SP Tools Racing

SP Tools Racing

Media release: re- Brett Stevens Racing

SP tools would like to first of all congratulate Brett on his long and very successful racing career that has ended today.

Brett’s decision to close down BSR has come as a shock but after discussions we understand his reasons.

While our time at BSR was short we are proud to have been part of Australia’s largest drag racing team.

At a management meeting this afternoon it was decided that SP Tools will not be replacing its drag racing sponsorship with another team.

SP tools will leave the sport for the foreseeable future.

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Round 13, Falken Tasmania Challenge, Symmons Plains, Tasmania

It was a weekend without fortune for SP Tools Racing Shane van Gisbergen and his team-mate James Courtney (JELD-WEN Motorsport) in the penultimate round of the V8 Supercar Championship in Tasmania today.

Both drivers found excellent speed but both suffered mishaps out of their control that thwarted their attempts to play a strong part in proceedings.

Today there were high hopes for van Gisbergen who started fifth on the grid following his outstanding drive in the greasy conditions yesterday.

After charging up to fourth he suffered a fuel pump problem and was forced to withdraw, leaving him to come from the back of the grid for the final race.

He was making progress in race three but a drive through penalty negated his progress.

Shane van Gisbergen, #9, SP Tools Racing Falcon:

“We settled into a good rhythm in race two and were running in the top five easily.  Then we had a fuel pressure problem and while we were able to switch to the reserve for a while we knew it wasn’t going to last.

“We had good speed and good tyres for race three and we knew we could come through. I went to pass Marcus Marshall but he moved across on me. I couldn’t stop and turned him around. And then was give a drive through penalty.

“We know we have the speed but we had some bad luck.

“I’m looking forward to Oran Park. It’s my favourite circuit and where I made my debut last year. I’m pretty confident there. We’ve just got to put a full weekend together.”

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Round 13, Falken Tasmania Challenge, Symmons Plains, Tasmania

SP TOOLS Racing Shane van Gisbergen produced a stunning performance to finish fifth in the first race of the Falken Tasmania Challenge at Symmons Plains today.

The 19 year old van Gisbergen again produced a display that belied his age, bursting through the pack in the wet conditions from 16th on the grid up to third after only four laps.
He stayed out as the weather worsened before pitting on lap 23. However he made a slight mistake on his first corner with cold tyres which pushed him back to 11th. Making up ground as the track improved, van Gisbergen again produced an eye-catching performance to finish fifth and challenging Will Davison for fourth.

Shane van Gisbergen, #9, SP Tools Racing Falcon:

“We made up quite a few spots at the start and got into third pretty quick when Tander went off. The car seems to suit those conditions and I seem to be able to go alright in them.

“The wet is good fun as well. You can throw the car around and get in to it, so I was enjoying myself out there. There’s a lot more variables in it and I was able to try a few things.

“We were seeing it getting wetter and wetter and the guys with wets started to put times in to us. Unfortunately I sent off leaving the pits so that cost us a bit of time. I just under-steered there on cold tyres.

“Whe n it was at its wettest we were holding position and when it started to dry I was able to make some gains.

“Fifth is a great start for the weekend. Hopefully we can stay up there tomorrow and finish off the weekend strong.

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V8 Supercar young gun Shane van Gisbergen will take time out from his Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 preparations to visit the Royal Children’s Hospital in Brisbane tomorrow.

The Stone Brothers Racing driver will arrive with tool box in hand in the hope of raising funds to help brighten the lives of more than 100,000 sick kids every year.

Van Gisbergen’s major sponsor, SP Too ls, has produced a striking one-off SP Tools Racing tool box, wrapped in V8 Supercar imagery and signed by the Stone Brothers Racing team, to be auctioned off to raise funds for the Royal Children’s Hospital Foundation.

“The guys at SP Tools came up with the idea of a one-off special tool box but they wanted it to be more than just an item for sale. With the partnership between SBR and the Royal Children’s Hospital Foundation, the charity auction idea was a no-brainer,” said van Gisbergen.

“Visiting the kids tomorrow will be a real eye-opener. They have a lot on their plate but the staff and the hospital do such a great job of keeping them smiling; it will be great to give out some posters and make their day a bit brighter.”

The SP Tools Racing tool box contains a full range of SP hand tools and comes with a Bosch ROCK Box and a ‘money can’t buy’ V8 Supercar ride with van Gisbergen in the SP Tools Racing Falcon.

With the package estimated to be worth up to $10,000, the SP Tools Racing auction opened for bids on Friday 12 September and will close at 5:00pm on Wednesday 15 October 2008.

Bids can be made in person at SBR Merchandise at the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 at Mount Panorama from 9-12 October 2008.

For those that can’t make it to the track, bids can be placed online via the Stone Brothers Racing website (www.stonebrothersracing.com.au) or via email auction@stonebrothersracing.com.au. The current highest bid will be displayed on the home page of the SBR website throughout the auction.

To find out more about SP Tools and their range of hand tools and tool boxes, visit www.sphandtools.com.

All proceeds from the charity auction will go to the Royal Children’s Hospital Foundation (RCHF) which is the fundraising arm of the Royal Children’s Hospital in Brisbane – Queensland’s leading paediatric critical care fa cility, which touches the lives of more than 100,000 sick kids every year.

Funds from the RCHF assist with groundbreaking medical research and equipment to find better treatments and cures for childhood illnesses.

Getting the team off to a flying start and leading from the front was reigning National Top Bike Title holder Troy McLean who headed straight to the top of the time sheets on his first run and stayed there throughout the entirety of Qualifying on the SP Racing Nitro Harley.

Troy McLean – SP Racing Top Bike

“The SP Racing Nitro Harley felt really good this weekend, I’m really happy with how I performed Top Qualifying, taking home both the ET and mph bonus points and running a personal best top speed of 213.78 mph (344.05 kph),” McLean said.

“We had all brand new untested ignition systems on our Top Bikes so to be running these numbers straight up is very encouraging for the future.”

“I think things will only get better as the season goes on.”

Visit Australia’s home of SP Tools – SP AIR TOOLS – SP HAND TOOLS – SCORPION POWERED PRODUCTS – SRT TOOLS

Visit Australia’s home of SP Tools – SP AIR TOOLS – SP HAND TOOLS – SCORPION POWERED PRODUCTS – SRT TOOLS

Round 6, SKYCITY Triple Crown, Hidden Valley, Darwin, NT

Stone Brothers Racing drivers have made a gutsy comeback in the third and final race at round six of the V8 Supercar Championship Series in Darwin this afternoon after taking a battering in race two this morning.

SP Tools Racing’s Shane van Gisbergen recovered to take ninth for the round, closely followed in the points by team-mate JELD-WEN Motorsport’s James Courtney in tenth.

Courtney produced a brilliant drive in race three to take seventh position after starting from a lowly 24th on the grid.

Race two was forgettable for Courtney, the JELD-WEN Motorsport driver looked certain to hold on to eighth position until he lost the rear end of his SBR Falcon and slid into the tyre wall at turn eight two laps from the chequered flag. Courtney was able to finish the race, but dropped to 24th position.

Courtney was in need of a clever strategy in race three and he got one, the JELD-WEN Motorsport driver holding off on his compulsory pit stop until lap 25, providing him with a clear track to pump out consistently fast lap times and make ground on the rival pack.

The JELD-WEN Motorsport Falcon rejoined the 42-lap race in tenth position, Courtney passing team-mate Shane van Gisbergen the following lap to claim ninth.

Following the safety car period on lap 30, Courtney made a move on Jamie Whincup for eighth and picked up one more positio n when Craig Lowndes retired from the race on the final lap suffering an engine problem.

Like his team-mate, SP Tools Racing’s van Gisbergen was also showing good form in race two until he made contact with Will Davison at the hairpin, turning the number 18 Falcon around. The resulting drive-through penalty saw the SP Tools Racing driver drop from eighth position down to 23rd.

In the closing laps of the race, van Gisbergen was able to push on and pick up seven positions to finish in 16th place.

Race three produced a hectic start and van Gisbergen slid to 20th place on the opening lap but he quickly put his head down to regain three positions before his compulsory pit stop on lap eight.

Van Gisbergen pushed hard following his stop, a swag of passing moves earning him ninth place by lap 26. The young Kiwi relinquished only one position to team-mate Courtney, dropping to tenth before crossing the line in ninth position as he benefited from Lowndes? ?? retirement.

Both Courtney and van Gisbergen retain their positions in the V8 Supercar Championship standings, seventh and eleventh respectively. Stone Brothers Racing remains in fourth position in the teams championship.

Stone Brothers Racing will next race at their ‘home’ event in two weeks time when round seven of the V8 Supercar Championship Series returns to Queensland Raceway, 18-20 July 2008.

James Courtney, #4, JELD-WEN Motorsport
“It was good to finish the weekend on a positive note with a really solid race.

“The JELD-WEN Falcon was quite a handful at the start of the second race today but we ran around and worked our way into the race and got inside the top ten.

“With two laps to go I lost the rear at turn eight and there was no getting it back.

“In the last race the JELD-WEN Falcon was fantastic, easily the best it’s been all weekend. It was great to find that cha nge that made the difference and have some success with it.

“We were down on power in the last race with an engine problem from lap eight onwards so to have the pace that we did despite that shows that we really got on top of the car at the end.

“We have some good knowledge now of the tyre after the third race as well and we will have some good direction at Queensland Raceway.”

Shane van Gisbergen, #9, SP Tools Racing
“It was a weekend full of ups and downs but in every race we had very good pace and we were able to pass a lot of cars.

“The handling and balance of the SP Tools Racing Falcon was good this weekend and the brakes were really strong when following other cars, they didn’t fade.

“The incident with Will (Davison) today was one of those things in racing; he moved over and I wasn’t far enough up. I went and apologised to him after the race as it affected both our races.

“We will have a new car at Q ueensland Raceway, James’ car from Clipsal, so we will be focusing on that in the next week and we hope that we can improve even further.”

Meeting Points
1. Steven Richards 284 pts
2. Mark Winterbottom 278 pts
3. Garth Tander 272 pts
4. Jamie Whincup 214 pts
5. Russell Ingall 212 pts
6. Will Davison 186 pts
7. Rick Kelly 180 pts
8. Craig Lowndes 154 pts
9. Shane Van Gisbergen 140 pts
10. James Courtney 138 pts

V8 Supercar Championship Points
1. Mark Winterbottom 1402 pts
2. Garth Tander 1344 pts
3. Jamie Whincup 1276 pts
4. Rick Kelly 1208 pts
5. Steven Richards 1123 pts
6. Craig Lowndes 1051 pts
7. James Courtney 949 pts
8. Will Davison 938 pts
9. Lee Holdsworth 876 pts
10. Todd Kelly 834 pts
11. Shane Van Gisbergen 832 pts

V8 Supercar Team Championship Points
1. Ford Performance Racing 2525 pts
2. Team Vodafone 2327 pts
3. Toll Holden Racing Team 2088 pts
4. Stone Brothers Racing 1781 pts
5. HSV Dealer Team 1774 pts

Race 3
1. Steven Richards
2. Mark Winterbottom
3. Garth Tander
4. Russell Ingall
5. Will Davison
6. Rick Kelly
7. James Courtney
8. Jamie Whincup
9. Shane Van Gisbergen
10. Greg Murphy

Race 2
1. Garth Tander
2. Steven Richards
3. Mark Winterbottom
4. Craig Lowndes
5. Jamie Whincup
6. Russell Ingall
7. Jason Richards
8. Mark Skaife
9. Rick Kelly
10. Will Davison
16. Shane Van Gisbergen
24. James Courtney

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Round 6, SKYCITY Triple Crown, Hidden Valley, Darwin, NT

Stone Brothers Racing drivers were on the move in race one at the SKYCITY Triple Crown this afternoon, with JELD-WEN Motorsport’s James Courtney rounding out the top ten and SP Tools Racing’s Shane van Gisbergen finishing in 12th.

Van Gisbergen made an exceptional recovery from a disappointing qualifying session where under-steer and a failed shift cut made hard work for the 19-year-old, placing him in 22nd position on the grid.

The SP Tools Racing driver had a steady start, picking up three positions in the opening laps. A lightening quick stop by the SBR pit crew on lap seven gave van Gisbergen the advantage he needed to make his way to 13th.

Van Gisbergen hustled Mark Skaife for a number of laps before the HRT driver slid off the track with a flat tyre leaving the way clear for the SP Tools Racing Falcon to cross the line in 12th place.

Shane van Gisbergen, #9, SP Tools Racing
“We had a good start to the race today but I got pushed out at the first corner so we lost what we had gained.

“The SP Tools Falcon was really good and we made up places early.

“Once I got behind Skaife I didn’t have enough to pass. This track is not great for passing but we tried our hardest and made up some spots so it was good. Ten places from 22nd is pretty satisfying.

“We found the tyres went away quickly after the pit stop. It seems to be a characteristic of these new tyres and everyone will be experiencing the same thing. We will learn from that and be ready for it tomorrow.”

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