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Welcome to the Motorsport Brief. As the season of endurance gets underway in supercars, there's
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a couple of rising stars to watch. Today, we're going to talk to one of them.
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Good day, everyone. Rusty here. Shortly to Jaden O'Jader, and I am pleased that we are
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finally getting him on the pod for the very first time. The juice, as he's affectionately
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known, is doing some great things, both internationally in sports car or GT racing,
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but he is back with Walkenshaw and Dredi United and paired with one of the hottest properties
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in the pit lane at the moment in Rhinewood. They are a good combo. Now, we've also previewed
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the Sunrasia Safari in recent days in another episode of the Shortcast. Dean and Rob Herridge
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joined us for that. You can find their feature EPs in our library, but they are
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taking Subaru's, including a new WRX, on this gruelling 1200K cross-country rally
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on the edge of the desert in New South Wales along parts of the South Australian border.
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It is incredible countryside, longest rally of its kind on the Australian motorsport calendar.
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There's bikes competing there too and a whole lot more. And also in the field is a former winner
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in Tony Quinn in a beast, a Dakar spec VA power at Navara. Now, we know how much all of you
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enjoy ATQ catch up. He was in great form. He's in the second half of that
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Shortcast with the Herridges. He talks about his grandson Ryder's impressive drive in GT4
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last weekend. To our guest today, he has done the hard yards as he, you know, and the climb really
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is continuing in many respects. He's shown a level of professionalism that the next wave
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of young races could really learn on. He won the GT World Challenge Race last Sunday at
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the Bend. He's in good form, going into the 500. Jaden, congratulations and thank you for
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joining us. Yeah, thanks for having me on Rusty. I'm looking, looking forward to it.
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It was great for Paul Lucitti, who you're paired with and the crew from to Ghani that
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first win for Mercedes on Australian soil, if you like, this year. You look like you actively
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coach Paul on the run over the course of the race weekend and even during the one hour,
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one hour races proper over the radio. Do you do that? And do you enjoy that?
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Yeah, obviously awesome to get the win with Paul. Super, super special for him and the team.
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Obviously, we won the Sydney three hour last year, but this is our first sprint win together.
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And for me, it's been a massive project of mine, obviously now driving for the second year
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with Paul. And, you know, for a guy that's very fresh into motorsport, it's just so awesome
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to really put your arm around him and sort of nurture him through and to see them get results
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like this is obviously super special and it's awesome to be part of projects and especially
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when you're getting getting results and seeing improvements that it really makes you appreciate
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what you do and like feel very lucky to be a part of it as well. You're with the Mercedes AMG
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family nowadays, but you did a bit of coaching for kind of the next generation via motorsport
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Australia at Sipang in recent years, laying down benchmark times for the Ferrari Academy
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juniors. Tell us about that role and kind of giving back already at such a young age in your
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own career. Yeah, coaching for me has been, you know, something I've really done since I was
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about 18, even though I was only sort of in Formula Four, Super 3 at that point, I started
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coaching already. Initially, it was to make a sort of a quick dollar. Obviously, it's sort of
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doing complete university or anything like that. So that's sort of the easiest way I could
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sort of get some get some money coming back in that really took to it and really enjoyed it and
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just love, you know, love giving back to the sport in whatever way I can and to see people get
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success and feel like you're part of someone else's journey is like an awesome rewarding
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feeling. So it's definitely something that fills up my cup. The Merck announcement came in
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December last year. Tell us kind of about the lead up to that where you found out
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and perhaps what really helped get it over the line and secure it. Yeah, the GT stuff
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for me has always been something that's definitely taken my interest, but being from Australia,
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obviously it's a very far away place from the epicenter of Europe for GT. So sort of bridging
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that gap was always quite difficult and it sort of only came about a little bit left field where
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I was looking for a program to sort of keep myself busy in 2023 and managed to find my way into
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an AMG here in Australia and then sort of met the right people along the way,
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you know, a massive influence over me getting the AMG stuff was, is Matthew Harby who I still
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work very closely with now and we work together on a lot of the AMGs that I drive throughout the
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world. So he was the person that sort of helped me get it all across the line and really teed
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it all together. So, you know, it's one of those things that you snort. Sometimes it's not
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what you know, it's really who you know and it just shows when, you know, I was bashing
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down the door of supercars for so long and trying to make that break. Something that
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I was just using as a placeholder really, really took off and really elevated and, you know, along
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the way still wasn't, was never easy. Definitely had its difficulties and it was just awesome to
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sort of keep pursuing it and keep pushing it. And, you know, I took a real, I backed Matthew
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at the end of that 2023 year. He said, look, give me 12 months of trying to make this happen
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for you, believe in me and getting you into AMG. And I opted to do that. So passed on a
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couple of supercar opportunities there and said, okay, we're going to give this AMG thing a 12
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months ago, which was last year in 2024. And by December, obviously got the announcement that
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I was an AMG junior. So, you know, 18 months after the first time driving a GT3 car to sign
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with Mercedes AMG is an incredible, incredible feeling. And, you know, this year has been
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awesome as well. And just really enjoying my racing at the moment.
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Great stuff. What's been the highlight for you this year then in that type of racing?
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Last weekend was pretty special, you know, like to see, you know, Paul's not one for media and
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he's obviously quite shy, but he's a great dude, you know, he's awesome to be around and he's
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awesome for our team. And just to just to be a part of something like that and, you know,
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something that that he's done all on himself, you know, sure, sure, I gave him the car and
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the lead, but the safety car straight after the pitstop sequence, you know,
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really nullified that there was no pitstop penalties, whatever. So it was all done
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on merit and he had to really gritty his teeth and grind that out. So it was really,
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you know, just really rewarding to see that for him and his progression and,
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you know, he's joy for the sport. Like he is loving it now more than he ever has,
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which is always enjoyable for us and enjoyable for everyone else around him as well.
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Yeah, really cool result for all of you collectively. We're in September now.
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Is 2026 kind of looking good there on the GT side of things and for more racing abroad?
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Yeah, yeah, for sure. You know, all the stuff, same G, this is gone really well. Obviously done
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my fair share of stuff here in Australia, but also cross into Asia and being fairly busy and
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been doing well there. So for sure, the next step for me is to do more,
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more ang stuff, which which is looking promising.
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Okay, cool. Is there a little kind of private wish there, mate, that you'd love to,
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you know, whether it's a spa or something on the international scene, is there
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there something that's on the wish list?
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Yeah, yeah, for sure. There's a lot of those bucket list circuits and events that
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I'd love to do. Got to drive Suzuki this year, which was an awesome experience, but for sure,
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getting to spa and especially spa 24 or all the big 24 hour races is something that's on,
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I think everyone, every GT drivers bucket list. So for sure, it's at the top of mine as well.
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Good on you. All right, I know I'm very mindful, mate, that there's probably things
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in play you've been linked with some things super car wise back home is. So just, I guess,
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share what you can, if you can, are things looking good for potential more super cars
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appearances in in 26 as well? Yeah, let's see. Ultimately, I just want to sort through the
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my ang stuff first, because, you know, obviously, that's a pretty important part of my life at the
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moment. So work my way through that obviously got the super car enduro to get through as well
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with with woody and walking shore and ready united. So just full focus into into doing my
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roles for that team. And then we'll see what the future comes after that.
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Cool. We spoke to Ryan walking shore on the pod recently, and he was thrilled
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that you were back with WAU. When did that kind of come back on the radar?
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Yeah, late last year, you know, sort of had a good run in the in the endurance last year
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and was sort of looking at what was possible. And obviously, the the announcement of the Toyota
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stuff was was really cool. And obviously, my relationship with walking shore is is pretty
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strong. And I've always stayed pretty closely connected to them even after the wildcard. So
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it sort of was the right fit for me. And it's it's awesome to sort of join back up with the team.
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And it sort of feels like I've never left. Beautiful more with Jaden Ojeda right after this.
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This is the motorsport brief on the eve of the Ben 500 and through the eyes in some respects
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of a young racer with great ambition in a good car playing an important role to
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during the season of endurance back to our chat with Jaden Ojeda now.
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Woody, you mentioned a moment ago, ninth in the standings for him, that group around him on the
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ladder. They're all in real close company mode. Do you think about that? Or is it just focus on
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each race focus on the 500, then focus on Bathurst, so to speak?
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Yeah, just play it lap by lap. You know, sure, we're racing a few guys there to make
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it into the final spot. But there's a lot of other cars that will be in our race,
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no doubt as well. So just take it lap by lap session by session. You know, the biggest thing
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obviously there's a lot of points on the table. So just making sure we can get through these two
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events with, you know, without without dropping a lot of those points or any sort of silly mistakes,
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just executing good weekends. And then the, you know, the rest always will sort of sort
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itself out. What's it been like working with Ryan? He's a he's a character and
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how do you kind of best fit in there with with he and his team?
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Yeah, yeah, it's been good, actually. Both Woody and I, we've stayed on. Obviously,
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we both raced against each other this last weekend in the tail and bend in the GTs. So
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we stayed on in Adelaide for a few days. And so it's been been fun getting to hang out, talk
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about obviously talk shop, but also just just relax and chill out and really just get to
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enjoy each other's company. And yeah, it's been been entertaining.
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He's been cycling up a storm. I think he got a special present from Ryan Walkenshaw for
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some of his results this year, but you enjoy cycling, you know, I think probably in Sydney
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and beyond to my tell us about that side of it. Yeah, yeah. When when Woody and I found out we're
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going to be driving with each other, we said, oh, let's bring our bikes to tail and bend and
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we'll ride for a couple of days in Adelaide. And I held up my side of the bargain, but Woody's
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bike seemed to just stay in, stay in Melbourne. Funny how that one worked out, but nah, he's been
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right into it ever since. Obviously, he found out he was going to be getting his,
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his flash new bike from from the boss. So yeah, it's been good. I love my cycling. It's been
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something that I've been right into, you know, just just become the ambassador for the
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dementia research community in Sydney who do that Bondi to Berry ride in November. So it's
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really, really cool to be part of, you know, sort of mix my passion with something that supports
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the good cause as well. So for me, I just enjoy it. It's good. I don't like running. So I guess the
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next best thing is riding a bike. Right stuff. I'll get the link off you for that. And we'll
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share it in our app description for that event. You've just done two GT races at the bend
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last weekend, an hour reach different machinery admittedly. But this is new turf in an
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endurance sense, I guess you could say for supercars. What sort of things are going
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to be key to a good result in the 530 you reckon? Yeah, it's obviously been a little bit since
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supercars have raced at the bend and the first time in an enduro format. So I think a big thing
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with tail and bend being such a high speed circuit and obviously quite a big circuit at that
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as well, like the cars are super sensitive to any bodywork damage. So just trying to get
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through the first parts of the race without copying it here or giving someone a serving
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as well, because ultimately that would just you're just going to bleed lap time throughout the day.
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So yeah, just staying clear of trouble is probably the big thing. I think it'll be
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pretty chaotic. Obviously there's a lot of co-drivers always differing levels of experience,
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some veterans, some rookies. And everyone's going to be having a go over, especially
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those guys that are on the bubble there for the final trying to make it in. So
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yeah, just avoiding the trouble is probably the big thing. And in addition to that,
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you know, some chat around rule tweaks for safety car speed zones and so on. I guess that's probably
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been a part of a pre-brief conversations with WAU. And do you think fans can expect some,
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you know, some good action there? Yeah, yeah, it'll be interesting. Like I'm still
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still getting my head across it, obviously working out what the tricks are going to be as we
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always are in our sport. But, you know, things like this always make it exciting. It
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creates opportunity, creates the chance to do something different and really, you know,
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really shake things up. Good on you. I can remember interviewing you many years back.
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How tough has the road been for you until, say, the past year, Jayden? And do you feel like you're
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kind of finally where you should be now? Yeah, for sure. You know, I think no one's really
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ever got an orthodox pathway. But for sure, mine's been done a little bit differently. And
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but I wouldn't change it or have it any other way. Ultimately, everything that I've learned.
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And I guess the driver I am today is because of all the challenges I've sort of faced and
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obstacles I've had to overcome throughout the way. But ultimately, it's been it's been cool.
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You know, I've learned a lot. I've matured a lot as a person as well, which I think, you know,
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really helped me as of late, you know, deal with challenges and, you know, really deal with
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adversity, which is something I guess that's quite quite common in our sport. And at any level,
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you're going to you're going to deal with it. So if you if you miss out on it, I guess when
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in the younger years of life, you maybe struggle a little bit more coming on later.
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So I feel like I'm really prepared for like what's next to come in my career.
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You should be really proud, mate, not just in terms of recent results, but the way that you
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were just articulated what you did. The win is the dream. What will kind of be the minimum that
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you'd like to walk away from the 500 with? Don't know. It's probably look, ultimately,
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I want to get Woody into the finals. That's obviously a big objective of him and the team.
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So to play my role in achieving that would be would be awesome. But, you know, personally,
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I just want to I just want to walk away and feel like I've done my my part and my job and
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and feel like I've upheld my end of the deal as such. I'm sure you will.
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Been great to get you on and tell a little bit of your story today. Have a fantastic weekend
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there in Adelaide. Awesome. Thanks, mate. Woody and the juice, they are worth a follow this
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weekend, a combo that could really surprise perhaps more than the odds suggests. Hope the
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500 is a cracking race for supercars. Enjoy it, everybody. We will catch you next week.
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