Jason Bright’s brilliant pole position for Race 21 was brought to nought when he clashed with Todd Kelly at turn one and two.
The Fujitsu Racing driver scored his first pole since Oran Park 2006 – his 10th career pole – but a tardy start saw him swamped by Will Davison, Jamie Whincup and Kelly.
Bright and Kelly clashed at turn one, sending Todd onto the dirt, and when he rejoined the track, he touched the rear of Bright’s Falcon, dropping him to the tail of the field.
It was a case of hero to zero for Bright, and he was less than pleased with the outcome.
“He tucked in behind me, I tucked in 30 positions back,” he said.
“Yeah, we rubbed at turn one, but it didn’t cost him anymore than one position.”
The stewards deemed the clash to be a racing incident, and Bright admits that his poor start was his downfall.
“I only have myself to blame. If I’d made a better start, I wouldn’t have been in that position. I was on the back foot straight away,” he said.
“I had Jamie on my inside, Todd on my outside. My car stepped out half way through the corner, and we touched, but it don’t think I deserved to be touched right off.”
As they say in the classics, ‘tomorrow is another day,’ and Bright says wants to strike back.
“I’m glad we didn’t stick to that stupid rule where we start the second day where we finished the first!” he joked.
“The car is quick, there’s no doubt about that. It was quick here at the 500 and it was quick here again today. Qualifying showed that we are as quick as anyone. I’m pretty happy with the way it’s going.
“We’ll just try and do the same tomorrow, make a better start and hopefully get through the first lap for once.”
