Townsville: Jack Daniel's Racing Saturday notes

DOUBLE TOP 10 FOR JACK DANIEL'S RACING IN TOWNSVILLE

Jack Daniel's Racing team-mates Todd and Rick Kelly have scored a double top 10 in the first race of the Dunlop Townsville 400 in far north Queensland today.

Rick Kelly finished seventh and brother Todd Kelly 10th in the first V8 Supercar race at the brand new 2.9-kilometre street circuit on what was a solid day for Jack Daniel's Racing.

Today's results give the new team 12 top 10 finishes so far this season, with Rick scoring his seventh top 10 result and Todd his fifth.

Rick Kelly jumps Lee Holdsworth in the 2009 V8 Supercar Championship Series points standings to now sit in sixth position, while Todd Kelly improves one position to be in 19th place after 11 races.

Rick Kelly today gained 12 positions aboard the #15 Jack Daniel's Racing Holden Commodore after starting from 19th position for the first of two races this weekend.

With a combination of consistency and a well-executed pit strategy, Rick Kelly roared up the order and was effectively third at one point in the race.

On lap 44 Michael Caruso made his way past Rick, with Craig Lowndes and Garth Tander able to follow him through. Russell Ingall also made his way past on lap 53, with Rick able to hold of Mark Wintebottom to finish in seventh position.

Rick Kelly will now work hard overnight with race engineer David Swenson to refine the set-up of the #15 Jack Daniel's Racing Holden Commodore with the aim of gaining more car speed for tomorrow's second race.

Todd Kelly started from 17th in the #7 Jack Daniel's Racing Holden Commodore, but the timing of his second pit stop did not him allow the same advantage that Rick enjoyed, dropping him back down to 17th after steady progress early.

A spirited drive by Todd saw him climb back up the order to jump into the top 10 past Paul Dumbrell with five laps remaining.

Jamie Whincup won today's opening race of the Dunlop Townsville 400 ahead of Will Davison and Garth Tander.

JACK DANIEL'S RACING QUOTEBOARD

Rick Kelly - #15 Jack Daniel's Racing Holden Commodore:

"I think it was a combination of a good strategy and a bit of good luck with the second pit stops that put us in a good position," said Rick Kelly.

"It was a very tough race out there. This track is a stop-start sort of track, so 72 laps around here is quite tiring.

"With a few improvements to the car tomorrow and by staying out of trouble we should definitely get us some more points

"Overall, I'm pretty happy with that result. We just need to tweak our Jack Daniel's Commodore a bit to get some more speed out of it."

Todd Kelly - #7 Jack Daniel's Racing Holden Commodore:

"We would have liked to have done a little bit better than that," said Todd Kelly.

"There is still a lot of work to do with the car but with the way that second pit stop panned out with the Safety Car, we lost a fair bit of ground there and that's where Rick jumped us.

"It's just the best that we could do. We've got a bit of work to do to improve the Jack Daniel's Commodore and with a bit more luck with the pit strategy tomorrow we should be a little further up the field."

-credit: kellyracing.com.au