TOUGH DAY FOR KELLYS IN PERTH
Jack Daniel's Racing pairing Todd and Rick Kelly have endured a tough day at
the Bigpond 300 at Barbagallo Raceway in Perth today.
One day after the team scored its third consecutive podium finish, the team
now looks to regroup for the season finale in two weeks time.
Todd Kelly's race ended early when on lap 38 he spun after contact from
behind from Jason Bargwanna and while stranded on the exit of the final
corner, was hit in the passenger side at speed by Lee Holdsworth.
Confirmation regarding what chassis Todd Kelly will use at the Sydney
Telstra 500 will be released later this week, after the #7 Jack Daniel's
Racing Holden Commodore suffered extensive damage in the impact.
Strategy and luck did not go the way of Rick Kelly, who opted not to pit at
the Safety Car caused by his brother's accident, looking to shorten his
final stint where he used his softer Dunlop 'option' tyres.
However, with no Safety Car deployment in the last half of the race and
Kelly's #15 Jack Daniel's Racing Holden Commodore using up its rear tyres,
he could only manage 16th position.
Entering the final event of the season, the Sydney Telstra 500 on the
streets of Homebush in two weeks time, Rick Kelly lies seventh in the 2009
V8 Supercar Championship Series standings while Todd Kelly sits in 17th
place.
Craig Lowndes won today's second race of the Bigpond 300 ahead of Steve
Johnson and Garth Tander.
JACK DANIEL'S RACING QUOTEBOARD
Todd Kelly - #7 Jack Daniel's Racing Holden Commodore:
"It was a shame," said Todd Kelly.
"The first contact was right on the back bumper bar, so that's dodgy on its
own.
"Unfortunately it hit that hard that it's basically taken the whole side out
of the car -- all the bar work is crimped right through the car.
"After having a quick look, there is a pretty good chance that the #7 Jack
Daniel's car is going to be a throw away, so it's a shame."
Rick Kelly - #7 Jack Daniel's Racing Holden Commodore:
"It was a pretty tough weekend," said Rick Kelly.
"It's always a massive lottery with the way they structure the rules with
these soft tyres.
"I'm still pretty confident in the strategy we picked but we didn't have the
rear tyre grip to maximise it firstly, and secondly, Safety Cars didn't come
out when we needed them to.
"We couldn't pit when it came out because we wouldn't have got to the end
and unfortunately we had to run the race out as we did. It was also a tough
race after we bent our steering when Craig Lowndes hit us.
"It's a bit of a bummer that this weekend didn't go our way but we've had a
pretty solid run up until now.
"We need to go back, work out what we need to do for this sort of track and
move forward.
"No regrets with that strategy. We couldn't have done anything else because
you don't know when the Safety Car is going to come out and today it didn't
do what we needed."
-credit: kellyracing.com.au
