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Round 5 of the 2008 Australian Championship at Mallala Motorsport Park, SA

After the Oran Park round end of August, we had reduced the John Falk (no. 87) lead in the championship from 14 points after our bad luck in Perth to 10 points. Whilst not impossible, we had somewhat gone into the Adelaide round believing it would be a tall order to close the 10 point lead gap and win the series, however, in what can only be described as an eventful meet, would see Bob the Builder not only win the round, but win the series for his fourth consecutive year.

Consistently, Bob at every round has been 1 – 3 seconds quicker than his nearest rival, but in this sport, especially with reverse grid racing, you need some luck on your side as well and need to be able to get through the traffic unscathed and early enough in the race to make a run for it without the front runners gaining too much of a lead. The Perth round with the failed turbo and front axle damage has really had us on the back foot – but as it would be, that all turned around for us on our home track to make a clean sweep and ultimately take out No. 1 prize yet again.

After the Oran Park round, a rear brake rotor was replaced and engine work was carried out on valve clearances. Other than that, the CAT powered, Aust 1 Freightliner was loaded up with the same set up as for the Oran Park circuit. Thursday, Terry and Jeff flew in from Auckland and Al, who has been working in the Northern Territory flew down from Darwin. Bob the Builder took the transporter to the track on the Thursday morning prior to the boys arriving.

Thursday night, the crew from Trevor Page racing caught up with us for a meal at Café Primo. Friday three practices were made available to the teams in addition to media rides scheduled for 4.30 p.m. We took part in 2 of the practice sessions and the rides. In our first session, the Builder clocked a 1.25.9 on only his second lap on the circuit, some 4.2 seconds quicker than rival Falk. We completed five laps for the session, did the usual check over with no problems and got the Freightliner ready to go for session 2.

In session 2, Bobby was slightly quicker again, so based on this and the full media ride session programmed we did not take part in the 3rd session for the day. We did in excess of 20 laps for the media rides, nearly equivalent to 3 x races !! On return to the pit after the rides, the right front brake rotor had cracked, this would be one of four on this same wheel for the weekend. The team checked the turbos with one requiring refreshing prior to practice and qualifying on Saturday.

Friday night, our team just stayed in with a home bbq, as we didn’t get home from the track until 9.30 p.m. Scrutineering was scheduled for 7.15 a.m. so it was a very early start. Prior to the first session, the team changed the front tyres. You may ask why, when it was going so well yesterday. The thing is the tyres would not have lasted the entire weekend, so it was better to scrub them in in a practice session. The new tyres resulted in retarding the time by a half second, so to counteract this adjustment to the sway bar was done.

The practice session was held at 8.30 a.m. in which we did 7 x laps, with our quickest in the sixth, our time being 1.26.3. John Falk’s best time was a 1.32.02, some 3.35 seconds slower. The crew completed the usual checks, but all was looking good for qualifying.
The qualifying session was held at 11.00 a.m. Bob the Builder would complete 5 x laps achieving his best time on lap 1, with a 1.26.6, rival Falk was 1.30.4 some 3.46 seconds slower and was only 4th fastest. Steve Coulter in his very quick spr qualified in 2nd spot with a 1.30.09 and Steve Zammit in 3rd spot with a 1.30.19. So here would begin the chase to close the gap, gaining 4 x points for winning pole position and clearly Falk had some work to do.

Within the category a protest against the 81 entry of Beau Hewat was lodged. Beau in practice on Friday did a gear box and overnight had one freighted from Melbourne – the crew were battling to finish the repairs in time for the Super Truck qualifying which was an early session, so were allowed to qualify in the co-drivers qualifying session, however, due to the protest his qualifying time was disallowed and was forced to start from the rear of the field.

Saturday afternoon, the Australian Truck Racing Organisation held its AGM, where Bob advised that he would not stand for a position on the committee. Clearly emotional about his decision, he feels that now that next year he intends to compete in the Muscle Car series, in a 1969 Camaro in 8 rounds that he will not have sufficient time to do any official positions any justice. Whilst not officially holding any positions, Bob made clear to all members he was available to assist if need be.

That night, the team dined at the Sailmaster, but were all in bed by 10pm as we would need to be up and about again at 5.00 a.m. Saturday had been quite draining with the heat and wind at Mallala. Sunday morning we had all four seasons, thunder, lightening, rain – it was quite tropical. One good thing, it had settled the dust, but had now added another equation to the table as to what to do with set up. Saturday had been dry, we were now dealing with a rain drenched surface.

On arrival the team with added help of Brenton, Angie, Liam and Mark went about setting up the marquee in readiness for the arrival of our guests. There was a practice session held at 8.30, but nothing could be gained from this – the track was wet and slippery.
Race one was held at 9.46 and was to be decided over 8 laps, but in the end was reduced to 6 laps with a series of on track mishaps.

On the start of the race, it was a clean entry into the first corner, when on the straight piece of track prior to the corner where the Whiteline marquee is situated, the Builder went a little wide allowing Falk to pounce and take advantage hitting the lead. Falk would remain in the lead until the ‘s’s’ just before the main straight, where the Builder would make a move on Falk to regain the lead, but not without some damage to the left guard, bar and lens fortunately though, the damage would not prove to be a real problem.

Lap 2, saw Steve Zammit in the 40 entry spin in the wet conditions, but luckily he sustained no damage and the rest of the field missed him. By lap 3, 4 and 5, the field had settled down with the positions 1 (Bob), 87 (Falk), 2 (Waters), 81 (Hewat) 6 (Rose), 96 (Amoroso), 3 (Coulter) 8 (Vardy), 40 (Zammit) 55 (Fletch), 18 De Gee, 30 (Seton). By lap 6, Bob the Builder had developed a handsome lead, when behind him, going in the s’s mayhem ensued when Falk and Waters came together, which would prove a disaster for Waters with the truck front axle destroyed and Rob injured with a wrist injury requiring him to be hospitalized. As it would be, Rob was given the okay but the truck was loaded up and would take no further part in the day.

Given the conditions and the position of the No. 2 entry on the track, the chequered flag was given, giving Bob his first win for the day and further closing the gap in the championship. Falk came 2nd, Rose 3rd. On return to the pit, the team would replace yet another rotor and repair the damage to the rear guard. In race one in the damp conditions, the Builder would clock the fastest time also for the field with a 1.28.8 with Falk’s fastest a 1.32.0. Race 2 was again to be over 8 laps but was reduced to 6 with another eventful stint on the track.

Starting in reverse grid, in still damp conditions, the entry for the field into turn one was hectic. By Whiteline Corner the builder had got up into fourth, behind Falk, Rose and Amoroso. In the following lap, again in this corner, Falk would spin and was now behind Rose and Amoroso. By lap 3 in turn 1, the builder moved into 2nd place and by the fourth lap had got around Amoroso, despite some extremely tight and physical racing was now starting to lap slower traffic. Behind him, Falk was recovering well from his spin and had pegged off the field to be in 2nd place but quite some distance back.

The race was flagged on completion of 6 laps, as the circuit was covered in diesel which was making the already slippery conditions even more difficult. The Builder would take out his second win for the day with Falk 2nd and Rose 3rd. As an indication of just how bad the circuit was, we had gone from 1.26’s to 1.48 !! on return to the pit, we had another cracked rotor to deal with.

The guest lunch was held at 12 pm with the builder in for a chat with resident m.c. Alan Marks and given that race day was also Bob’s 64th birthday was presented with a specially made Bob the Builder cake whipped up by Mayfair Cake Shops. It was great to see Al well enough to take part in the team, having just spent several weeks recovering from a broken ankle. Well done Al. We were now down to one spare rotor with 2 x races to go, so Mark arranged with Steve Smith of Mercedes to open their store so we could access the spares, Brenton drove down to Adelaide to collect them.

This second win had now brought the Builder within 1 point of the championship lead and suddenly our hopes were well and truly alive for a fourth Australian Title. So intent on winning the series, Falk had even cross entered himself in the 87 entry and the 96 entry just in case. However, in a twist of events, prior to race 3, Falk would return to his garage off pit lane and proceed to load up and withdrew from the event !

The last two races with the closeness of the points had the stage set for some very exciting racing – it is a pity that this was not played out on the track. So race three was held at 1.30 and contested over 8 laps. Again reverse grid, the builder would start from the rear. On commencement of the race and rush into turn 1, the field got through cleanly with the builder moving up into third place in pretty quick fashion.

Bobby would continue to peg off the field, taking the lead and would take out his third win for the day and complete the fastest lap of the field with a 1.30 in lap 4. The final event for the day was the Super Prix held at 4.10 and was to be 12 laps. The start for this race is the super trucks at the rear and handicapped with the group of light trucks up front.

The race got underway with a clean start into turn one, by the start of lap 2, the field was settling in, with the pack of super trucks starting to make their move on the light trucks. Laps 3 – 7 the builder was pegging off the field and with five laps to go, Bob took the lead from the very fast little light truck of Steve Coulter. The remaining laps were completed without incident and Bobby in the Whiteline Racing Cat Powered Freightliner would take his fourth win for the day and fourth consecutive Australian Title.

What was great, was on the cool down laps, Bob No. 1 in Super Trucks and Steve, No. 1 in Light Trucks travelled alongside one another around the circuit. Behind Coulter were Zammit in 40 and Hewat in 81 who had enjoyed an excellent dual. Bob was again the fastest truck for the race and completed a 1.30 in lap 9. On conclusion, some of the drivers, including Bobby put on a great display of burnouts with Beau Hewat winning the vote for the ultimate burn out !! The teams then went about loading and preparing for their trips home, prior to the presentation. As this was the last round for the year, the round prize giving and annual awards were done.

A good time was had by all with teams delivering some heartfelt messages in their acceptance speeches, with the emphasis being that the category had always been family orientated and that it was vital that the status quo remained.
Our own team were presented with picture graphs individually made for each team member in recognition of their dedication. Well done Terry, Jeff, Al and Mark. Jeff accepted his father’s Dave in his absence who is back home in Auckland.
As I have previously mentioned, next year the Builder will run with the Muscle Car series, provided the dates don’t clash, he may also take part in the super truck series, the dates are as follows :

April 4 – 5, 2009
Oran Park, NSW

August 15 – 16, 2009
Winton Raceway, Victoria

September 19 – 20, 2009
Barbagallo Raceway, Perth

October 31 – Nov 1, 2009
Mallala, Adelaide

Special thanks to Cavpower, Mercedes and Select Trucks for their support of the Adelaide round. It was also especially great to have friends and supporters of truck racing from New Zealand, Chris, Scratch, Kim, Bruce, Mo and Jim along. Chris did a great job in Whiteline merchandise on the Sunday too – thank you. Terry, Jeff and Al stayed on in Adelaide for a couple of days to unwind. Monday there was ‘clean up’ to do out at Mallala, but on the Tuesday the boys did a spot of fishing and rested up before flying back to Auckland Wednesday. Once I receive the information regarding the muscle car series, we will sit down and plan our schedule for next year at which time I will post onto the website our plans. As the camaro develops I will upload some updates.
Thank you to all for your support.

Yours in racing and regards,
Shaz

2009 dates to come......

The Australian Series 2008:

26th & 27th April, 2008
Oran Park – Sydney

17th & 18th May, 2008
Mallala – South Australia

2nd & 3rd August, 2008
Barbagallo – Western Australia

30th & 31st August, 2008
Oran Park – Sydney

1st & 2nd November, 2008
Mallala – South Australia


Text here.		Theo hands on.

2 heads are better than 1 - Angie & Shaz.		Text here.

Loading up the pope mobile - Brenton, Mark & Bob.		Sean & Kim.

Luch & Virginia.		Barb & Len.

Cushnie Clan.		Doug & Marie - Gulf Western Oil.

The Builder enters the marquee.		Shaz & I.T. Guru - Liam.

Shaz leads off with Happy Birthday!.		Al & Bob Chat.

Trophies to be presented..		Al & Shaz talk it up..

Steve & Carolyn.		Jo & Daniel.

Family Affair - Shaz, Frank and Reece.		Nancy & Theo.

Mark & Stephanie Crossling ‘Mackenzie Group’		Little Fans, Joshua & Millie.

Bob & Skitzo.		Georgie & Skitzo.

Kendall & Georgie Smith.		We didn’t knock back Chris’, from NZ, offer for help!

Ian & Steve.		Cook Family.

Brenton & Al fix the lighting Issue..		Chris & Scratch from South Isle NZ.

Beau Delights the crowd with this impressive burnout..		Bob the Builder acceptance speech..

Trevor Page accepting 1st in the light trucks for Steve “Hollywood” Coulter.		Bob presents to Stan, from Karen at T&M Magazine, an impressive framed print with Trevors assistance.

Terry, Jeff & Al at the Presentation.		Bob the Builders Birthday Cake.

M.C. Al having a quiet moment before his official duties..		Resident Whiteline Racing I.T. and Tech Support, Liam.

Mark repairing damage to rear left guard after Race 1..		Terry and Mark putting final touches to Aust 1 Cat with the Builder watching on..

Text here.		Text here.

Al & Jeff replacing one of several cracked rotors for the weekend..		What a cracked rotor looks like..

Liam & Dad (Mark).		Bob, Frank Amoroso & Steve Zammit chating between races..