Release 11/1/2009 - John Hepburn Racing

11 JANUARY 2009

HEPBURN DISAPPOINTED WITH HOME ROUND

After a solid start to his inaugural season in the BNT V8s Championship South Canterbury driver John Hepburn had to contend with a series of problems at his home round at Timaru International Motor Raceway this weekend.

Despite the issues Hepburn did manage to bring the John Hepburn Racing Commodore home for three point scoring finishes over the course of Round 4 of the championship.

The opening race on Saturday afternoon saw the Timaru driver produce a fighting drive to eighteenth place while contending with a blown diff, gearbox problems and a broken bottom ball joint. After he nursed the car to the finish the team set about effecting repairs, working late into the night to have the car ready for Sunday's two races.

Hepburn produced a good drive on Sunday morning, featuring in a good battle with Alan McCarrison of Auckland and Simon Richards of Hamilton. It took several laps for the local driver to get past McCarrison but once ahead he drew away to claim sixteenth place.

The final race brought real disappointment for Hepburn. The wrong set of tyres was chosen and while there were fresh tyres available an older set was fitted to the Commodore. That hampered Hepburn throughout the 20 lap event and a safety car period during the race caused their performance to deteriorate further. The tyre problem left Hepburn battling the car with lap times three seconds slower than earlier in the day.

Nevertheless he continued on and brought the car to the chequered flag for another point scoring finish.

With the next round of the championship at Teretonga Park in Invercargill just one week away the team now faces a huge amount of work before they travel south. A rebuild of the diff and gearbox plus some panel repair work must all be completed by Wednesday night.

John Hepburn's campaign in the BNT V8s Championship is supported by Auto Align, Timaru Signs & Graphix, Blastcraft, Petrie Mayman Clark, Robinsons Auto Dismantlers, Drummond & Etheridge, Timaru Metal Recyclers, Ashley Electronics, Paul Smith Earthmoving and Crash Repairs.

Lindsay Beer
on behalf of Johnny Hepburn Racing
021 351 499

To contact John Hepburn - phone 0274 326 934