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OPPORTUNITY GOES BEGGING – Falken Tasmainia Challenge

May 31, 2009 By SPTools Leave a Comment

It was another missed opportunity today for SBR when a problem during a scheduled pit stop cost van Gisbergen time dropping him from a competitive top ten position to one lap down. After this morning’s 20 minute qualifying session the SP Tools Racing Falcon and IRWIN Racing Falcon lined up on the grid in 11th and 19th respectively. Unhappy with their starting positions SBR’s drivers, van Gisbergen and Davison had some work to do, and with half the field still having their soft tyres on reserve it looked to be a long hard race ahead.

At the green light all 30 cars got off the line and made it cleanly through the tight hairpin without incident. The first of the pit stops took place on Lap 1 before the SP Tools Falcon entered Pit Lane on Lap 4 for a new set of rear tyres and fuel. Van Gisbergen re-entered and spent the next few laps dicing with Lowndes before settling into a race rhythm.

IRWIN Racing’s Alex Davison was to stay out for much longer before his first stop as part of the team’s strategy. Davison remained the highest placed driver on hard tyres before pitting on Lap 36 for rear tyres and fuel.

The race continued without incident when on Lap 53 van Gisbergen was called in to pit again after Murphy spun at the hairpin. The team were hoping for a Safety Car but that was not to be as Murphy eventually rejoined the race without assistance.

Car #9 came in for another top up of fuel and four tyres but when the engine stalled on exit the SP Tools Falcon remained stationary as Shane battled to restart the car. The SBR crew looked on powerless to help as the 30 second struggle cost him dearly, dropping him from 10th to a lap down.

Just seven laps later the IRWIN FG Falcon was in for fuel and four new tyres, the following lap would throw the field wide open when Courtney crashed and failed trying to limp his wrecked car back to Pit Lane.
The beginning of a Safety Car streak began on Lap 60, this was to be the first Yellow of three over 15 minutes. One lap after the restart the Safety Car was again deployed to retrieve Jason Richards’s car stranded at the hairpin.

After the 2nd restart the field had reshuffled into race position with Davison sitting in 9th. With 7 laps to go Fiore was buried at the hairpin forcing the Safety Car to re-enter the track for the third time.
Davison struggled with rear grip for the remaining laps unable to hold onto position and keep out those behind him on soft tyres. At the end of 84 laps Alex had dropped back three positions to finish in 12th, van Gisbergen crossing the line 20th.

Paul Forgie – Car #9 Engineer

“It was a potential top 5 result today lost. It’s cost us two Championship positions which is frustrating when we had a car worthy of a solid result.

“Shane did a great job in the middle stint and the boys did a good job of the pit stops.
“We are getting closer and closer to a podium it just hasn’t fallen into place for us yet. All the ingredients are there ………….we’re looking to Darwin now.”

Race 2 – Falken Tasmainia Challenge

Pos	Car#	Driver	Team	Vehicle
1	1	Jamie Whincup	Team Vodafone	Ford
2	22	Holden Racing Team	Wil Davison	Holden
3	111	Wilson Security Racing	Fabian Coultard	Ford
4	5	Ford Performance Racing	Mark Winterbottom	Ford
5	33	Garry Rogers Motorsport	Lee Holdsworth	Holden
6	39	Supercheap Auto Racing	Russell Ingall	Holden
7	25	Fujitsui Racing	Jason Bright	Ford
8	3	Sprint Gas Racing	Jason Bargwanna	Holden
9	67	Supercheap Auto Racing	Tim Slade	Holden
10	333	Wilson Security Racing	Micheal Patrizi	Ford
12	4	IRWIN Racing	Alex Davison	Ford
20	9	SP Tools Racing	Shane van Gisbergen	Ford

Filed Under: V8 Supercars Tagged With: shane van gisbergen, sp air tools, sp hand tools, sp tools, sp tools racing, stone brothers racing, V8 Supercars

SHANE SIXTH AT SYMMONS – Falken Tasmania Challenge Race 1

May 30, 2009 By SPTools Leave a Comment

SP Tools Racing’s Shane van Gisbergen took part in his second ever Shootout after finishing 4th quickest in the second leg of Qualifying earlier today. The SP Tools FG Falcon started from 7th position on the grid for the 42 lap race at the Symmons Plains International Circuit.

The SBR team were happy with Alex Davison’s efforts qualifying the IRWIN Tools Falcon in 17th. [Read more...]

Filed Under: V8 Supercars Tagged With: shane van gisbergen, sp air tools, sp tools, stone brothers

2009 AUSTRALIAN MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP MOTOREX KTM RACE REPORT Round 4

May 25, 2009 By SPTools Leave a Comment

MOTOREX KTM RACE REPORT

EVENT INFORMATION

- Round four

- Australian Motocross Championship

- Mackay QLD

- Racing format Pro Lites 2 x 30 minute motos & Under 19s 2 x 20 minutes

- Event date 24 May 2009

PICTURES ATTACHED

- Tye Simmonds # 42

- Jason Reed # 82

ROUND RESULTS

Rider	Class	Bike	Home Town	State	Round result
Tye Simmonds	Pro Lites	KTM 250 SX-F	Bourke	NSW	5^th
Kade Mosig	Pro Lites	KTM 250 SX-F	Pearcedale	VIC	Out injured
Jason Reed	Under 19s	KTM 250 SX-F	Tocal	NSW	4^th

ROUND WINNERS

Rider	Class
Matt Moss	Pro Lites
Cheyne Boyd	Pro Open
Harley Quinlan	Under 19s

DESCRIPTION OF TRACK:

- lots of tight sections circuit

- no dust, great weather

POINTS OF INTEREST:

Tye Simmonds – Pro Lites

- struggled with shoulder injury, which had an impact on his results during racing

- maintained third in the Pro Lites Championship

Kade Mosig – Pro Lite

- out injured

Jason Reed – Under 19s

- secured best result to date with a fourth in second moto

- struggled with food poisoning leading up to the round hindering his results

QUOTES

Tye Simmonds Pro Lites

Moto 1: “I didn’t have the best of days, starting with my opening moto,” said Simmonds. “I had a bad start, and rode off the pace. I was pushing hard, but just wasn’t making up any ground. The best I could bring home was fifth.

Moto 2: “The second moto was better with my start, but a shoulder injury played havoc on my racing, and the pain almost caused me to crash. This race turned out to be another horrible run for me, it was just a horrible day, and again I pulled fifth place, but thankfully I have maintained third in the Pro Lites Championship.”

Jason Reed Under 19s

Moto 1: “I got the holeshot in my first moto, and I was leading for the first lap, but unfortunately faded as the race continued,” said Reed. “I was getting over food poisoning leading up to the race which didn’t help with my fitness in the race. I ended up battling for fourth and fifth, but couldn’t hold on to the guys in front and I rode home in sixth.

Moto 2: “In between motos I was feeling that crook that I had to sleep, and my mum woke me before the race, gave me a Gatorade, and I got going. I got another good start, and was in around seventh. I got my second wind, and passed a few guys and moved into sixth. Then a rider crashed, and I was in fifth place zoning in on fourth, which is where I finished.

“Towards the end of the race I was dizzy and lethargic, so I’m stoked to have secured my best result of the season when I wasn’t well. It goes to show my best results are yet to come.”

ROSS MCWATTERS Race Team Manager

“Both Tye and Jason struggled at Mackay,” said McWatters. “Tye had trouble with his shoulder, and Jason was getting over food poisoning, which damped both of their spirits and results.

“The end results saw Jason maintain seventh in the Under 19s Championship and Tye maintained third, so we haven’t lost any positions which is a positive coming out of Mackay.

“The Mackay venue was magnificent, and the weather was picture perfect. In promoting the event, Mackay Motorcycle Club, plus John Hand and his family pulled out all the stops, with whole circuit looking more like a golf course than a Motocross track. Mackay is a long way north, but the series organizers WEM, and the people up here always make the trip worthwhile.”

FUTURE RESULTS

www.ktm.com.au

NEXT ROUND

Sunday 14 June Murray Bridge SA

CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS

Top Ten Pro Lites Championship Points

Position	Rider	Team	Points
1	Matt Moss	Kawasaki	190
2	Luke George	Kawasaki	180
3	Tye Simmonds	Motorex KTM	173
4	Lawson Bopping	Suzuki	145
5	Kirk Gibbs	Serco	144
6	Mitchell Hoad	Serco	121
7	Adam Monea	Insanity Kawasaki	114
8	Lewis Stewart	Privateer	105
9	Lewis Woods	Insanity Kawasaki	99
10	Ryan Marmont	MX Rad	90

Top Ten Under 19s Championship Points

Position	Rider	Team		Points
1	Luke Styke	GYTR Yamaha	181
2	Josh Cachia	MX Rad	172
3	Harley Quinlan	GYTR Yamaha	171
4	Luke arbon	Kawasaki	169
5	Dylan Peterson	Thor Honda	149
6	Ross Beaton	GYTR Yamaha	143
7	Jason Reed	Motorex KTM	114
8	Josh Kilvington	Privateer	95
9	Kieren Tisdale	Suzuki	91
10	Dylan Gosling	Honda	80

Filed Under: Motocross Tagged With: ktm racing, sp tools

Round 1 – Clipsal 500 Adelaide Street Circuit

March 26, 2009 By SPTools Leave a Comment

: SP Tools Grid Girls

: SP Tools Grid Girls

Filed Under: Pictures Tagged With: austech industries, SCORPION POWERED PRODUCTS, shane van gisbergen, sp air tools, sp tools, sp tools racing, stone brothers racing

What Good Is A V8 Supercar Without Some Beauty….

March 22, 2009 By SPTools Leave a Comment

V8 Supercars are fun no questions asked but racing just wouldn’t be the same without beautiful women…

We take great pleasure and pride in introducing you to the SP Tools Racing Grid Girls.

From Left to Right:

Jenny Kellett, Elise Griffiths, Jess Plush, Kristen McKenzie.

Thankyou – Sensational Job.

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

Filed Under: Featured, V8 Supercars, Videos Tagged With: austech industries, SCORPION POWERED PRODUCTS, shane van gisbergen, sp air tools, sp hand tools, sp tools, sp tools racing, sp tools raciong, SRT TOOL, SRT TOOLS, stone brothers racing, v8 super cars, V8 Supercars

TOUGH DAY FOR SBR ON THE STREETS OF ADELAIDE

March 22, 2009 By SPTools Leave a Comment

TOUGH DAY FOR SBR ON THE STREETS OF ADELAIDE
22/03/2009

It was a frustrating day for the SBR team, after finishing with strong positional gains on track in yesterday’s race, the SP Tools Racing #9 car started 12th and the IRWIN Racing #4 car lined up 26th, due to the new qualifying start rule introduced by V8 Supercars for this years championship series.

In front of a huge crowd, in excess of 270,000 over the four day race weekend, the SBR Ford FG Falcons battled it out for valuable championship points in tough conditions. A slow start from van Gisbergen in Race 2 lost him a few positions in the first lap putting him back into 15th before an early safety car period interrupted the race to remove Jack Perkin’s car after an incident at turn 8.

In the following laps Shane managed to fight his way through to be inside the top ten with lap times matching the speed of the leading drivers. Encouragement from his engineer, Paul Forgie, helped to keep Shane alert and focused for the chase into his second stint.

Paul Forgie – Race Engineer Car #9 (In Car Radio – Lap 30)
“Good work, get back into your rhythm and make every corner count.”
After two more restarts Shane communicated to the SBR crew complications with the throttle reporting it was sticking.

Shane van Gisbergen – Driver SP Tools Racing Car #9
“The race was okay today, I stuffed up the start and let a few guys through but we went on a bit of a charge, the car was awesome and the guys did a great job preparing it. We were on the case and passed a lot of cars and at the end of our first stint we were looking good. We managed to keep the pace then later in the second stint the butterfly had bent so it was carrying throttle into the corners so I couldn’t pull it up and it wouldn’t turn, I had to clutch it every corner which cost us a lot of time.”

IRWIN Racing’s Alex Davison experienced another drama filled day in the #4 FG Falcon struggling with the car as well as a foot injury sustained during Saturday’s race. On lap 44 after a perfect pit-stop Alex clipped the tyre wall at turn one causing the centre of his front left tyre to shred forcing him to return to the pits the following lap.

Once Alex returned to the track he managed to post his fastest time of 1:23.7722 on lap 55. The IRWIN Racing car went a lap down after the race leader, Jamie Whincup, passed the #4 car on the main straight. In the later stages of the race Alex reported he was struggling with severe foot pain and the overall handling of the car. The race telemetry alerted the team to an engine problem with SBR’s engineers diagnosing there was an issue with the alternator. As Alex lost track position throughout the following laps it was decided to bring the car into the pits for the remainder of the race before re-entering to complete the last lap for championship points.

Alex Davison – Driver IRWIN Racing Car #4
“I made a mistake and clipped the tire bundle at turn one, I was behind another car and sort of blinded a bit by it and clipped it and cut the tire and we had to come in a change it. Then not long after the alternator had a problem and the battery started going flat so we had to stop, we charged it up enough at the end so I could do the last lap.

“My foot is not so good at the moment, apart from that I feel brand new, there wasn’t an issue at all as far as comfort levels go. I felt more acclimatised today; my cool suit worked the whole race so there were no dramas fitness wise.”

Davison’s debut for SBR wasn’t what the team or Alex himself had hoped for.

David Stuart – Team Manager
“These cars are unique compared to anything else anybodies ever driven, anybody that comes into the category from open wheelers to Porches will have a small period of adjustment. Alex has the determination and the ability and he will be harder on himself than we could ever be, he’s determined to make it work here at SBR. I was with his brother Will in his first race in ’06 here at Clipsal and he had the same sort of results but look at him today he’s standing on the podium so I believe Alex has every bit the potential that Will has as long as he doesn’t beat himself up too much we can enjoy celebrating a podium with him in a few more years.”

A tough race weekend for the team ended with SP Tools Racing’s Shane van Gisbergen finishing equal 6th on 168 points while IRWIN Racing’s Alex Davison finished equal 17th with 90 points overall.
Ross Stone – Team Principal

“It was a tough race and a tough place today. To have two 250km races to start off the season is always hard but I think we can take some positives out of it being that we have really good car speed and great chemistry within the team. We will move forward from here.”

The SBR crew will stay in Adelaide to work on the #4 and #9 cars on Monday in the lead up to the ‘Non-Championship’ Race 2.

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

‘Hamish’ Disrupts QLD Test Day

March 12, 2009 By SPTools Leave a Comment

After successfully completing their 20 lap pre-test ‘shakedown’ the new SBR Ford FG Falcons took to the track at Queensland Raceway yesterday for the first official test of 2009. Rain from the fringe of cyclone Hamish, off the Queensland coast, produced varied track conditions resulting in mixed outcomes for the team.

David Stuart – Team Manager “The weather made things hard for us, but it was the same for everybody. We weren’t able to get through our whole program as planned, however, in the long run we managed to do some important system checks for Adelaide. The test was an opportunity to confirm the balance from the 20 lap shakedown and to learn more information on the FG aero kit.”

In his first test for SBR, IRWIN Racing’s Alex Davison posted the 7^thfastest time while his young team mate SP Tools Racing’s Shane van Gisbergen finished 9^th of the 18 car field on track from both the V8 Supercars Championship Series and Development Series.

Alex Davison – Driver IRWIN Racing Car #4 “Overall looking at the big picture, the day was pretty good, considering the weather conditions. I feel very confident in the team, we have some small changes to make with the IRWIN Racing Falcon, being that this was its first time out of the box it was just good to get out there and work out where we are at.”

Shane van Gisbergen – Driver SP Tools Car #9 “It was just good to be back out there driving again after such a long off season. The car was good and I was really comfortable in it. We worked not so much on the pace of the car but more on trying to find a good balance.

My new engineer Paul and I are working well together; I could feel a big difference in the car after each change we made yesterday which was good.

I can’t wait for Clipsal; we went well there last year so I am hoping for a strong top ten finish and plan to return home with a straight car as a good solid start to the championship.”

Jason Bright in the SBR prepared #25 BF Falcon persevered with setup changes in the difficult conditions finishing 11^th quickest. SBR are keen to utilise the testing capabilities and experience of Bright to assist with the development of its young drivers.

After a busy off season readying the new FG Falcons for the 2009 series, the team were pleased with the gains from the test and are eager to race at the Clipsal 500 round next week (March 19 – 22).

Ross Stone – Team Principal “When a new model is introduced, preparing two new cars in time for the first test is a big job. At least 1200 to 1400 hours go into the chassis’ before they move into paint and assembly. The team have been working around the clock on these cars.

We were only able to get through a quarter of the test program we had planned. But, that being said we have done enough laps around the Clipsal circuit to know what is needed and I know we will be strong there.”

Pos	Car	Driver	Fastest Lap	Gap
7^th	4	Alex Davison	1:11.8996	0:00.7877
9^th	9	Shane van Gisbergen	1:12.0792	0:00.9673
11^th	25	Jason Bright	1:12.2240	0:01.1121