On the first day of competition Jack and Shaneet from the Eastern team took on Beau and Bekitemba from Western team.
After pulling away early having quickly identifying a number of the pre-programmed faults the Eastern team went into the halfway mark in the lead. In the second half of the 45-minute challenge, however, the Western team found their form to draw level when time elapsed with both teams boards showing seven faults found out of the nine.
When all the heat results were tallied any ties would be separated by penalties with a half-point deduction for any mistakes. The judges kept those details close to their chests until the finals teams announcement which you can read below.
Day two was another exciting day of competition between Western team and Southern team’s Samual and Luke. Both teams were neck and neck with five minutes to go. Then the Western team had a break-through, jumping ahead and repairing all nine faults with two minutes to spare.
On day three the Eastern team and the Southern team were competing for the last place in the finals. At the end of the gruelling session there was just one point separating the two teams.
The west’s Bekitemba and Beau watched on intently, still not sure whether they had done enough to get into the finals.
The final day of the Apprentice Challenge saw the Western and the Southern teams competing for the National Apprentice Challenge trophy. Both teams competed very hard and at the end of the 60 minutes there was only 1 point separating the two and no penalty points were awarded to either team.
Placing for the final day:
First place – Southern region (Victoria, South Australia, and Tasmania)
Luke Kneebone – 4th-year apprentice – Webster Trucks, Tasmania
Samual Allan – 3rd-year apprentice – Ballarat Isuzu
Second place – North-western region (Western Australia and Northern Territory)
Bekitemba Gwebu– 3rd-year apprentice – Major Motors, Perth
Beau Smith – 4th-year apprentice – CMV Truck Centre, Adelaide
Third place – Eastern region (representing Queensland, New South Wales, and Australian Capital Territory)
Shaneet Singh – 2nd-year apprentice – Stillwell Trucks, Sydney
Jack Dennis – 4th-year apprentice – Penske Australia, Brisbane
Event coordinator, former HVIA Director, Chris Musch thanked the following people for helping to judge and supervise each day – Brenton Cook (National Technical Manager and Adam White (Queensland Technical Manager), Paul Burke (NTI/Truck Assist), Bob Nolan, Geoff Tillett and his team (QLD TAFE) and Alex Richards (Heavy Automatics).
A big thank you to all of the sponsors – NTI/Truck Assist, Isuzu Trucks, TAFE Queensland SkillsTech, Warby Tools and NXT Journey. And to Scott Millar from BOP who was an enthusiastic and entertaining host.
The winning regional team will receive a fully paid return airfares, 3 nights accommodation and Saturday and Sunday admission tickets to attend the SUPERCARS Vodafone GOLD COAST 500 in October 2021*, proudly supported by National Transport Insurance (NTI) and Truck Assist.
All finalists have received tool prizes courtesy of Warby Tools Pty Ltd.
*2021 Supercars schedule to be confirmed
Pictured L-R: Samual Allan, 3rd-year apprentice (Ballarat Isuzu) and Luke Kneebone, 4th-year apprentice (Webster Trucks, Tasmania)
