***JUST IN******
THE economic crunch continues to hurt V8 Supercars racing, with another sponsor leaving the sport.
For the second time in three years, V8 Supercar powerhouse Stone Brothers Racing needs a new sponsor and driver.
Major sponsor Jeld-Wen announced this week it would quit the team. Driver James Courtney is also leaving.
Jeld-Wen follows Caltex, Shell, Repco, Betta Electrical, Pirtek and WPS in cutting support of the series.
The sport has also been hurt by the collapse of Westpoint and Opus Prime financial institutions.
Jeld-Wen will stay involved with Courtney.
"Once the season ends, we'll develop plans with James," Jeld-Wen spokesman Bruce Tosello said.
Driver Marcos Ambrose and sponsor Pirtek abandoned the team during the 2005 season, while Caltex walked last season.
Co-owner Ross Stone said it was inevitable that commercial partnerships changed.
"There are always other opportunities on the backburner and we will put those into action," he said.
Stone said there would not be an announcement on any new deal until next year.
Displaying 1 to 12 of 12 replies
There have been 12 replies to this Discussion Topic:
* Bianca * 9:51 am September 24th 2008
SBR doesnt seem to have much luck with sponsors do they …
On last nights news in melbourne they said that FORD just signed a $10m sponsorship with ( AFL ) Geelong Cats !!
I dont understand why they cant put that money back into a Ford V8 team !!
Waste of Money On That Footy Team !!!
GO HAWKS !!!!
David Wood 11:51 am September 24th 2008
SBR never had a sponsorship problem when a certain M.Cousins was steering the show….
Princess Fiona 12:04 pm September 24th 2008
Totally agree Bianca. Whatever happened to priorities?
Alexia 1:16 pm September 24th 2008
I personally would love to see a couple of Bundy cars out on track, i reckon the FG falcon would look fantastic with a big bundy bear on the rear end.
Mackenzie Price 5:37 pm September 24th 2008
They got the Ford Sponsorship, so they lost Jeld-Wen. So it is even as far as I can see.
heelz. 9:24 pm September 24th 2008
yeaahhh. go catters. =D
i heard Jeld-Wen would follow James to FPR and be his sponser there?
Muz... 10:30 pm September 24th 2008
Many rumors circling about this SBR seat. I’ve heard the likes of Bargwanna with Orrcon money going there, Steve Owen taking the drive, also Steven Johnson, even Jason Bright… be interesting to see how it all comes together!
Mackenzie Price 11:10 pm September 24th 2008
I don’t think Brighty is enjoying being Owner and Driver, Maybe he will sell up.
Cheryl 3:30 pm September 25th 2008
Jeld-wen has some sort of arrangement with JC…. there is no way brighty is leaving britek…. he and the team have put too much into development of the cars n the team…. he knows u cant just jump into a new team n pull results…. plus he has too many sponsor commitments with irwin & fujitsu…. i think SBR sponsors tend to link very very closely with the driver rather than the team…. just seems they leave when the driver leaves….. orrcon also has some sort of link to frosty so i cant see them moving as a sponsor….
Darth Vader 4:58 pm September 25th 2008
maybe Frosty is in for a move north,he he he,Frosty was first signed up to V8 Supercars by the Stone Brothers,they had some sort of arrangement with Larkam Motorsports that’s why Frosty drove for Larko
Muz... 8:20 pm September 25th 2008
But remember Frosty wasn’t happy with the way SBR left him out of the negotiations for the 2006 seat at SBR. If I recall he was taken out of the equation quite early due to his results at LMS, and thats when FPR picked him up. I would be very surprised to see him anywhere near the stones in the near future.
Becca 10:42 pm September 25th 2008
Anyone who has a ’spare’ seat and doesn’t whack Steve Owen’s butt in it is insane. The guy may not come with money to pay his way, but he can drive a car - which is probably a desirable skill. Just my ten cents.