Bob Middleton (Whiteline Transport(Aust.) Pty Ltd) is an awesome guy, and welknown in Racing Circles in Australia for many years (especially NASCAR Racing), and over the last couple of years he's made his name recognised in New Zealand in SuperTruck Championships.

Wellllll, Bob-the-builder is back this year, now with a brand spanking new Freightliner powered by the reliable Caterpillar C-12 engine. Virtually out of the box in Timaru for the start of the season, with only a day and a half for testing and adjustments. Then she was modified again between Manfield and Pukekohe, getting better and better......

PUKEKOHE:

At the last minute the final preparations were made with the changing of the Intercooler Setup. With the New Intercooler fitted, New pipework in place, the team was ready for testing on Friday.

When qualifying started on Saturday (after some minor changes to setups) we were confident that the truck was close to the best it could be. 

Infact it was so close that Bob qualified a mere 0.59 seconds behind Andrew Porter in the tried and proven Kenworth at his hometrack!

Race 1 (Non Championship Race) showed that the Freightliner still needs more power, and that Bob is getting to know the secrets of the Pukekohe Raceway little by little. It is a rather different track with a corner (on to the front-straight) that cambers off. The fastest lap from Bob was a mere 0.7 seconds of the fastest lap set.....

Race 2 (Championship Race) on Sunday Morning saw Bob and the CAT Freightliner blossom when the fastest lap by Bob-The-Builder was 0.2 seconds faster than his qualifying time! A second place (and chasing down Porter) meant that Bob was pushing the CAT all the way!

Race 3 (Championship Race) saw the Whiteline Racing SuperTruck set the fastest Lap on what became a disasterous one for Cedric Abernethy in the Mack. As he came over the sweeping corner on to the front straight, the truck went too wide and drifted on to the grass. Attempting to safe this the truck careered diagonally across the track, through the track barrier landing unside-down on the Pitlane Armeco. This was one of the worst Truckracing accidents witnessed. However, incredibly Cedric suffered a (rather badly) broken leg, a puncture mark on the other leg and bruising. Thsi stopped racing for the rest of the day, due to the tracksafety officials realising that a temporary barrier is not strong enough to stop 5 tonnes travelling at 160 kilometers per hour.

We all wish Cedric a speedy and full recovery. He's a good fella, great competitor and awesome race-mate!

So, this wrapped up the Chamionship for the year. Andrew took the first place, Bob-the-builder a prestigeous second place with a brand new truck, and Malcolm (in-the-middle-) Little was placed third.

MANFIELD:

Between Timaru and Manfield Race Meetings, the truck was upgraded from Single to Twin Turbo, and the engine provided with some "minor" interior alterations.

Come to Pukekohe this weekend of the 14th / 15th February and check out the Truck, The Driver and the International Crew!

Support In New Zealand is provided by Kernohan Contracting Ltd (Turangi), Goughs CAT (Caterpillar), Freightliner (Daimler/Chrysler Corp) and Alert (SamcoSport and Pipercross).

The Crew in Manfield.......

Bob "the builder" and Sharon Middleton, Lauren & Dave Kernohan, Jeffrey Kernohan, Terry Honey (Goughs Auckland), Gary Honey (Terry's Dad), Big Al (Goughs Palmerston North), Sally, Allan, Adrian-the-Palmy-tyre-lad, and Armand (Alert). 

And what was Manfield like this year? compare this to a hot sunny 2003 season.....

At one stage it became so wet, that Bob, Allan & Cedric (Abernethy) "re-engineered" the stormwater systems in the manfield pits.....!

The Special Filters developed for the CAT C-12 running on Two Turbo..... materials by Pipercross, engineered and assembled in New Zealand:

a Massive 350mm long, 102mm neck PowerCone Filter

Two filters made with Vortex Foam, Two Filters made with the PX 700 Foam....... and Bob could feel the immediate difference to the responsiveness of the engine!

About the owners & crew:

Bob and Sharon Middleton are the proprietors of Whiteline Transport (Aust.) Pty Ltd. They operate a magnificent young fleet of Freightliner and Western Stars all powered by CAT engines. Both are wonderful people to have as friends. In-fact we have a fantastic crew made up of Australians, Kiwi's and even the odd Dutchman.