Knight And Milwaukee Falcon Round Out Season

MEDIA RELEASE
16 APRIL 2009

Knight And Milwaukee Falcon Round Out Season At Hamilton

Andy Knight of Christchurch heads to Hamilton this weekend for the final outing of his debut season in the BNT V8s category.

While overall it has been a frustrating season for the young Cantabrian the speed that he has exhibited right throughout his career has still been very evident. His BNT V8s Championship debut at Taupo at the beginning of the season saw Andy immediately place the Milwaukee Falcon inside the ultra competitive top ten during qualifying. However gremlins have intervened several times to hamper his progress. Knight travels to Hamilton looking to end his first year in the class with the major goal to finish all three races.

This will be Knight's second visit to the Hamilton street circuit after he competed at the inaugural event there twelve months ago. On that occasion he was at the wheel of his Milwaukee Power Tools Toyota, fresh from a stellar championship winning season that included victory in the New Zealand Grand Prix. His initial impression of the circuit laid out around the streets of New Zealand's fourth largest urban area was that it was "quite cool." Twelve months on he returns in a totally different car but he is again looking forward to the prospect of competing at the unique circuit in the Milwaukee Falcon.

Organisers have made several detail changes to the track this year and Knight is particularly pleased with the changes to the chicane - an area of the circuit that caused competitors in all categories problems last year. "The changes to the chicane this year should make the track a whole lot better," said Andy recently.

While street circuits are not common in New Zealand, Knight's international experience has seen him race at well known temporary Australian circuits such as Adelaide and Albert Park in Melbourne. The Hamilton circuit is 3.4 kilometres in length and runs in a clockwise direction through the Frankton business district. It winds it way past the Waikato Stadium, home of the Chiefs Super 14 rugby team, and an international cricket venue - Seddon Park.

The action for the BNT V8s drivers begins with a 30 minute test session at 9.20am on Friday morning. Qualifying follows later that morning with just one hour for drivers to set their
best time to establish their grid position for the opening race of the weekend scheduled for 14 laps at 1.10pm on Saturday afternoon. Two races, the first over 14 laps and the second over 18 laps, will be held on Sunday. The first is scheduled for 9.20am on Sunday morning and the last race is timed to start at 1.20pm. As this event is a non-championship round the traditional reverse grid format for the final race has been dispensed with.

This weekend the category is a support class for the New Zealand round of the Australian V8 Supercar Championship and as such the biggest crowd of the season will see Knight and the rest of the BNT V8s field in action. Last year 172,113 people attended the event over the three days.

The Milwaukee Falcon will again carry the number 18 this weekend. The number was first seen on the car at the final round of the BNT V8s Championship last month to coincide with the launch of the new generation 18 volt range of Milwaukee Power Tools.

Milwaukee Power Tools, one of the world's premium power tool brands, Mitre 10 Mega, Latimer Hotel, Pink Batts Silencer, Chemz, Metalman, Elite Transport Refinishers Timaru, John Jones Steel Ltd, Century Yuasa, Novus Auto Glass, B Sport and Omega Rental Cars are supporting Andy Knight's campaign in the 2008/2009 BNT V8s Championship.

CALENDAR 2008/2009 BNT V8s CHAMPIONSHIP
Round 1 - 3-5 October 2008: Taupo Motorsport Park, Taupo
Round 2 - 7-9 November 2008: Pukekohe Park Raceway, Auckland
Round 3 - 28-30 November 2008: Powerbuilt Tools International Raceway, Ruapuna, Christchurch
Round 4 - 9-11 January 2009: Timaru International Motor Raceway, Timaru
Round 5 - 16-18 January 2009: Teretonga Park, Invercargill
Round 6 - 27 February - 1 March 2009: Manfeild Park, Feilding
Round 7 - 13-15 March 2009: Pukekohe Park Raceway, Auckland

Non-Championship Trophy Race - 17-19 April 2009: Hamilton 400, Hamilton

Ends

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