Autobarn Maitland take out prestigious FCA State Franchisee of the Year Award, NSW/ACT
Autobarn Maitland Franchisees Barry & Gayle Hill capped off an exciting 12 months last night at the Franchise Council of Australia's NSW/ACT Franchise Awards.
After winning the Autobarn National Franchisee of the Year award last year, Barry and Gayle have now taken out the prestigious Franchise Council of Australia’s State Franchisee of the Year Award for NSW/ACT.
"I am extremely proud of this award and after all the hard work that we have put into the business over the last few years; it is starting to pay off. To win such an Award makes us realise that what we are doing is right and that the Autobarn system is continually growing with us from strength to strength," said Barry Hill.
"This Award is not only a credit to the team at Autobarn Maitland, but to Autobarn system as a whole. They are continually growing the business model and this has reflected on us in a positive light."
You can visit the team at Autobarn Maitland at Green Hill Shopping Centre, 14 Mitchell Drive.
Alex Theuma from Autobarn Lake Haven may be the new kid on the block, but he has definitely hit the ground running within the local community.
Along with the Tuggerah Lakes Police and other local businesses, they are out to reward young drivers who exhibit safe driving within the Tuggerah Lakes Command geographical area.
"To be hit each week with news of young drivers being foolish on our roads is hard, so to be able to acknowledge those younger drivers who are actually doing the right thing was a great initiative to be involved with," states Mr Theuma.
"We have a large customer base of young drivers and to show that we support them, we decided it was best to be involved in such a proactive initiative rather than always focusing on the negative which tends to be the minority."
Police will identify good drivers as part of their routine patrols and they will be asked to join the programme. Rewards for good drivers may include shopping vouchers and opportunities to participate in a defensive driving course. The monthly award winners will be eligible for an annual award which will include a mixture of cash, goods and services from participating businesses.
For more information on the Tuggerah Lakes Young Driver Incentive Program, please visit: www.police.nsw.gov.au
Autobarn Lake Haven is open 7 days week and is located at the Lake Haven Mega Centre, Corner Pacific Highway & Lake Haven Drive, opposite Bunnings.
Over 300 staff, franchisees and suppliers gathered at the Regent Theatre on Monday 28th June for the annual Autobarn Awards black tie event where franchisees Trent & Samantha Bromley of Autobarn Noarlunga were awarded the 2009/10 National Franchisee Award.
Trent & Sam, who opened their Autobarn franchise in Noarlunga in November 2002, were thrilled to receive such recognition by their peers. This is the second time they have won this prestigious award from Autobarn, the first being in 2005 and the first store to win it twice in the 25 year history of Autobarn.
"Samantha and I are both extremely shocked and pleased to have been awarded the 2009/2010 Autobarn National Franchisee Award," said Trent. "This award recognises the fantastic effort of our entire Autobarn Noarlunga team. We would also like to thank our fellow franchisees and friends, who have always helped us and supported us when we have needed it. We are absolutely delighted to see our efforts recognised by Autobarn."
"We will continue to strive for excellence in everything that we do and are looking forward to another successful year at Autobarn Noarlunga," said Trent.
Paul Dumbrell, Autobarn CEO, said that awarding franchisees and suppliers at the annual awards night was an important event on the Autobarn calendar.
"Our annual awards night brings together suppliers, franchisees and staff to celebrate our successes over the past year plus it´s a great opportunity for us to reward outstanding achievements by individuals and companies involved in our business," said Paul.
"We are also celebrating 25 years of Autobarn, and this Awards night and one day conference to follow will show our stores the commitment we have to the Autobarn group and how we will continue on our successes, both from a National Office level and an individual store level".
You´ll find Trent & Samantha Bromley at 160-168 Beach Road, Noarlunga and you can contact them on 08 8186 6644
Our new website launched on June 29 at our annual Autobarn Conference (in Melbourne).
Paul Dumbrell Autobarn CEO said, “We’re extremely excited about this launch. We’ve consulted extensively with customers and staff to lay the foundations for a highly interactive and informative Autobarn website that will no doubt become an extremely useful tool for our customers.”
The highlight of the new Autobarn website is The Ultimate Garage; a series of short videos about setting up a home workshop and working on cars. Each week there will be a new episode that provides tips, advice and new product reviews to help customers in their own workshop. To coincide with the launch episode 1 and 2 is available to view.
“The new Autobarn website is much more interactive and more user friendly,” says Paul. “And we will continue to add information, interactive videos and demonstrations for our customers in coming months.”
The new site has been built on modern web practices and is compatible with mobile devices such as the iPhone and iPad (even videos).
The Touring Car Masters presented by Autobarn will stage an all out domestic showdown with husband versus wife battling on track at Darwin’s Hidden Valley Raceway (NT) for round three on 18-20 June.
Married racers, Greg Keene and Amanda Sparks are regulars in the Touring Car Masters, sharing their 1973 Porsche 911 RS and alternating between driving and support duties throughout the season – the perfect compromise in which the pair can never clash on track. That is until now.
Set to be Sparks’ first event for the season, she will take the wheel of their SportsMed Porsche as scheduled, but without Keene in the support role. Meanwhile, new Touring Car Masters entrant, Ross Almond recently purchased Graeme Cook’s 1973 Porsche 911 RS, but with existing commitments for the Darwin event weekend he offered his new car to Keene for a one-off drive – paving the way for the fastest orthopaedic surgeon in the country to race against his wife.
Racing in a pair of almost identical Porsches, the stage is set for a scorching marital confrontation as the couple battles wheel-to-wheel for the first time in the category.
Having attributed the success of their partnership in the series to the fact that they are never on track together, the Top End is expected to enjoy a massive on-track wedded blitz.
Sparks’ first appearance for the season will also mark the first time two female racers will line up in the category as she joins series newcomer, Leanne Tander on track.
GREG KEENE:
“So long as it’s clean racing, we’ll have fun, but if we biff each other on track all hell will break loose. “Everything will be fine… unless she beats me!”
AMANDA SPARKS:
“I’m hoping Greg will prove that chivalry isn’t dead… ladies before gentlemen. “The real question is where will our six-year-old daughter Lili’s allegiance lie?”
The Touring Car Masters is proudly presented by Autobarn, and supported by Biante Model Cars, Shannons Insurance, Rare Spares and official suppliers Hoosier Tires and Australian Sports Marketing.
It was a disappointed but determined Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs head coach Kevin Moore and captain Andrew Ryan that fronted the media following Friday night’s heartbreaking 25-24 loss to the Gold Coast Titans at Suncorp Stadium.
The Bulldogs fought their way back from an 18-6 half time deficit to finish just one point behind the Titans, with interchange half Ben Barba starring in the second forty, scoring two tries and setting up another for Jamal Idris.
In the finish, a Greg Bird field goal seven minutes from time was all that separated the teams as the Bulldogs slumped to a sixth straight loss. Moore and Ryan presented a united front on behalf of the team and the club after the match.
“There’s no magic button under this table to fix it,” Moore said during. “It’s about putting your head down and working hard. And the one thing I can say is the playing group is a tight group, they’re very disappointed with where we’re at. But there’s a lot of spirit within the team and we’ll find a way out of it very shortly.”
Moore said his side put itself under pressure in the opening half of the match, in which the Bulldogs found themselves trailing by 10-nil after as many minutes thanks to two quick Titans tries.
“Our first 40 minutes was extremely disappointing,” Moore said. “Our line speed and just our fight to be in the game was very disappointing and the boys know that. I made it very clear at half time and I made it very clear after the game too – that the back 40 minutes doesn’t make for a good footy game.”
Tries to Kevin Gordon and Mark Minichiello had the Titans on the front foot from the outset, with Gordon’s try coming on the back of a Bulldogs error inside their opposition’s 20-metre line.
Instead of the Bulldogs scoring it was Gordon who swooped, sprinting 80 metres to touch down under the posts.
Minutes later Mark Minichiello bustled his way over wide out to stretch the Titans lead to ten, before Josh Morris palmed off Sam Tagatese to score a bustling try of his own which, when converted from the sideline by Bryson Goodwin, narrowed the deficit at 10-6.
However the Titans soon regained their composure to score their second long range try of the match, late inclusion William Zillman turning the defence inside out to touch down at the end of a 50 metre run.
After Scott Prince exited the match with a hamstring injury soon after the Zillman strike, a Mat Rogers penalty extended the Titans lead shortly before the break, the Gold Coasters heading into half time leading 18-6.
Anthony Laffranchi touched down soon after the resumption to give the Titans a comfortable buffer at 24-6, however the injection of Barba into the match soon after gave the Bulldogs fans among the 42,233-strong crowd reason for hope.
Barba’s first try came off a neat kick into the in goal from Michael Ennis, with Goodwin’s conversion taking the score along to 24-12. He then set up a great try to Idris with a break down the right flank, with Goodwin again providing the extras for a 24-18 score line.
“Ben’s a tremendous young talent, and we’ve shown that we think he’s got a big future with the club by contracting him for the next two years,” Moore said. “I’d love for him to be playing 80 minutes a week and playing that sort of footy – we probably would have won more games over the last six weeks. But Ben’s at a stage in his development where her struggles to maintain that sort of intensity for 80 minutes.
“As a coach you can’t be pushed into changing your plans on developing a young kid just because of the way results are going. My investment in Ben is in the long term. Part of the development with Benny was getting him back to Premier League and playing 80 minutes a game, and he’s done that three or four weeks in a row now. And he showed the benefit of that tonight.”
Barba’s last piece of magic came 90 seconds from full time, when he touched down for his second try of the night. But by that point the result was out of reach, a Greg Bird field goal six minutes prior putting the Titans out to what would ultimately prove an unassailable lead.
Ryan summed it up neatly when asked if the feeling amongst the players after the one point loss was as much devastation and disappointment as it was exhaustion.
“I think it’s all of those things,” Ryan said. “We’ll feel like that tomorrow obviously but we just need to bounce back in on Monday and work as hard as we can to get that win. There’s no special solution.”
Fans will have the fantastic chance to meet some of the stars of the Touring Car Masters at the Shepparton Autobarn store on Thursday 13 May ahead of round two at Winton Raceway (VIC).
Touring Car Masters presented by Autobarn, drivers including motor racing legend, Jim Richards and reigning series champion, Gavin Bullas, will be at the Shepparton store signing autographs and giving away prizes between 5.30 and 6.30pm.
Prizes include tickets to the V8 Supercar event at Winton Raceway on 14-16 May where the Touring Car Masters presented by Autobarn will battle it out for round two of the 2010 Championship.
AUTOBARN PUBLIC APPEARANCE:
Date:Thursday 13 May
Time:5.30pm - 6.30pm
Location:Autobarn - 95 Wyndham St, Shepparton, VIC
The Touring Car Masters is proudly presented by Autobarn, and supported by Biante Model Cars, Shannons Insurance, Rare Spares and official suppliers Hoosier Tyres and Australian Sports Marketing.