BJR Open With A Strong Performance
20/3/2004 20:26 (Press Release) -
Brad Jones Racing has kicked off the 2004 V8 Supercar season with solid team performance after the opening race at the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide with John Bowe coming in 9th and Brad Jones 13th in their OzEmail Falcons.
At two thirds race distance, it seemed BJR could be in for a great result with Bowe well entrenched in the top four and team mate, Jones up an amazing nine spots from his qualifying performance and inside the top ten.
It was a number of race related incidents that cost the duo a remarkable first up result but both are happy with their respective finishes.
“I was travelling quite comfortably in fourth position after our team gave me two great pit stops. There were a couple of cars coming up from behind but my pace was as fast as anyone around me. At the same time I heard over the radio that there was oil down on the track, I found myself looping around on turn 14,” said Bowe.
"By the time I managed to get back onto the track, I’d dropped half a dozen positions and with my tyres starting to wear badly, there was no way I was going to make up the distance.
“We are in a good position for tomorrow, we know my OzEmail Falcon is fast and if we can keep out of trouble we will end up with a good result for the weekend,” Bowe concluded.
Brad Jones’ race could only be described as action packed. After starting from 19th position, he had picked up a few positions but was turned around by Paul Morris on lap 13, dropping to 25th. Two well timed, lightning pit stops suddenly catapulted the former Super Touring ace into the top ten.
Two more incidents that involved an innocent Jones with Besnard and Seton, cost dearly.
“I couldn’t get myself out of trouble today. Every time that I seemed to be making up some ground, there would be some adventurous driver whacking me from behind,” said Jones.
“There were a couple of stupid moves that cost me places. After such fast pit stops, it would have been nice to repay the crew by finishing inside the top ten but idiocy put paid to that,” he added.
“My OzEmail Falcon was good though. It showed that it had the race pace to lap at the pointy end and being further up the front for the start of tomorrow’s race, it could end up being a productive weekend for the both of us,” Jones concluded.
Release Date: 20/03/2004
Brad Jones Racing
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