Richards calls for

consistency

02/08/2008 Ford Performance Racings Steven Richards has called for consistency from V8 Supercar stewards after copping a penalty of 12 Championship points yesterday.

The penalty was handed down after an investigation into an incident involving Richards and Paul Dumbrell at turn one during race three at Round Seven of the Championship at Queensland Raceway a fortnight ago.

The 12 point penalty now sees Richards 25 points behind Rick Kelly in fifth but he still believes FPR have a strong chance of a 1-2 Championship finish.

“It doesn’t really (set us back), from my perspective I’d rather it didn’t happen but it’s more about the fact that the consistency of the way these decision are made has to be called into question,” he said.

“I made a mistake coming into contact with Paul Dumbrell, however what is very disappointing is in race two I was turned around in the same incident by Mark Skaife and yet he doesn’t receive any penalty.

“If the Skaife thing hadn’t have happened then the Dumbrell thing never would have been an issue in race three, but we’ve just got to get on with it.”

Richards said 12 points was only a couple of positions on the grid.

“So we’ll just focus on moving forward,” he said. “We’re not far away from Rick Kelly in fourth (on the Championship table) and if we have a good weekend this weekend then things can turn around pretty quickly.

“The car feels really good, we’ve had great performance in the wet and the dry. This place is all about qualifying so if we qualify well enough we should have a good result.”

While disappointed, Richards is not holding any grudges against Skaife but adds he will be steering clear of him and his Holden Racing Team, team mate Garth Tander, at Winton Raceway this weekend.

“I’ve got an unbelievable amount of respect for the guy (Skaife) as a driver but this year, for some reason, at three of the last four race meetings I’ve wound up with one of their cars (contacting mine).”