Previous Editions of Latest News
This meeting would see Caterpillar dealer William Adams as major sponsor of the event. Bob the Builder, Middleton, left Adelaide by road on Wednesday morning with Jeff and Terry flying in from Auckland that night.
Next morning the crew headed to William Adams Laverton where, with the much appreciated assistance of Glen Wheelan, Terry and Jeff would use their facilities to firstly clean off the incredible layer of salt that had formed on the supertruck and to check valve and injector settings & also rebuild both turbos which required new compressor wheels. With special thanks to Mike and Steve at Select Trucks, the SuperTruck was towed up to Benalla behind a loan freightliner and the container with our spares was on a separate Freightliner vehicle with a long tray body. Regrettably, tragedy would strike our team today, with the terrible news that long term friend and crew member Gary ‘Cookie’ Cook had lost his life in a car accident. Ironically, Cookie was to travel with Bob to Melbourne – we wished he had done so. (Please refer to our tribute to Cookie in this newsletter.) I said to Bob after receiving the news, that if ever there was a weekend for us to be victorious, it was this one, this weekend would become all about Cookie. Friday was all about setting up our pit, but again, we were traveling lightly with only our container that had been shipped to New Zealand. We were also involved in media and sponsor rides. For myself, I flew into Melbourne Friday night, where I met up with Jodie Harwood from Perth who had been holidaying there and from there we caught the Sydney train for the 2 1⁄2 journey to Benalla to meet up with Bobby, Jeff and Terry. The crew was greatly assisted by Mark and Jeremy of William Adams and Dale from Beaurepaires. Saturday, 30th April, 2005
Practice was held at 10.17am in perfect weather conditions. With the fastest lap times and in fact breaking the track record with a 146.6 it was decided not to make any modifications to the existing set up, other than to modify the exhaust, to reduce noise emission. As this was a practice session, the record, whilst documented cannot be deemed the new track record, it must be done in official qualifying or racing.
Qualifying was not until 2.20pm, track was overcast. Middleton and
the team were happy with the lap times achieved at qualifying, the
best time being a 1.46.914 and believed we had first spot on the
grid. Crick had only completed two laps when he went off with a
blown hose – the second lap our crew had timed, but lap one,
which unless you time in the exact same position as the time keepers
is impossible to time, and on collection of the official time sheets,
found that Crick had just pipped us by one hundredth of a second.
Saturday night the crew dined at the Royal Hotel, retiring for an early night in readiness for race day. Sunday, 1st May, 05 The SuperTrucks were the first category to hit the track for warm up. As a result the track was greasy and conditions were slippery. Whilst slightly slower times than yesterday, the team would make no changes and felt the track would improve after a few categories had hit the track.
The gap that had developed while Middleton regained lost time was going to be a challenge and whilst making up excellent ground would have to be content with second. On return to the pit, it was noted that the boost was down a few pound, so the crew did checks of the intercooler to ensure there were no leaks prior to the next race. Middleton did his quickest lap in lap three and was in fact faster than qualifying with a 1.46.3922.
Prior to race two, a co-drivers race took place, which Middleton
circulated in, dicing in and out of traffic coming from the back
to the lead then dropping back – this was all for the benefit
of television. The Whiteline Racing Cat-powered Freightliner was
fitted with a television camera thus ensuring the entire field was
filmed.
In this race, Middleton would do the quickest lap time of all competitors,
being a 1.46.08. Crick’s fastest lap time was 1.47.37 so it
goes to show, Middleton did have the edge speed wise, he just needed
a little luck. Again, a really exciting event with the big guns weaving their way through the traffic. Crick had better luck through the traffic than Middleton, but again the two rivals were bumper to bumper and the crowd were cheering with great excitement. With three laps to go and Middleton again looking good for a pass, he broke the entire gear shaft housing and was unable to manually change gears. This resulted in the Whiteline Freightliner going into automatic, which is a huge disadvantage out of corners as it bogs down.
The SuperTruck and container were loaded up that evening and the crew dined at Georgina’s Restaurant to celebrate the weekends results. Next morning it was back into Melbourne to return the loan vehicles to Select Trucks and arrange for a Whiteline linehaul vehicle to transport the Whiteline Freightliner back to Adelaide for detailing and repairs then onto Perth for Westrac and the V8 Super Car event 6-8 May, 2005 at Barbagallo. Prior to the next round in Adelaide 21-22 May, 05 the crew will reposition the air cleaners in order to allow cooler air flow to the engine, repair the exhaust and run general maintenance checks. As always, thank you to our supporters and sponsors – we look forward to keeping you informed with winning results from the next round in our home town of Adelaide. Yours
in racing and regards, Racing Photos James Smith © 2005.
Previous Editions of Latest News April 05 Round 2: Manfield – New Zealand Championship March 05 Round 1: Timaru – New Zealand Championship
Aug 04 Round 3: Barbagallo – Australian Championship May 04 Round 1: Mallala – Australian Championship Feb 04 Round 3: Pukekohe – New Zealand Championship Jan 04 Round 2: Manfield – New Zealand Championship Jan 04 Round 1: Timaru - New Zealand Championship
December 03 : New truck finshed with only weeks to spare before Timaru race!
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Robert
Obliubek of Caterpillar met up with the crew and enjoyed a dinner
and get together that evening – no doubt strategies for a
successful weekend were discussed!
Saturday
would allow the category a practice session, followed by qualifying
only. Unlike other race meeting formats no races were to be held
on the Saturday.
Race
one was held at 10.15am in overcast conditions and would be decided
over 6 laps. Benalla has a short and a long track, other years using
the short track, however, this year would be the long circuit.
The
re-start was fantastic for Middleton, getting the jump on main rival
Crick and in fact the bulk of the 15 truck field. Heading for the
front of the field Middleton was forced to run off the track to
avoid a very sideways Amorosso, who was not backing off. In this
instance, Crick would have the edge and take the lead. Regaining
his composure, Middleton traveled right on Crick’s bumper
and was looking good for a pass. Unfortunately, the opportunity
was missed, when diff oil from the truck of Bajeema would see Middleton
slightly slide, losing the position required to seize the moment.
We
would take second place again in the third race and second overall
for the meeting. Whilst disappointed not to take the chequered flag
a podium finish of second was still an excellent result for the
team.
Memories
of a wonderful mate...