'We can’t be sulking': Tickford's blunt response to winless Townsville
Tickford "can’t be sulking" over winless Townsville, says owner Nash
Waters beaten by Ford rival Kostecki on Friday, put on alternate strategy on Sunday
Waters dropped out of Sprint Cup contention after Saturday incident
Tickford Racing "can’t be sulking" over a winless weekend in Townsville, says team owner Rod Nash.
Cam Waters finished second in the Friday sprint, marking his seventh visit to the podium this season, and was put on a bold undercut strategy in Sunday's 200km race. On both occasions, the win went begging.
The damaging day was Saturday, with poor qualifying results leaving Waters and Thomas Randle vulnerable. Few could have predicted they would come together on lap 1, Randle coming off worse off.
Most jarring of all, Penrite Racing jumped Tickford in the teams' championship, albeit by only 28 points.
Through it all, Nash had no desire to talk about Saturday's disaster, but bluntly stated that the team can't afford to whinge.
“We can’t be sulking that we didn’t win a race, because sometimes you win and sometimes you don’t,” Nash said in a Ford Performance release.
“We won’t talk about Saturday but Sunday was a lot better and we bounced back.
“It’s all about points at the moment. You’ve got to be strong in the top 10 with the new championship format, chipping away at the points so you can be there for the Finals.”
Waters and Randle rebounded on Sunday to finish in the top 10. Despite being down on overall speed, Tickford kept Triple Eight (and everyone else) guessing with the strategy.
“Yesterday we didn’t qualify well enough, and you get caught in a skirmish at the back of the field, things happen," CEO Simon Brookhouse said on the broadcast.
“We got through, got the cars fixed and at least got some points. Today we were consistent, we tried to change it up a little bit with a different strategy.
“It didn’t quite work for us in the end, but to finish two cars in the top 10 is a good result."
Away from the main game, Nash hailed the efforts of Tickford's Super2 programme, which reached new heights in Townsville. Lochie Dalton, Reuben Goodall and Rylan Gray swept the podium, with Tickford drivers first through fourth in the standings.
“We’re really proud of the success of our Super2 team,” Nash said.
"On Saturday we achieved something unique when our Mustangs finished 1-2-3-4. Then we backed it up on Sunday with a 1-2-3 podium sweep.
"We’ve got four great young drivers and with Mark ‘Frosty’ Winterbottom as their mentor it’s great to see them all working so well together."
Waters and Randle are fourth and eighth heading to Ipswich on August 8-10.
