Jayden Nichols has been drawn to machinery for as long as he can remember, and growing up on a cane farm only grew his passion for agriculture and New Holland tractors.
Now in his fourth year as an agricultural machinery apprentice with Southern Cross Industrial Group, Jayden's aptitude saw him join the Red Bull Ampol Racing pit crew trackside at the Townsville 500, as part of New Holland's apprentice program that recognises its exceptional service apprentices.
"It was a really good weekend to go and do, I thoroughly enjoyed it," Jayden said.
"Being there in the pits with the Red Bull Ampol Racing team was something I would probably never get to do otherwise. You see the whole background of how everything works, and all the effort that goes into it just gives you a lot more appreciation for it all."
"Turning up on the first day and seeing the amount of people behind each car, and the effort that goes into trying to make each car as fast as possible, it really stood out to me," he said.
Machinery has been part of Jayden's life for as long as he can remember. Whenever there was a chance to work on the machines growing up, he took it.
"It was always something, whenever there was a chance to go and work and be around the machines, I'd take it. I've just always been around them, and that's kind of where my passion for them has come from," Jayden said.
Jayden's path into the industry started with work experience at the local dealership in Mackay, which turned into an apprenticeship.
"I got the chance to do work experience with them, and I liked what I did. I guess you could say it feels right at home working on them.”
"As time moved on, I moved across to the New Holland side of things with Southern Cross Industrial Group," he said.
“I quite enjoy working on the New Holland machines. I guess you could say I wouldn’t choose to work on any other machinery. It's good variety each day, it could be anything different to fix, so it always keeps you on your toes," he said.
Southern Cross Industrial Group CEO, Steven Schultze, said Jayden is a valued member of the team.
"Jayden is always ready to assist in any way possible. He is now into his fourth year of his apprenticeship and has shown excellent aptitude in diagnosing and repairing tractors and machinery," Steven said.
"Jayden is always enthusiastic to learn further with the New Holland brand and to become skilled in precision farming. Being in the fourth year of his apprenticeship, he is keen to reach the finish line and become a qualified agricultural fitter and be an inaugural part of our field service team here at Southern Cross Industrial Group."
"We are very proud of Jayden's progress," he said.
Jayden is one of six exceptional apprentice service technicians who will get to experience race day action at Supercars races across Australia and New Zealand this year thanks to New Holland's sponsorship of the Red Bull Ampol Racing team.
The program is open to service apprentices working across New Holland Agriculture’s network of 125 Australian and New Zealand dealerships, where Dealer Principals or Service Managers nominate outstanding apprentices.