Previous Editions of Latest News
Bobby the Builder flew to Perth to be part of a special event being held at Westrac Equipment, major sponsors and supporters of the event and primary sponsor of the Whiteline Racing Caterpillar powered, racing Freightliner.
At Westrac, Middleton was special guest for the function and was
interviewed by General Manager, Jim Walker. The day then followed
up with a poster signing session. Wednesday and
Thursday were spent co-ordinating the event, arranging
Super Trucks to be delivered to the track, setting up pit facilities
etc.
Friday was the first opportunity for the Super Trucks to enter the track, primarily for the media rides and sponsor rides that had been sold for the event. They were a great success, with all involved clearly excited by their experience and something that had made an impression lasting a long time. Our
team was boosted by the arrival of injectors ex the United States
from Caterpillar and the crew immediately went into overdrive installing
them. A fuel file that was tested would prove to be supplying the
engine with too much fuel, and as a result number three injector
would fail. It was replaced and then run with a different file,
and this would prove successful. Friday night ANTRO the national
body for the Super Trucks ran their AGM with a lot of positives
coming out of the meeting for the 2005 series. In the practice Middleton actually broke the track record, but as it was not qualifying or a race it cannot be officially recorded. His time was 1.00.2024 and was the quickest for the session. Needless to say, given the times Middleton was pretty happy with his Cat powered Freightliner, but the crew would make some adjustments to the back suspension so that he was getting drive from four wheels on the track, this also meant adjusting the sway bar. At qualifying all the other guns had found some power and Middleton wasn’t able to achieve his practice time. The first four trucks were all doing 1.01’s and we would have to be content with starting out of three.
On return to the pit, the crew removed the sway bar, and welded it back together. The side that had snapped is the area of the bar that takes all of the stress, given that the super trucks are primarily turning right on this circuit. All fingers were crossed that the sway bar would hang in there for the races to be run. Saturday night all race teams attended a dinner at the Joondalup Resort, which was a great time to catch up socially given that it’s always pretty full on and competitive at the track.
Race One for Sunday was held at 9.15 a.m. and to be decided over six laps. As a result of the sway bar incident in Saturday’s race Middleton would be starting out of six. When the green flag drops the Cat/Westrac corner is always pretty interesting as the big brutes all vie for a position. The field settled down and Middleton would get up into third position, but the combination of diesel and water getting under his back wheels both from the Westrac Cat powered Freightliner and excessive water usage from the Ross New Zealand entry would make conditions very slippery and with the power these rigs have grip is vital to get drive. Middleton would finish in third place, with his quickest lap time of 1.01.1044.
Race Two for Sunday was at 11.20 with six laps to be run. It was a reverse grid, rolling start. I guess starting at the back of the field you know what has to be done !!! Cricky would make an early charge on the field both on the field and off the field and would make it through the traffic earlier in the race than Middleton. Bob the Builder once through would charge into second place, doing the quickest lap of all competitors for the race with a 1.00.3. Given the closeness of the field, getting through traffic is of vital importance, otherwise you lose too much ground and run out of laps to make up the gap. We would take out second place for this race, which was a great effort.
Race Three for the day would also be six laps and was run at 1.10 with the program slightly behind by this stage. Again, the race was reverse grid which you got it, means starting at the back !! Again achieving excellent lap times with Middleton’s quickest 1.00.74 the Cat Freightliner would make her way through the field, when John the Bomber, Bomberle would lose control of his Kenworth, going off the track and re-entering the track very sideways smashing into the right front of Bobby the Builder nearly sending him into the wall. In what was an incredible recovery, Middleton put the Cat Freightliner back on track and re-entered the chase, having lost considerable ground and would finish fifth. On return to the pit, the crew assessed the damage to the front suspension. The steering damper was destroyed, the drag link bent with some minor body damage and a mangled nut/rim protector. We were unable to access a steering damper, so the decision was made to run without it – what would this mean ?? Bobby the Builder would be shaken to bits by the steering wheel, but he was ready and fired up for the challenge – she had to be out there – no ifs or buts, Cat Westrac Freightliner No. 15 was a starter.
The final race for the day, again reverse grid was over ten laps commencing at 4.38 pm. Middleton knew what he had to do, make his way through the traffic at get the girl up the front. Bob the Builder, can he do it ?? YES HE DID. To the roar of the crowd he hit the front and did the quickest lap of all competitors for the race. To add to the glory when Crick’s Cummins tried to catch the Whiteline Racing Freightliner in spectacular fashion burst into flames right on Cat Westrac Corner. The mayhem that then followed was incredible. With water, diesel and oil on the track the field was spinning all over the place. Leading the rest of the field around the race was stopped and Bobby Middleton won the race.
Middleton also ran the Camaro for one event, but in turn one, while having trouble engaging the gears, he ended up in the sand pit – apart from damage to the spoiler, the amount of sand in the workings of the car was extensive. Given that our priority was the Supertruck, the team decided to park it rather than run the risk of more damage, as it was going to be time consuming rectifying the gear stick problem and cleaning all components out. I pointed out to the Builder, why play in the sand pit at Barbagallo when you live so close to the beach?? Our merchandise sales were professionally handled by our little W.A. mates Bej and Jodes Harwood, who were a real asset to our team the entire weekend. Our team from New Zealand, Terry ‘the buzzy bee’ Honey and Jeffrey ‘sticks’ Kernohan did what they do best in the days leading up to the event and for the entire meet. From Adelaide was Mark ‘birdman’ Peacock who is the technical professor worked full on the entire time and Kath and Craig new comers to our team added in their help where they could. Perth wise our tyre team from Beaurepaires was well taken care of by John Benny and Craig Angus and our mechanics from Westrac Rob Clarke and Ben Higgs were fabulous when the pressure was on as it is in racing. Vicki Harwood was like ‘mum’ of the team taking care of us all, shopping, cooking and being there for all our needs. Terry Harwood, as always was amazing in his support of the Builder and our team – this kind of support makes you want to aspire to great things. Jim Walker the head of Westrac and Marcia Brickwood in public relations were of fabulous support for our team and the event. It simply would not have happened without the level of assistance by Jim and Terry. Mr. Peter Touhey of Diesel Motors assisted greatly by providing a crew bus for the team to get around and prime mover to move our transporter to the circuit. The event in Perth is huge in terms of the logistics and without the assistance of the following, it couldn’t have happened:
The support of family, friends and supporters is an important key to our success – we thank you all. Events are being negotiated for the eastern states and for the series in New Zealand which we intend being a part of. The Super Truck is with Terry and the team at Westrac Equipment being checked over before coming east to take part in other events. She also has public relations roles at W.A. Field Days - quite a celebrity is the No. 15 Cat Westrac Freightliner !!! Yours
in racing and regards,
Previous Editions of Latest News 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!
|
Merchandise
wise, I thought jumpers, jackets and beanies would be the order
of the day, but ‘bucket sun hats’ were the crowd pleasers!!
Race
One would
be decided over 6 laps, with a rolling start and starting positions
as per qualifying. Bajema, Ross and Middleton would lead the field
for the entire race, with the Whiteline Racing Cat Freightliner
completing the fastest lap of all competitors for the race with
a 1.01.4181. On the last lap, entering the straight Middleton trying
desperately to make a move for second, just got his back wheels
on the edge of the track which would result in a spectacular crowd
pleasing spin, resulting from a cracked sway bar. Middleton got
control of the truck re-entered the track finishing in sixth.
An
8.00 a.m. practice session was scheduled for all teams to do their
final adjustments prior to race day. It was an opportunity for our
team to check that the repairs done to the sway bar and back suspension
were okay. Middleton still was under his blitzing practice time
from Saturday with a 1.01.3327.
During
a race, the crew who are in radio contact with the drivers instruct
them, amongst a lot of other things, when to turn on water to the
brakes, sometimes with the chaos of dodging and weaving in a race
environment the water can be left on longer than it should, saturating
the drive line on the track making conditions slippery. 
Alan
of the W.A. Sporting Car Club had designed, built and painted a
designer buggy for the Builder. It was painted up in traditional
CAT colours Yellow and Black and by the middle of the weekend was
being referred to as the ‘POPEMOBILE” Middleton was
struggling with getting the royal wave perfect, but for all involved
created a lot of comments, laughs and good times. At one stage we
tested how many bodies could fit in it !!!
Then
Middleton drew the raffle and stayed on for a poster signing session.
As
is the case after every race, our pit is swamped with race fans
and supporters. So Bob did his usual and signed lots of posters,
hats, shirts etc. for kids and big kids !! One little tacker, only
about 4 years old came to Bob wanting his t-shirt signed. As he
was signing it, the little fella looking very sorrowful, looked
up at him and said “I’m really sorry about your truck”.
We let him know we shared his pain, but we would be back out there.
His mum informed us that when Middleton was hit by Bomberle, his
little heart broke !
The
team would take out third overall for the weekend, just pipped for
second – thanks to the cracked Sway bar in Saturday’s
race and the contact by Bomberle in Race 2 on Sunday. A
team celebration took place back at Joondalup once the official
presentations were completed at the W.A. Sporting Car Club –
a celebration that went well into the night !!