About the Track: Location: Reid Park, Townsville, QLD Length: 2.86km long Turns: 13 turns Direction: Clockwise Fastest Average Speed: 118kph
1) The 2015 East Coast Bullbars Australian V8 Ute Racing Series will return to the Townsville Street Circuit for the sixth time. The V8 Utes were at the inaugural round in 2009 and in 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2014.
2) Lap Record: George “Slick” Miedecke set the first lap record in a V8 Ute at the Sucrogen Townsville 500, however Ford rival Jack Elsegood snatched it by the end of the weekend (Race 2 2009) and held it for two years. Reigning V8 Ute Champion Ryal Harris broke the 2009 record in 2011 in Race 1 in a time of 1:28.2930, Kim Jane broke that record in 2013 in a time of 1:28.2339.
Kris Walton blitzed the record last year along with 13 other drivers who all went under 1:28. Walton blitzed the rest of the field by two tenths of a second to take the record.
After almost 3 years, Nathan Pretty broke the Qualifying lap record drought in 2013 by almost six tenths of a second, the record was set in 2009 by Jack “The Hustler” Elsegood.
Current Lap Record: 1:27.0896 – Kris WaltonCurrent Qualifying Record: 1:27.2999 – Nathan Pretty
3) Historical Moment: One of the fiercest battles for the ARMOR ALL Pole Award took place in Townsville. In 2009 Jack Elsegood pipped George Miedecke, in the last 30 seconds of the Qualifying session by only 1/100ths of a second in a time of 1:27.94. In 2011, Harris pipped Chris Pither, the 2011 Champion, by only 9/100ths of a second.
4) Performance Record: Jack Elsegood and Grant Johnson have the best track record in Townsville; Two-time V8 Ute Champion Grant Johnson has two race wins and three podiums (2nd 2011 & 2010, 3rd 2009) under his belt. Elsegood has claimed two podiums (1st in 2010 and 2nd in 2009) and two poles however he is yet to win a race at the Reid Park circuit. Ryal Harris, the reigning V8 Ute Champion, has won two races and one pole and stood on podium for the first time in 2013, equal with 2011 V8 Ute Champion Chris Pither who also has two race wins and a round to his name.
5) Race 3 at Townsville will mark the halfway point for the 2015 East Coast Bullbars Australian V8 Ute Racing Series.
6) The local Lad: Townsville resident, Graham “The Local Lad” Edwards will make his fifth appearance at his home track. He debuted in the V8 Utes in Townsville in 2010 and raced at home again in 2011, 2013 and 2014, he has competed in 4 other V8 Ute rounds including 2011 Clipsal 500, 2011 Sandown 500 and the 2011 ARMOR ALL Gold Coast 600. Edwards just missed out on the top ten last year in 14th overall for the Round.
Craig Dontas will celebrate his annual family reunion in Condon, Townsville. The South Aussie has about 40 relatives that live in the Sunshine State including his 93year old Grandmother.
His 15 month old second cousin, Islah, was recently diagnosed with Tay-Sachs Disease - a rare untreatable disease that usually doesn’t see the recipient live past four years. The family will come-together not only to see each other, but to support young Islah. You can learn more about young Islah’s plight here.
7) Ford v’s Holden: 2013 was the first year the Ford FG’s raced in Townsville; however the new model wasn’t enough to give the Fords a race win that year. They came back strong last year claiming two race wins and the Pole Award. Ford are still trailing Holden on six Race wins to Holden’s nine, Ford claimed four ARMOR ALL Pole Awards to Holden’s one, which was won by Nathan Pretty in 2013. Ford has the most Round wins with three to Holden’s two.
8) The Line-up: Twenty two of the 32 drivers in the Series have competed in Townsville in a V8 Ute before and six drivers have competed at all five Townville events including Noel Edge, Craig Dontas, Kim Jane, Peter Burnitt, Andrew Fisher and Ryal Harris.
Grant Johnson will steer the All Purpose Pest Control Ford for the second time this year, he last drove it in Perth. Johnson raced in Townsville last year in Danny Buzadzic’s Ford, his first time racing in Townsville since 2011.
George Miedecke also had a return to the Townsville event last year after a long absence (2009).
The former NASCAR Development driver posted some of the fastest results Qualifying second and winning Race 1 (the first ever V8 Ute race at the event), he was unfortunate to get mixed up in a Race 2 incident causing extensive damage to his Ford and unable to return to the field for the remainder of the weekend. Miedecke drove a Holden last year but has returned to the Ford this year.
Former V8 Supercar Driver Marcus Marshall will steer the #41 Team Kleen Holden in Townsville. This will be Marshall’s second time in a V8 Ute, he last drove in Perth in 2011 in the Auto One Wildcard Ute.
Marshall won’t have a chance to test however he is familiar with the track having driven there in 2011 in the GRM V8 Supercar.
Michael Almond will return to the V8 Ute Racing Series in his #44 Holden. Almond hasn’t driven in the Series since Darwin last year; this will be his first time racing a Ute around the Townsville Street circuit, although he has driven there previously in a Porsche. Almond will be contesting both the Porsche Carrera Cup Series as well as the Utes this weekend.
Seven drivers will race on the streets of Townsville for the first time including; Danny Buzadzic, Richard Mork, Bruce Oaklands and Rookies, Mason Barbera, Leigh Nicolaou and Adam Beechey.
9) ARMOR ALL Drivers Championship: Two-time V8 Ute Champion Ryal Harris is leading the ARMOR ALL Drivers Championship (441points) by 54 points over Matt Stone Racing Teammate George Miedecke (387points) Auto One Racer Adam Marjoram is running in third in the Championship on 376points.
All three drivers will carry extra-weight this weekend due to the new Success Ballast System. Harris will carry 40kg for the second round in a row Miedecke 30kg (an increase of 10kg since Perth) and Marjoram will go down to 20kg. The top three drivers in the ARMOR ALL Drivers Championship carry extra weight at every round except Round 1 and Round 8.
10) Townsville will mark the memorial of Allan Simonsen, the former V8 Ute driver passed away in June 2013 at the Le Mans 24 Hour Race. Simonsen ran in a three-car V8 Ute team in 2005 alongside Ian McAlister and Jack Elsegood for Coopers Pale Ale Racing. All 32 Utes ran stickers in his memory the year he passed.
11) Points: There is a total of 178 points up for grabs over the weekend.
Only 3 points will be issued for Qualifying to the ARMOR ALL Pole Winner, 70 points to the winner of Race 1, 35 points (half-points) to the winner of Race 2 reverse Grid Race and 70 points to the winner of Race 3.
The Grids are determined as follows. Race 1 Grid is determined by Qualifying. Race 2 grid is determined by a random ballot drawn by the Race 1 winner. The number drawn is the number of Utes that will be reversed on the grid for that race. The Grid for Race 3 will be a progressive grid from the finishing positions of Race 2. In the event of a tie, the highest grid position will go to the fastest qualifier.
The two session qualifying format will also be run at this Round. The format, similar to the qualifying system used in Formula 1, features a 20 minute session broken up into 2 individual segments.
Qualifying 1 will include all 32 V8 Utes and after 10 minutes, the top 10 fastest drivers will continue into Qualifying 2, for a short 5 minute session allowing for a 1 or 2 lap shootout. The fastest lap times will then determine the top ten grid for the start of Race 1, with the balance of the grid filled as they drop off in lap time from each segment.
Television Broadcast: All Practice and Qualifying sessions as well as all three races will be televised LIVE through Fox Sports with a one hour highlights package to be broadcast on ONE HD. Race 1 and Race 3 will be televised LIVE as on Channel Ten.
Event Schedule: Friday, 10th July Practice 1 9:40am Friday, 10th July Practice 2 12:10pm Saturday, 11th July Qualifying 8:05am Saturday, 11th July Race 1 1:45pm Sunday, 12th July Race 2 8:00am Sunday, 12th July Race 3 11:10am
