RACE REPORTS

November 20, 2010

Bronson Butcher to race V8 Utes

As 2010 draws to a close, plans for 2011 are taking shape for Holbrook race driver Bronson Butcher. The team is planning to race the Australian V8 Utes, a major 8 race series that supports Australian V8 Supercars. The ute will be prepared and managed by Wayne Williams of Williams Race Tech, who manages up to 5 utes in this year’s competition, 3 of which are in the top 7. “It is such a good fit for us next year and an exciting prospect,” Bronson said “but it is very dependent on sponsorship”. One of the attractions of the ute series is it does provide a good return to sponsors, with huge TV coverage throughout Australia, New Zealand and Europe, and being a preferred support class to the V8 Supercars, at only a fraction of the cost. Bronson will be testing in the utes with Gary Baxter (currently running 7th in the series) this week at Mallala Raceway near Adelaide.

And just in case his week wasn’t full enough, the 17 year old will be getting straight out of the ute and onto a push bike as he sets out with school mates on the week long Great Victorian Bike Ride. This year starting in Yarrawonga and riding 600km over 9 days and finishing in Marysville.

Since returning from the US early this year, Bronson has purchased a race prepared Ford falcon sedan, and been practicing at Winton Motor raceway and Wakefield Park. With support from Chahda Performance, Bronson has improved the car and his lap times dramatically, and will be utilizing the summer holidays to upgrade the car in preparation to race in the “improved production” class in NSW and Victoria early next year. Racing this class will provide the necessary licence upgrade needed to race the utes. “The Falcon has been a real community effort” Bronson stated “We would not be getting the track time we have had without the support in Holbrook of Oz’s PJ Panels, Churchill Transport, Jayfields Nursery, Hope and Gordon Mackinlay, Lieschke Motors and Holbrook Tyre Service.”

This week Bronson has been enlisted with the “Racing for a Cause” team. “This is cool”, Bronson said “I got asked via twitter. It is an American based organization started by Ricky Springer, who was born with the disorder Eosinophilic Colitis, but suffered for the first 21 months of his life unable to get correctly diagnosed and treated. So now, at just 7 years old, Ricky decided to use his kart racing as a platform to raise awareness of Eosinophilic disorders so others may avoid suffering the same as he did. It is emerging as a widespread healthcare issue, and people can learn more by checking out the websites www.racingforacause.com and www.apfed.org .”

April 24 2010

Last throw of the dice for Butcher in Vegas

            The final installment in what has been a feast of motor racing for Bronson Butcher was played out this weekend at “The Bullring” asphalt speedway of Las Vegas, in the #32 Spencer Clark legend car. Qualifying 4th with a personal best of 17.18 seconds, .2 seconds behind pole, Bronson then had an exciting race on the Friday night to finish 5th, in a group of 4 cars with less than .8 seconds separating them at the finish line.Similarly in Saturday night’s action, the 16 year old qualified 7th in the 30 car field, and had a great race to finish 6th, less than a second behind the winner of the 21 lap race. “Both races this weekend has seen close, hard racing with plenty of dicing and bumping” the Australian claimed, “It’s awesome to be fast enough to be up there racing with these guys. Over half of the field tonight had fastest laps all within half a second.” Bronson returns to Australia this Thursday after 7 weeks based in Las Vegas and including 2 days practising the #32 Spencer Clark legend car at the Bullring and Spring Mountain Resort track, 2 races at Infineon Raceway near San Francisco, 2 race days at Toyota Speedway, Irwindale, Los Angeles (one in the #59 legend for High Point Racing), 5 races at the Bullring, 2 days testing the S2 race car with High Point Racing, crewing on a late model team for High Point Racing, watching the Long Beach Indy Car Grand Prix, attending a Camping World West race at Phoenix (part of the NASCAR round there that week) with the Spencer Clark Development Team, and working in the race shop with them during the week.“It has been a massive experience which has really moved a lot of things forward for me,” Bronson stated. “We are confident of next time coming over with sponsorship and stepping up to the full size cars. I hope to soon be based over here full time and get the same seat time as the people I’m racing against. The fact that I’ve been as fast as I have this trip is a credit to TJ and Guy and the Spencer Clark Development team of Las Vegas, and Tim Huddleston and the High Point Racing team of Los Angeles”.

The Bronson Butcher Motorsport team would like to thank Spencer Clark Driven Team, High Point Racing, Wet Tec Racing, SPI Entertainment, Australian Outback Plants, Kart Equip, Churchill Transport, Oga Marketing, Sportscamera and Back Straight Massage.

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April 18th 2010

Butcher Steps Up In Los Angeles

  The Bronson Butcher Motorsport Team headed back to LA and the NASCAR sanctioned ½ mile asphalt speedway for a 2nd day of testing the S2 car with High Point Racing. The S2 is designed and built by Racecar Factory and was a new class for 2009. It is a purpose built race car, very similar in body shape and size to the popular late models, a sturdy chassis and a Chevrolet 350 motor, it is the ideal step between the legend car and late models on the short track speedways.“Driving a full size car on the ½ mile track is a massive experience and I appreciate the time Tim, Cat and the whole HPR team has put in to coaching me through it,” the 16 year old said. (Over the easter race meeting at Irwindale, Bronson worked in the High Point Racing crew on the #50 late model of team owner Tim Huddleston.  It was one of 5 cars HPR were running in the 26 car field that night, and there was plenty to do as the 45 lap race saw a lot of carnage. Rod Johnson Jr driving the #15 HPR car was the best finisher for the team with a close 3rd.)Bronson then drove a High Point Racing legend car in competition at Irwindale the next night, qualifying 8th and finishing 9th in a race with plenty of biff and barge, but fortunately no damage for the Australian driver. “It was great catching up with Tom Landreth of TEI Motorsport again” Bronson said “I drove one of their cars when I first raced here 2 years ago, and even though I was a lot closer to him this time, I still have to find a couple of tenths to be able to race him.”  Making a big weekend even bigger, Bronson and his father drove straight from the track to Long Beach to watch the Indy Car street race there next day. “It is one of the more glamorous race events in the US with probably a similar feel to it as the Gold Coast 600 event in Australia” Bronson reported, “Will Power, who has dominated the competition so far, was looking the goods again this race, leading til a brief gear change issue put him to 3rd, which is where he finished.” Fellow Penske team mate and Australian Ryan Briscoe finished 6th, and yet another Aussie – David Brabham – won the ALMS race the day before. There was an entertaining drifting display and the day finished with a round of the World Challenge Sports Car race. “3rd placegetter in the GT division was Brandon Davis in a Mustang, who we got to know as he was also driving a late model at Irwindale for High Point Racing at the same time as us.”

The Bronson Butcher Motorsport team would like to thank Spencer Clark Driven Team, High Point Racing, Wet Tec Racing, SPI Entertainment, Australian Outback Plants, Kart Equip, Churchill Transport, Oga Marketing, Sportscamera and Back Straight Massage.

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April 11th 2010

Bronson Butcher 4th at Bullring, Las Vegas

In his first race at the Bullring this year, Australian driver Bronson Butcher qualified the Spencer Clark legend car 8th for the Friday night race at the Nascar sanctioned “Bullring” speedway of Las Vegas. The #32 was fast in the 30 car field and he had a solid race to make his way to 5th in the 15 lap race (with 1st place getter being disqualified) and was 1st home of the Spencer Clark Race Team drivers.

Unfortunately, the momentum was disrupted in the feature race on Saturday night. Not happy qualifying mid pack, Bronson set about moving through the field with a much better car for the feature race, only to be brought undone by cars wrecking in front and having nowhere to go, and getting hit from behind as well. “There was a lot of damage done to the car and the team did a great job getting it back together for us for the 50 lap national qualifier on the Sunday”. Bronson said. “We didn’t have time to fix everything and in the end it was one of those issues which brought about a premature end to Sundays race.” The 16year old had a better car for qualifying on the Sunday but had to pass 2 cars in those 4 laps, and could only manage a 15th starting spot. Again, working his way through the field of the 50lap feature with a very quick car, Bronson was up to 7th when a seal damaged the night before gave way, ending his race with 34 laps to go. “It was an awesome race, one of the best I’ve seen here,” Bronson claimed “Kyle was untouchable at the front but the group of 6 cars behind were going hard at it and it was anyone’s for the taking when Kyle ran out of fuel with 4 laps to go. It’s great to know we have a car that can mix it up the front and we will nail it soon” the Aussie promises.

The Bronson Butcher Motorsport team would like to thank Spencer Clark Driven Team, High Point Racing, Wet Tec Racing, SPI Entertainment, Australian Outback Plants, Kart Equip, Churchill Transport, Oga Marketing, Sportscamera and Back Straight Massage.

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March 24th 2010

Butcher returns to Toyota Speedway, Irwindale, Los Angeles

With the Spencer Clark Legend car converted back for speedway duties, and Bronson’s father, Julian, flying  into Las Vegas, the team headed to Los Angeles for the next leg of their race schedule. Toyota Speedway is a flatter ¼ mile track which always provides plenty of fireworks, and after practice on Friday the #32 was looking quick in the cooler evening conditions.Qualifying 8th in the 19 car field, Bronson was managing all the set up changes this weekend, and gave himself a front running car for the race. He made his way to 6th and was gaining on the front group as they diced with each other. A caution on lap 16 saw the field bunch up again, but as often happens, the restart brings trouble, and a collision saw damage to the #32 and unable to continue. “That was really frustrating” said Bronson “there is so much atmosphere at this place and with 19 laps to go we were a real contender”.While at Toyota Speedway Bronson caught up with Tim Huddleston and the High Point Racing team, with which he will be testing the S2 car the following week.  The S2s were racing on the full ½ mile track and Rod Johnson Jr of High Point Racing won in the very car that Bronson will be driving.     

The Bronson Butcher Motorsport team would like to thank Spencer Clark Driven Team, High Point Racing, Wet Tec Racing, SPI Entertainment, Australian Outback Plants, Kart Equip, Churchill Transport, Oga Marketing, Sportscamera and Back Straight Massage.

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March 21, 2010

Butcher races  Infineon Raceway, USA

 Australian driver Bronson Butcher’s first race this year was in the #32 Spencer Clark Legend car and at the famous Infineon Raceway of Sonoma, just north of San Francisco.  This is the 16 year olds 4th racing trip to the US since 2006 and his 3rd based in Las Vegas with the Spencer Clark Driven Team. The schedule started with practice at the NASCAR sanctioned “Bullring”, Las Vegas,  on March 14th, used to familiarize himself with the car again and road in some tyres, then the next day practice at the nearby Spring Mountain Resort road course. It was a nine hour haul to North California on March 19th for 2 days of racing at Infineon Raceway, at the same venue the NASCAR Sprint Cup races. “It’s a daunting circuit with a lot of elevation changes and speeds for the legend cars over 170kmh, plus this was my first time racing a road course with a gearbox car,” Bronson stated “So I struggled, but started getting it together by Sunday and was then less than a second off the lap times of the experienced guys”.  

 The Bronson Butcher Motorsport team would like to thank Spencer Clark Driven Team, High Point Racing, Wet Tec Racing, SPI Entertainment, Australian Outback Plants, Churchill Transport, Oga Marketing, Sportscamera and Back Straight Massage.