THOMAS Randle is all too aware of the frustrations Tickford Racing young gun Brad Vaughan is experiencing in the early stages of his Super2 career.
Through his first 14 Super2 races, Vaughan has five top-three starts and three top-three finishes.
Randle’s numbers at the same point in his Super2 days read three top-three starts and two top-three finishes. It wasn’t until his 22nd race that he broke through for victory and he hasn’t looked back since, going on to win the second-tier title and establish himself in the main game.
Wanneroo Raceway proved the latest test of Vaughan’s character.
A starter motor problem saw him fail to be classified in Race 1 for which he’d qualified third. He bounced back to take pole for Race 2, only for a clutch issue to trigger a false start and a penalty that would demote him from first to fourth.
The South Australian has resultingly dropped from third to seventh in the standings, 189 points behind leader Kai Allen.
Had, hypothetically, he finished both Perth races where he started, he’d comfortably be sitting second overall.
“I’m gutted for him really,” Randle said on episode two of Supercars’ The Debrief.
“He deserves that win, he really does, and he should be higher in the championship than he is.”
It was a troublesome weekend in Western Australia for Tickford’s other two Super2 drivers as well, with Lochie Dalton and Rylan Gray slipping to eighth and 13th in the standings.
