Australian Industrial Supplies' David Sieders will be looking to continue his recent form, and perhaps score some belated birthday surprises, when the Auto One V8 Ute Series - protected by Armor All resumes this weekend, 8-10th July, on the streets of Townsville.

Sieders, who celebrated his 27th birthday last Thursday, is really keen to protect, and grow, his current lead in the Series' Enzed Driver Championship as the 2011 season enters the fourth of its eight rounds.

"I had a pretty good result in terms of the Championship at Darwin," said Sieders, "we're in a really great position at this time compared to 2010; our preparation is much better and the car is right on target so we'll hopefully head into our mid-season break still in that number one position."

"Townsville saw us stop our Championship slide last year, but even heading there with the Series' lead this year, our focus remains the same...at the end of the day, a 13 point buffer doesn't mean much with four points sessions worth a total of 128 points, to get through before we can start to think about the 13 week gap to Bathurst."

Coinciding with his birthday, Sieders' naming rights partner, Australian Industrial Supplies, also launched their latest giveaway competition at the end of last week - a hot lap around the Eastern Creek circuit with the 2010 Rookie of the Year.

"Australian Industrial Supplies, the store owners and workers, suppliers and customers have already shown some great support for me this year, and I'm looking forward to giving some of them a taste of just what it's like in full flight inside our XR8 Ute."

Lucky to beat the ash cloud closure of Sydney Airport returning from the last round, Sieders' lead-up to Townsville was unexpectedly hectic with the crew's return delayed by a week leaving Driver's David and Colin to rustle up spares and prepare the Team's entry for the Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series.

"I think we made it back into Sydney only a couple of hours before they closed it," said Sieders, "the crew were servicing all the cars in Darwin before sending them straight to Townsville, and with Sydney Airport closed, they couldn't get back until Friday, so they decided to do some 'bonding' instead, with a short camping trek in Kakadu National Park."

The Auto One V8 Ute Series will hit the track on Friday, 8th July, for two Practice Sessions, with Qualifying at 9am on Saturday and Race One at 1pm, and Races Two and Three will be on Sunday at 9:10am and 2pm respectively.

Two races will be broadcast as live on the Seven Network this weekend - Race One on Saturday, 9th July from 2:00pm (AEST) on Network Seven, and Race 2 on Sunday, 10th July from 12:30pm (AEST) on Seven Mate.

"We finished just off the podium in Townsville last year, so we'll be aiming to better that result this weekend, and just continue to bank as many points as we can."