Release 19/4/08 - John Hepburn Racing

MEDIA RELEASE
19 APRIL 2009

HEPBURN FINISHES SEASON ON A HIGH NOTE

Timaru driver John Hepburn ended his first full season in the BNT V8s category with his best result of the year at the Hamilton Street Race this weekend.

Racing in the BNT V8s Trophy event, split over three races, Hepburn scored two top ten finishes in the ultra-competitive category. The other race resulted in a fifteenth place. However he had been forced to stop in the pits to replace a loose spark plug lead during that race.

The accumulated results left Hepburn provisionally ninth overall for the weekend, a fantastic finish to his debut season.

The John Hepburn Racing Commodore arrived in Hamilton with modifications to the front suspension and the South Canterbury driver reported the work had a positive effect on the car.

However the improvements meant Hepburn had to learn the car all over again and within the confines of the concrete barrier lined streets of Hamilton in his own words that was a "scary experience."

However he quickly came to grips with the changes to end the season with a superb result.

Hepburn put the Commodore into fifteenth place on the grid during qualifying on Friday when he lapped the 3.4 kilometere circuit in a time of 1 minute 35.8707 seconds.

In the first race on Saturday afternoon he dropped to seventeenth place in the early skirmishes before he began to work his way forward - all the way to the top ten. The former truck and motorcycle champion crossed the line in tenth place, admitting at the end he had "fried the rears" along the way.

The second race took place on Sunday morning and after pitting early to have the loose plug lead attended to Johnny charged back into the action, setting his best lap time of the weekend as he raced to fifteenth place at the chequered flag. The team had made some changes to the car prior to the race and John reported, "they worked well."

The third race provided a highlight for the team as Hepburn brought the Commodore home in tenth place again after a fantastic race. "It was brilliant, hard racing," said Johnny as he savoured the best possible finish to the season.

Back in the pits after the final race he paid special tribute to those that had helped him achieve the result. "I have to make special mention of Trev and Jarrod Parmenter of Auto Gas in Timaru," he said. "They have really made a big contribution to the team since they came on board. Paul Cook of Pit Stop in Otahuhu also carried out a lot of the work before the Hamilton race weekend." He also paid credit to Nick King who has been part of the hardworking team throughout the season and Carmen Hayman. "She takes care of all the behind the scenes work and we just couldn't race without that."

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, Auto Gas, Pit Stop Otahuhu and Crash Repairs.

Lindsay Beer