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Brad Jones Racing

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59-625: Brad Jones Racing is an Australian motor racing team owned by Brad Jones based in Albury . The team competes in the Supercars Championship and the Super2 Series . Recently they have also returned to Australian Formula Ford where Brad and Kim began their careers. The team is the only rurally based Supercars team. The team's current drivers are Andre Heimgartner , Macauley Jones , Bryce Fullwood , and Jaxon Evans . Brad Jones Racing began as

118-658: A Busch Series race). The race was nationally televised by the Seven Network and was shown in the USA on ESPN . It featured some of Australia's top touring car and speedway drivers as well as a slew of imports from the Winston Cup , including Bobby Allison (who had won his third Daytona 500 just two weeks earlier in a thrilling finish from his son Davey , giving the Thunderdome race a big publicity boost), Neil Bonnett (who had won

177-656: A Formula Ford team in which both Brad and Kim Jones raced. Kim stopped racing relatively early, partially in recognition of Brad's ability as a driver with Kim becoming team manager. The team's peak in open-wheel racing came when, running an Elwyn chassis, Brad finished sixth in the 1981 TAA Formula Ford Driver to Europe Series . The pair faded as the 1980s developed, though Brad Jones would continue driving Bryan Thompson's twin-turbo Mercedes-Benz 450 SLC - Chevrolet in Sports Sedan and GT racing. When Thompson came out of driving retirement in 1983, Brad Jones moved into driving

236-607: A Mitsubishi Starion in Group E Series Production Touring Cars . Jones and the turbocharged Starion came to almost dominate Group E racing in Australia during 1983 and 1984 which led to the Jones brothers becoming involved in Kevin Bartlett 's Mitsubishi touring car team, known occasionally as Mitsubishi Ralliart . Racing with Mitsubishi gave Brad several opportunities to race overseas, racing

295-625: A VK or VL Commodore. Greg East, also driving a VK Commodore, sat on pole for the AUSCAR 200 with a time of 33.2 seconds for an average speed of 195.28 km/h (121.34 mph). The first NASCAR race that used only the oval was the Goodyear NASCAR 500 held on 28 February 1988 (unlike the "500s" in US NASCAR racing, the Australian version was only 500 km, or 310 mi - roughly the same distance as

354-566: A heavy crash on lap 80 which took some 6 cars out of the race including Australian's Dick Johnson ( Ford Thunderbird ) and Allan Grice ( Oldsmobile Delta 88 ) who suffered a broken collar bone after hitting Johnson's already crashed car at high speed in the middle of turns 3 and 4. Grice, who like Johnson had a Racecam unit in his car and in a NASCAR first was able to talk to the Channel 7 commentary team while racing, had been unable to slow sufficiently due to his car's lack of brakes which he had told

413-457: A hired gun driver for other touring car teams. The Ralliart Australia team was revived in 1987, though Brad Jones was surprisingly overlooked for a seat at the 1987 James Hardie 1000 . He was back with the team for the 1988 Tooheys 1000 which saw his best result to date in the Bathurst 1000 when he and former Nissan driver Terry Shiel drove the aging Starion to 10th place. He was then hired to race

472-531: A lap 1 accident with Garth Tander and Greg Ritter . In 2006 used Stone Brothers Racing engines. The season was marred with bad luck, with the new spec SBR engines power not suiting the BJR engineered chassis and one of the co-drivers for the Sandown 500 and Bathurst 1000 , Mark Porter , died while racing in the development series. In 2007 , Brad's nephew and Kim's son Andrew Jones replaced John Bowe . Once again,

531-640: A quality, affordable racing circuit within close proximity of the Melbourne CBD, for all Victorian motoring clubs and their grass roots membership. Drag Racing authority ANDRA national level events were absent for twelve years until 2013 due to a dispute between the governing body and circuit owner Bob Jane. More recently, Calder Park introduced drifting events to its impressive list of motorsport activities. The first ever Drift Nationals held in March 2004 attracted over 8,000 spectators and added another inaugural event to

590-447: A road circuit with several possible configurations, and the "Thunderdome", a high-speed banked oval equipped to race either clockwise (for right-hand-drive cars) or anti-clockwise (for left-hand-drive cars such as NASCAR ). Calder Park Raceway was founded in the farming community of Diggers Rest and began as a dirt track carved into a paddock by a group of motoring enthusiasts who wanted somewhere to race their FJ Holdens. One of those men

649-453: A sad note, with Jason Richards losing his battle with cancer. For 2012 , Fabian Coulthard replaced Bargwanna in the No.14 Entry with David Wall joining the team to drive the No.21 Car, Replacing Karl Reindler. All three drivers remained with the team for 2013 . Dale Wood joined the team in 2014 replacing David Wall. For 2016, Fabian Coulthard left the team. He was replaced by Tim Slade in

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708-509: A spectator for the 225 lap event which was won by McNish and Capello. The team entered the V8 series in 2000 after purchasing a Ford AU Falcon and Racing Entitlement Contract from Longhurst Racing . Running as a one car team in 2000 and 2001 , the team achieved modest results, highlighted by second place at the 2001 Bathurst 1000 where Jones partnered John Cleland . In 2002 BJR expanded to two cars, with former ATCC champion John Bowe joining

767-1055: Is a list of drivers who have driven for the team in the Supercars Championship, in order of their first appearance. Drivers who only drove for the team on a part-time basis are listed in italics. The following list of drivers have driven for the team in the Super2 Series. The drivers who drove for the team on a part-time basis are listed in italics 1 Brodie Kostecki 9 Jack Le Brocq 2 Ryan Wood 25 Chaz Mostert 3 Aaron Love 7 James Courtney 4 Cameron Hill 10 Nick Percat 6 Cam Waters 55 Thomas Randle 8 Andre Heimgartner 14 Bryce Fullwood 12 Jaxon Evans 96 Macauley Jones 11 Anton de Pasquale 17 Will Davison 18 Mark Winterbottom 20 David Reynolds 19 Matthew Payne 26 Richie Stanaway 23 Tim Slade 31 James Golding 87 Will Brown 88 Broc Feeney Brad Jones (racing driver) Too Many Requests If you report this error to

826-423: The 1977 Bathurst 1000 to be part of the driving line up. Morgan Shepherd would go on to win the race with a four-second margin over Sterling Marlin , the only two competitors in the event to finish on the lead lap. The Thunderdome also played host to numerous Australian Stock Car Auto Racing (AUSCAR) events until that series ended in 2001. AUSCAR was unique in that the cars were right-hand drive and based on

885-628: The 1987 World Touring Car Championship was held on the Calder Park Grand Prix circuit on 11 October 1987. This race used the combined road and oval circuits and was won by the Eggenberger Motorsport Ford Sierra RS500 driven by Steve Soper and Pierre Dieudonné . Also in 1987, the combined road-oval circuit was used for a round of the Swann Series for Superbikes. For safety reasons the bikes were not allowed onto

944-865: The Australian Grand Prix . The 1980 race was won by Australia's Alan Jones driving the Williams FW07B he drove to win the 1980 Formula One World Championship, the race being open to F1, Formula 5000 and Formula Pacific cars (as of 2022 this is the final time an Australian driver won the AGP). Young Brazilian driver Roberto Moreno dominated the AGP from 1981 to 1984, winning the race in 1981 , 1983 and 1984 , while finishing third behind F1 aces Alain Prost and Jacques Laffite in 1982 . During this period, Calder owner Bob Jane managed to entice many F1 drivers to race in

1003-606: The Race of a Thousand Years , an American Le Mans Series race held on 31 December 2000 at the Adelaide Street Circuit . Jones was brought in as a third driver in the Allan McNish / Rinaldo Capello driven Audi R8 after Scotsman McNish had hurt his back 2 days before the race while stepping out of his Kilt after some publicity photos. Jones qualified the car (Capello won the pole), but McNish recovered to race and Jones remained

1062-502: The #12 Falcon but was badly injured after a serious crash in a Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series race on the Friday before the race. Michael Caruso was drafted into the team to replace him. Porter would die on the Sunday afternoon from the injuries in the crash. ^2 — Ashley Walsh practiced in the #14 Commodore but was replaced by Andre Heimgartner due to his injuries. The following

1121-592: The 1982 and 1983 Australian Drivers' Championships were also the Australian Grand Prix. The round win was awarded to the highest placed domestic series driver. The first 100 metres of the Drag Strip was resurfaced in 2006 due to irregularities in the start line area, the strip reopened for the Legal Off Street Drag Racing event on Friday 17 November 2006. The fastest official race lap records at

1180-418: The 24° banked turns in the Thunderdome and they had to use the flat track apron as the turns. The bikes were allowed onto the 4° front straight with witches hats (cones) placed on the track to tell riders where the edge of the track was. Calder was also the first to host Superbike racing and Truck Racing , the trucks competing on both National and Thunderdome circuits in separate events. The AUSCAR series

1239-619: The Australian Ford Falcon and Holden Commodore . Engines were limited to 5.0L which allowed use of the existing Holden V8 engine and the Ford 302 engine , though until Ford Australia re-introduced the 302 V8 to the Falcon range in 1991 , those who raced the Ford XF Falcon used the 5.8L 351 Cleveland V8. Unlike NASCAR, the right-hand drive AUSCARs raced clockwise on oval tracks such as

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1298-598: The Australian Grand Prix each year from 1980 until 1984, after which the race became a round of the Formula One World Championship and was held at the Adelaide Street Circuit . In 1980, the race was open to cars from Formula One, Formula 5000 and Formula Pacific . For 1981–1984 the race was restricted to Formula Pacifics. Calder Park held 25 rounds of the Australian Touring Car Championship between 1969 and 2001. Allan Moffat has won

1357-505: The Grand Prix at Calder including World Champions Jones, Prost, Niki Lauda , Nelson Piquet and Keke Rosberg as well as Laffite, Bruno Giacomelli , Didier Pironi , François Hesnault and Andrea de Cesaris , as well as Australian internationals Geoff Brabham and Larry Perkins . The 1981-1984 races were open to Formula Pacific cars only with both Moreno and Prost winning the races driving 1.6-litre Ford powered Ralt RT4s . A round of

1416-456: The Jones brothers formed their own team BJ Motorsport to further the Starion touring car operation, qualifying the Starion 10th at the 1986 James Hardie 1000 after being fastest on the 1.9 kilometre long Conrod Straight during qualifying at 269 km/h (167 mph). By the end of 1986, the Starion, despite its straight-line speed, had faded as a truly competitive touring car and Brad Jones become

1475-679: The Starion turbos in Australia, Japan and across Asia . During this time, Brad Jones again linked with Bryan Thompson to drive both the Mercedes Chev and a Chevrolet Monza to 2nd place (behind Thompson who also drove both cars) in the 1985 Australian GT Championship . Jones also drove the Monza in selected races throughout 1986, mostly at their "local" track, the Winton Motor Raceway . After Kevin Bartlett severed ties with Mitsubishi in late 1985,

1534-619: The Thunderdome and the 1 ⁄ 2 mile Speedway Super Bowl at the Adelaide International Raceway . The most successful AUSCAR driver was Brad Jones who won five straight championships from 1989/90 until 1993/94 in various Commodores. Jones also successfully made the transition to NASCAR, winning the Superspeedway Series on his first try in 1994/95. With NASCAR vehicles able to lap the track at better than 140 mph (230 km/h) (approximately 28 seconds per lap),

1593-478: The Thunderdome is generally regarded as the fastest race circuit in Australia. AUSCARs were generally able to lap the Thunderdome at approximately 126 mph (203 km/h) (around 32 seconds per lap) Calder Park has hosted events ranging from Australian touring cars, historics, Super Tourers, Super Trucks and Super Bikes to rock concerts featuring world class artists such as Fleetwood Mac, Santana and Guns N' Roses. Between 1980 and 1984, Calder Park played host to

1652-524: The Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below. Request from 172.68.168.150 via cp1114 cp1114, Varnish XID 483673120 Upstream caches: cp1114 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Fri, 29 Nov 2024 08:35:15 GMT Calder Park Thunderdome Calder Park Raceway is a motor racing circuit in Melbourne , Victoria , Australia . The complex includes a dragstrip ,

1711-542: The Winston Cup race at the Richmond International Raceway the previous weekend), Michael Waltrip , Harry Gant , Morgan Shepherd , Dave Marcis , Rick Wilson and others. NASCAR's most famous last name was also represented with 1987 Coca-Cola 600 winner Kyle Petty making the trip down under. In a test session prior to the 1988 Goodyear NASCAR 500, NASCAR's "King" Richard Petty , the record holder for

1770-468: The early 1970s, champion racer and Melbourne tyre retailer Bob Jane purchased the track. The circuit not only hosted road racing but also drag racing while the infield formed part of the Rallycross track. The 1.609 km (1.000 mi) circuit was increased in length in 1986 to 2.280 km (1.417 mi), though the short circuit still remains. As part of the changes to the circuit, the main straight

1829-548: The fading Superspeedway scene into circuit racing and in 1995 entered the Australian Super Touring series as the official Audi team in the series, fielding a pair of Audi A4 Quattros for himself and Greg Murphy . The team then spent the next five years swapping titles with Paul Morris Motorsport , the official BMW team, with Jones winning the championship in 1996 and 1998 . Murphy and later Cameron McConville (who replaced Murphy in 1997 ) won many races during

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1888-470: The first teams involved in the fledgling stock car series running Holden Commodores . BJR got their first start in AUSCAR in the 3rd annual Goodyear AUSCAR 200 at the Calder Park Thunderdome in 1988 in a Holden VL Commodore dubbed the "Green Meanie". Brad Jones qualified 5th and a strong run inside the top 10 saw him established as one of the front-runners. Initially BJR raced only in AUSCAR,

1947-500: The full 1989 Australian Touring Car season in a turbocharged Ford Sierra RS500 for Peter Brock 's Mobil 1 Racing . During the 1990s, Brad Jones was hired to drive in the late season endurance races at Sandown and Bathurst for the Holden Racing Team , Wayne Gardner Racing and Larkham Motor Sport . A way forward emerged with the creation of AUSCAR racing in Australia with the newly redeveloped Brad Jones Racing one of

2006-496: The influence of Channel 7 motorsport commentator and Sydney speedway promoter Mike Raymond, in 1981 Jane struck a deal with Bill France Jr. , the head of NASCAR, to bring stock car racing to Australia and plans were laid out for a high banked oval adjacent to the existing Calder Park Raceway. Ground first broke for the track in 1983 and it took four years to complete. It was built at a cost of A$ 54 million— with Jane personally contributing over $ 20 million of his own money. Due to

2065-509: The international enduro drivers for October's Gold Coast 600, with Giovandari with Reindler in No. 21 and Menu with Bright in No. 14. After the Symmons Plains event in Tasmania, Jason Richards was diagnosed with stomach cancer and couldn't compete in the final two events of 2010. Enduro driver Andrew Jones replaced him for final two events of 2010. For the 2011 season , Jason Bargwanna joined

2124-562: The lack of such knowledge in Australia, during construction Jane was forced to bring in engineers from the US who had experience in building high banked speedway ovals. The Thunderdome was officially opened by the Mayor of the Keilor City Council on 3 August 1987. The first race on the Thunderdome was held just two weeks after its opening, although the track used incorporated both the Thunderdome and

2183-479: The long list of new activities nurtured by Calder Park Raceway. In 2021, Australian National Drag Racing Association announced the establishment of an annual Australian Drag Racing Championship series, with ASID as one of five venues across the country to host a round in the inaugural season. On 1 February 1993, Guns N' Roses performed at Calder Park as part of the Use Your Illusion Tour . The concert

2242-612: The most ATCC rounds at Calder, winning five times (1970, 1973, 1976, 1977 and 1983). On 11 October 1987, Calder Park hosted Round 9 of the inaugural World Touring Car Championship on the combined road course and the newly built high banked Thunderdome. The race, known as the Bob Jane T-Marts 500 , was won by England's Steve Soper and Belgian driver/journalist Pierre Dieudonné in a Ruedi Eggenberger built Ford Sierra RS500 . Rounds of various Australian motor racing championship were held at Calder. * The Calder round of both

2301-486: The most victories in NASCAR history with 200 career wins and the father of Kyle Petty, set an unofficial lap record for the Thunderdome of 28.2 seconds for an average speed of 142.85 mp/h. This was some 6/10ths of a second (3.1 mph (5.0 km/h)) faster than Bonnett's pole time for the race. Bonnett won the race in a Pontiac Grand Prix from Allison in a Buick LeSabre and Marcis in a Chevrolet Monte Carlo . The race saw

2360-456: The pre-existing National Circuit. It was a 300-kilometre event for Group A touring cars , with John Bowe and Terry Shiel in a turbocharged Nissan Skyline DR30 RS taking first place – to date the only time a Japanese car has won a race held on the Thunderdome. AUSCAR had the distinction of hosting the first ever race to exclusively use the Thunderdome. The race, aptly named the AUSCAR 200 ,

2419-665: The round of the 1985 Australian Touring Car Championship , series broadcaster Channel 7 referred to Calder as the Keilor International Raceway . The Thunderdome is a purpose-built 1.801 km (1.119 mi) quad-oval speedway located on the grounds of Calder Park Raceway. It was originally known as the Goodyear Thunderdome to reflect the naming rights sponsorship bought by the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company . With its "double dogleg" front stretch and

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2478-483: The second-tier series behind NASCAR where they quickly grew to become the dominant team in the series, winning five consecutive titles from 1990 to 1994. Occasional forays into Australia's NASCAR series blossomed into a full NASCAR campaign in the 1994/95 season and the team were rewarded with a sixth consecutive title with Jones this time driving a Chevrolet Lumina . After running a Super Production Car Lotus Esprit to another title victory in 1994, BJR moved away from

2537-492: The six-year period when Super Touring was at its peak. During this time Brad Jones Racing twice finished on the podium in the two Bathurst 1000 races held for Super Touring cars. Jones himself finished second in 1997 with Frank Biela , and third in 1998 with McConville. In 2000 while still heading Audi's Super Touring team in Australia, Jones was drafted into the Audi Sport North America sports car team for

2596-426: The start/finish line located on a straight section rather than the apex of a curve, the Thunderdome is technically a quad-oval in shape, though since its opening it has generally been referred to as a tri-oval . The track, modelled on a scaled down version of the famous Charlotte Motor Speedway , has 24° banking on Turns 1, 2, 3 and 4 while the front stretch is banked at 4° and the back straight at 6°. The Thunderdome

2655-465: The team No. 14 Freightliner Entry. Tim Blanchard also replaced Dale Wood in the No. 21 Customer Britek Motorsport entry for 2016. For the 2017 Season, Jason Bright will leave the team after 7 Years. He will be replaced by Nick Percat in the Teams No. 8 Entry. BOC will also step down as naming rights sponsor of the No. 8 Entry after 12 Years with the team. ^1 — Mark Porter practiced in

2714-549: The team replacing Andrew Jones. In 2010 , Jason Bright replaced the retiring McConville. Bright brought his Britek Motorsport REC which was used to enter a third car for Karl Reindler . The team's endurance drivers were Andrew Jones in No. 8, Matt Halliday in No. 14 and David Wall in No. 21. For the Phillip Island round, Bright debuted a brand new Chassis, also constructed by the BJR team. Fabrizio Giovanardi and Alain Menu were

2773-506: The team struggled on in the early stage of this season and Brad Jones announced his retirement mid-season. Team BOC drafted 2001 Development Series champion Simon Wills to drive the now vacated No. 14 BF Falcon at round 4 at Winton. The season had another bad season, with less than pleasing results and at the biggest race of the year, Bathurst, both cars failed to finish with car No. 14 crashing heavily in qualifying and car No. 12 having an engine fire. In 2008 Brad Jones Racing decided it

2832-549: The team. Jason Bright won the team's first V8 Supercar race, winning Race 8 in Perth, this was then backed up by another win at Winton. The Endurance drivers were Andrew Jones in No. 8, Shane Price in No. 14, and David Wall in No. 21. Fabrizio Giovanardi, Allan Simonsen and Stéphane Sarrazin were the international enduro drivers for October's Gold Coast 600, with Giovandari with Reindler in No. 21 and Simonsen with Bargwanna in No. 14 and Sarrazin with Bright in No. 8. The 2011 season ended on

2891-455: The team. Performance at Bathurst continued to be strong, Bowe qualifying 2nd in 2002 and 2003, and the Bowe-Jones combination finishing 3rd in 2004. In 2005 , BJR won their first race at the Australian Grand Prix (Non-Championship) courtesy of Bowe in race 2, but success in the following championship rounds eluded them. A low for the year came at the Bathurst 1000 when Jones was caught up in

2950-462: The television audience about only laps before the crash. This was the first time a NASCAR event had been staged outside North America and it proved so popular that many of the same drivers returned for another race held at the Thunderdome that December, the Christmas 500 , with three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Johnny Rutherford returning to Australia for the first time since his brief appearance in

3009-542: The venue shortly after Guns N' Roses performed their final song, leaving many concertgoers stranded. There are reports that they walked all the way down the Calder Highway back to Melbourne, looting a 7-Eleven on the highway for food. An inquiry into the conditions was held, with the findings published by Ombudsman Victoria in May 1993. To this day, this was the last ever concert to be performed at Calder Park. Calder Park held

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3068-667: Was Patrick Hawthorn, who at the time owned a petrol station in Clayton, when one of his clients suggested a place to race, on his property. The inaugural meeting on a bitumen track was run by the Australian Motor Sports Club and took place on 14 January 1962. The track design was very similar to the existing Club Circuit, which is still in use today. Competitors at this meeting included former Calder Park owner Bob Jane (Autoland Jaguar 3.8 #84), Norm Beechey (Holden #40), John Wood (Holden #83) and Peter Manton (Mini Cooper). In

3127-540: Was completed in 1987, but can trace its roots back over twenty years previously when Australian motorsport icon Bob Jane , previous owner of Calder Park Raceway, travelled to the United States and visited the Charlotte Motor Speedway and Daytona International Speedway numerous times to gauge stock car racing 's rise in popularity. With NASCAR getting more air time on Australian television largely thanks to

3186-494: Was developed to race on the Thunderdome. The National Circuit's long front straight also features a drag strip, which was the home of the Australian National Drag Racing Championship for many years. There are also Legal Off Street Drag Racing every Friday night unless weather is unsuitable for racing. Calder Park will continue long into the future, with one of its main focuses being the provision of

3245-431: Was fraught with controversy, including reports that security staff had prohibited patrons from bringing their own food, drinks and sunscreen into the venue; this most seriously affected a diabetic teenage girl, whose medication and carefully portioned food were confiscated. The weather was very hot on that day, reportedly 42 °C (108 °F), and many concertgoers went to the venue on special shuttle buses. The buses left

3304-509: Was held a week prior to the Goodyear NASCAR 500. In a shock to the male dominated establishment, 18-year-old female driver Terri Sawyer won the 110 lap race driving a Holden VK Commodore . Sawyer had qualified her Commodore on the front row of the grid and ran at or near the front all day to win from Kim Jane (the nephew of Calder owner Bob Jane), Max de Jersey, Phil Brock and Graham Smith. The top five positions all went to those driving either

3363-411: Was lengthened from 700 m (770 yd) to just under 1,000 m (1,100 yd) in length while the final turn (which was known for a long time as Gloweave Corner) was also moved forward approximately 75 m (82 yd) so that the road course and the start of the drag racing strip were separate (this was due to long time complaints from drivers and bike riders that the start of the main straight

3422-553: Was notoriously slippery, especially in the wet, due to it also being the start of the drag strip). Lengthening the straight also gave the drag strip a longer runoff and slow down area. Jane also had the 1.801 km (1.119 mi) high banked NASCAR style Thunderdome built on the east side of the road circuit which opened in August 1987. In 1982 the circuit was renamed to the Melbourne International Raceway , while for

3481-414: Was time for a change after finishing the 2007 teams championship in last position, behind numerous single car operations. They made the decision to change their manufacturer from their long standing association Ford to the rival Holden. They bought two Holden VE Commodores previously campaigned by the Holden Racing Team . Cameron McConville returned to the team in 2008. In 2009 Jason Richards joined

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