Winton: Jack Daniel's Racing race 1 report

TODD KELLY FIGHTS HIS WAY TO SEASON BEST SIXTH AT WINTON

Jack Daniel's Racing driver Todd Kelly has emerged from an action-packed race to claim sixth place in the opening race of the sixth round of the 2010 V8 Supercar Championship Series at Winton Motor Raceway in rural Victoria today.

Kelly qualified for his first Top 10 Shootout since Phillip Island in November last year this morning, qualifying in ninth place to equal his best starting position for the season so far.

The driver of the #7 Jack Daniel's Racing driver was able to survive several spirited battles for position and drive home in sixth place, his best finish for the season so far and his second top 10 race result.

It was a roll reversal from Friday practice at Winton today for Jack Daniel's Racing, with Todd Kelly vastly improving his pace from yesterday.

Unfortunately for Rick Kelly, after being third fastest in Friday practice the #15 Jack Daniel's Racing driver struggled with car set-up around the 3.0-kilometre circuit today.

Rick qualified in 13th place and was shuffled back down the order on the first lap as a result of a slow launch off the grid.

Rick persevered to get to the finish and collect vital championship points, finishing in 18th place with an eye to big improvement for Sunday's race.

James Courtney won today's 40-lap race ahead of Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup.

JACK DANIEL'S RACING QUOTEBOARD

TODD KELLY - #7 Jack Daniel's Racing Holden Commodore:

"It was one of the most interesting races I've ever had," said Todd Kelly.

"The soft tyre has done the trick because the cars turn pretty average as everyone would have seen.

"Towards the end of the race the cars are so bad that there is a four second difference between a good tyre and a bad tyre.

"The racing was good and there was plenty of biffing and barging. We've scrapped all the Jack Daniel's stickers off both sides of the thing.

"It was good to get a result finally this year, not that we are on the podium but it's certainly better than what we've had.

"We've got a pretty good idea on the direction we need to head with the car for a better race car, because we had a fairly big imbalance with the chassis.

"During the race I knew exactly what we needed to do but we couldn't do it during the pit stop, so hopefully tomorrow we improve again from today."

RICK KELLY - #15 Jack Daniel's Racing Holden Commodore:

"Up until now we've had a really good run this year but that was by far the worst race for us," said Rick Kelly.

"The car was a little tough to drive and combined with that we just had little bits and pieces go wrong the whole race.

"I didn't get a good run off the start, I got pushed wide by a couple of cars and dropped back a bit and our tyres went off a little quicker than we'd like.

"I think most of that was due to the position we were in, so from start to finish it was tough because I didn't qualify the car as well as I should have.

"That started a snow ball of different problems so tomorrow I need to qualify the Jack Daniel's Commodore further forward and if we fix just a few bits and pieces we can finish right up there like Todd did today.

"It's disappointing because we always want good points and it's really tough to see cars slip past. We've just got to get back up there so we can go home feeling good."

-source: kelly racing