Motorsport: Shane Van Gisbergen upbeat despite second-place finish in Townsville after epic battle with Cameron Waters

Shane van Gisbergen was full of praise for one of his major Supercars rivals after an exciting end to a fortnight in Townsville.

The Kiwi split a first and a second on Sunday, edged by Ford's Cam Waters in the final race of five, across two weeks in North Queensland.

Van Gisbergen scored three wins across the two weeks, and extended his championship lead over teammate Jamie Whincup, but Waters is closing in, scoring two wins from three.

After van Gisbergen pipped Whincup in race one on Sunday, Waters won from pole in race two, passing the Red Bull driver via pit strategy after losing the lead early on.

The Tickford driver held off a fast-charging Van Gisbergen to take the chequered flag first for his third win of the campaign.

An upbeat van Gisbergen said Waters deserved the win after an epic battle between the two.

"It was awesome fun, I don’t think the boss will tell me off for that race, except that I didn’t win," van Gisbergen said.

"Yeah, what a great battle. We put it in all the right spots, down the straight I was giving him the thumbs-up, really enjoyed it.

"I would have loved to have won, a little bit unlucky with the Safety Car, but that’s the way it goes.”

"You race a guy like Cam, you know he’s gonna give you room, and you do the same.

"There’s a lot of good guys in this category, and there’s a few who aren’t.

"I was pretty stoked to be racing him."

Waters promised to celebrate long into the night after what he regarded as one of his best results in his career.

He credited the Kiwi for keeping it clean, despite the aggressive racing between the two.

"We had a mega battle with him, it was really cool," said Waters.

"Awesome to get one on him and win that race.

"I had a few more [tricks] up my sleeve… it’s awesome racing Shane, he’s so good at racecraft and racing people.

"There’s always a bit of respect there. We were side by side into Turn 2, and giving each other the shakas, and having a bit of fun with it.

"Really, really cool race."

Van Gisbergen holds a commanding 276-point lead over Whincup with Waters now 412 points back from the Kiwi.