The 2018 running of the PPG Colour Matching Competition was so close it came down to a tiebreaker to decide the winner.
Following a series of regional competitions throughout 2018, the finale of the PPG Colour Matching Competition saw an incredibly tight finish. After matching a solid orange colour in a one hour time limit and, then do the same for a mid-blue tone red metallic colour, it appeared that the two top competitors were virtually inseparable. For the first time in memory, the judging panel had to go into tiebreaker mode. Judging is done ‘blind’ (spray-out cards are numbered, not named) so although the panel of three judges did not know who was in the running to win, they were able to go back over everything those two contestants had done. Having painstakingly reassessed their colour matches and the time taken to complete them, as well as cleanliness and work safety, Jessie Purton, a second year apprentice from Finn’s Bodyworks in South Launceston, Tasmania, was declared the winner by the slimmest of margins from Lucy Grimwood from South Australia. Both young women, and the rest of the finalists, should be very proud of their efforts say PPG.
After the pressure of competition, all the finalists were able to wind down with some action packed go-karting, before gathering for the presentation dinner that evening. The special guest was Dr Ryan Story, Manager Director for DJR Team Penske, who gave a fascinating Q&A style presentation on the behind-the-scenes running of a topflight Supercars team.
It’s important to recognise that, while the nine contestants who gathered at PPG’s Morningside Training Centre in Brisbane were the focus for the final, it was once again the skill of colour matching that was the overall winner. The 2018 PPG Colour Matching Competition has already been hailed an outstanding success with a large number of apprentice spray painters participating across Australia and New Zealand. Crucially, each one of them got the valuable opportunity to further hone their colour matching skills and then test under the pressure of competition.
The next running of the PPG Colour Matching Competition is scheduled to start around the second quarter of 2019. Places are limited so for event timetables and entry details speak to your training provider.
2018 results
First place – TAS – Jessie Purton – TasTAFE
$1000 Visa gift card, MIRKA DEROS, SATA Vision2000 hood and a trophy
Second place – SA – Lucy Grimwood – MTA SA
$500 Visa gift card, MIRKA DEROS and a trophy
Third place – WA – Marc Fritzsch – MTA / South Metropolitan
$250 Visa gift card, MIRKA DEROS and a trophy
Finalists (alphabetic order)
QLD – Hayden Duce
NZ – Joshua Glamuzina
VIC – Brodi Grant – The Gordon TAFE
NT – Blair Keller – Charles Darwin University
ACT – Dominic Stenglein – Canberra Institute of Technology
NSW – Bailey Talbot – Illawarra TAFE
For winning their way to the final, contestants received a SATAjet 5000 B spray gun. All finalists also received a PPG gift bag of goodies, along with a participation trophy.