Jones closes the gap on the Championship
4/7/2004 11:50 (Press Release) -
Andrew Jones’ quest to take the 2004 championship has improved dramatically after finishing in the top three for the first two races of the 2004 Konica Minolta V8 Supercar Championship at Queensland Raceway.
The result placing Jones in second outright and now just 16 points behind championship leader Luke Youlden.
In the first of the today’s two races, Andrew dropped a position at the start but was able to quickly regain it when front row sitter, Cameron McLean retired on the first lap. A smart overtaking move on surprise packet, Lee Holdsworth in the latter stage of race one, giving Jones a second place finish.
In the reverse grid race two, Jones drove impressively in forcing his way through the field from second last to eventually cross the line in third position, making up 26 positions long the way.
Race two also produced a mechanical failure to championship leader Luke Youlden’s car and his subsequent did-not-finish result, was exactly what young gun Jones needed to close the gap in the hunt for the 2004 title.
“My BOC Falcon took some time to get temperature into the tyres in race one and I struggled a little bit in the opening laps but towards the end it was just great,” said Jones.
“We spent some time before race two changing the setup to make sure that we didn’t have the same problems. I got caught out wide on the opening lap [in race two] and lost a few positions that I’d gained off the start but as soon as things started to settle down, I was able to start picking the other cars off,” Jones added.
“It was bad luck for Luke [Youlden] to have problems at such a crucial time of the season but having experienced the same sort of thing earlier in the season, it can happen at to anyone and at anytime and you have to cop it on the chin.”
“By him not finishing, it’s really closed things up at the top of the leader board and if we can get a good result tomorrow, I might even be able to leave Queensland Raceway in the lead,” Jones continued.
Jones’ consistent efforts today will give him a front row start in tomorrow’s final encounter, lining up alongside fellow championship hopeful Owen Kelly.
“I wont be giving Owen any room tomorrow. It’s going to be a full on battle between all of us now for the rest of the season. I cant wait to get through tomorrow without any dramas and go to the next round a Mallala with a shot at the title,” he concluded.
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