Golding had qualified on pole position for Race 11 of the Supercars Championship season at Hidden Valley Raceway and converted that advantage into the early lead.
That lasted until midway through Lap 4, however, at which point Feeney went for a move on the #31 Camaro under brakes at the Turn 6 Hairpin.
Contact ensued and the #88 Camaro emerged in the lead, with Mark Winterbottom also driving through the hole which had been made and past Golding to take second place.
The incident was investigated during the race and a call of No Further Action was soon announced over the Race Management Channel, meaning the move stood.
Golding was heard on his radio insisting the clash should have been penalised and while he did not repeat that comment post-race, nor did he shy away from it.
“It was borderline,” the PremiAir Racing driver told Speedcafe.
“I’ve watched the footage and, you know, he’s got two wheels on the dirt, locked, with the trajectory of the car going straight, not even turning.
“So, yeah, take that as you will; everyone will look at it differently.
“I covered a little bit – not fully – because my view of where he was, he was going to have to pull off something pretty desperate to get it done, which, in hindsight’s, what he did, in my opinion.
“He got away with it. It is what it is; I’m not going to keep thinking about it.
“It’s done now, so we’ll just press on and go again tomorrow.”
Feeney, on the other hand, argued the pass was calculated and fair.
“Look, I had a fair bit of speed on James for the first few laps and he blocked a few laps into Turn 6,” recounted the Triple Eight Race Engineering driver.
“So, as soon as he didn’t, I knew that I was going to take that opportunity and go down the inside.
“Yeah, I got the inside kerb, we rubbed a little bit, and sort of got out of there, heart racing, but I think it was certainly fair.”
According to the stewards report, Golding squeezed Feeney after the Triple Eight driver had achieved “more than sufficient” overlap.
“The available video revealed that [Feeney] moved to overtake Car 31 [Golding] on the inside at Turn 6 and had more than sufficient overlap at a point where Car 31 did not follow the racing line and turned in early for Turn 6,” read the stewards report.
“Car 31 did not leave sufficient racing room for Car 888 [sic] as a result of which Car 888 was forced use the kerb on the inside of Turn 6 and slight contact occurred at the apex which caused Car 31 to be pushed wide and to lose the position.
“The DRD determined that no breach of the Rules was observed and the minor contact was only a consequence of Car 888 having squeezed Car 888 to use the kerb.”
Feeney went on to win the race by more than eight seconds over Winterbottom, with Golding finishing fourth after losing another spot in the pit stop cycle as a result of having to give way when he was about to exit his box.
Meanwhile, Matt Stone Racing’s Cameron Hill has been relegated from 16th to 18th due to a five-second post-race penalty for contact with Walkinshaw Andretti United‘s Ryan Wood on Lap 38.
