Coming from the back of the grid is a specialty of Team BOC's Jason Richards but after qualifying eighth at Townsville today he says he should not have had to.

The culprit was Steven Richards, who turned JR around in the early stages of today's race, dropping him to the back of the field. Now both JR and Team Boss Brad Jones have spoken out about the incident, which is the second involving the two Kiwis this year.

JR raced back to mid-field by lap 26 but made a slip and had to do it all again. Amazingly he finished the race eighth, which is a solid result as the Championship heads into a break before the enduros in nine weeks' time.

Jason Richards
Team BOC
"I don't know what Richo was doing; he just nailed me and ruined my race. I was at the apex and he hit me from behind; it was clearly some form of mistake, which with that guy is constant. Unfortunately I often seem to be on the receiving end of it. I DNF'd when he made contact with me at the Clipsal 500 earlier this year, my only none-finish so far, and I thought today was going to be an action replay because I spun at the front of the field with 20 cars behind me. Fortunately the car didn't get any major damage and I was able to put in some good fast laps and recover.

"I had to make so many passes I can't even begin to list them. The worst scenario was when I was pushing on after the pit stop. The track was breaking up and I ran a bit wide onto the gravel and into the fence. That was the only blot on my copy book; I lost a few spots and thought that might be the end of my come-back but eighth is a great result considering."

Brad Jones
Team Co-Owner
"JR was up and down like a yo-yo in that race. He got turned around early by Steve Richards and we were very disappointed there was nothing done about that. It will be interesting to see what happens after the race because I thought it was pretty clear that he turned JR around.

"Then he went from the back to mid-field, made a mistake and went to the back again; he just kept pushing forward. That car definitely had the speed to be in the top five today. Going into the enduros it's all looking quite promising."

Jason Richards V8 STATS
Current championship position: 12
Current championship points: 1098
V8 Supercar Championship race starts: 279
Previous best Townsville qualifying: 6 (2009)
Previous best Townsville result: 7 (2010)

Sucrogen Townsville 400-V8 Supercar Championship
TOWNSVILLE STREET CIRCUIT
Race 16 Qualifying
01 Jamie Whincup, 888, 1:12.7275*
02 Craig Lowndes, 888, +0.2820
03 Garth Tander, HRT, +0.3727
04 James Courtney, DJR, +0.3986
05 Jason Bright, Trading Post Racing, +0.4332
06 Mark Winterbottom, FPR, +0.5499
07 Will Davison, HRT, +.5603
08 Jason Richards, Team BOC, +0.5939
09 Steven Johnson, DJR, +0.6160
10 Steven Richards, FPR, +0.6165

Sucrogen Townsville 400-V8 Supercar Championship
TOWNSVILLE STREET CIRCUIT
Race 16
01 Mark Winterbottom, FPR
02 James Courtney, DJR
03 Garth Tander, HRT
04 Paul Dumbrell, RNR
05 Steve Richards, FPR
06 Will Davison, HRT
07 Shane Van Gisbergen, SBR
08 Jason Richards, Team BOC
09 Jonathan Webb, SBR
10 Jason Bargwanna, Kelly Racing

RACE 15

People said passing would be difficult at Townsville's demanding street track but Team BOC's hard charger Jason Richards made it look easy during today's 200km race.

Richards was gutted after qualifying 25th today; a far cry from fastest yesterday and 1.4s off his Friday pace. After Darwin's race last month, however, Richards knew he could come from the back and some great strategy and a fast car saw him up to sixth with 20 laps to go.

A titanic battle with Russell Ingall lasted practically until the chequered flag, when The Enforcer passed him for sixth. Qualifying for tomorrow's race begins at 11am.

Jason Richards
Team BOC
"Ingall did a great job and wore me down; not bad for an old bloke!

"When you come from 25th all the way through the pack with great race pace and still have some left for the end, that's just awesome. I'm pretty proud of my lads; you couldn't pass that many people if you haven't got the car under you.

"It was good strategy over the race distance; we basically just ran in clear air and we had a fast car."

Brad Jones
Team Co-Owner
"It was clear from yesterday that we have a very quick car and it just goes to show you can pass in this category. It was a little bit marginal on fuel at the end but what a great result."

Sucrogen Townsville 400-V8 Supercar Championship

TOWNSVILLE STREET CIRCUIT
Race 15 Qualifying
01 Jamie Whincup, 888,1:13.3223*
02 Mark Winterbottom, FPR, +0.3138
03 Garth Tander, HRT, +0.5415
04 Jason Bright, Trading Post Racing, +0.5636
05 James Courtney, DJR, +0.5900
06 Steven Johnson, DJR, +0.6193
07 Fabian Coulthard, Walkinshaw Performance, +0.6848
08 Lee Holdsworth, GRM, +0.6926
09 Shane Van Gisbergen, SBR, +1.2025
10 Craig Lowndes, 888, +1.3394

25 Jason Richards, Team BOC, 1:14.2771

Sucrogen Townsville 400-V8 Supercar Championship
TOWNSVILLE STREET CIRCUIT
Race 15
01 Jamie Whincup, 888
02 Garth Tander, HRT
03 Mark Winterbottom, FPR
04 Lee Holdsworth, GRM
05 James Courtney, DJR
06 Russell Ingall, PMM
07 Jason Richards, Team BOC
08 Shane Van Gisbergen, SBR
09 Steve Richards, FPR
10 Paul Dumbrell, RNR