Hamilton was much better, especially finishing second in the second race
last Sunday.

It was my best result of the season so far and I felt a mixture of
satisfaction, and also relief after the dramas I had in the championship
opener in Adelaide (March 19-22).

Importantly, I finished both 200km races in New Zealand and that gave me
plenty of time behind the wheel of the new Jim Beam Racing FG Falcon.

I hadn't done a lot of racing in my new car before Hamilton because of
my problems in Adelaide, and driving the 'old' BF Falcon at the
non-championship V8 Supercar events at Albert Park.

After Hamilton I better understand how the FG Falcon performs under
racing conditions, and the challenge now is to keep moving forward and
win some races.

The points I scored at Hamilton lifted me into 10th in the championship.
It's not as high as I want to be, but it's a lot better than being 21st
after Adelaide.

It was a good weekend for Jim Beam Racing, especially the second race
with both of our cars qualifying on the front-row of the grid and Steve
Johnson and I finishing on the podium.

This is good for team morale and gives everyone some momentum for the
next championship event at Winton (May 1-3).

I went to New Zealand on the Wednesday before the event. My wife Carys
and baby daughter Zara also made the trip.

It was Zara's first trip overseas since she was born early last year
(2008). She also got her passport stamped for the first time and brought me some luck!


Hamilton is the biggest motorsport event in New Zealand, and there were
big crowds on all three days.

There is plenty of interest in our championship, mainly because of the
New Zealand drivers in the series, including Greg Murphy, Jason
Richards, Shane Van Gisbergen, and Fabian Coulthard.

Hamilton is located only 130km south of Auckland, the largest city in
New Zealand, so there is a large population base nearby which helps
attract spectators.

There were some changes to the (3.4km) track at Hamilton this year. The
chicane was reduced from four turns to three, which was better.

In practice on Friday there were no tyre bundles through the chicane,
but they were restored on Saturday and Sunday for the qualifying
sessions and racing.

In my opinion the tyres made the chicanes safer, because without them
the speeds were too fast. There were some accidents with cars hitting
the tyres, but there may have been some bigger crashes without them.

I finished eighth in the first qualifying session on Saturday.
Unfortunately I locked the front-right wheel on my Top 10 Shoot Out lap
and had to start eighth in the first of the two 59-lap races.

In the first race things started well. I moved up to seventh on the
first lap, and then I managed to pass Craig Lowndes (Team Vodafone
Falcon) and Garth Tander (Holden Racing Team) before my pit-stop on lap
23.

When I came out of the pits I was held up by Paul Dumbrell (Autobarn
Holden Commodore), but I was seventh on lap 50. Then I had some problems
in the re-start after a Safety Car period.

Michael Caruso (Gary Rogers Motorsport Commodore) slowed, and there was
a 'traffic jam'. I couldn't avoid hitting Tander's car. Then the
throttle on my car jammed and I dropped back to 13th at the finish.

On Sunday we had the new 20-minute second qualifying session. This was a
change from the qualifying format for Adelaide, where there was one
qualifying session to determine the grid for the two races.

Both Steve (Johnson) and I did some quick laps in the middle stages of
the session, and at that stage we were one-two on the time sheets.

Then Tim Slade crashed his Supercheap Auto Racing Commodore, and the
session was cut short.

Some drivers who had intended to do their best laps toward the end of
the session didn't get a chance to record a lap time before the session
ended.

In this instance Jim Beam Racing had the best strategy. Some drivers
complained about the new format, but the rules are the same for
everyone.

When the race started Steve took the lead followed by Steven Richards
(Ford Performance Racing), myself, and Jamie Whincup (Team Vodafone
Falcon).

Whincup was the first driver in the top four to make his pit-stop. Then
I managed to pass Richards and move up to second. I led for a few laps
after Steve made his pit stop.

I made my pit-stop on lap 31. When I came out Whincup was in the lead, I
was second, and Steve third. That's the way it stayed to the finish.

Toward the finish there was a Safety Car, which allowed me to close the
gap on Whincup. Jason Bright (Fujitsu Ford Falcon) was between Whincup
and I in the line of cars, but he had been lapped.

When the race re-started Bright held me up for a couple of laps which
allowed Whincup to establish a big gap. Once Bright got out of the way I
had no chance to try and put any pressure on the leader.

Although Whincup has won the first four races of the season he isn't
unbeatable. Hopefully things will fall my way at Winton.

CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS (after round 2): Jamie Whincup (Ford) 600; Lee
Holdsworth (Holden) 498; Will Davison (Holden) 483; Steven Johnson
(Ford) 462; Fabian Coulthard (Ford) 354; Jason Richards (Holden) 324;
Rick Kelly (Holden) 315; Garth Tander (Holden) 285; Shane Van Gisbergen
(Ford) 282; James Courtney (Ford) 272.

Keep smiling.

JC

James celebrating the 2nd place with Engineer Scott Sinclair and Team owner Dick Johnson