It was a tale of two very different stories in Townsville for race 13 of the championship.

Scott qualified in 14th and James was two spots behind in 16th. While it wasn’t as far up as we had hoped, it was progress from previous rounds, which is what we are firmly focussed on.

JC must have walked under a ladder while kicking a black cat at some stage in his life.

After a good start, he was once again an innocent bystander in a whole lot of mess.

Tim Slade fired into the side of him on lap 1, bending his steering and forcing him into the garage.

The boys did a great job getting him back out, but he was 10 laps down.

He went on to finish the race in 25th, keeping out of trouble.

For Scott, apart from being on the outside of James in the lap 1 incident, it was a relatively event-free afternoon.

He had a great race-long battle with Rick Kelly and James Moffat, before crossing the line in 13th, one spot up from where he started.

We’ve got qualifying, a top-10 shootout, and another 200km race tomorrow afternoon. Keep your eyes peeled.

Scott Pye

“It was a long old 200kms today. We got a good start but got hit on the outside which dropped us back a bit.

“Today we maximised what we had. We struggled for car balance in the middle of the race, but got the most out of the car today.

“It was a good battle with Rick and Moff mid-race, which is why we go racing.

“We will tune her up overnight and see what tomorrow holds.”

James Courtney

“What can really can be said about that.

“We were sandwiched in on the first lap and got cleaned up on the inside, it bent the steering, and that was that.

“Then I just had to get it home after the boys fixed it.

“Tomorrow is a new day…”