Bathurst 1000: Jack Daniel's Racing race report

TOUGH BATHURST FOR JACK DANIEL'S RACING

Jack Daniel's Racing has endured a tough weekend at Mount Panorama but soldiered on to bring both cars home in the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 today.

Rick Kelly and Owen Kelly finished in 16th position aboard the #15 Jack Daniel's Commodore on a day where both cars suffered from bad rear tyre wear.

Todd Kelly and Dale Wood finished one lap down in 20th place in the #7 Jack Daniel's Commodore, dropping off the lead lap due to a punctured tyre on lap 61 and then a pit lane drive through penalty on lap 140 for excessive speed in pit lane.

On a weekend where several incidents thwarted the progress of the Jack Daniel's Racing squad, Rick and Todd Kelly both maintained their place in the championship standings in seventh and 17th respectively, outlining the importance of finishing races to collect points.

The next event in the 2010 V8 Supercar Championship Series is the Armor All Gold Coast 600 at the Surfers Paradise street circuit on October 22-24.

JACK DANIEL'S RACING QUOTEBOARD:

RICK KELLY - #15 Jack Daniel's Holden Commodore

"It turned out to be a disappointing weekend for Jack Daniel's Racing," said Rick Kelly.

"All the teams at the front did a good job from start to finish, from Tuesday when they arrived right until the end of the race.

"We had too many little things go wrong for us to compete with those guys with the level that the series is at today.

"Normally when you have those little dramas you finish fifth, sixth or seventh but we were fighting for 17th, which just shows how tough it is now.

"As a team, everyone is going to be pretty hard on themselves because we just made too many little errors and that is what hurt us.

"Missing a practice session because of an engine problem made us qualify down the order. You can't really start a race in 12th place with only 12 proper laps under your belt. It's not going to give you the car or the driver you need to win the race.

"It was a little unusual to have so few Safety Cars and retirements, but this was always going to be an unusual race because all the full-time drivers were in their own cars for the first time rather than being teamed up.

"Because of that you are twice as far back if you have a couple of little dramas like we did.

"That's not to complain about it, that's just the way it is. To win this race now you have to do an even better job than in previous years. That's what makes a win here so special.

"We need to get our stuff together so that we can create our very own special win."

OWEN KELLY - #15 Jack Daniel's Holden Commodore

"In our case you just can't afford to lose two hours of practice and expect to get a result," said Owen Kelly.

"The car was really hard on the rear tyres and at about five or six laps into a stint you would have to manage that.

"Whatever else unfolded to drop us down the order, I do not know, but as a package for the whole weekend we just were not on the money.

"I said all along that this would be the most competitive Bathurst for a long time and I think it was.

"There were almost 20 cars finish on the lead lap and they were all right there battling it out at the end. It was always going to be a tough race.

"I felt like I drove as well as I ever have here but we just didn't have the car to do it."

TODD KELLY - #7 Jack Daniel's Holden Commodore

"We just were not fast enough, plain and simple," said Todd Kelly.

"The Jack Daniel's Commodore was pretty good in the warm up this morning and we really didn't change anything before the race.

"As a race car it was just no where. It had massive oversteer problems all day and it was extremely hard on its tyres.

"We didn't actually delaminate any like last year but it was just killing them. It was locking rears under brakes and we just had oversteer everywhere.

"It's a hard day when you've got a car that handles like that so we were off the pace. The fastest lap we could have done would have been a good second off what the front runners were doing so we really didn't have much of a chance today unfortunately."

DALE WOOD - #7 Jack Daniel's Holden Commodore

"To not have one of our four cars getting a good result is really disappointing," said Dale Wood.

"Our cars used up their tyres really quickly and it was a real battle out there.

"I think everyone has done the very best they could but we just came up short here this weekend.

"So much effort goes into this event so it's really disappointing but we will bounce back."

-source: kelly racing