Supertruck racing news

Biante Touring Car Masters
Round 4 – Queensland Raceway
21-23 August 2009

Well the transporter arrived home late on the Monday night from successfully campaigning the Super Trucks in Winton, which meant early Tuesday a quick unload of the super truck equipment in exchange for the binate equipment took place. John ‘Singo’ Singleton, flew in from the Gold Coast on the Monday night to get a nights sleep in before heading off with the b-double transporter to Ipswich for the weekend of racing.


(pic courtesy of James Smith)

For those of you who read the last newsletter, you will recall in Darwin we sustained a considerable amount of damage, as a result the WesTrac Whiteline Racing Camaro was stripped down and transported to long term sponsor All Transport Crash for a makeover !!

There the team repaired the right hand front mudguard, rear bumper, rear boot panel and then a complete respray. Once complete, it was transported back to the workshop, where Mark ‘birdman’ refitted all components, in addition, made adjustments to the throttle linkage to make it more progressive, making it easier to drive off slow corners, stripped the fuel cell, repairs to tail lights and general checks prior to loading.

Singo reported a good trip up North and was enjoying it so much was disappointed when he had reached his destination !! Bob the Builder and Mark flew up early Thursday morning.

The guys unpacked the transporter and set up our pit. Our amenities in our ‘a’ trailer were quite some distance from our pit – I would ring the guys when their meals were ready to wander down!!


(pic courtesy of James Smith)

Friday morning Andrew Miedecke flew in from Port MacQuarrie in his personal plane. His son George, flew in from Sydney Friday night and arrived almost the same time I did from Adelaide. From there the team picked up George and I and we headed back to our accommodation at Eight Mile. Friday through the day, the binate cars got to take part in two runs and having Andrew there with his extensive experience and expertise was a real bonus for the Builder.

The first practice was held at 9.50 and for the session The Builder completed 12 laps. An eventful session which included backwards action onto the grass, which he managed to survive unscathed. We did unfortunately develop an oil leak, which was found to be a cracked oil cooler. This meant Singo had to jump in the Mercedes Benz sponsored Vito van down to the Gold Coast. The rush was on, because the 2nd session was at 2.25. For this session we would be 16th fastest. John Bowe was the quickest followed by Jim Richards and Gavin Bullas.

In the second session, we completed 10 laps and made a considerable improvement, now 11th fastest. The enhancements made showed we were heading in the right direction.

Still seeking better, the team decided that they would change the diff for qualifying on the Saturday. The reason for the diff change was to move to a lower ratio to achieve more acceleration out of the corners, but also to try a ‘spool’ type diff as opposed to a ‘locker’ type. The only set back in making such a dramatic change was that there was no practice on the Saturday prior to qualifying, so this would be the session it would be tested out on.

On arrival at the track, prior to qualifying the team bled the brakes and fitted new tyres. The Qualifying session was held at 10.25 We did 10 laps for the session, with our quickest on lap 9 with a 1.22.85, tenths of seconds separating 8 cars – positions 1 – 3 the usual suspects, Richards, Bowe and Bullas.


The calm before the storm… (pic courtesy of James Smith)

Race one was scheduled for 12 laps at 2.20 with Bob the Builder starting out of 13 where he qualified. Conditions were hot and sunny. With the safety car off, it was on with Jimmy Richards leading the pack closely followed by Bowe, however by the completion of the first lap Bowe had grabbed the lead back. Bob was running 13th, making up a position by lap 4, then another to move into 11th when the safety car was triggered as a result of a grass fire started from the exhaust of Garry Treloar when he spun on the infield. On the seventh lap the safety car left the circuit and racing was resumed – Bob the Builder retained his 11th, with Richards, Bullas and Bowe providing a very exciting tussle up the front. The chequered flag was shown 1 x lap earlier, due to the time lost extinguishing the fire.

Bob recounting the race said his vision from inside the car was pretty exciting with cars making contact with one another and dropping wheels of the circuit. Bob also commented that he had flat spotted a couple of tyres in a cornering lock up but overall was really happy with the result, but believes had he had a better understanding of where the start finish line was for the restart, maybe could have got the jump on the two cars in front of him, but was worried about being pinged for jumping the start, so took the conservative approach.

Leaving the track was drawn out, taking us 1 ½ hours to get back to our accommodation, after very quick showers headed to “Michaels” a local asian restaurant which has a couple of walls full of photos of famous diners and when you talk to Queenslanders it seems everyone knows and frequents this restaurant.

It wasn’t a late night because we had a very early 5.30 a.m. start as our first race was at 9 plus we had to pack all of our gear because we wouldn’t be going back there after the race.


Georgie giving Bob last minute tips.

Race 1 on Sunday was 12 laps held at 9.00 a.m. the starting positions were as per finish of yesterdays race, so 11 for The Builder. Got away okay, but did lose a couple of spots at the start of the third lap to Hunter No. 10 and Mason no. 3, Bob was running consistent laps maintaining his position, with action a plenty in the 5th lap when Bullas No 16 attempted a deep braking manouvre on turn 4, but came undone going infield, so too Marget No 17 and Tilley No. 28. Bullas and Marget managed to get mobile again pretty quickly not to be too disadvantaged, however, Bowe in No. 12 made the most of it and extended out to a very healthy lead. Bob managed to make up a spot in the ninth lap when he made a move under 27 O’Brien coming into the straight. He was now 12th, although Mason 3, Hunter 10 and Bob 95 all went over the line bunched up together. Bowe won the race, followed by Bullas and Richards, 2nd and 3rd respectively. In that race, Bob was running very quick laps for the last three in the 1.22’s. On return to the pit he commented he really enjoyed the race and was happy with the Westrac Whiteline Racing Camaro.

Race 2. No changes were made prior to the last race of the day, again over 12 laps. Starting positions determined by the grouping together of results of previous races, resulting in Bob starting out of 11.

Green light was on and the field was off – not a good start for Bob in the Westrac Whiteline Racing Camaro, commented post race, he was just wheel spinning on the spot, resulting in losing several placings, then this coupled with dropping a wheel off the track soon after, and a subsequent ‘love tap’ to the right of the car near the tail light lens causing some cosmetic damage by the No. 27 entry of O’Brien meant he now found himself in 17th.

Whilst we only sustained the minor damage, O’Brien had significant damage to his guard and side panels. There was an initial tussle between Bowe and Jimmy Richards, with Jim taking the lead. The field 1 right back to 9 remained unchanged with Bob managing to work his way back up the field to finish in 14th. On return to the pit, he commented there was just no grip finding the track totally different to the morning race. Temperatures on the track had risen dramatically since this morning and this was apparently having an effect on the entire field as all cars were significantly slower than in race 1.

For the weekend, we would finish in position 12.


(pic courtesy of James Smith)

The race was on then to complete the packing up, as we had been advised that a window existed at 3 pm to get the transporters out – this all came to a screaming halt when traffic regulations took priority which meant we were not allowed to access the roads from the track until 7pm. So Singo made himself comfortable for the wait – although from the raceway to where John lives, his journey was only a couple of hours.

In the meantime, Mark, Bob and myself made a bee line out of the track to return the vito van to Freightliner, where Branch Manager John Grossman then kindly took us to the airport.

Andrew and George straight after the race headed to Willowbank Sky Diving aerodrome where Andrew had parked up his plane and headed back to Port MacQuarrie with the intent of being home before the V8 race to watch it on television from the comfort of a lounge chair !!!!

Singo took the transporter back to where he lives on the border of New South Wales and Queensland and will take it to eastern creek for the next round in a fortnight.

So there you have it – I will be in touch again after the round at Eastern Creek.

Kind regards, Shaz Middleton

For further information

Sharon Middleton
Director
Whiteline Racing Promotions P.L.
mobile: 0418 826 272
email: shaz@wline.com.au

In Memory
Sadly, I must let you all know that Julie recently lost her long and hard-fought battle with cancer.

Those of you who have followed our team since the mid 90’s will recall how successful Andrew was campaigning the Whiteline Racing No. 85 Nascar.

Julie would come to the meetings to lend her support to Andrew and be part of the team. Our thoughts are with Andrew, Ruby, George and Harry at this sad time.

Richards scores first Biante win in QLD debut

The Biante Touring Car Masters delivered an action-packed debut at Queensland Raceway (QLD) with a well-earned first round win for Shannons driver Jim Richards, this weekend.
In Group 2, a David-and-Goliath battle between the Monaro of Greg Waddington and the Porsche of Graeme Cook dominated proceedings with Waddington delivering the first punch wining race one, but it was Cook who prevailed with two straight wins in the following 12-lap bouts, impressively finishing in the top 10 overall in all three races in the Porsche.

The Group 2 championship lead, however, was succeeded by the Black Cat Racing Porsche of Rory O’Neill. Despite a range of minor mechanical issues for a number of the series’ frontrunners, including John Bowe and Gavin Bullas, Friday’s two practice session provided an accurate Group 1form guide for the weekend with Richards fastest followed by Bowe and Bullas.

Friday practice sessions also featured O’Neill and Cook’s Porsches at the top of Group 2. In a repeat of the previous round at Darwin, Saturday morning’s qualifying saw former V8 Supercar hero, Richards top the Biante timesheets as his Shannons Falcon again set the pace with a 1:18.788m lap, just three tenths ahead of second of the WesTrac Cat Camaro of Bowe.

Of the Group 2 runners, Cook’s Racemoves/Buik Motorworks Porsche set the bench-mark with a 1:22.491m lap to qualify 10th outright. Featuring an all-legend front row with Richards and Bowe front row, Gentleman Jim got the jump at the start of race one.

A clean start turned into a hectic opening lap with contact from Waddington sending the Sunliner Monaro of Tony Hunter off-track at turn two. Series leader, Bullas made an aggressive lunge under brakes in the Rain City Mustang, charging from third place to the front of the field as Richards took evasive action by running off the circuit, which dropped him back to fifth place behind Bullas, Bowe, Drew Marget and Brad Tilley.
The pursuing laps had Bowe and Bullas repeatedly trading places for the race lead, while Richards worked past the Tilleys Automotive Falcon on lap three.

A drag race along the front straight saw Richards make his move on third-placed Marget and quickly close down the gap to join the battle with the leading pair. A grass fire mid-race brought out the Safety Car on lap five as the fire marshals expertly brought the blaze under control to get the race underway again with the field recompressed on lap seven. Quick to seize his opportunity, Tilley muscled through on Marget with four laps remaining.

With only five corners remaining, Richards out-braked Bullas at the end of the back straight on the final lap to lead the pack to his first race win in the Biante Touring Car Masters. The Group 2 race victory went to Waddington who recovered well from his opening lap incident and used all his cunning to withstand immense pressure from Cook.

Starting Sunday morning with a reverse grid for the top eight cars in race two saw Richards grid up in eighth place behind his main rivals Bullas and Bowe, with Waddington’s Monaro on pole. By the end of a busy opening lap, the lead had switched to Marget and then over to Bowe, with Tilley up into third. Presented with a clear track laid out in front of him, Bowe stretched out a strong lead. Bullas out-braked himself into turn three and briefly bounced across the countryside before rejoining the circuit, but a simultaneous incident in which Tilley tapped and spun Marget allowed the Rain City driver a lucky break as he sailed past with Richards in tow.

Bowe’s advantage blew out to over eight seconds, until lapped traffic let Bullas and Richards claw the gap back to 4.8sec as the trio greeted the chequered flag. Cook was the top-placed Group 2 car in race two, finishing in eighth spot overall and impressively holding out XY GTHO Falcon of Rod Wilson.

Replicating the race one grid, Richards lined up on pole alongside Bowe for race three and, as the start lights went out, he maintained his advantage ahead of Bowe through the first lap. Starting from fourth Marget passed and held out Bullas for a lap and a half before Bullas remounted a charge after the leaders.
Continuing the action at the front of the field, Bowe made a lunge past Richards for the race lead, but was unable to shake the seven-time Bathurst winner who quickly returned serve and re-took command of the race.

Bowe dogged Richards all the way to the chequered flag with Bullas trailing in third, giving Richards his second race win and first overall round victory in the category. Bowe locked away second place for the round and narrowed the overall series points between himself and championship leader Bullas.

Third overall for the round, Bullas’ winning streak was brought to a halt, but the 2008 Biante series winner still holds a 104-point lead in the championship. Cook’s class win in race three secured the South Australian his second Group 2 round victory, with O’Neill in second and Mark Forgie rounding out the top three for an overall Porsche clean sweep. Previous Group 2 leader, Trevor Talbot’s absence in the Dukes Body Works Torana XU-1, this weekend, opened the door for O’Neill to step up into the Group 2 series lead, with Cook in second and Talbot relegated to third.

The Biante Touring Car Masters now has a quick two-week turnaround for round five at Eastern Creek (NSW) as part of the Muscle Car Masters event on 5-6 September.

In addition to battling for Touring Car Masters championship points, the best of Australia’s Biante field will provide a thrilling finale to the Muscle Car Masters event as they take on their Kiwi counterparts in a Trans-Tasman contest, with both sides racing for national pride.

Biante Touring Car Masters Championship
Standings (after round 3 of 7):

Group 1
Gavin Bullas 692
John Bowe 588
Drew Marget 508
Brad Tilley 485
Steve Mason 407
Tony Edwards 384
Jim Richards 359
Rod Wilson 327
Bob Middleton 312
Steve Makarios 219
Graham Alexander 219
Tony Hunter 210
Nigel Benson 191
Greg East 168
Alastair MacLean 162
Michael Acheson 132
Ross Donnelley 90
Mike Erwin 66
Robbie Burns 60
Matt O’Brien 45
Brett Youlden 42
Garry Treloar 18

Group 2
Rory O’Neill 526
Graeme Cook 493
Trevor Talbot 476
John Nelson 380
Greg Waddington 369
Mark Forgie 272
Bernie Stack 268
Cameron Mason 240
Ian McAlister 217
Mick Wilson 193
Amanda Sparks 178
Richard Fairlam 174
Phillip Showers 132
Greg Keene 126
Tony Karanfilovski 0

The Biante Touring Car Masters is proudly supported by Biante Model Cars, Rare Spares, Shannons Insurance, Hoosier Tires, Coopers and official charity RSPCA Australia.

For further information contact:

Marscelle Tully, Media Manager
Biante Touring Car Masters

Live PR & Media
0408 581 147
Email: marscelle@liveprmedia.com

THE RACING CALENDAR FOR THIS YEAR …

2009 Australian SuperTruck Series:
Round 1 – Oran Park (Sydney, NSW) – Fri 15, Sat 16 May *
Round 2 – Winton (Benalla, VIC) – Sat 15, Sun 16 August
Round 3 – Barbagallo (Perth, WA) – Sat 19, Sun 20 September
Round 4 – Barbagallo (Perth, WA) – Sun 18 October **
Round 5 – Mallala (Adelaide, SA) – Sat 31 October, Sun 1 November

Notes:
* The round is being conducted on the Fri & Sat.
** This round will be a Day/Night round. The date is still subject to change to Sat 17 October

2009 BIANTE Touring Car Masters:
Clipsal 500, SA – March 19-22
Winton, Vic – May 1-3
Darwin, NT – June 19-21
Qld Raceway, Qld – August 21-23
MCM Eastern Creek, NSW – September 4-6
Bathurst 1000, NSW – October 8-11
Sandown Historics, Vic – November 6-8


Singo getting ready for his journey north with the ‘roadshow’.		The Camaro

Pic courtesy of James Smith		Last minute pep talk.

In the pits

Ready to go...		The team discusses the finer points of strategy.