Townsville, Queensland (July 8, 2016) – Returning to Australia for the second time in 2016, 12 identically prepared SPEED Energy Stadium SUPER Trucks presented by TRAXXAS invade the North Queensland coastal city of Townsville, July 8-10 for Rounds 10, 11 & 12 of the year long SST World Championship.
Looking to back up his podium finish at the Clipsal 500 in February; Gold Coast, Queensland driver Matt Brabham whom was recently named to Team TRAXXAS will lead the charge of 4 Australian drivers to battle the Americans in front of his home state fans. Other Australians joining Brabham, would be the ultra versatile Supercar and Sprint Car racer Paul Morris of Norwell, Queensland; Australian drift car competitor Rob Whyte of Gold Coast, Queensland; and off-road racer Greg Gartner of Penola, South Australia.
Americans returning to Australia to battle the Aussies are Robby Gordon of Orange Calif. driving fellow injured SST driver Matt Mingay's Hot Wheels/ Castrol EDGE truck; Team TRAXXAS driver Sheldon Creed of Alpine, Calif.; and World Gym driver Bill Hynes of Nazareth, Penn.
Joining the Americans and Aussies in competition veteran SST competitor E.J. Viso of Caracas, Venezuela returns with new colors from Mount Margaret Residential Estate. While making his first start in SST competition Scunthorpe, United Kingdom driver Shaun Richardson will look to make his first laps in the Postive Automotive/ Postive Trailers truck.
Brabham the series' most-recent winner, sweeping both events at the Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix last month, looks to cut into the World Championship points lead of TRAXXAS teammate Sheldon Creed with three points events.
SST features identically prepared trucks, which are made to resemble their scaled-down TRAXXAS radio-control-car counterparts. Like their TRAXXAS namesake the trucks are designed to take flight. However, unlike RC trucks, they produce 600 horsepower generating speeds upwards of 130 miles per hour.
SPEED Energy Stadium SUPER Trucks Presented by TRAXXAS
Driver Roster Townsville, Queensland, Australia
No. 1 Sheldon Creed; Alpine, Calif.; TRAXXAS
No. 2 Robby Gordon; Orange, Calif.; Hot Wheels/ Toyo Tires / Castrol EDGE
No. 5 E.J. Viso, Caracas, Venezuela; Mount Margaret Residential Estate
No. 11 Rob Whyte; Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia; AVA Performace Tuning/ Motul Oil/ Drift School Australia
No. 12 Shaun Richardson; Scunthrope, United Kingdom; Positive Automotive/ Positive Trailers/ Savino Del Bene/ Master Tow
No. 30 Arie Luyendyk Jr.; Scottsdale, Arizona; Royal Purple Synthetic Oil
No. 33 Todd Romano; Park City, Utah; Arctic Cat/ Toyo Tires / SPEED Energy/ TRAXXAS
No. 57 Bill Hynes; Nazareth, Penn.; World Gym Australia
No. 67 Paul Morris; Norwell, Queensland, Aus.; SuperCheap Auto/ Hungry Jack's
No. 75 Erik Davis; Burbank, Calif.; Always Evolving/ AERNow/ Replay XD
No. 83 Matt Brabham; Gold Coast, Queensland, Queensland, Australia; TRAXXAS
No. 410 Greg Gartner; Penola, South Australia, Aus.; R&J Batteries/ Delkor Calcium Battery/ Fuchs
SPEED Energy Stadium SUPER Trucks Presented by TRAXXAS
2016 World Championship Schedule
Round Date Location TV Broadcast Date Network
1-3 March 3-6 Adelaide, SA, Australia March 26 9:00 PM ET CBSSN
4-5 March 11-13 St. Petersburg, Florida April 17 12:00 PM ET CBSSN
6-7 April 15-17 Long Beach, California April 30 2:00 PM ET CBSSN
8-10 June 3-5 Detroit, Michigan June 19 3:00 PM ET CBSSN
11-12 July 8-10 Townsville, QLD, Australia July 24 4:00 PM ET CBSSN
13-14 July 15-17 Toronto, ONT, Canada July 31 3:00 PM ET CBSSN
15-16 Sept. 3-4 TBA Sept. 18 1:00 PM ET CBSSN
17-18 Sept. 17-18 Costa Mesa, California October 9 6:00 PM ET CBSSN
Exb. Oct. 13-16 Mike's Peak Hill Climb Challenge; Baja California, Mexico
19-20 Oct. 21-23 Gold Coast, QLD, Australia Nov. 6 2:00 PM ET CBSSN
21-22 Nov. 4-6 Auckland, New Zealand Nov. 20 2:00 PM ET CBSSN
23-24 Nov. 25-27 Sydney, NSW, Australia TBD CBSSN
About SPEED Energy Stadium SUPER Trucks Presented by TRAXXAS
Influenced by the former Mickey Thompson Stadium Off-Road Racing Series, where drivers such as Gordon, Casey Mears and six-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson got their start, Gordon created SST in response to the public's overwhelming interest in trucks and off-road racing. His plan to re-launch the former stadium series has led to exciting racing on both asphalt and dirt, while producing one of the most extreme forms of action sports today.
Other than the trucks launching 20 feet in the air covering distances more than 150 feet, what sets the SST program apart from other series is the fact that all the SST trucks are identically prepared and delivered to drivers in race-ready condition. Race winners are decided by driver skill rather than individual team engineering and budgets. Drivers and their personal mechanics are assigned specific SST mechanics who together tune and make minor adjustments to the 600-horsepower trucks.
Photo credit: Stadium SUPER Trucks
posted on conceptcarz.com
Similar to the previous visit to Australia in February the SSTs will race the same 13-turn 1.78-mile (2.85 km) street circuit built for their much different counterparts from the newly named SuperCar Series, however, unlike the SuperCars the trucks will navigate over five 30-inch-tall specially designed ramps located in prime fan-viewing locations throughout the unique street circuit. The crowd-pleasing ramps will launch the trucks and their drivers nearly 20 feet (six meters) in the air and as much as 150 feet (45 meters) down course.
Drivers making their first SST start outside of the United States would be Arie Luyendyk Jr. of Scottsdale, Ariz. driving the Royal Purple Synthetic Oil truck along with Burbank, Calif. driver Erik Davis in the Always Evolving/ AERNow/ Replay XD truck. Park City, Utah driver Todd Romano will look to make his first ever start in an SST driving the Arctic Cat/ Toyo Tires truck.
posted on conceptcarz.com
