Reynolds reveals off-track struggles
By Thomas Miles
Date posted: 17 July 2025
The Townsville 500 preparation was far from ideal for David Reynolds, having been bedridden for four days and unable to eat.
Despite all these battles, Reynolds still defied the odds and found enough energy to snare a special breakthrough pole position on the Saturday.
It was his first in two and a half years and Team 18’s maiden pole since Tasmania 2019.
Whilst he could not convert it, the #20 veteran still pushed his body to the limits and secured 10th place.
Unfortunately, he could not find the same speed on Sunday, qualifying 13th and drifting to 21st.
Having also three spots to 20th in Friday’s shorter race, Reynolds struggled to maintain position throughout the weekend.
But as it was clear on TV, there was a very good reason for it.
Reynolds’ sickness meant simple tasks were difficult, let alone racing a Camaro for almost two hours in the searing Townsville heat.
“I knew it was going to be tough for me this weekend because I had the flu in the lead up and I was written off until pretty much Friday.
“It was like my first day out of bed in four days. So my preparation wasn’t the best and I was feeling pretty weak all weekend. Couldn’t eat anything, sweated all night, coughing up stuff, so not the best preparation!
“Friday was okay. We qualified 17th and was nowhere in the race, but on the Saturday I qualified fourth for the shootout and got pole position in the shootout, which was amazing.
“The pink TRADIE rocket behind me did a good job and I was able to drive it okay and end up at pole.
“In the race we went backwards to tenth. I struggled a bit in the race, the last 20 laps I was iIn all sorts. It was pretty hard on its tyres.”
Sunday was a tayle of what could have been for Reynolds however.
He reveals a moment in qualifying cost him another crack at the Shootout, whilst a “stupid mistake” turing James Courtney gave him a race-changing 15s penalty.
“We came back on Sunday with high hopes qualified 13th,” he said.
“Just missed out on the top ten by a tenth of a second. I had a big oversteer at turn one and I lost about a tenth, so that would’ve put us in the shootout.
“In the race I was coming 13th, 14th and coming out of the pits I turned Courtney around and got 15 seconds.
“It was a stupid mistake and feel really bad for those guys because they were just innocent bystanders and I feel bad for my crew because we were trucking along ok.
“We had a really long first stint and then we’re going to come charging at home, so it should have ended up better. We learned a lot this weekend and I’m looking forward to the next one.”
Image: Mark Horsburgh
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