Falchoon

Stegbar.

From The Canberra Times

The hunt is over. With just three weeks before the engines fire up, Canberra's V8 Supercar street race has landed a naming rights sponsor.

The event will be known as the Stegbar 400 after a deal was clinched with the national building products manufacturer. The official announcement will be made today.

Negotiations to secure the naming rights sponsor have been difficult and prolonged since the previous backer, power tools company GMC, decided to end its two-year association with the event.

Race promoters IMG were understood to be seeking about $350,000 for the rights for one year and although the Stegbar deal remains commercial-in-confidence, IMG's manager of motor sports Geoff Jones said the sum secured was "very generous, considering the proximity of the event".

"One of the most encouraging aspects of this new agreement is that this sponsor is new to motor sport at this level and dipping their toe in the water for the first time," he said. "It's a tribute to the event that the sponsor is a quality brand with a strong national profile."

The sponsorship is for one year, with an option for further years. The contract between the Gold Coast-based V8 Supercar series coordinators AVESCO and the ACT Government is in the third year of a five-year deal. Stegbar began operations as a specialist window maker in Melbourne in 1946 with six employees. Now a major supplier of products to Australia's building industry, Stegbar was acquired by Oregon-based US construction giant Jeld-Wen in 1999.

Until signing up as the Canberra street race sponsor, Stegbar's involvement in motor racing was limited to a relatively minor supporting role for top-ranked Ford driver Marcos Ambrose .

Mr Jones said corporate sales for the race were "tracking very well". Construction of the race facilities, grandstands and corporate hospitality suites was also proceeding swiftly in the countdown to the June 7-9 event.

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You know, somebody actually complimented me on my driving today. They left a little note on the windscreen. It said, 'Parking Fine.'So that was nice.

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