Milestone man wants Townsville win

Jason Bright lines up for race number 500 this weekend and while he has achieved wins at many of the great tracks on the V8 Supercars calendar, he'll be going for his first in Townsville.

Racking up the milestone this weekend, Bright reflected on some of his best results with v8supercars.com.au - but insisted there was still plenty more he wanted to achieve in the category.

Another Bathurst 1000 win, of course, was on the list and so too was a result at the Castrol EDGE Townsville 400.

"There's some great events these days with the likes of Townsville, I haven't got that one on the resume -you want to have a win at different events," Bright told v8supercars.com.au.

"I'm lucky to have Clipsal, the Sandown 500, Bathurst, and the JR Trophy [Jason Richards Memorial Trophy, given to the Pukekohe round winner].

"I finished second several times at Homebush, it'd be good to get a win there and at Townsville -they're the premier events in our series for sure."

Bright earned ARMOR ALL Pole Position at the Townsville street track last year on Sunday, but his best finishing position has been fifth in 2013.

"I think we definitely have the pace there and street circuits have suited us better than the road course circuits over the last six or 12 months ... hopefully we can get a Townsville under our belt this weekend."

Bright debuted in V8 Supercars in 1997 with Garry Rogers Motorsport at Symmons Plains. Since then, the now 42-year old has driven for a variety of teams and racked up 20 race wins.

His maiden Bathurst 1000 victory came in 1998 with Stone Brothers Racing, Steve Richards and Ford, early in his V8 Supercars career.

"That was a pretty crazy weekend because I made a fair mistake on the Friday and broke the car pretty badly," he said.

"So to come out on Sunday and get a win that day was pretty special. I probably didn't appreciate how big a win it was - being my first ever V8 Supercar win - if I had known it was going to take this long to try and win a second one!"

Switch to a Holden Commodore, and you have another favourite, the Clipsal 500 in 2001, when Bright drove alongside Mark Skaife at the Holden Racing Team.

"It was a great event, particularly at the end of the race there - the podium there overlooks the crowd on the main straight. It's a pretty awesome feeling to be standing on that podium.

"It was a tough day - probably tougher then than what it is now with cool suits and everything, Skaifey and I used to dread getting back in the car on Sunday after doing it all on Saturday. And to crack a win there is always good."

Back to Ford, and Bright lists his Sandown 500 victory with a young up-and-coming Mark Winterbottom as one of the best.

"FPR had been trying and [had to] come from a pretty low phase," he said.

"The second half of 2006 we were very strong and Sandown was a race that I wanted on my resume. We had a pretty quick car there and some brake trouble at the end of the race which made it a bit of a struggle. But we were able to hang on and get a good win for FPR."

Joining forces with Brad Jones Racing in 2010 made way for more good memories, with Bright taking the first ever win for the team at Barbagallo Raceway the following year and then the Jason Richards Memorial Trophy in New Zealand in 2013.

Bright was leading the points on the Saturday night in New Zealand and felt enormous pressure to win the prize in his former teammate and good friend's name.

"We didn't need to actually pass anyone to win the round and the trophy, but we had good speed, got past Jamie [Whincup] and won the race and the JR Trophy.

"It was just really special to win the race as well. It would've felt great to still win the trophy and finish second, but to actually win that last race to get to do the burnouts and win the trophy made it even more special."

Bright currently sits 13th on the Championship table this year, with a best finish of fifth in Adelaide and Perth.

While he is now the oldest driver in the field - and joins only Craig Lowndes and Garth Tander (still racing) and Russell Ingall (retired) as the elite few to reach 500 race starts -believes he still has plenty to offer in V8 Supercars.

However, Bright is not locked into a deal with BJR for next year at this stage. He said reaching the'500' has triggered questions about his racing future and options.

"There's been a fair bit of interest in that," he said."It's still too early to say what's in store for next year."

Click here for details on the TV broadcast across the Castrol EDGE Townsville 400, which begins on Friday.

The Castrol EDGE Townsville 400 will be shown on Saturday and Sunday on Channel TEN, with coverage beginning at 12pm and races LIVE from 4.15pm EST each day.

FOX SPORTS 506 will show the weekend in full kicking off on Friday and including all three practice sessions from 7am, as well as the weekend's qualifying and racing LIVE, starting at 7.30am on Saturday and 7.55am on Sunday.