Bathurst 1000 rookie racing for mentor

Jordan Boys grew up cheering on hometown team Brad Jones Racing each and every year the Bathurst 1000 rolled around.

Hailing from the tightknit NSW/Victorian border town of Albury, there’s a sense of pride that comes with seeing one of their own competing in Australia’s premier motorsport event.

Boys had just turned three when BJR tackled the Mountain for the first time in late 2000. Jones himself continued lining up on the Bathurst grid until 2009.

“Whether you are Ford or Holden, everyone wants the local team to do well,” Boys told Supercars.com, ahead of his Great Race debut this month co-driving with BJR’s Todd Hazelwood.

“I definitely remember the end of Brad’s career and especially through the days of Brighty [Jason Bright] and all those sort of guys as they scrolled through the team, they were my main memories of it, I suppose.

“But definitely my family in general has always been a big supporter in regards to watching Bathurst every year and cheering on BJR.”

Jones, a six-time Bathurst podium finisher, actually had a fair role to play as Boys emerged on the motorsport scene.

“Particularly when I went into cars I would just go and see him and get a direction on where I should go next,” Boys said.

“We sort of as a family had to do everything ourselves in as much as we couldn’t just go and pay a team to do it straightaway.

“We had to go through Formula Ford ourselves and then luckily Brad linked us up with Terry [Wyhoon] from Image Racing so all through that was kind of guided by Brad.

“So particularly in cars but even in go-karts, I have been around Macauley [Jones] and all that kind of thing with the local kart club, so he has always been around.”

Boys put himself on the radar for an endurance co-drive with a stellar finish to the 2019 Dunlop Super2 season, winning races at Sandown and Newcastle.

After months of anticipation, he was announced at the start of September to team up with Hazelwood in the #14 ZB Commodore.

Since that confirmation, Hazelwood has continued to show flashes of brilliance, headlined by an ARMOR ALL Pole in Townsville.

“BJR are always pretty strong [at Bathurst] and it looks like Todd is hitting his stride in the BJR car,” said Boys.

“Being able to be with a team like that, generally endurance season is where they come alive a little bit in their results and to see them going so strongly before then is really encouraging.”

Having taken part in the rookie practice session at The Bend last weekend, Boys will be on double duties at Bathurst; also driving his Image Racing Commodore in Super2.