Searles Win Support

Newcastle Herald

Friday May 28, 1999

Brent Davison

NEWCASTLE 2-litre Super Touring Car team Roadchill Racing has landed a major sponsorship deal with music and multimedia educator SAE College and its Studio 301 subsidiary.

The announcement was made earlier this week, just in time for the team's BMW 320i to get a new coat of paint and some slinky graphics before heading to South Australia's Mallala circuit for the third championship round.

Roadchill Racing team manager David Searle, father of team drivers Luke and Troy Searle, said the new sponsorship deal would enable the team to invest in the latest racing technology and allow it to throw out a stronger challenge to the factory-backed teams. * Gosford Speedway had its season finale on Saturday night and Newcastle rider Alana Harrington, Australia's only female speedway sidecar racer, stole the limelight with a half-lap win in the first championship heat.

Other Hunter Valley stars at Gosford were Maitland pair Grant Bond and Thomas Kruse, winners of the sidecar feature.

Thornton solo rider Stephen Davies rode on the edge all night to grab two heat wins after dropping a heat to Central Coast veteran Mick Poole. * The racing surface has been laid at Queensland Raceway, the country's newest racing circuit, in preparation for the track's first meeting on June 20.

That will be a State championship event but interestingly, all the Queensland-based V8 Supercar teams who have nominated QR as their test track will be invited to run in practice.

Getting track time three weeks before the Shell Championship hits town will be a huge bonus for the 15 teams in terms of data acquisition and car set-up.

The track will be officially opened during the Shell Championship round on July 11.

* Before the V8 Supercar boys start concerning themselves with Queensland Raceway they have to contend with Darwin's Hidden Valley circuit this weekend.

Last year the V8 circus hit our most northerly outpost for the first time and turned on some excellent racing.

One of the most exciting aspects of Hidden Valley is its 1.1km main straight, the longest in the country with the exception of Mt Panorama's Conrod Straight.

This weekend's Shell Championship Series racing will be telecast on Network Ten from 3-5pm Sunday. * For competitors in last weekend's Australian Motocross Championships at Broadford, Victoria, it was a case of making the best of a treacherous track.

Organisers were forced to cut a section of the new track after the practice and qualifying sessions because of excessive dust.

It then became mud when the rain came down.