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Round 3 of the 2009 Australian SuperTruck Championships


Courtesy of Alan Evans.

Hot from return from Eastern Creek – the road show was transformed from Biante Car to SuperTruck – the last few weeks have given us plenty of practice at this !!

Instead of the transporter going as a b-double, the SuperTruck and container with spares was loaded onto a flat rack to go by rail. This meant an earlier than normal departure for the truck.
Prior to load up, a replacement right rear guard and right rear tail light were fitted. One rear brake rotor was fitted, new gaskets to the water manifold and a new cooling fan on the radiator installed. The set up was double checked and measurements reviewed, however, this track and Winton run the same way so not a lot was changed with set up. The “A” trailer was hooked up to a Whiteline b-double and quickly converted to a b-triple, mind you, the air con was sacrificed to make safe clearance between the trailers.

Wednesday, busy bee Terry Honey and Jeff Kernohan made their way from Auckland, albeit a late arrival thanks to a Qantas breakdown that saw a fairly lengthy wait prior to departure. Rob of Daynite Towing collected our flat rack and delivered the truck and container to the track.

Thursday, Bob the Builder flew in from Adelaide where Joe our Perth depot Manager collected him from the airport and Jeff and Terry from their overnight hotel stay. They headed to Diesel Motors where Rob and the team kindly arranged for our team to have access to a near new Mercedes Vito to get the crew around.
Following this check in at Joondalup Resort which would be our home for the weekend, then out to the track to set up the pit. During the day, the ‘a’ trailer was a haven and social gathering point for all teams – reckon I should erect an “Evacuation Assembly Area Sign”. For tea the guys terrorized the Old Bailey in Joondalup town centre.


40 Zammit, 81 Hewat, 1 Bob the Builder battled it out all weekend.

Friday was practice and media rides. In our first practice we only did 3 laps and given every thing felt really good and the Cat Freightliner was doing what it was supposed to do out on the track, the team could see no point in doing lap after lap on a circuit well known to the Builder. We took part in five media rides and post session, Jeff and Terry checked over valves and turbos to find all was good.

Friday night the boys ate Chinese nearby Perth airport, so they were on hand to collect myself and Mark ‘Birdman’ Peacock from the airport on our arrival from Adelaide. Have come to the conclusion, it is lucky I travel at the last minute to these racing rounds – I say this because one of my bags was solely packed with engine parts, helmet and uniforms required for the meet !! Anyone scanning my luggage would be seriously wondering what I’m about – I refer to it as ‘carting space junk’.

Friday night, on return to Joondalup from the airport, the Trevor Page Team and Direct Power Steering Team were awaiting our arrival. Suddenly our town house was full and every chair in the place being used. It was a good opportunity for everyone to catch up. And don’t you love it when you travel and the pressure in the plane causes something in your toiletries bag to ooze – my god, I had the worst moulten mass to clear up !!!

Early start Saturday for a driver’s briefing and practice session. The builder did 5 laps but found the back taily. The Freightliner was brought in and the back tyres changed for some new rubber. The combination of tyres, early morning and moisture on the track were all contributing factors.


Bitter end, after massive lead all race, a good deed goes horribly wrong, spinning infield while waiting for the field to close the gap for a more colourful finish.

Qualifying was held at 10.00 a.m. The Builder completed 15 laps in the Cat Freightliner with the fastest lap on the first and would give him pole by .3920 of a second !! Zammit was second and Coulter third. On return to the pit The Builder commented that he felt a vibration through the truck, so the boys went about searching for it, the rotors the first point of call, but all was good. The problem was found to be pad material sticking to the rotor which causes a ‘shudder’ sensation. All this checked and rectified, and the front tyres were changed to overcome the understeer problem that had dogged the builder.


The Builder concentrates hard in the slippery conditions.

Race 1 was held at 2.30 and over 6 x laps. Starting out of pole, The Builder’s hesitation on the start line, relegated him into third by turn one following Zammit and Hewat. Fired up, it didn’t take long for the Builder to rectify the bad start taking Hewat on the final corner into the straight with the hunt now on for Zammitt. On the third lap, around the outside of Zammit, Bob the Builder stole the lead back from Zammit on the best corner WesTrac CAT corner and continued to expand on his lead taking the chequered flag. The builder was the quickest truck on the circuit by just shy of 2 seconds. Zammit was second, Coulter third and Hewat 4th.

On return to the pit we questioned the Builder about the start – his explanation was he hesitated not believing they would get the green and not wanting to jump the start hesitated – this cost him the advantage of qualifying pole, but as it would be, was able to regain the lead with good driving moves on CAT corner and the final corner into the straight. The team checked over the SuperTruck to find all looked good and set for a good day Sunday. Following the meeting, Barbagallo ran a burn out competition on a newly installed concrete skid pan. Beau Hewat in the 81 Kenworth put on a great display. Saturday night the crew stayed in at the Joondalup town house and had home cooking !!

Sunday started at 5.30 a.m. with two bird calls one from Mark ‘Birdman’ Peacock with his phone alarm and the local fauna with the warble of the Joondalup magpies. We also woke to rain !! ghast ! Just on magpies, how come that can sound so nice and be so cranky, aggressive and nasty !!

First practice was at 8.00 a.m. Bob the Builder only completed 6 laps as the track was very slippery. Nothing about set up or performance can be judged in these conditions although Beau Hewat in the 81 Kenworth Mr. Burnout was enjoying driving speedway style in the rain. To give you an idea of how bad the conditions were Bob’s times yesterday were 1.02’s and this morning were now 1.15’s.


40 Zammit & 1 Bob the Builder battle it out.

Race 1 was scheduled for 9.40 a.m and over 6 laps. Drizzly rain fell as the field did their warm up laps. The race started cleanly with all trucks getting through turn 1 Westrac Cat corner. By the start of the 2nd lap the field had settled into Bob in the lead followed by Zammit, Hewat, Waters who had made an excellent charge from the back to now be in fourth then Coulter. The third, fourth, fifth and final sixth lap Bob had developed a really healthy lead, when disaster struck – coming out of the final corner to enter the straight to take the chequered flag, Bob lost it !!! Spun going infield – really struggled to get off the infield in the wet, trying not to get bogged. Eventually managed to get rolling and cross the finish line to collect points.

But how bitterly disappointing – he had it in the bag – as the commentator said, it is not over until the fat lady sings – so true. On return to the pit he commented that coming into the final turn he backed it off so they would go over the line a little closer, but the diff locked and around she went and it is fair to say Bob the Gardener reappeared for a visit !!

It was good to see Rob Waters in the No 2 Kenworth out there – this being his home track had been bitterly disappointed by engine failure on Friday – the team worked day and night and managed to get back out there. In this race, on the 5th lap Rob certainly provided some entertaining driving coming onto the straight with some slip sliding side ways action. On return to the pit the team checked over the SuperTruck and found the left front rotor had cracked, this would have been due to the abrupt stop without cooling the brakes – so the team went about replacing this. Bob was the quickest out there with 1.04.5 with the first and second truck in the high 1.05’s and 1.06’s.


Check out the rain spray conditions.

Race 2 was held at 12 and again over 6 laps, the starting order was as they finished in the previous race, so this put Bob’s quickest rivals, Zammit and Hewat in 1 and 2 and he was at the back of the field !! The race got away cleanly with Zammit, Hewat leading and by turn 1 Westrac Cat corner Bob had already gone up the middle through three of the light trucks and was now on the chase. By the start of the 2nd lap, Beau Hewat in the 81 Kenworth was hovering all over Zammit no. 40 whilst Bob managed to get around Waters in the No. 2 Kenworth on turn 1 again Westrac Cat corner so now found himself in third and on a run for Hewat and Zammit.

Then came the rain big time, saturating the circuit when in the 4th lap Bob had a real go in turn 1 managed to get up the inside of Hewat but couldn’t follow it through with Hewat passing on the outside so Bob was still in third behind Hewat and Zammit leading. Conditions were getting very messy out there, but those positions wouldn’t change and 40 Zammit, 81 Hewat, 1 The Builder and Waters 2 would go over the finish line 1 to 4 respectively in what was a close and exciting finish with Beau again displaying his speedway style.

On return to the pit the crew found a broken right rear rotor and on checking the turbos found the rear one to be tight, which normally as they wear they go loose, so the crew searched for a cause and decided to refit a new kit inside the turbo to be safe. Bob the Builder and the Cat Freightliner put in the fastest time for the race with 1.05’s the 1st and 2nd trucks were doing 1.06’s.


courtesy of Alan Evans.

Race 3 for the day again was a 6 lapper. Pace car off the field was away – clean start into turn one with Bob having made up three spots on this corner. By the second lap Beau Hewat in the 81 Kenworth led followed by Waters – Zammit was now in 4th having lost a couple of positions at the top of the circuit on lap 1.
By the start of the 4th lap, Hewat still led with Bob making a successful inside move on Waters on Cat corner to move into 2nd. On the 5th lap, in Cat corner, Beau and Bob were side by side in a head to head encounter which Bob nosed in front, to find Beau regain the lead up the back straight. They continued to battle out the race going over the finish line almost alongside one another, with Beau Hewat, Bob, Rob Waters and Zammit taking out 1 – 4 in very exciting circumstances.

On return to the pit the team found the front right rotor to be cracked. Bob again proving his speed dominance with his quickest lap a 1.02.6 with Beau Hewat’s quickest lap 1.03.4.


courtesy of Alan Evans.

The final race of the day was the Super prix, held at 4.50 and over 10 laps. This race sees the light trucks up front with the SuperTrucks handicapped and at the back of the field. The SuperTrucks were reverse of qualifying, so again Bob the Builder found himself at the back of the field. The warm up lap was not without incident, when going up the back straight, Bob found himself on the slide, into a spin, and heading towards the wall. Some quick action in the cab avoided contact with the wall or damage and regained his composure to re enter the track. With the pace car off, the light trucks were away followed by the SuperTrucks. Turn 1 was clean for all concerned.

By the second lap the SuperTrucks had caught up to the light trucks and were starting to make their move, and by lap three the order would be 81 Hewat, 40 Zammit, 3 Coulter the only light truck still up the pointy end followed by Bob. By the fourth lap, Hewat, Zammit and Bob had stamped their authority on the race with some nervous moments in the 6th, 7th & 8th laps in the wet when they were to encounter more of the light trucks. Also on lap 8 Bob was trying some serious moves on Zammit, inside, outside, but would have to be happy back in third. Lap 9, additional light truck traffic would make for dodging and weaving when by the 10th they were clear and 81 Hewat, 40 Zammit and 1 Bob went over in a tight pack to take 1 – 3 respectively.

Overall for the weekend we finished 2nd behind Zammit. Hewat was third. By this time the conditions were appalling, freezing cold and bursts of heavy rain and wind. We went about packing up and loading the gear onto the trailers and flat racks for the journey back to Adelaide.


Corey from Beaurepaires doing post race check.

A presentation took place in the Sporting Car Club Rooms afterwards. Special thanks to our WA family with Terry and Vicki Harwood from Westrac and Jodie, Bradley and Mason who all assisted in merchandise and taking care of the crew needs. A very early start again on the Monday to get the boys to the airport for their return to Adelaide and Auckland.

Work will get under way to prepare the SuperTruck for the final round here in Adelaide to be held at Mallala on the weekend of 31/10 & 1/11, in the meantime, Bob will campaign in the Biante series driving the 95 Camaro at Bathurst second week of October.

Talk soon,
Kind regards,
Shaz Middleton

For photos of Bob the Builder touring the USA, click here:

THE RACING CALENDAR FOR 09…

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:
* 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


Water cooled brakes doing their thing !		Post race television interview for The Builder.

Bob, Terry and Vicki enjoy a post race chat!		Bob the Builder poster signing.

Jeff, Terry and Mark relax after a hard day!		Jeff, Mini Bob and Terry chill out after the racing.

Zarne Clifford with baby ‘Tahi’ – which means No.1 in Kiwi – seek refuge from the rain under a Whiteline brolly with Bob the Builder.		L-R… Vicki Harwood, Gemma Gordon, Terry Harwood enjoying the festivities

Jodie taking care of merchandise!