MEDIA RELEASE - For immediate Release - August 23rd, 2011
	TWEEDIE READY FOR BATHURST AFTER COMPETITIVE QUEENSLAND RACEWAY SHOWING
	Photo:Tom Tweedie in the middle of the pack at Queensland Raceway at the weekend.         Photo: Tweedie was speedy at QR in front of a big crowd.     TOM TWEEDIE will head towards his V8 debut at Mount Panorama October 6-10 and is poised at 11th outright on the edge of the Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series top ten after a promising weekend at Queensland Raceway. The Sydney driver’s consistent weekend included a race he described as ‘his best yet in the V8’ as he survived carnage and wet weather across the weekend at the bumpy 3-kilometer Queensland Raceway circuit near Ipswich. Tweedie qualified his MW Motorsport BF Falcon 22nd but as always the result didn’t tell the full story. Tweedie was 0.5 seconds faster than the car had previously gone at Queensland Raceway before with other drivers and was less than half-a-second behind team mate Tim Blanchard. Such was the close nature of the 28-car field that Tweedie was only six-tenths outside of the top eight in qualifying, showing his ever improving speed and consistency. Race one brought carnage in the first corner with Tweedie doing well to avoid any damage, but losing time in the progress. A stout recovery drive followed, passing the likes of the experienced TV's Grant Denyer en route to 18th position and solid gain from his starting position in a race that featured a majority of laps under Safety Car. The second race threw up new challenges as a pre-race downpour ensured it would be Tweedie’s first race V8 start in the rain. A cracked windscreen allowed more moisture than usual to get into the cabin and made the windscreen demister completely ineffective – making spotting breaking markers and other cars a challenge. Tweedie survived to finish 18th. The final race was one of his best, starting 16th and making a rocketship start to be 9th – and ahead of team-mate Blanchard – by the second lap. With the track starting mildly damp a dry line quickly emerged and allowed the MW Falcon to engage in a race-long battle with several cars for the final positions inside the top ten. Tweedie would eventually finish the race 12th and come to within a handful of points of the overall series top ten. “Race three was one of my best of the year,” Tweedie said. “The car had great straight-line speed and was very strong under brakes all race, which was good when I was defending my position. It’s the first time I’ve really felt that with this car as it has its idiosyncrasies being a relatively old updated 2005 BA chassis – but the track conditions suited it this time. “Race two was a wild experience for me. It was my first race in the wet in one of these cars and we had a crack in the windscreen which meant the demister didn’t work at all, which made life pretty challenging! You just can’t see a thing and guessing where you brake and drive the car so we were fortunate to come out with a solid result. “Earlier in the weekend we didn’t get the most out of our second new set of tyres in Qualifying, and if we had found a few more ‘tenths’ we could have jumped up ten positions on the grid – but there were plenty of others in the same position as us but with all the Teams hard work it was very competitive by race three.” Tweedie said he was fired up for his V8 debut on the Mountain, especially now having experience on the circuit earlier this year with a 3rd place in his "old" Formula Ford on the Easter weekend. “This year is a real building year for me and when you have positives like the last race at QR you can really see how it’s all coming together,” he said. “Bring on Bathurst, I think we’re going forward and improving at the right end of the season and am already planning 2012. “Thanks to the whole MW team as they worked flat out all weekend and we had some long debrief sessions analyzing all elements of the car to find an edge on the opposition and we made lot's of car changes to find the eventual speed in the end” Global Welding Supplies returned at the last minute as the major sponsor of the ‘Team Tom Supporters Club’ Falcon at the weekend after their debut on the car at Townsville earlier this year. For more information about Tom Tweedie and the Team Tom Supporters Club, please visit www.tomtweedie.com ENDS
For more information, contact Richard Craill - Tom Tweedie Media & PR Manager - on 0408 813 141 or by replying to this email.