BJR: OzEmail Racing just miss podium finish
15/9/2003 12:40 (Press Release) -
OzEmail Racing’s Brad Jones and John Bowe have finished V8 Supercars’ Sandown 500 in fourth place after a weather interrupted, action packed race in Melbourne.
The paired used every bit of their experience to battle through rain and hail, just missing a spot on the podium by a matter of seconds.
A brilliant drive by the three times Sandown winner John Bowe was the catalyst to producing OzEmail Racing’s best result for the 2003 season - “It was a good day for us. A very, very good day,” said Bowe.
“I’m just a little disappointed that we did end up of the podium. It would have been the appropriate reward for the huge effort the team has put in so far this year. Having said that, I think the guys are pretty happy with where we ended up,” Bowe concluded.
Starting the race in the black OzEmail Falcon was Brad Jones, launching the #21 car into 6th place on the opening lap. An unlawful hit by David Besnard sent Jones onto the infield, losing six positions. Besnard later serving a drive through penalty for the misdemeanour. Jones’ first stint though setting up the fourth placed result.
“John [Bowe] drove fantastically today and fourth is a well deserved result for us. Our cars keep getting better and better every race meet, so I think we are all very much looking forward to Bathurst,” Jones said.
“Once again we are hitting our form at the right end of the season,” he concluded.
The second OzEmail Falcon of John Cleland and Andrew Jones finished a credible 20th, even after dropping to last at the start of the race and also being on the receiving end of a drive through penalty.
An over heating clutch caused Andrew Jones to drop through the field at the race start. It wasn’t until it had chance to cool down, after an excruciating slow two laps, did Jones have chance to move into normal race mode. Once he did, his race pace was exhilarating, forcing his way up to 13th position by the time he swapped with Scot, John Cleland.
“The white OzEmail Falcon had good speed today and after the mishap on the opening lap, we managed to make up most of the ground we lost. If we hadn’t had the clutch problem and the drive through [penalty], I think we could well have ended up in the top ten,” Jones said.
John Cleland drove through the most difficult part of the race, when teaming rain had made for challenging conditions – “I enjoyed the rain but I struggled at first getting the wet weather tyres up to temperature and got swallowed up by a few cars. To Andrew’s credit, he did a great job today and I’m looking forward to going Bathurst with him.”
--Brad Jones Racing press release
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