Tasman's dream result slip-slides away
14/8/2004 15:09 (Press Release) -
A lot of speed and a little bit of mud combined to rob Tasman Motorsport of a likely podium finish at Victoria’s Winton Raceway as Jason Richards eventually finished a “gut wrenching” 11th in Round 7 of the V8 Supercars Championship Series.
Armed with a car that in only its second race was surprisingly well suited to the 300km race and its dry, chilly conditions, Richards put in one of his finest performances to climb through the field from his 20th-place start and find himself in 4th place late in the race with third-placed Rick Kelly squarely in his sights.
“We were faster than Rick and it would only have been a matter of time before I got him, the way things were going,” Richards lamented. “We were faster than Richo (Steve Richards) and Cam (McConville) but probably not quite as quick as Murf (Greg Murphy) or Russell (Ingall), so third was looking good.”
But V8 Supercars is a cruel sport and when on Lap 86 of 100 a wayward backmarker re-entered the track at the final corner and coated the track surface with mud, trouble was imminent and Richards’ VY Commodore was one of four cars to hit the mud patch and slide off the track.
Richards was among the more fortunate, quickly able to rejoin the race in 10th place but with his hopes of an incredible podium finish in tatters.
“It’s gut-wrenching, there’s no other way to describe it,” Richards said afterwards. “Our strategy had worked beautifully and we’d picked up a couple of places, we’d fairly and squarely outraced a handful of others and a few others ahead of us had dropped out, and then this happens.
“The car was just awesome, which is pretty amazing considering how little time we’ve had with it and the fact that the weekend has been predominantly wet until the race.
“We picked the right set-up option and the car responded well, which gives us a lot of encouragement going forward this season. We know the car works, we just have to find out more about what it likes.
“I can’t wait for Oran Park now, it’s our test track and we’re the only ones to have turned a wheel there this year, hopefully we can do something special for our home town!”
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