BRAD Jones has spent the best part of 40 years trying to conquer the Bathurst 1000.
His first attempt came in 1985, sharing a Mitsubishi Starion with Peter Fitzgerald.
By the time he hung up the helmet, Jones had accumulated the equal-most Great Race podiums without a win, having finished either second or third on six occasions.
The quest has proven equally elusive as a team owner, with BJR’s last Bathurst 1000 podium coming in 2009 via Cameron McConville and Jason Richards.
BJR had been quietly confident about its chances with Car #8 this year, the R&J Batteries Camaro of Andre Heimgartner and Dale Wood.
Despite qualifying 13th, its long-run pace was considered to be the real deal.
But Jones agonisingly watched on as all four of his cars dropped out of contention – or so it seemed – before even half-distance earlier this month.
“It was unfortunate to end up in the sand with Woody,” Jones began to V8 Sleuth, referring to side-to-side contact between Wood and Scott Pye at Murray’s Corner.
“I mean, they just locked wheels and it fired him off – and then the engine went, so there’s one out.
“And then Macca (Macauley Jones) had a moment and outbraked himself down there and clipped his teammate (Jack Smith) of all people.
“Then Dean (Fiore) got a drive-through penalty and I thought that was pretty rough. But to come back from basically last to seventh, I thought Bryce (Fullwood) drove really well and I was really happy with the end result.”
While that at least provided some solace, a breakthrough Bathurst victory remains at large.
Asked if he still has hope of one day winning the Great Race, Jones’ answer was simple: “It’s just another race, really.
“But it’s a pretty long, hard road. I felt Car #8 had a really good chance so it’s disappointing. Anyway, we live to fight another day and we’ll see what happens on the Gold Coast.”
