Pay Tribute to CFA At Winton Raceway 32 V8 Utes will line-up for Round three of the 2009 Yokohama V8 Ute Racing Series paying tribute to the Country Fire Authority (CFA), by sporting the CFA logo on all utes at Winton Raceway, 1 – 3 May.
Throughout the Victorian Bushfire ordeal, Wilson Fabric who are an important part of the #99 Storage King Ford, and their parent company BRUCK Textiles had many staff involved as volunteer fire fighters with the Victorian CFA.
Staff were on the front line fighting fires, helping their communities and the entire V8 Ute family want to show their respect and say thank you and all of the Victorian CFA by displaying the CFA logo on all 32 race Utes.
Ben Dunn who works closely with Wilson Fabric explained “ It’s a tribute that Bruck Textiles which is a proud Australian company to have a policy of paid time off to volunteers; this allowed them to concentrate on what was important with the full support of their employer,” said Dunn.
Each of the cars will be wearing the logos on the top sides of their bonnets and this will be no different for Grove Fruit Juice Racings Grant “Grunta” Johnson who will be making a come-back after missing the final race at Clipsal due to a 180km/hr crash into turn 8.
Johnson will return to the track wearing a Go Kart Rib Protector as he is still suffering from a broken rib.
“I am keen to race again. I just had a practice at Wakefield today in the newly built car and it feels good and is looking great. The guys at Hi-tech have done a great job putting it together so quickly for me,” said Johnson.
Johnson will be joined on the track by local Numurkah driver, Ray Sidebottom who will make-up the 32nd car, which was absent from the first round of the Series.
Matthew Holt will step behind the wheel of the Wake-up Holden and race under #65 in place of Warren Millet who will be sitting out this round.
All drivers will have to keep an eye on veteran, Gary “Chuckie” Baxter who took out Winton last year and who is currently in the lead of the Series.
Reigning champion Layton Crambrook will be looking to make a come-back after a disastrous first round, which saw him place 10th after a diff failure in Race One and damage to the front of his car after running into Justin Van Twest in Race Two.
Crambrook was able to regain some exposure in the final race overtaking 21 cars to finish in 10th position from his 31st start and securing him the SS Inductions Hard Charger for the most amounts of Utes passed in one race.
Crambrook doesn’t want to put himself in the same position at Winton and currently holds the lap record in a time of 1:39.29 and will be looking to hold onto it.
“I don’t want to be playing catch up at Winton. I had a good run there last year; I placed second even with a stomach bug that plagued me at the round.”
“The car is in good shape now and I’m determined to get back out there and get a podium finish,” said Crambrook.
The Utes will take to the track sporting the CFA logos for Practice One Friday, 1st May 10:15am. The rest of the schedule is as follows:
Friday 1 May 2:25pm Practice 2Saturday 2 May 10:25am QualifyingSaturday 2 May 4:50pm Race 1Sunday 3 May 11:15am Race 2Sunday 3 May 3:05pm Race 3
