Golding returns home after solid Bathurst 1000 outing
Supercars Championship racer James Golding recently made a return to his hometown of Warragul fresh off another solid showing in the Bathurst 1000 earlier this month.
Golding, who was born and raised locally, made the trip to Baw Baw Cycles on North Rd to receive a new bike for training purposes, thanks to a joint sponsorship between Baw Baw Cycles and Drouin’s CTE Custom Transport Equipment.
The 26-year-old had managed a strong start at the Bathurst 1000 for his team PremiAir, before a front bar failure forced him into an unscheduled pitstop, leaving him a lap behind. Some strong driving allowed Golding and his co-driver Dylan O’Keeffe to get back onto the lead lap, before ultimately finishing 12th.
Regardless of the result, to even be in the race as a main driver was a thrill for Golding, given he only made his return to full-time racing midway through this season after his prior team had pulled out of the competition back in 2019. Since then, it’s been a lot of hard work for Golding, racing as a co-driver for endurance races until he finally made his way back to the top and got his chance.
“It’s not like football where there’s 22 players per team. There’s 25 seats in Supercars in the whole of Australia. That’s it, 25,” he said.
“You can imagine how competitive it is.” Even though the race ended in disappointment, Golding said he was still happy with how things played out.
“Bathurst is the biggest race of the year for us. To be back racing full-time was awesome and we had a strong showing all weekend.
“Obviously it didn’t end the way we wanted, but those things happen in motorsport and you’ve just got to move on and do better next time,” he said.
“It’s been a long haul trying to get back there but I’m super stoked now that I’m back, and I’m trying to maximise it and enjoy it as best I can.”
Through everything though, Golding said the support received had been amazing, especially from back home.
“I grew up here pretty much my whole life,” he said.
“The support back from from family and friends is great, and having local partners come on board is really great for my career, to always have that link back to home and help boost their profile.”
Golding will now turn his attention to the final two races of the season - the Gold Coast 500 and the Adelaide 500.
“I’m super confident, I’ve definitely come on strong,” he said.
“This has been the strongest point of my career. The last few rounds we’ve just been going up and up and up, and I don’t see it going any differently.”