Thornton goes bang with broken conrods while Talbot goes bang with PB’s

Top End Track Day 8 Eliminations

By Mark Humphrey

Hidden Valley, Darwin/NT. 23^rd July 2017. After a solid day of qualifying by the race teams’ things looked good for the Trek party to go some rounds with a finals appearance on the cards.

The juniors were solid in qualifying with the newest member to the Top End Trek Bradley Bishop qualifying well. Bishop along with Jake Berias and Daniel Carranza are seasoned competitors in the junior bracket are were quite capable of going the distance and putting the Top End Trek on the map. Young Nathanial Kuchel is just starting out and was excited to be among the action and no doubt learned from his experience at the Hidden Valley Drag Strip. And on that subject, what a fantastic facility the Northern Territory government has provided for the drag racing community in the top end. Both racer and spectator facilities are world class with one of the flattest racing surfaces in the country providing our poster boy Wayne Talbot the opportunity to set his PB in both ET & MPH, but more on that later. For the juniors, Nathanial went out in round 1 along with Daniel, Jake went out in round 2 and Bradley lost his round 3 encounter. Next weekend’s round at Alice Springs Inland Dragway will provide a platform for the experienced boys to go rounds with a finals appearance definitely on the cards.

The Top End Trek was represented in the Modified Eliminator bracket by Kingsley Kuchel driving the nostalgia type front engine dragster. To say Kingsley attracted his fair share of media coverage would be understating the fact as every time he rolled into the beams camera flashes were going off everywhere. Although Kingsley was a first-round casualty he made the point that this was the first time his car put together consistent runs over the whole weekend. He now heads to Alice full of confidence that the little green machine will take him rounds.

In my favourite category, Supercharged Outlaws, the Top End Trek was represented by both Dave Thornton and Tim Stewart. Both elected to sit out the 3^rd round of qualifying happy with the days qualifying. Dave had developed a small oil leak and after re-sealing the leak thought it would be better to sit out round 3. Both his qualifying rounds were in the low 7’s with a 7.037 @ 184mph and a 7.137 @ 186mph. Tim had two qualifiers in the mid 7’s posting a 7.66 @ 172mph and a 7.86 @ 164mph.

First up was Dave and after his bad run of luck on the Top End Trek journey we were hoping for a good hit out by the altered. A strong burnout went bang on the line and Dave slowly rolled over to the wall with the car shut down. That was the end of Dave’s Nitro Up North campaign and on further inspection, the end of his racing holiday with two broken conrods. A hole in the sump gave away the bad news early and has definitely put a halt to his racing program. Dave is the typical grass roots racer using a wage to support his racing career. After being in contention for the national series in the 2015/16, Dave started off his 2016/17 campaign by popping off the supercharger in round 3 of the series. After scrimping together enough funds to get the Poppy Daves Racing altered back on the track for round 7 which doubled up as the Nationals, he found trouble again this time shearing the timing gear off the big block chev. A total of 5 passes was all the Mildura based racer could manage for the 2016/17 series. After last night’s fiasco, Poppy Daves Racing could be laid up for some time with a season ending brakeage the most likely outcome.Dave picked up the "Hard Luck" award donated by the "Darwin Gang"

Tim was primed to go rounds after recently winning the Supercharged Outlaw event at Mildura’s Sunset Strip. The event is one of the premiere Outlaws events on the southern states calendar and was a big feather in the cap for “The Stang” racing team. After dialling in a 7.60, Tim found himself on the outer losing his round by a few hundredths posting a 7.77 @ 154mph. This was well outside his dial in and a shute release on the 1000ft mark wouldn’t have helped the situation.Picture perfect. Thanks to Sue Stewart

So after round 1 the Top End Trek had lost all of our racers with the exception of Jake Berias and Brad Bishop. This left “Mr Hollywood” Wayne Talbot to fly the flag for the group which he did in spectacular fashion.

Lining up for exhibition passes against Nathan Coles in a Nitro Funny Car, Wayne was keen to come away from the event with PB’s for ET & MPH and that is exactly what he did.

In his first pass of the night he posted a 6.411 @ 243.06 mph which was a mph pb. His second pass was aborted after direction from his aviation wearing sunglasses crew chief Jayden Talbot. Jayden was all over the program and was the mastermind behind Wayne’s 3^rd and final pass of the night. After inspecting the start line surface, Jayden signalled to the pilot to start off in 2^nd gear foregoing the usual 1^st gear selection. He got away from the line hard and shifted into 3^rd hauling all the way through the tapes to record a 6.187ET @ 243.77mph which was a pb for both ET & MPH. What a fantastic effort for the team and the Top End Trek travelling party with congratulations being handed out everywhere. Unfortunately for the travelling party, Wayne flew out today to take up his duties with the family vegetable growing business. He was good enough to send through some images of his flight plans although word around the traps was that Wayne wasn’t too happy with the seating arrangements. Can't understand what's wrong with the seating. Images courtesy Wayne Talbot

Jayden has now boarded the Top End Trek for the week’s journey down the Stuart Highway for round 2 of the Summit Racing Equipment Sportsman Series at Alice Springs Inland Dragway. Wayne will fly in Friday evening with the focus on the Modified Eliminator track record which he says is “soft”. Who know, after last night’s effort he could be the star of the show once again in Alice Springs.

Finally, after all the drama on the race track it was time to relax with plenty of beers going down and what “could have beens” being thrown around all night. One thing this Trek hasn’t gone without is delicious food and last night was no exception. Ms MasterChef Caroline Milics prepared a basted marinated chicken gyros that had been cooking for several hours while the racing was going on. The kebabs were accompanied with salad and were the perfect finish to what was a fantastic event.

 WOW. Dinner tonight. Image courtesy Caroline Milics

For racers or spectators who haven’t ventured to Hidden Valley in the past, I suggest you put it on your bucket list. Although Friday was a touch slow the venue facilities and racing were first class with the Nitro Up North event getting a big tick.

Well done to Scott Maclean, Ray Treasure and all the Hidden Valley Drags staff for a wonderful event that is only going to grow in statue over the coming years.

For the Top End Trek, it’s time to relax at the AM Cranes depot for a couple of days courtesy of the current Australian Supercharged Outlaw champion Adam Murrihy, and take in some of Darwin’s best places of interest before we make the trek back south to the Alice.

Video highlights of last night’s eliminations including interviews with Thornton, Stewart, Talbot and others will be posted over the next few days.

A highlight package covering all sportsman categories will also be produced over the next few days with the focus on Supercharged Outlaws where Justin “Spud” Russell took out the win and Top Sportsman where Jason Arbery backed up his Summit Racing Equipment Grand Final win earlier in the year with a win over Top Sportsman new comer Vlado Turic in the Turic Family Racing Nissan.

Norman Goes European With The R/T Marine Prepared BMW

By Mark Humphrey

Adelaide, SA/Aus. 16^th June 2017. 2015 Australian Super Stock champion Steve Norman will debut his new ride this weekend at the Adelaide Drag Race Promotion’s Sunday Funday at Adelaide International Raceway. Having been out of the racing seat for the past 15 months, Norman is itching to get some seat time in the R/T Marine built BMW coupe which had been in the pipeline for about 5 years.

I dropped a line to Steve to find out a bit more on the vision he had with the BMW, “Well I noticed the BMW sitting in the Perth Motorplex pits at a Westernationals 5 years ago and straight away thought about debuting a Super Stock version” he said. Norman went on to say “I got the boys (Ryan & Reg Lee) to measure it up and here we are 5 years later with an unbelievable version of European motoring”.  Norman added, “we embarked on the project less than 2 years ago with Ryan Lee from R/T Marine responsible for making it happen. Along with his father Reg and the help of others, the team has put together a race car that is as good as anything I’ve had in the past” he said. Norman went on to say “the attention to detail is simply unbelievable and I cannot fault any part of the build at all. I had enormous trust in the boys to get the job done and they certainly haven’t let me down” he said.

The history of the car is quite chequered with the car originally part of a divorce settlement in the USA. Legend has it that the ex-wife snatched the BMW, poured acid over the boot and then proceeded to drive the car into a dam. The Norman camp found the car at a salvage yard via a friend in the USA and the rest is history.

The guy responsible for the unique transformation was Ryan Lee who owns and operates R/T Marine SA, a business that had its roots in boat repairs but has now expanded into fibreglass auto products, vehicle modifications and of course complete race car builds. I caught up with Ryan and his father Reg to find out more on this simply stunning build and started by asking Ryan his thoughts on the BMW build “absolutely over the moon. The team has done a fantastic job on the car with the end result being an amazing BMW Super Stock car”. Ryan added “ we took possession of the car from the US and completely gutted the car in order to get it ready for the build. Originally, we looked at a Jaguar but because it had an aluminium body it was going to be too expensive to put chrome moly bar work through the car. It then come down to transforming either a Mercedes or BMW car into a MP Super Stock car. We measured up a BMW in the pits at the Perth Motorplex and found that everything would fit and the rest is history” he said.

After being stripped back to a bare shell the car was sent to interstate chassis builder John Lang to get the bar work installed along with some tin work. Ben Seal was then called in to complete the tin work which included all the necessary bracketry, front end and 4 link suspension points. Ben worked solid for 3 straight weeks and then dropped in after hours on more than half a dozen occasions to complete any alterations that were required. Also helping out on the tin and aluminium work was Doug Elsworthy from Elsworthy’s Chassis Shop.

The running gear was fitted up to see what alterations if any were required. The running gear for this project come out of the championship winning Chevy Cobalt and consists of a 312ci Bob Book small block coupled to a 3 speed Pro Flight transmission. Power is transferred down to the JRI sprung titanium housed diff via a carbo fibre tail shaft. Lamb front struts work nicely with Lamb carbon fibre disc brakes to provide plenty of stopping power.

Next it was the job of brother Bryce with help from good friend Matt to prep the body and bar work for paint. Bryce spent a solid 3 weeks straightening the panels alone before prepping the car for paint which in the end was coated with Electric Orange. I asked Ryan what the most difficult part of the build was and he mentioned choosing the paint color. “I first suggested orange to Steve but that was rejected with a pearl white looking like the color. I liked black but in the end, it was Steve’s decision and after some deliberation Steve decided that it would be Electric Orange” he said. Ryan added “I think the color choice was spot on as it certainly showcases the car”.

Once the car was painted it was time to fit out the car and that’s when Reg took over. The car was completely re-wired starting from a bare shell and color coded to MSD color codes. Every wire was color matched to components with all original hinges used. The boot retains its electric opening operation keeping some originality with the car.

The interior was completely re-trimmed by Vicki in the color of their choice still incorporating the woodgrain in the dash and door trims. The attention to detail with the trim is unsurpassed with Steve Norman noting how the interior trim was altered to incorporate bar work encroaching into the door armrests. The choice of trim color certainly adds to the build and compliments the vision the boys had when they first set out to build the car. Asked what the most pleasing part of the build was, they both responded simultaneous with “today”. “Having the car 100% finished with nothing to do but turn the key is definitely the most pleasing part of the build” said Ryan. The car is built to 25.5 C SFI specification as a MP car and will initially be running in Gas.

Now that the car is 100% completed the next thing to do is get some laps into the car. As noted, the team will head out this weekend to Adelaide International Raceway to put down an installation pass testing out things like brakes, tracking, parachute and the like. They hope to get at least a second pass in which with all things being equal will be under full noise. The fact that they are using the running gear out of the Cobalt, takes away the uncertainty of how the drivetrain will go and leaves the team with one less thing to worry about. The team hope to run a private test next weekend and provided they meet all parameters will debut the car for competition in round 3 of the ANDRA Summit Racing Equipment Sportsman Series at Sunset Strip Mildura in late September.

Obviously to put together this masterpiece the team relied on some outstanding help with Steve Norman thanking Ryan and Reg for their commitment with this build. With regards to the workshop activities Ryan and Reg would like to thank Bryce and Matt for the paint, Ben Seal for the fabrication, Doug Elsworthy for additional fabrication, John Lang for bar work, Vicky from Vicki’s Trimming Shop, Motorsport Connections, Craig at RCE, BMW Adelaide and Brett Henley from Henley Chassis for all his advice.

For race fans, keep an eye on the ANDRA website for details on the 2017/18 Summit Racing Equipment Sportsman Series dates which will feature the likes of Steve Norman, Competition champ Craig Geddes, Super Stock champ Jamie Chaisty among others duking it out in Super Stock/Comp.

Click on the link for more details http://andra.com.au/

All images supplied by Reg Lee

Outlaw Stewart Heads Up Nitro Convoy On Back Of Easter Win.

By Mark Humphrey

Melbourne, Vic/Aus. 21^st May 2017. Victorian Tim Stewart has settled nicely into the outrageously loud and wild drag racing bracket known as Supercharged Outlaws. The “Outlaw” bracket caters for supercharged doorcars, dragsters and funny cars that are limited to no quicker than 6.50 seconds over the ¼ mile distance. Providing the most spectacular side by side drag racing in the sportsman category, Supercharged Outlaw machines can take a number of years for race teams to get their heads around the set-up and this certainly looked the case for modified come outlaw racer in Tim Stewart. Having purchased the ex-Aaron Russell “Russler” Mustang Funny Car, Stewart provided the small block powerplant that was once again going to power up the old-school Mustang. Sportingscribe.com was on hand to capture the debut of the re-born Mustang at a local Test N Tune day run at Calder Park Drag Racing. After a strong burnout, Stewart had to pack up the car courtesy of a blown power plant. It was back to the drawing board for the team that coincidently have the slogan “Throwback” highlighted across the race team uniforms.

Less than 12 months down the track and the “Stang” race team have tasted victory lane with a win in the prestigious Gateway Tavern “Easter Supercharged Outlaws” event at Sunset Strip Mildura. Being one of the biggest Supercharged Outlaw events on the Australian drag racing calendar, the event attracts some of the biggest heavy hitters in the bracket with the 2017 version no exception. Stewart was the only racer to win all rounds in the Chicago Shootout format with wins over Mark Newman, Mark Kuhn, the returning Paul Stephen and Dale Tucker in the final.

Speaking with Stewart recently, I asked the former modified racer why Outlaws? “It’s something I have always looked at. I like the idea of the man and machine format that comes with Supercharged Outlaws where the focus is on the driver pedalling the car down the race track the best they can using extreme horsepower combinations”. Stewart went on to say “it was the 3^rd race meeting for the car with the Easter Shootout always the focus for the team. Last year I managed to win the Modified bracket as a support for the Outlaws but to win the feature event in our first attempt with the car is quite unbelievable especially given the circumstances leading up to the event” he said.

Stewart had spent the 4 days leading up to the event in Adelaide caring for his gravely ill father who sadly passed away on Good Friday. It was then a hastily organised flight back home to pick up the race truck and head for Mildura to contest the 2017 Easter Shootout. “Yeah it was a pretty hectic time for Sue and myself. We booked the flights back home at 1.30pm on Good Friday after dad had passed away. I drove as far as Bendigo that night but had to hand over the driving duties to Sue for the rest of the journey. Understandably my reaction times were all over the place during qualifying but everything seemed to come together once racing started” he said. Stewart flew straight back to Adelaide after the race meet to help out with funeral arrangements for his father.

Stewart’s next mission is to take on the territory with some of his drag racing buddies as they prepare for the road trip of a lifetime heading north in July for the opening rounds of the Australian National Drag Racing Association’s 2017/18 Summit Racing Equipment Sportsman Series starting with the “Nitro Up North” event at Darwin followed by the “Dessert Nationals” the following week in Alice Springs.

A “Nitro Up North Convoy” has been put together by a group of Victorian racers which departs from Mildura’s Sunset Strip on Saturday the 15^th of July for the road trip of a lifetime which will take in the two ANDRA sanctioned drag racing events. Talking with Stewart on the upcoming new sportsman series it was easy to see how excited he was with the prospect of the 2 ½ week road trip. I asked Tim about the proposed road trip, “yep it’s going to be huge. So far, we have the Stewarts, Thorntons, Kuchels and Talbots on board for the trip with possibly Spud Russell’s car in the convoy along with a few others. We head out of Mildura on the Saturday stopping above Port Augusta the first night. We plan to stop north of Coober Pedy the 2^nd night with Alice Springs Inland Dragway our destination for night 3. From there we will keep cruising the Stuart Highway stopping Tuesday night along the highway and then cruising into Darwin Wednesday evening with a stopover for the night at Adam Murrihy’s A&M Cranes depot. From there we head to Hidden Valley Drags on Thursday morning which is only 10 minutes down the road from the A&M Cranes depot. At this stage, there are no set plans for the week in between the two race meetings but sportingscribe.com has jumped on board to assist with this part of the road trip" he said.

At sportingscribe.com we are pleased to announce that we will be covering the road trip in its entirety starting out of Mildura with daily video edits covering each day’s activities leading up to the race days and then dedicated coverage of the Nitro Up North Convoy race teams competing at both the Nitro’s and Dessert Nationals. This year sportingscribe.com will embark on a different format whereby we will be covering a nominated bracket each round with dedicated video edits of pit activity, qualifying and eliminations for that bracket with minimal video footage from other sportsman brackets complimenting the race coverage. By introducing this format, we heavily reduce the time commitments required to produce up to 9 individual brackets per round (don’t have the time required), instead opting for a more dedicated video edit for the nominated bracket. For the NT Convoy, we will feature Convoy race teams rather than a dedicated sportsman bracket.

Sportingscribe.com are currently working in with NT Tourism with regards to promoting the event and places of interest both along the way and in between the two events. Christie Thornton (daughter of Outlaw racer Dave Thornton) has jumped on board to assist with putting the video package together. Christie has just finished a university degree in Tourism and Event Management and will bring fresh ideas to the video coverage of the road trip. As noted, we hope to produce a 3-5-minute grab of the day’s activities spent on the road and by the campsite each night with a more substantial grab of racing activities during the 4 days of racing.

Talking with Tim about the convoy, he mentioned that race teams are quite welcome to join in the convoy stating “the more the merrier”. To join the Nitro Up North discussion group simply contact either Tim or Sue Stewart through their respective Facebook pages or any of the other racers that have jumped on board the convoy. The convoy is currently represented by Top Alcohol, Supercharged Outlaws, Junior Dragster and Modified Eliminator brackets. Sportingscribe.com will also be providing updates on the convoy as they come to hand. This is one road trip that we can’t wait to get into filming. Should be epic!

Alice Heats Up On Finals Day

By Mark Humphrey

Alice Springs, NT/Aus. 18^th July 2016.  Round 2 of the 2016/17 ANDRA Championship Drag Racing series fired up at the Alice Springs Inland Dragway (ASID) over the weekend with the Summit Sportsman Series supporting the heavyweight group 1 bracket of Top Doorslammer.

Having just recently resurfaced the ¼ mile racing surface the Alice Springs Inland Dragway staff were faced with an unrealistic track preparation schedule to get the surface ready for Top Doorslammer. The fact that the club’s racing schedule had been thin prior to the Doorslammer round didn’t help the ASID track staff or Craig Plummer who had arrived at the track from Adelaide last Monday. Although the team worked diligently over the 5-day period the track was deemed unsafe for the ¼ mile distance by the Top Doorslammer representatives in conjunction with ANDRA officials. It was decided that Top Doorslammer would run over the 1/8 mile distance along with a number of high powered sportsman categories. Feeling around the venue was of disappointment that the racing surface wasn’t there which seemed to reflect the mood throughout most of Saturday.

The very first Doorslammer qualifying run had local Andrew Sutton up against Victorian Rob Taylor. Sutton got out of the groove mid track and put the Chevy Corvette into the wall before careering into Taylor’s lane. Taylor lost his car in fluid that had been dropped by the Sutton car and gently slid into the opposite lane’s wall and come to a stop just behind Sutton’s car which had bounced back into his original lane. The mood around the start line was very sombre with Top Doorslammer teams electing to cancel round 1 of qualifying. Rounds 2 & 3 would consist of single lane passes for the category with round 1 winner from Darwin Gary Phillips missing the cut along with Bill Goonan and Rob Taylor. Taylor did manage to get the Chevy Camaro repaired in time for round 2 but didn’t do enough to make the 8 car field. That was 2 weeks in a row that the Taylor s Motorsport entry had failed to make the cut. Considering the team had travelled up from Melbourne to compete in the first 2 rounds of the ANDRA Championship the outcome would have been tough to swallow. So at the end of day 1 you could be forgiven for thinking that the round would be a flop. It was bloody cold, the atmosphere in the pits was non-existent and teams were struggling with the racing surface.

Well what a difference a bit of sunshine makes. Fans rolling into the track on race day were greeted with bright sunshine, a hive of activity in the pits and race teams itching to get out amongst it. The Junior Dragsters were the first to go out and as per usual with the category had plenty of entries. Luke Veersma picked up the win over Alanah Cope in the final with an 8.14 pass @ 79.65mph to Cope’s 8.23 pass @ 78.53mph. Veersma got past Donnelly in the semi while Cope rounded up Spadaro in her semi. Kelly Donnelly had looked really strong throughout eliminations and a semi-final placing was the reward for her hard driving. A lot of West Aussies in the field which is very encouraging for the category. Current Australian Champion Mikey Naylor was a first round victim of Cope’s with another of last year’s stars Daniel Carranza going out in round 2 at the hands of Veersma.

Junior Dragster Time Sheet

The hard luck story of the event must go to Modified Bike runner Shane Walker who after travelling up from Melbourne made just 1 qualifying pass before packing up and heading home due to mechanical issues. The category was well catered for entries from across the nation. Current Australian Champion Bryan Finn managed to take out local Brian Moore in round 2 reversing the roles from last year’s final where Moore enjoyed the win. Finn would finish runner up for the 3^rd year in a row at Alice this time to Leith Darrach. Finn got away early at the line with a .084 reaction to Darrach’s .489 and looked to have the race in hand as Darrach tried to make up ground on the slow start. Unfortunately for Finn the focus was on the finish line as he comfortably beat home Darrach only to break out by .014. Darrach pulled a 10.095 on a 9.85 dial in to take the win after a similar situation in the semi-final. Up against Gordon Crawford, Darrach had some work to do leaving the line a fraction behind Crawford. Crawford looked to have a clear lead going over the line but also broke out handing the win to Darrach. Top qualifier Colin Sainsbury was a round 2 victim of Crawford.

Modified Bike Time Sheet

Modified Eliminator had the regulars lining up for a shot at the win with last season’s powerhouses Matt Forbes and Simon Barlow electing to sit out the round. Leanne Braggs was in great touch all weekend securing the #1 qualifying spot with the new Sunset Performance big block on board. Her qualy times were all consistent as were her early heat rounds. This was shaping up as the round for her until a water leak on the start line put paid to her day in the semi-final. Although there was disappointment around the Braggs camp the group of Victorians that had travelled up together were getting exciting about youngster Zac Shepherd out of the South Coast Raceway club who was competing in his very first Summit round. After taking care of Darwin’s #1 qualifier in Bradley Hicks, Shepherd picked up a win in round 2 against David Hutchen followed by a solo run in the semi to reach the final. Waiting for Shepherd in the final was Queenslander Gavin Chisnell who had picked up a win in round 1 against Chris Farrell followed by a solo pass and then Braggs in the semi. Unfortunately for Shepherd he pulled a cherry in the final to hand the win to Chisnell on the line. Shepherd had been fine on the start line throughout the day with a .016 in round 1 followed by .075 in round 2. Maybe nerves started to take over as he got to the pointy end as he cherried his solo semi-final run as well as the final. A .013 red in the semi followed by a .008 red in the final suggests the modified peddler has all the makings of being a tough competitor in the coming years. For Chisnell it was a good win posting a 5.395 on a 5.30 dial in @ 129.68mph. Great to see a Queenslander competing in a Summit round.

Modified Eliminator Time Sheet

Super Street had competitors from 4 states and the Territory duking it out for the silver xmas tree. Harry Harris who was one of last year’s powerhouse movers in the bracket and runner up to Australian Champion Kylie Tanner was a surprising first round loser and would sit out the round. West Aussie Matt Jarvis was another surprise first round loser and like Harris would sit out the remainder of the event. Another West Aussie in Jacob Mills driving an old school Mustang kept the flag flying taking out the win in the final over Queenslander Allan Hutchen driving an immaculate XY Falcon. Mills posted a 12.211pass @ 93.39mph on a 12.10 dial in to Hutchen’s 11.451 @ 110.62mph on a 11.30 dial in.

Super Street Time Sheet

Super Sedan was a battle of the South Aussies with Peter Tzokas getting the win over George Tipouikidis in the final. Tzokas posted a 9.859 @ 136.55mph on a 9.80 dial in to Tipouikidis’ 10.238 @ 129.40mph on a 10.25 dial in. Top qualifier Vlado Turic went out in round 2 as did Australian Champ John Kapiris. Kapiris was pushed away from the line with electrical issues which is very uncommon for the usually reliable HQ runner. Tipouikidis had a tough half of the draw having to get past Brett Mathew in round 1 followed by Ned Karanovic in round 2 and Steve Hunt in the semi.

Super Sedan Time Sheet

Top Sportsman can add another heavy hitter to the winner’s list with Matt Forbes driving the Nichele Racing Chevy taking out the win over Australian Champion Jason Stares in the Lucas Oils Corvette. Already solid with the likes of Paul Russo, Stu McBain, Jason Arbery and Darren Saliba, Forbes has just added as another potential championship winner to the bracket with the round 2 win over Stares. Co-owner of the Nichele Racing Chevy in Gil Nichele was chuffed about the win and full of praise for Forbes who didn’t put a foot wrong all weekend. Already looked upon as a professionally presented team, Forbes has added that extra touch to the team. Gilbert’s plan for drag racing and the team is to take the best presented show to the fans and to interact with the fans. The first thing Gil said to me on the start line after the win was “have a look at the crowd. This is what it’s all about”. Forbes posted a 5.001 @ 134.33mph on a 5.00 dial in to Stares 4.796 @ 146.10mph on a 4.78 dial in. Top qualifier Darren Saliba lost to Forbes in the semi while Stares got over Greg Daiani in his semi. Frank Oliveri driving a tough little LJ Torana went down to Forbes in round 1 with other 1^st round losers being Julian Carafa against Saliba, Graham Hargrave against Greg Damaini and Rick Smith against Stares. Rick Smith who hails from the South Coast Raceway club debuted his wild HQ Monaro for the 1^st time in Top Sportsman. Having recently purchased the car from Michael Braggs, the Monaro was a standout with the crowd and no doubt will roll out for more Summit rounds this series especially down south.

Top Sportsman Time Sheet

Mark Hunt from Huntsman Racing wrote the fairy-tale for the weekend in Supercharged Outlaws with an ending scripted by none. Having competed in Darwin after a several year break with limited success, the Customline runner was trekking down south to the Alice Springs Inland Dragway when he threw a rod out the side of the block of his mobile race transporter. Requiring a heavy haulage tow into the pits Hunt put the dramas behind him and got to work on the set-up with crew chief Dave Baines. Hunt has been a solid supporter of drag racing over the years and was responsible for funding the recent ANDRA Grand Finals at the Adelaide International Raceway. His generosity to the sport stretches far beyond the Grand Finals bale out and is well known for his patriotism towards ANDRA Championship Drag Racing. That aside, when it comes time to go racing all bets are off and 1^st up for Hunt was the clash with former Australian Champion Doina Day. Day has had the wood over Hunt taking the last dozen or so wins against Hunt so the ask was great for Hunt. Hunt picked up the win over Day which started a remarkable day for the Ford Customline runner. Top qualifier and current Australian Champion Adam Murrihy had a solo in round 1 after Matt Able wasn’t able to make the start line. Justin Russell in the ex-Belleri Camaro got the round 1 win over West Aussie Alan Mahnkoph driving one very tough EH Holden ute. Unfortunately for Mahnkoph the car was dripping fluid after the burnout and finished his Alice Springs campaign. Round 2 had Russell with the solo and Hunt up against the Aussie champ. A 5.001 on a 4.92 was enough to give Hunt the win over Murrihy who posted a 4.306 on a 4.28 dial in. Murrihy didn’t help his cause with a slower .124 get away to Hunt’s .019 start. So the final was set between to fresh cars to the category from last year. Russell had upgraded to the Belleri Camaro after tipping over his Camaro at the Rowe Memorial last year and Hunt had the Customline sidelined for the year. Once again Hunt got the start with a .101 take off to Russell’s .162 get away. Hunt managed to hold the advantage crossing the line with a 4.981 @ 142.41mph on a 4.95 dial in to Russell’s 4.439 @ 160.14 on a 4.40 dial in. Great effort by the bracket with Spud Russell signalling his return to the bracket in a big way. The Dandy Engines powered Camaro looks and sounds tough and is real fast. For Hunt it was a dream return to the bracket one which he has his heart and soul in. Hunt has recently become the promoter of the Wild Bunch bracket and has big plans for the category. Watch this space for some exciting news.

Supercharged Outlaws Time Sheet

The last of the sportsman brackets is the all-conquering group 2 Super Comp which was taken out by Graeme Simms over Louis Svingos. Simms posted a5.935 et @ 100.90mph on a 5.87 index to take the win over a cruising Svingos who stopped the beams at 7.993 on a 6.34 index. The final was a bit of a fizzer but certainly didn’t reflect the day’s competition. Two current Australian Champions in Craig Geddes and Kim Fardella were in Alice to contest round 2 of the series but found the going tough with both going out in round 1. Geddes went down to David Dequin by 2 thousands of a second while Fardella was bundled out by round winner Simms. Top qualifier Jamie Chaisty was also a 1^st round victim going down to Louis Svingos.

Super Comp Time Sheets

The headline act for the round was undoubtedly Top Doorslammer. It’s been a while since we have witnessed the likes of Ben and Victor Bray, Gary Phillips, Bill Goonan, Matt Able, Sam Fenech and Mark Chapman running under the ANDRA banner and what a treat it was. Unfortunately, Phillips, Taylor and Goonan failed to make the cut which put an end to their weekends. Goonan did appear twice throughout the day for exhibition runs which thrilled the good crowd that had assembled on the hill. Down to business and the man to beat was that man John Zappia. The 9-time Australian Champion had top qualified and was up against Matt Able in round 1. Zappia selected lane 2 which seemed to be the quicker lane all day. A 4.008 @ 189.87mph was good enough to get the job done with Able putting down a creditable 4.245 @ 180mph. The Zappia run would set a new mph track record. Fenech got the scalp of Victor Bray in one of the closest contest of the day with Ben Bray taking out Mark Belleri and Mark Chapman going down to Grant O’Rourke. Every round 1 scrap was quicker than 170mph over the 1/8 distance bar one, with the slowest ET being a 4.489 by Victor. Amazing what a bit of rubber and a sunny day would do for the racing. Qualifying was a grey sombre affair that captured nothing yet 24 hours later the fans were treated to one of the greatest spectacles you would want to see. Ben Bray had the Chevy Corvette on song and was a real chance to knock off the highly rated Zappia. No doubt about it, the presence of the Brays gave something special to the meeting and Ben was doing his best to take no prisoners.

Round 2 had more to come for the fans. Zappia went up against Fenech and took the win equalling his newly set mph track record posting a 4.009 @ 189.87mph to Fenech’s 4.274 @ 179.28mph. Bray was going about his business in the same dominating fashion taking out O’Rourke with a blistering 4.089 @ 185.95mph to O’Rourke’s 4.367 @ 172.41mph. That was the last time we will see the O’Rourke Doorslammer for some time as the team has decided to park up until the sanctioning body rubbish is sorted out. Let’s hope things get back to normal as the sport needs the likes of O’Rourke Racing on the dragstrip.

Into the much anticipated final between John Zappia and Ben Bray. Zappia having lane choice decided to run lane 2 which had been the quicker lane all day. Ben Bray was the only driver to run 4.0’s in lane 1 and was facing an uphill battle against the king. Bray got the start with a .064 get away to Zappia’s .144 but Zappia mowed him down crossing the line with a new track mph record of 193.97mph. Zappia’s ET of 3.966 was the only run into the 3’s all weekend. Bray poste a very respectable 4.073 @ 187.50mph which was his best ET and mph for the weekend. You can’t ask for much more than that and it may well have been a different story if Bray had lane choice. But then again Zapp most likely would have had the reply.

Top Doorslammer Time Sheets

Any way you look at it the final encapsulated the spirit of the day with fast and loud racing. The event finished on a massive high with many punters saying it was the best days racing they had seen at the Alice. With the state government tipping in $1.6 million over the next 12 months for upgrades to the facilities round 2 of the 2017/18 series should be a cracker.

Great work by Yak, Dan and all the ASID staff, Craig Plummer and his track staff, race directors/coordinators Ray Treasure and Tim Reidy and of course ANDRA Championship Drag Racing. We have a short break with round 3 of the Summit Sportsman Series heading to Mildura’s Sunset Strip on the 22^nd &23^rd of October. Prior to that Mildura will be hosting an Australian Nostalgia Drag Racing event in August which should be huge. Also just around the corner from Mildura is the grand opening of Swan Hill Dragway scheduled for the 8^th and 9^th of October. This meet will be huge with racers expected to travel from all parts of the country to take part in what will be a memorable weekends racing on Australia’s newest and flattest drag racing strip. Keep an eye on the Swan Hill and Mildura websites for more info.

Full bracket videos to follow over the next 2 weeks.