Biante Touring Car Masters Round 7 – Sandown, VIC 6-8 November 2009 Post Bathurst, Mark ‘Birdman’ Peacock went about the preparation for Sandown – the final round for the year. Mark changed the diff for setting the ratio suitable for Sandown and changed the gearbox settings for closer ratios.   Action a plenty at Sandown. Pic courtesy Rob Lang.   Mark also redesigned the exhaust and rebuilt the clutch. Gregg addressed the pushrod issue under the bonnet, not having to remove the engine completely this time around. Additional general check overs and a clean finalized the preparation and she was loaded up. The team this weekend would be enhanced with Terry Bee and Jeff ‘Sticks’ who after the final round of the super trucks stayed on to make the journey to Melbourne to experience the camaro in action. The boys set off 4.00 a.m. on Thursday morning, Bob driving the b-double with co-pilot the bee, and the rest of the crew were in the van. They made pretty good time arriving at the track for unload 3pm in the arvo. From there they set up the pit and headed to our home for the weekend, Sandown Regency Motor Inn. The boys stayed in and dined at the Inn’s restaurant. The track only 10 minutes from the accommodation, the boys headed out early Friday morning for preparation for two practice sessions and media rides. The first session was held at 10ish, but only got to run a couple of laps when a severe misfire developed. Bob managed to limp into the pit and the team went about diagnosing the problem. It was found the alternator wasn’t charging, but felt this was caused by a loose wire.   A picture tells the story, the blue smoke would spell the end to our weekend. Pic courtesy James Smith.   This was rectified and went out for a second practice around lunch time only to find the issue was still there. Retiring back to the pit, the crew further looked at the possibilities and decided to replace the carby. At this time seven of the spark plugs were replaced as one had been replaced in the earlier session. With the replaced carby installed, Bob headed to the track for a couple of ride sessions with Bee and Jeff. Whilst this was happening Gregg inspected the carby that was taken off to find that a tube to the carby was getting blocked off when the air cleaner was fitted – this was causing the engine to flood. Running a lot better with the replacement carby there was still a slight miss apparent at high rpm. After the media rides, the team replaced the eighth spark plug so the wear would be consistent with the 7 that were replaced. The crew headed to the West Meadows Tavern for tea – one of our old haunts when we raced Nascar, then headed to the airport to pick me up. My luggage – race suit, overalls and alternator. More commonly referred to my me as last minute space junk.   I think the song goes “smoke gets in your eyes”. Pic courtesy Rob Lang.   First practice session for Saturday was at 9.45 in temperatures that were rapidly hotting up – just like last weekend at the super trucks. Completing some 8 laps, apart from slight miss Bob was on the pace. On return to the pit he commented that the WesTrac camaro was handling really well and was making up ground. The crew just completed the usual checks, refueled and put new tyres on for the qualifying session held at midday. Gregg also found one of the leads to a spark plug had a burn mark from the exhaust, so that piece was cut out in case that was the cause for the slight miss. The brakes were also bled. With a warm up lap completed Bobby let loose picking up the pace, arriving at turn 1 on lap 2 a little too enthusiastically causing a brake lock up which resulted in flat spotting of the new tyres. Settling back in he completed 9 laps with his quickest one on lap 3 a1.221 putting him in 15th off the grid for the first race.   A case of bums up, heads down to diagnose the problem. Pic courtesy Rob Lang.   Race 1 was an 8 lap race with Bobby starting out of 15. He reported he was happy with the start, but the chaos ensuing in turn 1 with cars bashing and crashing meant he couldn’t take the inside line and lost 5 x spots. On completion of lap 1 Bob was in 20th, with Richards and Bullas up the front putting on a great show. Tilley, Edwards and Marget completed the group of 5 that had a gap on the rest of the field. Bob was running his race, gradually making his way back up through the field, when on the end of the 4th lap the cab filled with smoke. Mark directed Bob to shut the engine down – so his race was run. The WesTrac camaro was towed in. The bonnet was lifted and the hose to the dry sump pump was found to be the culprit for the blue smoke, however, on further inspection the problem would go deeper when running the engine found water to be disappearing from the radiator and a closer look would discover it was coming from a cracked head in the exhaust port of number 8 cylinder. And that spelt the end of the weekend. Finishing 8pm Saturday night the boys went about loading up our tools and pit area. Bullas, Richards and Edwards would take out race 1, 1 – 3 respectively.   A pit lane perspective.   Given we took no further part in the weekend, please refer to the Biante newsletter following for information regarding the 2 x races held Sunday. Sunday was extremely hot and even spectating had it’s challenges !!! Sunday night the annual presentation was held at Wheelers Hill, with Bullas winning his second championship, refer to press release below. Obviously a disappointing way to finish the season, but hey, that’s what they say is motorsport !! Details should be available soon for what next year holds and from that I will be able to report more accurately as to what the strategy is for Whiteline Racing. Kind regards, Shaz Middleton For further information Sharon Middleton Director Whiteline Racing Promotions P.L. mobile: 0418 826 272 email: shaz@wline.com.au

Biante Touring Car Masters crowns two new champions

Biante Touring Car Masters has crowned its two champions for the 2009 season; Gavin Bullas and Trevor Talbot.

Offering both Ford and Holden fans something to cheer about, Bullas and his 1969 Ford Boss Mustang lifted the Group 1 trophy, while Talbot’s 1972 Holden XU-1 Torana wrapped up its maiden Group 2 Championship win at the Historic Sandown season finale.

For Bullas, today’s championship crowning was a mere formality that capped off a supremely dominant title defence, with the reigning 2008 champion leading the series all the way through from the opening race of the season, setting multiple lap records, pole positions and taking 10 race wins and five round wins along the way. Bullas wrapped up his second consecutive title with a fittingly dominant performance in the season finale, scoring the opening race win and the overall round victory.

Talbot locked away his maiden title after the opening race at Sandown. Needing only to finish the eight-lap stoush to advance out of reach of the rest of the Group 2 field, Talbot raced the Dukes Body Works Torana to a strong fourth place, and finished second for the overall event. The Biante Touring Car Masters will rev up for the 2010 season with a packed field of returning favourites, plus new entries and two defending champions in the season opener at the Clipsal 500 (SA) on 11-14 March.

GAVIN BULLAS:

“We’ve had a really good season this year. To dominate as well as we have, I’m very happy and I really want to thank all of my personal supporters; Phil Munday Panels, Rain City Industries, NGK Spark Plugs and Spy Boats for all their help in getting successfully through the season.
“Obviously, we also owe a great deal of thanks to our series sponsors – Biante, Rare Spares, Shannons and Hoosier.
“I especially need to thank Tony Black for all the work that he’s done preparing the race car - it’s been absolutely faultless all season.
“I’ve had some great battles all the way through this season – it’s a fantastic bunch of guys that make up the category and I’ve had a great time racing against them all year.
“Now we need to focus on how to come back bigger and better next year, because it’s going to be an even tougher season to defend – I think there’ll realistically be five or six guys up battling for the lead.
“Tony and I will sit down and review where we’re at for next year and see what we have to do to make the car a bit quicker and further improve my driving to try to stay a step ahead and defend the title again in 2010.”

TREVOR TALBOT:

“We just go racing for the fun of racing, so this is a pretty good bonus to win the Group 2 Championship, too.
“I’m a die-hard Holden man, so I’m glad to be able to put the Torana on top. The closer we got to the title, I made it a bit of a goal just to try to hold out those Porsches.
“I really have to thank Neville for all the work he’s done with me on the car; he’s done a great job and I’m looking forward to doing it again with him next year.”

CHRIS STILLWELL
Chairman, BTCM Board of Directors:

“On behalf of the series, we’d like to extend huge congratulations to both Gavin and Trevor.
“They have both driven outstandingly all season and their remarkable consistency is clearly how championships are won.
“This has been an extremely exciting season and thanks must go to all of our competitors who continue to turn out an array of fantastically prepared race cars. The level of competition just keeps getting tougher and more intense and that is due to their huge commitment to the category and for constantly raising the bar.
“I’d like to thank Chris Roche and Biante Model Cars; we’ve enjoyed a great working relationship over the past three seasons since the conception of the series and much of what we have achieved in this time would not have been possible without their support.
“We are also extremely grateful for the on-going support of our associate sponsors Rare Spares, Shannons and Hoosier Tires.
“Developed primarily as a V8 Supercar support category, we thank V8 Supercars Australia for the opportunity to be a part of their race program and look forward to an exciting season supporting the main game in 2010.
“Last but not least, we are indebted to the fans who appreciate our efforts to present an entertaining recreation of the glory days of muscle car racing from the 60’s in the 70’s.”

CHRIS ROCHE
CEO, Biante Model Cars

“Congratulations from Biante to Gavin and Trevor for their tremendous drives.
“This year has seen yet another excellent season of the Biante Touring Car Masters.
“As the defending champion, Gavin obviously likes to win and has done an especially good job to take the outright competition against such experienced like drivers like Jim Richards and John Bowe, who have played a fantastic role in this series’ battles.”

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

Note: Biante Touring Car Masters is a performance-based category; the Group 1 category is predominantly made up of cars with engine capacity over five litres, with Group 2 cars under five litres.

2009 Biante Touring Car Masters wraps up at Historic Sandown

Once again highlighting a dominant championship assault, Biante Touring Car Masters double champion, Gavin Bullas sealed his fifth round victory of the seven-round series in the season finale at the National Lube Historic Sandown (VIC), this weekend.

In a hard-fought Group 2 battle, Greg Waddington scored his first round win of the season, triumphing over newly-crowned champion, Trevor Talbot in second place. Jim Richards in the Shannons Falcon Sprint claimed his fourth pole position for the season, with Bullas in the Rain City Racing Mustang only two tenths slower and relieved to post the time after a clutch issue was diagnosed prior to qualifying. In Group 2, Porsche driver Bernie Stack’s qualifying pace was a full second faster than Waddington in the four-door Holden HQ, with series leader Talbot’s Torana in third.

Starting race one, Richards managed to get the Sprint in front of Bullas into turn one, with Brad Tilley charging into third place in the Tilleys Automotive Falcon GT and just in front of Tony Edwards’ Monaro.
Tilley then used the power of the GT to move into second place, but locked up on the approach to turn one and almost took Richards out before going off the circuit and down to fifth place.

Bullas started to apply some pressure to Richards and had moved into the lead on lap three and for the remaining laps engaged in a gripping battle with Richards, with the duo swapping places several times.
Richards had control at the end of lap five, but Bullas was not to be denied and moved back into lead on the next lap and stayed there to the finish. Edwards remained a solid in third to score his best result for the season ahead of Drew Marget, while Stack was a comfortable leader in Group 2 in front of Waddington and Cameron Tilley in the Valiant Pacer.
Crossing the line without fuss in fourth place, Talbot clinched the Group 2 championship title.

The weekend’s race two featured the HQ Monaros of Tony Hunter and Graham Alexander on the front row for the top-eight reverse grid, but it was Stack who made a demon start to go between the two Holdens and into the lead. Marget had also made a great start and led the field out of turn four to lead Tilley, Stack, Bullas, Edwards, Hunter and Richards.

At the end of lap two, Stack had been relegated to sixth and the order remained static until lap five when Steve Mason, on a stunning charge from the rear of the field, took over the spot from the Porsche, and Bullas passed Tilley for second place. Crossing the finish line ahead of Bullas and Tilley, Marget scored his second race win of the season, giving him a positive note to exit the series competition at the end of the weekend, while Stack again won in Group 2 from Waddington and Tilley. The Mustangs of Bullas and Marget filled the front row in the season’s final race, and it was Marget who led lap one from Bullas, Richards, Edwards, Tilley and Stack.

Richards moved to second place on the next lap and then on lap four took over the lead from Marget before the safety car was called intao action. With the pack compressed, the safety car pulled in to unleash a wild final-lap dash for the chequered flag. Marget challenged Richards, but was unable to get by the former Australian Touring Car Champion and Bullas the rounded out the top three. Further down the field, chaos broke out as Mason spun at turn one and Stack was forced to take evasive action to avoid the Camaro. Unfortunately, Michael Acheson’s Charger arrived on the scene and collected the Gawler Self Storage Porsche causing considerable damage to both cars and denying Stack of the Group 2 round win.

With a win a piece, Bullas scored the overall round win ahead of Marget and Richards, while Waddington finished his season with the Group 2 round win ahead of Talbot and the Nelson Architects Porsche of John Nelson. At the end of the day, it was Bullas and Talbot who stood holding the silverware as the 2009 season Biante Touring Car Masters Champions.

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

Group 1
Gavin Bullas 1028
John Bowe 887
Brad Tilley 868
Jim Richards 843
Drew Marget 804
Steve Mason 711
Rod Wilson 603
Tony Edwards 574
Graham Alexander 534
Tony Hunter 459
Bob Middleton 417
Michael Acheson 350
Alastair MacLean 296
Nigel Benson 296
Steve Makarios 219
Greg East 168
Matt O’Brien 150
Ross Donnelley 90
Mike Erwin 66
Robbie Burns 60
Brett Youlden 42
Garry Treloar 18

Group 2
Trevor Talbot 944
Greg Waddington 790
Rory O’Neill 774
John Nelson 722
Bernie Stack 504
Graeme Cook 493
Ian McAlister 487
Mick Wilson 467
Cameron Mason 387
Cameron Tilley 381
Phillip Showers 342
Greg Keene 317
Mark Forgie 272
Richard Fairlam 216
Amanda Sparks 211
Tony Karanfilovski 180
Mark Buik 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) – Sun 18 October
Round 4 – Mallala (Adelaide, SA) – Sat 31 October, Sun 1 November

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

Jeff, Bee Bob and Gregg; Pics all courtesy Rob Lang.		Bob takes Terry “honey-bee” for hot laps. Courtesy Rob Lang
Jeff’s turn in the passenger hot seat with Bobby. courtesy Rob Lang		Action from Sandown - pic courtesy Rob Lang
The WesTrac Camaro in action at Sandown. Pic courtesy James Smith.		Cornering at Sandown. Pic courtesy James Smith.
The action continues… Pic courtesy Rob Lang.

Previous Editions of Latest News

November 09 Round 4: SuperTruck Australian Championship – Mallala

October 09 Round 6: Biante Touring Car Masters – Bathurst

September 09 Round 3: SuperTruck Australian Championship – Barbagallo

September 09 Round 5: Biante Touring Car Masters – Eastern Creek

August 09 Round 2: SuperTruck Australian Championship – Winton

August 09 Round 4: Biante Touring Car Masters – Queensland Raceway

June 09 Round 3: Biante Touring Car Masters – Hidden Valley, NT

May 09 Round 1: SuperTruck Australian Championship – Oran Park

May 09 Round 2: Biante Touring Car Masters – Winton

March 09 Round 1: Biante Touring Car Masters – Clipsal500

March 09: Introduction to Biante Camaro

November 08: Mallala – Australian Championship

November 08: Oran Park – Australian Championship

July 08 Round 3: Barbagallo – Australian Championship

May 08 Round 2: Mallala – Australian Championship

April 08 Round 1: Oran Park – Australian Championship

April 08 Round 2: Timaru – New Zealand Championship

January 08 Round 1: Timaru – New Zealand Championship

November 07 Round 5: Oran Park – Australian Championship

October 07 Round 4: Mallala – Australian Championship

August 07 Round 3: Barbagallo – Australian Championship

June-July 07 Round 2: Mallala – Australian Championship

April 07 Round 1: Oran Park – Australian Championship

November 06 Round 4: Oran Park – Australian Championship

October 06 Round 3: Barbagallo – Australian Championship

July 06 Round 2: Mallala – Australian Championship

May 06 Round 1: Oran Park – Australian Championship

Sept 05 Round 6: Oran Park – Australian Championship

May 05 Round 5: Barbagallo – Australian Championship

May 05 Round 4: Mallala – Australian Championship

May 05 Round 3: Winton – Australian Championship

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

August 03 : Truckin' Life

December 03 : New truck finshed with only weeks to spare before Timaru race!