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Third-generation talent Clay Richards has achieved a milestone, claiming his maiden Victorian Formula Ford Championship round win.
The son of five-time Bathurst 1000 winner Steven mastered changeable conditions at Phillip Island on the weekend to take a hat-trick of podiums.
Clay qualified sixth but rose to third in a shortened opener, improved to second next time out, and took out the final heat.
It completed a memorable 21st birthday weekend for the youngster.
“The last race, it was completely wet and he got a great start and got to the lead,” Steven told Speedcafe.com.
“He had a spin on the Safety Car restart but managed to keep it together and he dropped to second place.
“Then they had one lap of racing and he managed to get by the leader on that lap.”
The Toyota Gazoo Racing Australia 86 Series remains his main priority, with Round 2 of that category taking place at Winton Motor Raceway in support of the Supercars round on May 28-30.
“The 86 Series is the priority to ensure we do all rounds, whereas the Formula Ford we’re just picking and choosing different events to go and do,” said Steven.
“Just get him out on track and racing and a bit of experience because we were going to do this all last year, so it’s awesome.
“It’s the second time he’d raced at Phillip Island, he was pretty pleased.”
As for Steven, 48, he’s eager to do some more racing of his own before long but admits that he hasn’t exactly been in the Supercars co-driver market.
Likewise, he’s in no rush to return to the category in a full-time capacity, having worked as a relationships manager at Team 18 prior to the COVID-19 pandemic last year.
“I’m pretty happy doing what I’m doing at the moment outside motor racing, and it’s been a good circuit-breaker to be honest,” said Steven.
“I would love to do some driving of some kind again… but I’m just more focused on making sure that Clay has a good run.
“I work on his car, I prepare his car at home, we work together in the workshop on the car, Clay is an apprentice mechanic so it works really well being able to do the prep on the car together, so we’ll see.”
