Reynolds hopes for last laugh
DAVID Reynolds jokes around to relieve stress – so his rivals can expect a lot of bad gags at the Phillip Island 500 this weekend as he chases a shock lead in the V8 Supercars championship.
The biggest oddball in V8s revealed yesterday he uses humour as a defence mechanism.
“I do it to take the pressure off myself and also everyone else. I find it helps,” he said.
This year Reynolds has put himself inside a top- of- thetable furnace by delivering underdog Erebus Motorsport a shot at the championship.
“I have probably been joking around a little more than usual because that is what I do when I am stressed,” Reynolds said. “The more I stress, the more I joke.”
The Holden driver will be aiming to steal the championship lead from seven- time title winner Jamie Whincup at Phillip Island this weekend.
“My jokes are going to get really bad if that happens,’’ Reynolds said. “There will be a lot more of them and they won’t be well planned.”
Reynolds might get laughed at a bit, but he is no joke on the racetrack this year, with the former Ford driver sitting just 11 points behind V8 immortal Whincup on 647 points.
“It is bloody great to be where I am,’’ Reynolds said. “But I am also partially nervous. I haven’t been here before and I want to stay at the top of the grid.”
Reynolds, 32, is serious about leading the championship.
“It is our aim 100 per cent,’’ he said. “We want to race as fast as we can and be as high up as we can. And to do that, we need to do all the little things right.
“We can’t make mistakes. We have to get our pit stops right. We have to make the right strategy calls.”