Having the support of Will Davison. He's
a seasoned campaigning you'd glean a lot of information out
of him, I hope, yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
Yeah, he's like, yeah, he's fantastic be teammates with, you know,
full of wisdom and you know he's been around the
sport for you know for a while now and you
know has you know, gone through some different teams and
has some great, great perspective on things, so it's always
good to draw from.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
It. Must be cool working for Dick Johnson. I mean
that is a huge name in motorsport in Australasia, has
been for well even when I started watching about fifty
years ago. The guy's a legend.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
Oh yeah, DJ is an agen so I's great to
see him still come into the workshop quite frequently and
those knows everyone by our name and you know the family.
Speaker 4 (06:16):
Their kids.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
So yeah, he's he's got such a great dedication. That's
you know, that's truly amazing to me. And you know,
I look forward to getting on the podium, you know,
for the first time and you know, seeing the smile
on his face.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
And just a couple of words on New Zealand. The
thought is now there's a second supercar race might be
based down and not to say he christs you know
much about that. Is there a want? Is there a
desire for the for the athletes and the teams to
come over here and race for a second time.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
Yeah, I think there's definitely a want from the fans,
which is just absolutely awesome. Remember my first time in
New Zealand a race a book of and it was
just absolutely mental. So yeah, I think I think the
back to backgrounds would be fantastic and you know one north,
one south and you know, cover both sides of the island,
and yeah, I'm sure the events will be fantastic and
(07:05):
the fans are all great here.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
And the race itself and topor just before we go,
what do you know about how to best deal with it.
Is a place you can pass in these supercars. It's
pole position paramount. There is there are parts of the
track that.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
You like that you hate, but anytime there's assault in
front of me, there's an opportunity to pass.
Speaker 4 (07:26):
So I'm sure it'll be exciting this weekend.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
It's great to see the rules have been you know,
I guess released a little bit so we can race
Thisho a little bit harder, which is great to see,
and that's.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
What we all want to see in these ten tops.
Brody Kostecki, thanks so much for joining us here on
News Talk ZB. Keep it on the black stuff, keep
it safe, go hard.
Speaker 4 (07:44):
Cheers, brother all rights, thank you thanks for having me
on the show.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
For more from Sports Talk, listen live to News Talk
zed B from seven pm weekdays, or follow the podcast
on iHeartRadio.
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