Townsville, Queensland – 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.
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.
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.
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.
Joining the Americans and Aussies in competition veteran Stadium Super Trucks 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.
Stadium Super Trucks 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