Summit Series Rd 3 Review Junior Dragster

Junior Dragster

By Mark Humphrey

Adelaide, SA/Aus. 28^th March 2015. Highlights package of the Summit Sportsman Series Junior Dragster bracket.

The Junior Dragster category was overflowing with entrants for round 3 of the championship. 24 JD’s went through their paces during Saturday’s qualifying with Kelly Donnelly coming out on top of the time sheets with an 8.009 ET @ 81.71mph. Kelly was one of close to a dozen girls who had made the trip to the Adelaide International Raceway for the round. With more than 20 females spread across all brackets over the weekend the Summit Sportsman Series is proving very popular with the female brigade. We managed to get a word or two out of some of the JD pilots prior to eliminations which feature in the video clip. ANDRA encourages participation by the fairer sex and it is encouraging to see so many successful females spread across the ranks of drag racing. Current national Supercharged Outlaws champ Doina Day is paving the way for these up and coming Junior Dragster pilots and it won’t be long before we see another Doina Day amongst the pack.

Having said that, the current JD Australian champ Toby Austin was also at the meet and finished 2^nd on the qualifying sheets with a best pass of 8.020 @ 80.11mph and would figure deep into finals day.

By the time the quarters had come around 18 cars had been packed away leaving just 6 to duke it out. Donnelly was up against #10 qualifier Jake Cartledge and managed to take out the heat with an 8.103 on an 8.10 dial in. Cartledge was just a touch off posting an 8.468 on an 8.32 dial in. Donnelly courtesy of qualifying in the #1 spot had the bye in the semi and advanced straight into the final.

On the other side of the draw Austin was up against Amber Young and managed to pick up the win with an 8.067 on an 8.00 dial in. Young posted a 10.007 on a nominated 9.95 dial in. Great effort from Amber Young who was competing in her first ever Junior Dragster event.

The last quarter final had the #3 qualifier Eden Ward up against Tim Baker who qualified down at the bottom of the time sheets. Baker is a classic example of how the sport is fair for all. Having the slowest qualifying time is not a handbrake in this sport with consistency the golden word in dial your own (DYO) racing. Baker had made it all the way to the semis with only a slow reaction time the difference between going on or going home. Ward posted an 8.085 on an 8.03 dial in while Baker posted a creditable 12.894 on a 12.75 dial in. The .248 reaction time by Baker had the junior on the back foot from the start.

Ward was up against Austin in the semi with the winner to meet Donnelly in the final. This shaped up to be a tight contest with both nominating dial ins in the low 8.0’s. Unfortunately for Ward a red light start handed the semi-final win to Austin. For the record Austin put down an 8.053 on an 8.00 dial in while Ward posted an 8.075 on an 8.04 dial in.

In the final Austin got the better of the starts with a reaction time of .037 to Donnelly’s .232 which in the end was enough to get the win for the Aussie champ. Austin posted an 8.131 on an 8.05 dial in while Donnelly had dropped an 8.167 on an 8.08 dial in. In the end the top qualifier had her worst showing of the weekend in the final but still walked away with top qualifier and runner up for round 3. Toby Austin added another piece of silverware to the cabinet which is growing month by month. The JD pilot put it out to the crowd during his acceptance speech that he was after a sponsor suggesting that this guy wants to stick around in the sport for some time to come.

Plenty of feel good stories around the JD camp with dedicated Mum’s and Dad’s doing the miles so these kids can go racing. Well done too all.

Junior Dragster Video Highlights

The very successful Summit Sportsman Series continues on the 11^th of April with the stand alone round 4 at Queensland’s Willowbank Raceway. Sportingscribe.com will be on deck to catch all the action.

For more info on the event go to: http://www.willowbankraceway.com.au/