CablePrice Whangārei 'All Torque All Noise' team wins Scania truck service world championship

The victorious Whangārei team "All Torque All Noise" , from left, Craig Lucas, Daniel Halton, Braden Olsen, Tom Hicks, Scott Cann (captain).

A five-man team of Whangārei truck service technicians have walked the torque when it comes to being the best at the job out of 8000 entrants from 70 countries.

Calling themselves "All Torque All Noise", the CablePrice Whangārei team took out the Scania Top Team world championship in Sodertalje, Sweden, in December.

Out of 8000 service and parts experts from 70 countries, 12 teams had already qualified through national and regional finals for the world final held at truck and machinery manufacturer Scania's head office.

In the closely fought event, the Whangārei team remained calm and calculating under pressure, taking out the title and the 50,000 Euro prizemoney ($NZD84,500). The team from Switzerland team came second and Austria third.

The 2019 Scania Top Team was the 10th and largest since the competition started in 1989. It has developed from a national training event into today's global training programme, with a focus on practical and theoretical skills.

Scania's New Zealand dealer, CablePrice, also services other truck makes.

Kiwi technicians are used to working on different makes and models and sometimes have to come up with innovative solutions to get trucks back on the road.

"You've got to learn to fix everything," Whangārei's winning leader Scott Cann said.

Cann said there was a synergy between the crew's Top Team training and their ability to do the quick work their customers demand.

The team's in-work training also involved coming up with various scenarios in preparation for what the contest might throw at them, he said.

The Whangārei team, with only two returning members from earlier Scania Top Team events, was young and inexperienced compared with others.

Newest team member Craig Lucas only began working on Scania products a few months before last year's national final. At the time he said Top Team was motivating and had made him even keener on his job.

Russell Dixon, CablePrice technical trainer, said the result highlighted Kiwi can-do and competence.

"This result is all the more impressive when thinking about the other teams competing at the world final, loaded with years of Scania experience,'' Dixon said.

''In true Kiwi style, when the pressure was applied, All Torque All Noise shifted up a gear.

''CablePrice have an impressive record in Scania Top Team, with the team from Whangārei branch coming second in 2013, the team from Christchurch branch winning in 2015, and now a new Whangārei team winning in 2018."

Pat Ward, CablePrice managing director, said the company was extremely proud of the Whangārei team's achievements.

The win from All Torque All Noise comes on the back of a number of recent successes for CablePrice technicians including Levi Webster placing second at the 2018 Hitachi Top Technician world championship in Japan and Aaron Toumoua and Jimmy Hotton coming in third place at the 2018 Isuzu GP1 competition in Japan.

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