Drag News Magazine Issue Five

I H R A : W E H AV E C O M M U N I C AT E D W I T H A U S T R A L I A N T R A C K S

ISSUE FIVE MARCH 2015

TONY MANSON

ON WILLOWBANK, WINTERS AND THE IHRA

NITRO MAX FROM PERTH

SYDNEY JAMBOREE REPORT

VPW PRO SERIES 1000 FROM AIR MARK ALLEN - DANIEL CARRANZA

Aeroflow ad

DRAG NEWS MAGAZINE STAFF

CONTENTS 4 - Editorial

Editor: Luke Nieuwhof (luke@dragnews.com.au) Content: Luke Nieuwhof, Grant Stephens, Rob Sparkes Photography: cacklingpipes.com (grant@cacklingpipes.com), Luke Nieuwhof Design: Luke Nieuwhof Accounts: Rob Sparkes

6 - Shutter Speed

FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHERS

The Sydney Jamboree saw both turbos and track cleaning equipment get a work out.

Joe Maday 0468 413 124 maday@mail2joseph.com Dave Reid 0412 686 478 sales@dragphotos.com.au Lee Davis 0425 886 072 photorequest@ westernautopics.com.au

WANT TO SEND US CONTENT? press@dragnews.com.au ADVERTISING advertising@dragnews.com.au Or call Rob Sparkes on +61418411684

WANT THE LATEST? www.dragnews.com.au is Australia's most popular drag racing website and carriers all the up to date news you need on Australian drag racing.

10 - IHRA confirms Australian communications 12 - Bank on it

We talk with Willowbank Raceway CEO Tony Manson.

18 - Turbos and two steps

34 - Taking it to the max Top Fuel opens its season at Perth Motorplex.

54 - Go Pro The VPW Racer Payouts Pro Series 1 000 delivers great racing to Adelaide International Raceway.

64 - Chasing 00 Mark Allen has been all about the thousandths for his entire racing career - in Modified that can be all the difference.

68 - Enter the Batdan Daniel Carranza represents everything good about Junior Dragster.

A heart warming story.

72 - Quarter Reporter 74 - Mr Yes and Mr No

Do we need an IHRA switch?

75 - Business Directory

LEGAL All content is copyright to Drag News Australia Pty Ltd and may not be reproduced in any form without express written permission.

COVER IMAGE Joe Maday captured Scott Porter from up high at the Sydney Jamboree.

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EDITORIAL I have been reading the Steve Jobs biography in recent days and it has been an interesting education in a man who did a lot to shape the technological world we now live in.

The book charts the rise of Apple, it's struggles through the 80s and 90s, and its subsequent rebirth and growth into one of the world's most successful companies. Indeed many of you are probably reading this publication on one of his devices right now.

Though Jobs' personality leads to frequent conflict and he has left a trail of upset people in his wake, a recurring theme is that he believes in the product above all else and that only perfection is acceptable for that product. That is what has led Apple back to success.

I might be drawing a long bow, but much of what he did to grow the company again could be applied to the sport of drag racing. Are we seeking a perfect product or are we just doing what we have always done?

One thing Jobs was quick to do when he returned to Apple was to eliminate unsuccessful product lines and return it to four core products. The story goes that he went to a whiteboard and wrote 'Consumer' and 'Pro' across the top, then 'Desktop' and 'Portable' down the other side. He wanted to eliminate the myriad machines Apple was offering to the public, indeed confusing them with, and take it back to basics. The board thought he was crazy. Those products became the iMac and Macbook and their respective pro versions.

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Does drag racing need to reduce its offering in order to eliminate confusion for the public, removing categories that are not successfully attracting numbers or fan support? I wonder if I wrote 'Open', ' Sedan' and 'Bike' across the top of the same whiteboard, then 'Pro' and 'Sportsman' down one side, what six categories would we be left with and would they be able to fairly cover the majority of vehicles?

Jobs has since introduced other products where there was a market for them, such as the iPod, iPhone and iPad. And of course their respective versions have been removed from the market if they are no longer suitable – not carried on for the sake of carrying on.

As a thinking exercise, it bodes consideration. If we had a gun to our heads and had to choose six categories to keep the sport healthy, what would they be?

And then perhaps, as niche opportunities arise, small side products could be added.

Of course drag racing's history shows we are quick to add categories and slow to remove them when they are no longer successful. This is a byproduct of respecting people's investment into those categories, but unfortunately it acts as an anchor on the sport as a whole.

Who would you save and who would you scrap?.

Luke Nieuwhof Editor

SHUTTER

SPEED 6

Sometimes we give you the low down and sometimes we just get low. Jon Ferguson launches his Supercharged Outlaws Funny Car in qualifying at Perth Motorplex.

ISO 400, 1/2000sec, F7.1, Canon 7D at 12mm.

Image: Luke Nieuwhof Media

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SHUTTER

SPEED 8

People say a drag race only lasts for just a few seconds. But in truth the adrenaline begins to build long before that as you wait in the staging lanes before putting it all on the line.

ISO 200, 1/200sec, F3.5, Canon Nikon D3 at 15mm. Image: Bob Taylor

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IHRA CONFIRMS AUSTRALIAN COMMUNICATIONS Last month, Australian motorsport magazine Auto Action reported that venues were investigating IHRA sanctioning, with Willowbank Raceway named but others, and the source, remaining anonymous.

Drag News Magazine contacted the IHRA to find out just what their plans are, if any, for Australia.

Vice president Skooter Peaco was kind enough to respond.

Peaco confirmed that they have been in touch with venues in Australia.

“The IHRA has several people in the domestic and international markets who investigate potential new markets and partnerships,” he said. “We have been communicating with a number of international tracks including Australia. If we don’t explore new opportunities we would not be experiencing the growth trend we are enjoying at the present time.

“It could make sense for us to explore possible options in Australia given it is a well-established market and we already have a presence in New Zealand.”

The sport of drag racing in New Zealand is currently divided, with some tracks sanctioned by the New Zealand Drag Racing Association and others by the IHRA. One of the Australian National Drag Racing Association's strong points has been in its recognition through CAMS (Confederation of Australian Motorsport), who delegate the sanctioning of drag racing to ANDRA. The FIA (Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile) delegates sanctioning of motorsport in Australia to CAMS. These links can be of assistance with regulatory bodies and in dealing with government.

Peaco does not expect that to produce any difficulties.

“There are a number of examples of non-FIA sanctioned motorsports both in our home market (including by IHRA) and in the Australian market across multiple motorsports disciplines,” he said. “If we were to put a program together to

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present to the Australian tracks we would not anticipate any difficulties in that regards.”

One cause of friction between ANDRA and tracks has been the increasing commercial role of ANDRA in the sport since the collapse of Drag Ltd in 2011. Drag Ltd worked to promote the major categories at what were then the only three venues involved in the national series – Sydney Dragway, Willowbank Raceway and Perth Motorplex.

Peaco explained that the IHRA would only become involved as it was needed or wanted.

“It depends on the needs of the market. Primarily we are a sanctioning body, but we have the ability to get involved commercially,” he said. “The market always dictates the role we play in both domestic and international scenarios.”

In social media chatter about the potential change, a frequent benefit touted has been the reduced cost of licences. Peaco said that would likely be true, depending on what services they would be required to provide as a sanctioning body.

“An annual membership is US$70 domestically. International pricing would depend on the administration requirements of the market,” he said. “We understand that our domestic prices are currently much lower than Australia is, but we would have to know what our role would be before we got to pricing membership. I would expect it to be considerably lower than the current Australian sanctioning body.”

For venues, IHRA charges a set annual fee per year, rather than sanctioning fees per event. ANDRA currently charges both a small annual fee and then fees per event. For tracks running many events, a one time fee is an attractive option, though for venues with limited events, drawing on the resources of ANDRA for a minimal fee is beneficial.

Peaco said the final price for venues would again come down to the needs and wants of the operators.

“That price would have to be determined based upon the administration requirements for that particular market,” he said. “My expectation would be that they would be lower than the current standard sanction fees.”

BANK

ON IT It was once the golden child of Australian drag racing and even referred to as a 'mini NHRA'. Now into its thirties, does Willowbank Raceway have what it takes to not only survive but thrive?

CEO Tony Manson believes so.

Written by Luke Nieuwhof. Photos by Dave Reid/dragphotos.com.au and Luke Nieuwhof.

Willowbank Raceway has a reputation built on being the 'racer's track'. That does not make it a charity by any means but a place where the profits from drag racing consistently go back into developing the whole venue.

It is home to Australia's biggest drag racing event, the Fuchs Winternationals, but it has also struggled at times with the monopoly that event puts on their annual budget and the way it overshadows almost ever other part of the calendar, making it difficult for other events to grow.

CEO Tony Manson has welcomed the challenge. Before coming to Willowbank Raceway, Manson was involved in plenty of other motorsport roles. He started out working washing wheels on speedway bikes at 13 and since then has gone on to work on teams in F1, F3000 and F3 in Europe, as well as Champ Car and NASCAR in the USA and V8 Supercars here in Australia, professionally and alongside a variety of similar activities for enjoyment.

He ran the racing side of the V8 Supercar Series in the early 2000s for more than five years, structured and ran a national supercross Series, ran freestyle motocross tours and events for the Crusty Demons and Red Bull, and was the event director for the Ken Block Gymkhana when it was run in Melbourne.

He's even run a car dealership.

Manson said after that varied introduction to all things automotive, the way Willowbank Raceway builds for the future made it attractive to work there.

“The passion and commitment of our Board members when I first met with them made this role really appealing,” he said.

“Willowbank Raceway has a unique history and there is a great desire to strengthen what we have and build it for the future – being a part of that was and is challenging but exciting and rewarding as well.”

Coming into a drag racing facility, Manson had a fair bit to learn about the straight line sport.

“While I’d experienced plenty of drag racing as a visitor, going all the way back to Castlereagh when I was a kid as well as Surfers Paradise, Calder and other tracks, this is my first time working in the sport,” he said.

“There is a lot in common with other motor sports, there are plenty of differences too, which have been a challenge to get my head around. Fortunately we have a very good racing manager at Willowbank in Tracey Fletcher and a knowledgeable board and they have helped me get up to speed.”

The passion of Queensland race teams has flowed through to Manson, who has become a fan of the sheer physical excitement the sport has to offer.

“It (entertainment) is our core business at Willowbank and the sport delivers extreme entertainment, time after time,” he said. “I’ve also gained a great deal of enjoyment and satisfaction from seeing good outcomes from changes that we’ve come up with in our track operations.”

Meeting changing needs The sport of drag racing is vastly different from Willowbank's origins in the 1980s and one which the venue has tried to adapt to.

While some of those adaptations have included developing categories like Supercharged Outlaws to meet racer and spectator wants, Manson said the main area of focus is now on shorter and sharper shows where people can get their drag racing fill and get it quickly.

“Our recent focus has been towards refining the way the sport is packaged to our fans via shorter type shows, because it is

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this type of event that will ensure we remain relevant as both a sport and as an entertainment offering,” he said.

“There is no doubt that our sport needs to present more of this type of product, and at Willowbank these kind of events include our Santo's Super 3 Event at Easter and our Aeroflow Outlaw Nitro Funny Car event later this year.

“We also need to provide opportunity for our racers and this caused us to re-invent our local racing to give our local racers greater opportunities to use their vehicles through our Queensland Drag Racing Championship (QDRC) rounds.”

Those QDRC rounds have seen better participation as a result of a refresh, with more and more cars coming out of sheds instead of just appearing once or twice a year.

The changes were brought in with the support of most racers.

Some changes, such as moving to a round robin format instead of eliminations provoked passionate objections from some, but it has to be argued the changes have been beneficial on the whole.

“We met with racers at the start of 2014 and talked to them about things we’d like to do with QDRC but also listened to them about the things they’d like to see,” Manson said.

“Out of those meetings we made a significant number of changes and there have been more since.

“We also met with racers at the end of the season to get their thoughts on how it all went – these racer meetings will be a regular part of the way we operate into the future; it has been a very worthwhile and positive exercise.”

Other changes that have been made to the QDRC include the opening of Outlaws to blown, turbo, naturally aspirated and nitrous cars with no lower ET limit and not running to national indexes for Group Two. “We’ve seen our entry numbers go from around the 100 mark to consistently be around or over the 150 mark per QDRC round – this is great to see as our core business is drag racing and it’s fantastic to see racers here racing and enjoying our sport and our facility,” Manson said.

“We’ve seen steady growth in spectator numbers too – there is more to come in this area but having more racers running provides more for spectators to see.”

Manson predicts there will be more in store for the QDRC. “We’d like to do more with feature brackets – there were plans for that in 2014 with Queensland-based Pro Stock competitors but the fuel/engine dramas that hit Pro Stock put that idea on hold,” he said.

“We are talking to some Queensland Group One competitors about doing something with them - so that’s something of a ‘watch this space.’

“It’d be great to build the strength of QDRC and maybe hold a round or two at other Queensland tracks but the possibility of doing that is in the future. We’re maintaining our meetings with racers and there’ll probably be more changes that come out of those meetings.”

The friendly (?) giant The Fuchs Winternationals is Willowbank's biggest event annually but rainouts of the past have affected the finances of the venue severely.

Manson explained that the venue has learned its lessons from those years.

“The Fuchs Winternationals, as well as being Willowbank’s biggest event, is Australian drag racing’s biggest event and it is widely accepted as the biggest championship event outside of the US,” he said.

“It's success each year is crucial to Willowbank and to the sport as a whole and I think it is fair to say that while we have been impacted directly, the sport as a whole has suffered by these weather affected events. Without dwelling on the past, we have had the GFC, impact of the Brisbane floods and three years of the Fuchs Winternationals being weather impacted.

“It costs us close to $1 million to stage each year and is a key

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building block of our business. The lesson from those weatherimpacted years is that we need to diversify our business more than we have so far and we’re working on that. There are good examples of other sporting venues that have either done it or that are working on it.

“Our neighbor Queensland Raceway for example has been very successful in moving to a business model that is not dependent on the success of one or two key events for the model to work and we have a good and open relationship with them. It’ll take time to diversify as much as we’d like to but we’ll get there.

“Not all may be aware that in addition to our drag racing activities we have driver training, vehicle testing, cycle racing and other activities that happen here throughout the year.”

With a successful formula in place, Manson is not keen to mess with the event too much. He said infrastructure is where it could be improved.

“Where we can build on the success is going to be the experience that we provide racers and spectators at our venue,” he said.

“Much of that comes under our strategic plan but as two examples, we’d love to get shade in place over our grandstand and on our spectator mound and once we can secure funding, that is an aim for us.

“Then if we are able to grow our property boundary (plans are in place) we could add a fan engagement zone, where we could have a range of things that we simply cannot fit onto the property during the Fuchs Winternationals currently such as interactive activities, autograph sessions and presentations, a performance stage and historical and other displays on our

sport.”

The giant nature of the Fuchs Winternationals makes it both friend and foe. Manson said some of the events the venue used to run may still have some potential in the future.

“It’s no secret that Willowbank Raceway used to run more national events than we currently do, however this reduction has been bought about by the amount of expense and risk we were carrying to run these type of events, often with limited rewards,” he said. “I also think it is fair to say that the drag racing product is badly in need of updating and making it relevant to current audiences.

“We’ve done a deal with the Aeroflow Outlaw Nitro Funny Cars to come and run here in September that has been announced. It took a while to get the deal and date done as there were complications for both parties with the previous dates we’d looked at – we’re looking forward to having them here for the first time and we’ll see what we can build with them for the future.

“People often ask about the New Year events that we used to run and we’re open to that idea – we’d sketched out some event concepts but put them on hold while there was some change happening with the national calendar. That’ll be something for us to revisit.

“Other than that, there are events we run now that we can work on and grow – for example, the Santo’s Super 3 Extreme Drag Race Event presented by Uplift Cranes and Titan Cranes at Easter is great but this year is only its third year and there’s great potential to keep it growing.”

“We’ve spoken to IHRA as well as other sanctioning bodies. I also think it is fair to say that there are a number of things that we are not happy with in the current sanctioning organisation.”

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The Fuchs Winternationals remains Willowbank's biggest event annually, as well as the sport's.

Friction point

Going forward

Willowbank Raceway was recently named in a magazine article as a venue that had been in talks with the IHRA about changing sanctioning away from ANDRA. “Willowbank is like any business, we have service providers and from time to time we approach or are approached by alternatives – it helps any business stay up to date,” he said.

“We’ve spoken to IHRA as well as other sanctioning bodies. I also think it is fair to say that there are a number of things that we are not happy with in the current sanctioning organisation.”

When asked about how that may affect Willowbank's participation in any future championships, Manson said it was a moot point.

“We have made no firm decision about anything and until anything changes there is no point on commenting on speculation,” he said.

Certainly it has been little secret that Willowbank Raceway and ANDRA have had a strained relationship in recent times.

“Like any relationship we have our ups and downs, and recently more downs than ups, but we talk to them directly about all that. I think it is no secret that across different areas of the sport there are questions being raised about the direction the sport is taking, however from a day to day perspective we simply get on with running our business.”

Manson said there are a number of improvements they would like to see.

“We’ve tabled our thoughts directly with the ANDRA Board and CEO as we strive to improve our sport - including things that we would like to see changed,” he said. “We don’t believe that it is healthy for any sport to be having such conversations publicly but suffice to say that there are a number of things we would like to see improved.”

When it comes to challenges for the future of Willowbank Raceway, Manson said that there is a need to keep looking forward and ensure their viability. He said part of that is in developing the funding to keep updating and improving the venue.

“That is a great challenge in the economic times that we live in and with so many competing voices seeking funding at all different levels,” he said.

“At the end of 2013 we signed a new 30+30 lease with the Ipswich City Council so we’re here for the long haul but we are mindful that we continually need to improve the facility in general.”

The venue does have a strategic plan to set their agenda each year.

“Our strategic plan is a multiyear one, is revisited each year and sets the agenda for the upcoming year – we do it that way as so much can change from year to year in the world around us,” Manson said.

“That strategic plan ranges for example from our staffing and structure to the physical facility itself and what we want to achieve operationally. We have some exciting plans for our future but it’s premature to be talking about them publicly until we’re ready to deliver.”

And when Manson does move on from Willowbank, if he does ever consider it, he said he wants it to have been a positive time.

“Willowbank Raceway is an iconic facility and in many ways hallowed ground to much of the drag racing community,” he said. “As a result I’m very conscious of being a custodian and if I ever move on, I’d want to leave Willowbank in better shape than I found it.”

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TURBOS AND TWO STEPS High tech doesn't necessarily free you from the punishment of mechanical carnage.

Our report from the Sydney Jamboree.

Written by Grant Stephens. Photos by cacklingpipes.com and Joe Maday.

With recent phenomenal performances in the Sport Compact scene overseas, all eyes were on Sydney Dragway for the 2015 edition of the Sydney Jamboree to see if the Aussies could fire back in the performance stakes.

Unfortunately the hot and muggy conditions weren't conducive to such runs, though a few notable performance were still achieved. On the flip side the event took mechanical carnage to a whole new level - there was more junked metal than a scrap yard, and the number of track cleanups which started on the second pass of the event had to be a record. Maybe the full moon had something to do with it.

Factory Extreme The headline Factory Extreme class had eight contenders. Qualifying was a struggle with only the R35 GTR of Mark Jacobsen cracking a six second run with a 6.62 at 214mph. We did see the debut of the Maatouk Racing/Queen St Smash Monaro powered by a Maatouk special RB30, the ex-Tucker Racing Pro Stock car is being steered by Moey Ibrahim and showed early potential going 1.03 in the sixty.

Scott Porter in his new Nissan 350Z got the best of Jacobsen in round one of the Chicago Shootout with a 6.71, the only clean pass made in the round. Jacobsen hit back in round two with a 6.55 win against Jerry Kehl's RX7 and Joe Signorelli is starting to harness the enormous power of the team's Scion with a 6.62 solo pass - they have world record aspirations for this setup. The best race of the round and the event went to Porter and Mal Glassett, running 6.63 to a 6.70 respectively before disaster struck in the braking area with both cars crashing, fortunately both drivers stepped out of the carnage unharmed. A depleted round three saw Collin Willshire in the Eclipse tick the win box against Kehl with a 6.92, and Jacobsen hammer out a 6.58 as the best runs of the round. The final shook down to Signorelli and Jacobsen, the GTR left the line first and was never headed in running a 6.53 at 210mph - a new personal best and reaffirming the team's presence as the quickest and fastest GTR and VR38 powered car in the world.

Pro Turbo A small Pro Turbo field saw the return of Sam Sadek with his six second RX3 after a complete rebuild following his spectacular roll over some time ago. Sam clocked a 7.64 to top qualify before clutch gremlins retired 'The Godfather' for the rest of the event. Pro Turbo only had two Chicago shootout rounds to determine the finalists due to time lost in oil downs and they would be the 2JZ powered RX7 of Loues Consentino and the RB26 R32 Skyline of Domenic Maiolo up from Victoria. While both reaction times in the final could have been measured on a sun dial, both cars still managed to leave the line within three hundredths of each other and produced a cracking race, Maiolo just nudging ahead at the strip with a 7.427 to Consentino's 7.437.

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Centre: Mark Jacobsen burns out in the world's quickest R35 GTR. Top row from left: Queen St know how to make an impact at a race track. Jerry Kehl's Mazda RX7 slows in the braking area. Joe Signorelli settled for runner up in Factory Extreme.

Bottom row from left: Sam Sadek top qualified but had to withdraw with clutch problems.

Loues Consentino's unique RX7 has no troubles boiling the hides. Domenic Maiolo's trip up from Victoria was worth it with a win in Pro Turbo.

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Pro Compact Pro Compact had a very healthy eleven entrants and while no sixes were run, seven cars carded seven second qualifying runs with Dom Rigoli the quickest with his Eclipse at 7.014. Eyes were also on another ex-Pro Stock car Super Compact creation with SDR Motorsport transforming the ex-Jon Galea Cobalt into a Mazda6 fitted with a 13B and being driven by Steven Dimech.

Pro Stock gun Aaron Tremayne was assisting the team with setup as they ran a 7.53, a solid start in the early stage of the car's development. Unfortunately in the final round of qualifying Lee Docherty had his MX5 crossed up in the braking area and smacked the wall following a 7.47. Docherty was unhurt, but it was not the comeback to racing they were looking for.

Rigoli dipped into the sixes in the first round of racing with a 6.94 against Dimech, and continued that form with a 7.01 and 6.92 in following rounds to earn a final slot. Kelly Bettes was looking strong for an appearance in the final with 7.40 and 7.34 second wins in the first two rounds, but was unlucky in having to face Rigoli in the third round, the Jett Racing Datsun ute's 7.23 lap was the second quickest elapsed time in racing outside of Rigoli's numbers and she would miss the final. Chris Tait would experience the other side of the luck coin, the 200SX was not performing to its potential, but two solo runs and an easy win against Michael Baghdadi saw Tait in the final. Rigoli

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was not to be denied though, the ANDRA Super Compact National Champion continued his dream run in the Eclipse with a 7.21 in the final against Tait's troubled run.

Outlaw Extreme It is not just all rotaries and import engines any more at Jamboree, there is a place for turbo and EFI V8s - and that is Outlaw Extreme. Zoran Gajic was boss in qualifying with the Gas Motorsports twin turbo Mustang carding a 6.31. Paul Mouhayet was back in the world's fastest car on 10.5 tyres, the Mustang has had an extensive rebuild after its crash following a chute failure, and the Moits team took a few shots at the track before packing it away early.

Gajic had the Mustang on rails during racing with 6.48, 6.22 and 6.15 second wins in progressing to the final. The final would become a turbo versus blower deal with Frank Mamone who battled his way through the racing rounds with three wins and a best lap of 6.84. The Mustang fell off whatever rails he was on bogging down off the line in the final, Mamone powered on past and popped the blower in the top end on a nice 6.53 pass at only 193mph to claim the J trophy.

Extreme The Extreme class features any kind of four wheel race vehicle that fits the Jamboree criteria engine wise but does not into one of the other defined classes, and you can often get some weird and

wonderful rides show up like Queen Street's 20B powered BMW. Top qualifier was Andrew Darby in his twin turbo VK wagon with an 8.17 at 165mph, before mechanical mayhem forced a number of retirements including Darby who had converter problems. The racing rounds only saw three competitors front after the shake up, the final saw Craige Lewis blow his dial in of 8.10 to the weeds with a 7.88 against Joe Sorbello who ran 9.03 on a 8.90 with his supercharged Skyline for the win. Lewis was far from unhappy, the 7.88 was a big PB for the twin turbo Cortina running on radials, and the car is a genuine streeter.

Modified 10.5 It was RB power-plant domination at the top of qualifying in Modified 10.5, Queensland's Justin Wilkinson ran a 7.76 with his RB30 VL, Alex Cirtoski put his RB30 Skyline down track in 7.80 seconds and George Haramis - hired driver of a Maatouk Racing customer VL - clocked an 8.09. The VL Commodores cut a swathe through racing, with Haramis and Wilkinson squaring off in the final. Haramis went nowhere off the line and Wilkinson cranked out a 7.69 at 183mph to become the quickest single cam VL around and the fastest on radials.

Pro 289/Street 289 The small tyred Pro 289/Street 289 class finished qualifying with Po Tung topping the sheets with his Supra at 8.12

Top: Dom Rigoli's six second Mitsubishi Eclipse was too good in Pro Compact.

Clockwise from right: Chris Tait had to settle for a runner up in his Nissan 200SX after making it to the final of Pro Compact. Joe Sorbello's odd looking early model Skyline was the Extreme class winner. Frank Mamone even had a place to race at the Jamboree and won Outlaw Extreme.

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seconds - way off the car's six second potential. After qualifying the field is split with the top eight racers going heads up in Pro 289 and the rest falling back into dial your own Street 289.

In the heads up Pro 289 class, Po Tung had no equal, as the only genuine seven second car in the field it would take a major foul up to prevent the Gas Motorsports prepared Celica from taking the prize. His racing numbers read 8.16, 7.41 and 7.31 before a final round cruising 7.93 took care of Moey Obeid's RX7 which suffered dramas launching on the green light start.

Street 289 was the first of the elimination ladder classes, the RX4 of Russell Archer had an easy path through to the final but then handed the win to Ciprian Pascu's RX2 when Archer rolled the start line beams.

Modified Compact saw Scott Cousins' little 2JZ powered Datsun 1200 smash out a 7.69 at 181mph to lead qualifying by a bunch. Cousins proved consistent too reaching the final to face Ray Fairfull who was having a dream run with a new

Top: Po Tung wasn't performing near the potential of his Supra but it was enough for a win regardless.

Bottom: Charlie Costanzo took out the All Motor class.

Opposite page: Here the babe comp winner stands with two lovely promo girls. Joking.

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car at its first event - an ex-Mark Sugars Super Stock EL Falcon. Fairfull qualified third with a 8.48 and in the final went into a power wheelstand off the line, but it was his reaction time that cost him in the end, a 8.607 on a 8.44 was nabbed

by Cousins' 7.887 on a 7.70 dial in.

All Motor Making power out of rotaries and small capacity engines without the aid of turbos and nitrous is the challenge faced in the All Motor class. Charlie Constanzo was the surprise number one qualifier, squeezing out a 9.67 from his 13B motivated Datsun, it was expected Alf Axiak would dominate the time sheets with his normally aspirated eight second 20B RX7, but Axiak could only muster a 10.06.

Constanzo kept the 13B singing the same song and reached the final where he would be handed a win light after Daniel Meredith picked a -.083 cherry off the tree with his Honda Civic.

Street Compact Street Compact was the highest populated bracket at Jamboree with over twenty entries, Nour El Jamas headed the qualifying order with a 9.832 out of his SR20 powered Datsun 1200 ute. After four rounds of eliminations Michael Ryan found himself in the final with his Falcon daily driver. Ryan normally pedals a seven second EB Falcon but that car was still in the workshop and he thought why not have a go with the grocery getter. In the opposing lane for the final was Ben Clark's VL Commodore, a regular competitor in Super Street at Sydney Dragway, Ryan had the jump off the lights and a six second lead time before Clark could start the chase. Both competitors broke out at the top end, Ryan's 16.240 on a 16.25 was by the least earning him the J trophy and not bad compensation for not having his real race car ready in time.

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THE TALE OF EL GRINGO The Jamboree is often used as the platform to debut rides, this year was no different with South Australian Mark Tischendorf hitting the track for the first time with his RX7.

Some may remember Tischendorf's sporadic appearances with his previous car - a wild Mazda 323. With the Mazda a difficult animal to tame, Tischendorf set about building a new Sport Compact weapon and is as eager as ever to get back to racing.

“It's been a few years since I have been behind the wheel of a race car, and keen is one word to describe how I was feeling prior,” said Tischendorf. “After selling my last car (PRO323) which I didn’t really get much seat time in nor did I have much success with, I have spent the last two years building this car out of my shed in Adelaide.”

Many Sport Compact cars now come from Puerto Rico, where this style of racing is a way of life, or are former Pro Stock cars with a different manufacturer decals applied. Tischendorf wanted to build the car locally though with the Puerto Rican influence.

“It’s a full chassis Mazda S5 RX7 and unlike a lot of other cars in the Sport Compact class, the chassis was constructed locally

by James at Grooveryder Chassis in NSW, specifically for this class,” said Tischendorf.

“I could’ve based the car on an ex-Pro Stocker built by a big name manufacturer, but this is much more my style. The whole idea behind it was to have a full blown race car that still quite clearly resembles the street car, much like the Puerto Ricans do it.

“It’s better for the fans as well, much easier to relate to I think.”

The car runs a 13B semi PP turbo built and tuned by Mazsport guru Bill Nabhan. The engine is backed by a Liberty clutchless five speed transmission, putting the power to the ground

through a set of 33x10.5 tyres, and was all assembled by Tischendorf and a few good mates.

With challenges of finding ample track time in his home state, Tischendorf decided commuting was a better way to prepare the car for testing.

“Well I’m based in South Australia, and as most know we don’t really have a dependable track,” said Tischendorf. “Our local promoter does a good job in less than ideal conditions trying to get events to happen at AIR, but while the car is in its infancy it makes more sense to leave the car in NSW and fly in to race it at Sydney, as the 16 hour tow across isn’t much fun.

“Once ready we made the trek across a few weeks before Jambo for a test day to shake the car down. Unfortunately the Sydney weather gods were successful in raining on that parade, all weekend I might add.

"So with only the Wednesday before Jambo left as the last time to try the car out, I took a punt and flew in with a skeleton crew. We did a few burnouts and attempted some sixty foot launches but as expected we had a few issues - the fall out being a hurt gearbox, which meant staying in Sydney and spending Thursday sourcing gearbox parts to get it back together for Saturday.”

Tischendorf made the necessary repairs in time for the Jamboree, though a little daunted by the occasion.

“The Sydney Jamboree is always a great meeting, but not exactly a low key event to shakedown a new car. With minimal seat time prior, I was a little nervous in the morning.

“The anxiety quickly disappeared after the first skid and the rest of the day rode on the back of the adrenaline that can only come from being around such a car. The only reason we didn’t make it into the semi finals was because we had an issue with the throttle cable upon fire up prior to the burnout.”

To Tischendorf the day was a still a complete success and he could not contain his excitement.

“As expected when running a fully adjustable clutch, the first

few passes were spent getting a baseline setting we could start working with. It seems we didn’t do too bad when on our second pass we went 1.09 in the 60 on the back wheels - I was rapt with that.

“James from Grooveryder Chassis was there on the day to give me a hand with the tuning of the chassis he built. Its needs some further tweaking as the car is pretty unsettled off the start line, but when we get on top of that it’s going to be a rocket.

"Basically, I ended up real happy with my day and considering the car is new and was pretty much untested before the Jamboree, to get five passes in on the day was great. It’s only the tip of the iceberg, onwards and upwards we go.”

Often racers in the Sport Compact scene are just seen as number chasers. While it may be true in many cases, that attitude is slowly changing.

"Absolutely, I'd like to be a competitive racer and not just an ET hunter," he said. "A very good mate of mine and fellow South Australian is Richard Crampton, you may have heard of him?

“I was lucky enough to be in the States amongst him and his crew when he won the US Nationals last year driving the Geico

Top Fuel dragster and the winning feeling is something I yearn for now.

“Going fast is a given, but to go rounds and show the piston boys that a rotary can be consistent is my main aim. It seems lately that the likes of Rigoli Performance and Jett Racing have Pro Compact by the balls with their consistent low sevens and high sixes and kudos to them.

“But the hope is to have my car in the other lane to shake things up and give them a good run for their money - of course it would be nice to get that magic six second time slip.”

The 'El Gringo' name (meaning foreigner) came about during a drinking session as a bit of a piss take on the Puerto Ricans, but Tischendorf thinks it is pretty apt to coming from South Australia to the East Coast.

“I guess you could say us South Aussies are pretty low key in comparison to some of the Sydney personalities,” he said. “I just love my drag racing and tough cars in general, it’s a pastime I enjoy sharing with my close mates, and whether we are driving across the Hay Plains with the race car in tow, or in the shed spinning spanners and having a few frothies over an engine bay, it’s just what we do.”

DOCHERTY DRAMA The Jamboree was not the return to racing Lee Docherty imagined when his unique MX5 fell victim to a braking area accident.

Docherty, who steered away from the run of the mill RX series models as a choice of race car, decided to go for something outside of the box when he opted for a 10AE model Mazda MX5 built by Pac Performance, complete with all stock metal panels. Brapping under the hood is a 13B Rotary engine with a Garrett GTX55 turbo hanging off the front all built and tuned in house by the Pac Performance boys. It punches out over 1000hp.

After a short break from racing Docherty came into the Sydney Jamboree with pretty simple goals.

“The main goals we had going into the race were to try to improve on our PB of 7.46 seconds and obviously try to win the event as the car is pretty consistent when not hitting walls,” he said.

Racing in Pro Compact, there were a few gremlins to get out of the setup in the early qualifying rounds.

“The event was going fairly well before the accident. Being the first time back in the car since August 2014 there were some small issues, like on the first pass the exhaust set off the red light in the left lane when on the two step. And both the first pass and second pass the car wanted to move to the right - we seemed to fix the problem of the car going right on the third pass though.”

Straight it did go, narrowly missing his PB with a 7.47, but in the braking area the MX5 was crossed up, hitting the left hand wall heavily.

“I'm not really sure what caused the accident, across the finish

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line the throttle stuck open so after I pulled the chute I turned the car off. From the video there looks like there was a heap of ash in front of the car in the braking lane - but who knows if that was the cause or not.

“As I was hitting the wall I was hoping the Steve Dimech wasn't just behind me about to rear end me, and that is why I kept driving the car down around the end of the return road on what felt like a flat tyre (not a missing tyre).”

Fortunately all the safety features worked as they should and Lee walked away unscathed and the car will be repaired.

“The car needs a new front strut, wheel, bonnet, front guard, and a fair amount of panel beating, pulling the chassis rails straight and something done with the rear guards,” said Docherty.

“The engine didn't get any damage luckily - now seems to be the time to look for a panel beating sponsor.

“Our plans now are to try to get the rails straightened and source new bits to get back out there ASAP, all depends on costs and funds though.

“Luckily I wasn't hurt in the accident, except for a bit of stiffness the next day which lasted a few days. Pac Performance did a great job building the car.”

Docherty did find some amusement out of the mayhem, with the errant front wheel that followed the wounded MX5 around the breaking area turn loop stopping right next to the stricken machine.

“If you look at the rear view video, the front left wheel did a pretty bloody good job, coming off the car with part of the strut attached, going behind the car, under the parachute and coming down the track and around the corner of the return road - that is a bloody dedicated part right there,” he joked.

FAIRFULL FALCON FLYING HIGH Some may recognise Ray Fairfull's EL Falcon from when Queenslander Mark Sugars campaigned it in Super Stock for a short while, but Fairfull has since refitted it for a completely different power combination.

“My mate Michael Ryan (readers may remember we featured Ryan's Falcon in the first issue of Drag News Magazine - Ed) did all the fabrication work on this car, converting it from a naturally aspirated V8 into a turbo six screamer,” said Fairfull.

“He took five weeks off work and made everything we needed in his backyard, and I mean everything, there was nothing from the original setup that we could use.

“We used all the running gear out of my low nine second EF Falcon and transplanted it into the full chassis EL - Michael put in some 350 hours through blistering summer heat to have the car ready for Jamboree and did an outstanding job.”

In went a Voodoo Engines spec SOHC 4L six cylinder boosted by a single Precision turbo backed by a Turbo 400 and nine inch diff. An amazing plenum and induction system designed

by Michael Ryan uniquely utilises the existing hood scoop too.

Fairfull was coming off a win at the last Jamboree with his old EF Falcon, but a win in Modified Compact at this Jamboree

was the least of his expectations - unlike those of his crew.

“Jamboree 2015 was the debut for my new EL Falcon, I had done a couple of passes in it on a Wednesday night street meet and the car was very nervous in the rear and didn't like going straight.

“The car managed an 8.99. Jim Denaro of Denaro Competition Chassis came out to the track Friday night and helped set the car up and I also made a few other minor changes. Before qualifying the boys told me I had to win to back up my performance from last year and make it two in a row.

“My reply was that I was not concerned about winning, I just wanted the car to go straight and fast - I did jokingly say that if the car runs under a 8.5 we would drink a very expensive bottle of rum I had been saving.

"So it was to my surprise when the car ran a 8.48 on the first pass and from there on I really didn't care what happened. The car ran straight and fast like I had hoped, and consistent and trouble free for the rest of the day.

“I breezed through to the final where the car picked up the front higher and carried it further than previous runs which took me by surprise, I stuffed up the gear change which cost me the win. Although I was only beaten by .03 it was extremely close, that's just racing. It was a good day and a good debut for the new car - the rum did get drunk when we got home.”

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INJECTOR FAIL A LUCKY BREAK

Turbocharged EFI V8s also have their spot at Jamboree nowadays and usually populate the Extreme class.

Craige Lewis has not long completed his immaculate Cortina for APSA Pro Street duties, but took the opportunity for more track time at the Jamboree to develop the fledgling boosted combination.

“It was a last minute decision to enter this event as we tried the week prior to do some testing which was rained out,” he explained. “The car was good though, we went forward - it was a bit of a struggle due to the amount of oil downs causing a lack of grip for the radials.

“The only issue we had was with the injectors shutting off after the gear change, so we just short shifted into top gear which did seem to settle the car down some.”

In the semi final, the issue became a godsend with a near miss in the top end against Jed Sladden's AP5 Valiant.

“I think we had around a second difference in dial ins and it was up to me to catch him,” said Lewis. “It was just before the finish line and his car stepped out in front of me sideways into my lane, all I saw was his right hand side until he pulled the chutes to pull him straight - which they did, wrapping around the front of my car in the process.

“This all happened when I was doing 160mph - shit it was dark

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from the chutes. I pulled my chute, jumped on the skids and moved to the left and made no contact with the Valiant. The ironic thing was that's when my car shut the injectors off, if it had not done so there would have been some paint traded to say the least.”

Apart from that little escapade the car smashed its own personal best in the final.

“I was rapt I had done a PB of a 7.88 at 177mph on its second meet out - bittersweet as I had a dial in of a 7.90 on the car until the final which we changed to 8.15, when we looked at the time slips from the final I would have won if I had left it alone.

“But hey a PB was fine for me, top qualified as well which I didn't even know until the presentations - I achieve many goals and making the final was the last thing I was expecting.”

The car, a TD Cortina, houses a Dandy Engines-built 363ci Windsor with twin 70mm turbos, Holley Dominator EFI ECU, Hughes Powerglide, nine inch rear and is apparently the quickest registered Cortina in the country, all on radial tyres.

At seven seconds it is one of the quickest genuine street cars in the country full stop.

“The plan for the future is to get it going to its potential as we are not even leaning on it yet, with the goal to drive it to the track, run a good seven and drive it home.”

GODZILLA CONSUMES FACTORY EXTREME

It is fair to say the Factory Extreme guys struggled at the Sydney Jamboree. The hot muggy conditions coupled with copious amounts of viscous liquid dumped on the racing surface certainly affected the adhesion.

One team though not only handled the conditions, they conquered them.

Mark Jacobsen's Godzilla Motorsports R35 GTR top qualified, won the event and set a new personal benchmark which also happened to be the quickest VR38DETT powered pass anywhere in the world to go with the world's quickest and fastest GTR moniker.

“There was a week of late nights at Godzilla Motorsports getting the R35 GTR drag car ready for the first Factory Extreme round of the year at the Sydney Jamboree,” he said.

“We went there with a new gearbox combination - a four speed Lenco with factory GTR paddle shifters - this was untested so we had no great expectations.”

Never the less the Godzilla Motorsports team owned all the top numbers through the event.

“My first qualifier was against my friend Scott Porter in his Nissan, I am always nervous racing the first round, we reeled off a loose 6.6 at 214mph to top qualify.

“The next two passes were aborted the runs due to a hot and

greasy track, I was down after those aborted runs so I turned the boost down to 45 PSI to get the job done for the conditions.

“We then went 6.5 seconds twice to get into the finals against Toyota workshop rival and friend Joe Signorelli from Gas Motorsport. The GTR was staged perfectly and we cut a .090 light and ran a PB of 6.53 at 209mph, backing off just before the line to take the win.”

Factory Extreme next take to the track for the Santo's Super 3 Extreme event at Willowbank Raceway, which will see the return of Rod Harvey who was absent from the Sydney event.”

Above: Craige Lewis wants his Cortina to be a genuine seven second street car.

Bottom: Mark Jacobsen tore apart Factory Extreme as one of the few cars able to get down the track.

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TOP RPM DOWN BUT NOT OUT The low light of the 2015 Sydney Jamboree was the wild top end Factory Extreme crash involving Malcolm Glassett and Scott Porter.

Before the accident, the Top RPM team of Glassett were confident of running the numbers but the conditions threw a wild curveball and the search for grip proved taxing.

“Like almost everyone we struggled with the track conditions and didn’t manage a representative pass in qualifying,” said Milos Pavlovic - Top RPM owner.

“I knew we had a good car since upgrading to the new MoTeC M1 package but we had to take so much horsepower out of the tune just to get down it wasn’t funny. To put it in perspective we usually leave the line with about 45psi of boost and ramp it up to around 65-70psi during the run, but on the 6.70 at 216mph pass we had to lock it at 40psi for the whole run, even then it still wanted to turn the tyres - it was just so slippery.

“Before the event we had high hopes of running very low sixes and of bettering our PB for the car of 6.36sec but they went out the window due to the track conditions. It wasn’t ideal but we all have to race on the same track so you have to race with what you’ve got.”

Normally Pavlovic is in the seat himself, but experienced Factory Extreme racer Malcolm Glassett was in control this time. That was until everything went the wrong way up on the best pass of the event - a 6.70 from Glassett to a 6.63 from Scott Porter in the other lane.

“The accident was the scariest thing I’ve ever witnessed in all my years of racing,” said Pavlovic. “The pass itself was gun barrel straight. Really, it was the perfect pass, all things considered and I was excited to beat Scott because he’s very fast and always hard to beat.

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"Before we could celebrate though the car turned hard left in the braking area, went over onto its side right in front of Scott and then hit the wall and rolled onto its roof."

In an effort to avoid the upside down Glassett, Porter locked up his near brand new 350Z, turning it into the right hand wall and damaging the bodywork significantly.

“Everything was a blur and when I got down there I couldn’t see Malcolm straight away and was terrified that he’d been badly hurt,” said Pavlovic. “Then I saw him and he was walking around and smiling telling me how he’s going to buy me a new race car and wash my lawns for the next ten years - I told him I didn’t care about the car and to get back in the ambulance.

“Malcolm was rattled but uninjured. The thing the car and safety equipment is designed to do is save my best mate’s life and they did. The fire and ambulance crew and the Sydney Dragway team were brilliant and I’m grateful for their efforts.

“Unfortunately the car is a write-off and will never race again.

Some of the gear was recoverable and the engine itself is perfect as well. I just finished tearing it down and everything is as it should be. We’ve been through the data 100 times and looked for anything that could’ve caused it and come up empty. It’s anyone’s guess what went wrong but I put it down to one of those things.”

Down but not out, the Top RPM team still have a few more cars in the chamber ready to fire.

“I already had a brand new Toyota Solara being built at Vanishing Point Race Cars and we have Malcolm’s Solara almost ready to test now too,” said Pavlovic. “Binning a $140,000 race car isn't the way I wanted the upgrade to happen but this crash won’t keep us from doing what we love for very long at all.”

Opposite page: Malcolm Glassett was unhurt in a braking area crash that wrote off the Top RPM machine.

This page from top: A drifting sideshow attracted plenty of attention in the pits and added to the atmosphere Jamboree is famous for. It's that kinda generation, you didn't really see something if you didn't share it on Facebook. The Ibrahim gold plated BMW continues to be one of the most unique cars in the world of drag racing.

Unfortunately the Sydney Jamboree was mainly remembered this year for a crazy amount of oil and delays.

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TAKING IT TO THE

MAX The ANDRA Top Fuel Championship begins for 2015 with an outstanding show of nitro racing, as Top Fuel Motorcycle proves about survival of the fittest.

Report and photos by Luke Nieuwhof.

Top Fuel Round One

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Six cars were present and accounted for at round one of the ANDRA Top Fuel Championship at Perth Motorplex. If quality counts – this was about as quality a field as you would get in Australia.

Before qualifying teams were granted a dispensation from ANDRA to take part in a test session at 2pm in the afternoon, with results not counting towards qualifying.

Both Lamattina cars and both Rapisarda Autosport International cars came out on the hot track, but none made it further than 330 feet.

It would have to be argued that this test session was a success as the qualifying show would be one of the best ever seen.

The single qualifying shootout delivered four second runs from all six drivers in what was an incredible show of nitro racing.

Wayne Newby led the way with an astonishing 4.589/319.14mph, going within seven thousandths of a second of the track record. It was a massive PB for the Top Fuel rookie and a serious warning sign from the boys at the Rapisarda Autosport International team.

His team mate Damien Harris followed with a 4.701/310.34mph, showing softer numbers early but coming home strong.

Mark Sheehan was raring to go after two days of testing during the week and carded a 4.754/286.62mph in the state of the art canopy car. Reigning national champion Phil Lamattina was perhaps slightly surprised that a

4.768/323.74mph would only be good for fourth, with brother John's 4.804/288.46mph sliding into fifth in his first appearance in Perth. Anthony Begley rounded out the field with a 4.982/286.62mph, the Chemical Warfare outfit aiming to kill them with consistency.

Another change to the rules made by ANDRA in consultation with racers was to seed the three round format differently, giving the first two qualifiers in the field bye runs and thus providing four winners to ensure a full set of finals.

Come the elimination round and the Lamattina brothers were paired up in a not ideal start to their championship chase. Phil nailed John to the tree .052 to .095 and ran out a 4.782 victory to a 4.893.

Newby took his bye run but tossed a blower belt early in the pass and rolled through for just an 8.521. Harris ran a soft 4.838 that would guarantee Lamattina a spot in the A Final, but Harris would have to wait for the next pairing. Sheehan popped a supercharger at about quarter track allowing Begley to get by for 5.034/285.71 win, setting up a Lamattina-Harris A Final and a NewbyBegley B Final.

Begley got out first in the B Final .071 to Newby's .113 and the race was tight until 330 feet, but Newby turned on the afterburners from there and a 4.709/313.58mph knocked out a 5.222 at just 209.79 from Begley, with the team

Damien Harris got his championship off to an ideal start with wins in both opening championship rounds in Perth.

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finding they were running out of fuel volume in the top half of the track.

Perth has a history of delivering great Top Fuel finals and this night was to be no exception.

Harris took a real shot at the tree with a .047 to .064 holeshot on Lamattina. Remember this is all on an incandescent tree which gives up anywhere from one hundredth of a second to three hundredths of a second on an LED tree like that used in the NHRA – those reaction times were phenomenal! Lamattina charged hard though and had the lead back by quarter track, extending it out to almost a full tenth by 1000 feet. But at that point Lamattina's motor began to hijack things and Harris snuck past at the stripe for a 4.770/314.68mph win against a 4.775/257.14 in an all time classic.

Round Two After being spoilt with six four second passes in qualifying on day one, we were only getting a meagre four of them on day two!

Phil Lamattina led the way with a 4.663/322.58mph, his quickest run of the event.

Newby sat second with a 4.743/321.42mph, but like Lamattina would get a bye run in the elimination round. John Lamattina moved into third with a 4.798/309.27, while Harris had a 4.872 at just 235.90mph to sit fourth, despite his early numbers being quicker than Newby's. Begley lost power shortly after quarter track and rolled through for a 7.405, while Sheehan was unable to get the second fuel pump on and didn't hit the power on his 22.114 second roll through.

John Lamattina and Sheehan got to kick off the elimination round. John was sharp on the tree with a .055 to .079 leave on Sheehan and though Sheehan had a building lead Lamattina came back with a 4.768/314.68mph pass defeating a 5.622 at just 167.91mph from Sheehan. Newby was still somewhat luckless in his bye runs, with a 6.043 after the car lost traction down track. Phil Lamattina's bye run was more successful, with a 4.763/273.55 locking him into an A Final. The pressure was on Harris and Begley, something Harris handled very well with a 4.614/322.58mph, his best run of the event, to defeat a 4.955/285.71 from Begley which was right there if Harris slipped up.

After Russell Ladbrook went off the end of the track in the Top Comp final there was a delay for the teams until fire up signal came about ten minutes before curfew.

The B Final was run last on the night, but for journalistic purposes we will cover it here first.

John Lamattina's stellar reaction times were on show again with a .042 holeshotting Newby's .083. Newby fought back early and was a tenth ahead at half track but slowed to only a 5.067/202.70mph allowing Lamattina's 4.773/313.58 to come back and claim the win.

For the repeat A Final Phil Lamattina desperately wanted to turn around the result.

Unfortunately tyre smoke at 330 feet would end his chances and a 4.745/303.03mph from Harris earned him his second silver Christmas tree in as many nights, along with the valuable points lead.

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Mark Sheehan's new canopy car looked spectacular in the night under the bright LED lights of the Perth Motorplex super screen.

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RAPISARDA RELIABILITY PRODUCES IDEAL START Damien Harris said before Washpod Nitro Max that this was the year that Rapisarda Autosport International wanted a championship.

The Western Australian driver could not have got that off to a better start with two wins in the two opening championship rounds.

Harris said to walk away with the lion's share of the points from the weekend was a very good beginning to the team's championship intentions.

“It's all about grabbing as many points as you can,” he said.

On the first night the final round was a close fought affair with both Harris and Lamattina carding 4.77 passes.

“I didn't see Phil until half track where he went blazing past me and I sat there crying. Then next thing I went straight past him and the cries changed to cheers,” Harris reflected.

“The car moved around heaps, but I had my foot buried (on the throttle), I really wanted to put Phil on his back so we were lucky he had problems and we got to drive around him.”

Harris said the team had a long first day.

“We had a fair few dramas with the body and a few other things,” he said.

“It seems to be catching, the car is running fast and flexing up.

Because it is a one piece carbon fibre body it is moving and it is getting caught as the car unleashes its energy when the parachutes come out. It's trying to bend in half and break the actual carbon fibre body. Lucky it is carbon kevlar so it kind of comes back into shape.”

If there was one thing to be said for Rapisarda Autosport International's performance, it was that it was very clean. Even by their own admission the team has not had the reliability they have wanted in Australia.

“The motor has come apart clean every time,” Harris said.

“After the first test run we hurt a rear main, but it was able to be reused and tidied up. On the 6pm pass it tore the rear main out of it. We had to do a motor swap but the actual motor swap

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Above: The Rapisarda Autosport International team were all smiles after two wins.

came apart clean.

“The guys have done some work during the off season to strengthen up the valve gear and change to some different gear there and the rod combinations. All that stuff is happy. The motor is revving up nice. You can have the motor with its head up and driving it down there and not tugging it down too far and hurting things.

“We've also changed the clutch to a stiffer package and that seems to be coming around too.”

On night two, Harris said he wanted a photocopy of the first one, and he pretty much got it.

The team also ran their quickest time of the event, a 4.61 in the vital elimination round.

“Santo (Rapisarda Junior) just wanted to experiment with a few things,” he said. “We knew we had to get after it after the first round to try and make the a final. Everything just lined up and it stuck.

“On that last lap it probably pushed a spark plug out at some point and put a hole or two out on the way.”

The car did have some strange sparks coming out during each of its runs, which Harris dismissed as harmless.

“When we warmed it up you can hear the rub buttons rubbing on the flywheel in the clutch can, the clearances were really tight,” he said.

Now the team heads to it's own event, Santo's Super 3 Extreme Drag Race at Willowbank Raceway. Harris wants to perform well and claim the Louie Rapisarda Memorial for the Rapisarda family.

“Obviously we are really looking forward to following on from what we've got this weekend and make Phil really work for the championship,” he said.

“Single day and three rounds will be really hard. You have to come out of the trailer and qualify well and not have any car issues. One little car issue and you are done, you go home with a small amount of points and get leapfrogged in the championship.”

SHEEHAN UNDER GLASS Mark Sheehan's canopy car attracted the lion's share of attention in the pits at Perth Motorplex as the first example of one of the sleek machines in Australia.

Sheehan said he wanted the latest and greatest in chassis technology available.

“There is mixed opinions about them but I believe they are safer and I believe they are more aerodynamic,” he said. “The teams that don't run them in the USA, it is for political reasons, not based on performance or safety reasons.

“We managed to do a deal and source one and pay the right people and get the car to Australia.”

Sheehan is very much performance minded, though for crew chief John 'Bodie' Smith the safety of the canopy was a more attractive proposition. “(Safety) is not a big deal for me personally. I'll deal with an incident when it happens,” Sheehan said. “But in the old car it was in the back of our minds for a long time that the car wasn't going to sustain what we were doing to it.”

The new tube proved to handle everything the team threw at it with aplomb, Sheehan finding the Morgan Lucas Racing-built chassis much easier to drive.

“I was amazed at the difference in the flexibility of the car and how it drove, how it launched, how it handled, how beautifully the car reacted,” he said.

“We were only just thinking about our first meeting with the new car and really it was faultless, there was nothing you could turn around and say we needed to change, or that we needed to work harder on. The car was just perfect.”

Sheehan is used to enclosed nitro spaces having much experience driving a nitro funny car, but he said the dragster felt more like a fighter jet than a funny car.

“It does sort of feel enclosed and funny car-ish but it is closer to a fighter cockpit style because it is smaller and narrower,” he said. “All you can see is exactly what you want to see. The windscreen on it is quite high, John Lamattina sat in it and he couldn't even see over the windscreen, he would need a pillow in there.”

The team is now focused on their first time travelling with the

dragster, the Santo's Super 3 event at Willowbank Raceway.

“We need to be more competitive and we will be, we know we will be,” Sheehan said. “We just had a couple of issues that unfortunately let us down. They were all self inflicted. We were doing nothing but beating our heads against a wall.

“It is frustrating because we know where we want to be, we know where the car will be, we just need to do it for ourselves and prove to everyone that we will be a force to reckon with.

We know we can run with Lamattinas and Rapisardas, there is no issue there.

“I'm looking forward to racing at Willowbank, I haven't been on the track in a dragster so I am looking forward to that experience, but number one is looking forward to putting in some good solid laps.”

“It was in the back of our minds for a long time that the (old) car was not going to sustain what we were doing to it.”

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Top Fuel Motorcycle Round Two After a strong showing in their opening championship round, Top Fuel Motorcycle dropped back to an eight bike field for the second round.

Performances were not as immediately strong in the compulsory qualifying session, with Mark Drew's top qualifying 6.350 the very obvious exception.

Second position was over a second back with Chris Matheson going 7.415 to slot in, followed by Chris Porter's 7.512 and a 7.838 from Les Holden's nitro Comp Bike. Terry Burnett continued to chase his problems with a 7.898, while the normally reliable Greg Durack was also

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ins struggle town with a best of only an 8.250. Ben Stevens had changed a lot of equipment between rounds and only managed a 12.445 while Danny Makin's new look AAA Racing Nitro Harley crossed the centre line and had no time recorded.

The elimination round opened with Porter going 6.779 to defeat Durack who didn't make it to the starting line. It was Porter's best run for some time and a definite confidence booster for the team who have been battling cylinder head dramas for the last six months. Burnett pipped Holden at the post with a 7.619

to 7.814 contest, as Drew nailed the national record with a 6.341 at an incredible 230.75mph while opponent Makin was again in trouble handling wise.

Burnett had a bye run in the B Final and recorded an 8.357 but would have to have been wondering where his bike's 200mph potential had gone.

Drew and Porter was set to be a classic in the final, but Porter was unable to fire behind the bridge, leaving Drew to take a solo 6.408 in a show of strength and his first win for the season.

Mark Drew rode to new national records at both ends of Top Fuel Motorcycle Twin.

Top Fuel Motorcycle Round Three There was a little bit of shuffling around in the pits overnight and seven bikes ended up attempting qualifying for round three of the championship, though Makin and Matheson were absent, while Ian Ashelford joined the show.

Drew again top qualified with a 6.717, tailed by Porter's 7.587, a 7.607 from Burnett, Durack's 8.082, Holden's 8.134 and Stevens' 8.543, while Ashelford's 14.266 put him at the bottom.

Eliminations remained wild and wooly for the two wheeled nitro machines.

Porter seemed to have race day down

pat and a 6.765 at a big 211mph was a great pass to get by Holden's 8.062, whose consistency was just not seeming to do the trick this weekend. Burnett ran a solo 8.370 with Ashelford not returning after qualifying. Durack finally found something resembling a decent run from his turbocharged Kawasaki and scored a 7.568 win against Stevens.

Drew needed to run better than that pass to make the A Final but in a surprising turn of events he crossed the centreline in what resembling his loss in the final of round one of the championship. Being on a bye run Drew

still had a win, but with no time he would have to be in the B Final.

There Drew made amends, but clearly the timers had it in for him with no time recorded for the victory over Burnett.

The final would play out between Porter and Durack. Porter got a small advantage on the tree and quickly put the horsepower of the Bad Bones Racing Harley to work with a 7.041 win despite dropping a cylinder, Durack's valiant 7.482 not enough on the night.

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CIRCLES AND LINES SAME THRILL FOR DREW If there is one kind of motorsport discipline that can rival Top Fuel Motorcycle drag racing on the crazy scale, speedway sidecars could be it. And there are certainly very few riders who have ever done both.

Australian Top Fuel Motorcycle national champion Mark Drew might be the only one in fact.

Although he doesn't race as much as he would like on dirt, Drew still gets a massive kick out of it.

“Over the last 10 years I've probably raced eight speedway meets, the bike I'm on needs a bit better set up and I'm not getting the laps in to do this,” he said.

Drew's passenger Steve Blair has just bought a speedway sidecar from Glen O'Brien, which Drew said has shown plenty of form.

“Up until a couple of years ago Glen was riding regularly around Australia, I've seen this bike go and it handles better than mine, so I'm looking forward to riding it at this year's Australian Sidecar Championships at Easter at Alice Springs,” he said.

When asked to describe what the thrill of a speedway sidecar is like, Drew doesn't mince words. And remember, the following statement comes from a guy who rides a nitro-fuelled motorcycle to 230mph in 6.3 seconds.

“Speedway sidecars have had the reputation over the years of being one of the most dangerous motor sports on earth,” he said. “I've been clocked at 248kmh going into a corner in the dirt and 180kmh coming out.

“A speedway sidecar is a three wheel motorbike that has a rider and passenger, The motors are four cylinder, 1045cc late model Japanese road bike motors. They only turn one way, have no brakes and you have three other bikes to race against all wanting the same bit of dirt that you do.

“When you're racing and you're not in front, the bike or bikes in front of you shower you in mud, it's like someone has turned out the lights in the middle of the night and you have to take one hand off the handle bar while holding the throttle wide open with the other to pull down the thin clear plastic film just below your chin that is rolled up in PVC pipe attached to the peak of your helmet so you can see again.”

Then we got Drew to describe riding his nitro Harley as a comparison.

“The nitro Harley runs on a liquid explosive fuel and is in excess of 900-1000 hp. It does 220mph on the back wheel, nearly 300kmph in a little over four seconds, 230+ mph at low six seconds over the finish line and all the time the bike is trying to leave you behind,” he said.

“Between the G-forces and doing 230mph, if you don't get out of the wind it'll blow you off the back.

“Then comes the braking, if you're lucky enough and a gust of wind catches you at the end of the track as the wheel is coming down then it'll lay over the other side and back and forth a few times, all the time you're pulling on the brakes when its straight upright and letting them go when it lays on its side, till eventually it stands up straight and you can try and stop before the sand.”

That wind Drew mentioned was what caught him out on night two of the event, when he took out the finish line timing boxes in the elimination round.

“I didn't realise the wind was going across the track until I got back to my pit area,” he said. “If you have a look at the videos on Perth Harley Davidson's Facebook you can see the flags blowing directly across the track. The flags I was looking at where we start up in the staging lanes showed the wind coming down the track slightly off centre.

“Next time I'll keep an eye on the tear drop flags near the start line.”

Drew is going to attend each round of the championship to try and back up his number one plate.

“We are going to Sydney and Brisbane and depending on the track and weather in Sydney will determine how fast we set the bike up,” he said. “Hopefully we get another Winternationals like last year and I don't think getting into the 20s will be much of a problem.”

Drew's national record setting efforts during Washpod Nitro Max ere spectacular but he predicts more to come.

“I left the same tune up in it that I ran last meeting for the final, only I put a little bit more on the clutch for the top end for our second pass where we went a little bit quicker,” he said.

“We will get it into the high 6.20s pretty easily I reckon. Then we are only a tenth off the world record.

“I need this year to get it into the 20s, then do a bit more homework and talk to a few contacts overseas and show them what I've got and get their opinion on where to tidy it up.

Left: Mark Drew is not just skilled on the drag strip but also in the world of speedway sidecars.

Image by Judy Mackay.

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MORE DEVELOPMENT IN PIPELINE FOR DURACK

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Western Australian Greg Durack has had arguably the most consistent turbocharged Top Fuel Motorcycle seen in the category, but the high tech Kawasaki was off its normal game at Washpod Nitro Max. Durack said since the event he has confirmed the fuel pump was going off and combined with some experimentation in the clutch department that was enough to take him away from his normal game.

“On the Saturday I stalled it in the first round, but that was purely operator error,” he said. “I was also trialling a new rotary valve that feeds air onto the clutch piston, it was less restrictive so the clutch became more aggressive, which is why on the Sunday night it got pretty messy on the qualifier launch.

“The next rounds were fine on the clutch as I softened it up a lot, so now I just have to fine tune it.”

With the power down on normal Durack was away from his baseline tune.

“I couldn't make any power, it could only make 25 pounds of boost whereas I normally run 35,” he said.

“The waste gate and turbo were fine, but the fuel pressure appeared to have fallen away. So I sent the fuel pump to Queensland to be checked out.

“Having no power all of a sudden for that meeting was annoying to say the least.”

If there was any reward for the trying weekend, it was in

reaching the final of the third round of the championship on Sunday night.

“It is always good to make it to the final, so there was some consolation there, just a pity I couldn't pull the skin off a custard on the track though,” he joked.

The potential in Durack's bike is obvious and he is reaching a time where he wants to start feeding in some more power.

“I have been pretty conservative in running lowish boost, relatively speaking, and the bike has been very reliable,” he said. “I haven't had the motor apart all season and all the leak downs are still below 5%, so I am happy with that.

“But I plan on increasing the boost to 45 to 50 pounds and aim to get the bike consistently into the six second range, hopefully mid sixes.

“At the beginning of the season I made first and second gear taller and the bike responded positively to that, so I think it could go a tad taller yet - but I will save that for next season.”

Durack was unsure if he would pursue the rest of the championship.

“It is tempting and I would like to, I have to see how things go over the next few weeks,” he said.

“Having no power all of a sudden for that meeting was annoying to say the least.”

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GO PRO The VPW Racer Payouts Pro Series 1000 joined in Adelaide's March madness with a feast of supercharged methanol Group One action, two wheeled Pro Stock Motorcycle screamers and a fizzog of a Pro Stock round.

Written by Grant Stephens and Luke Nieuwhof. Photos by cacklingpipes.com and Bob Taylor.

The ANDRA Championship Drag Racing show in the form of the VPW Racer Payots Pro Series 1000 rolled into Adelaide International Raceway on March 14 and 15 for round two of Top Alcohol, round three of the Top Doorslammer championship and the opening rounds of Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle - all coupled with round three of the Summit Racing Equipment Sportsman Series.

The Adelaide weather turned on two days of amazing sunshine, unfortunately it must be said the crowd numbers were very disappointing. It was not from a lack of trying however, with static and action displays at the Clipsal 500 and elsewhere, billboards and other advertising initiatives carried out, but the secret of getting bums on seats at anything other than nitro events still eludes most venues.

The most encouraging news was the praise for the track preparation. The all asphalt surface will always be tricky, but promoter Rino D'Alfonso listened to racer suggestions and primed the track ideally to ensure the best possible surface.

Top Alcohol As the name suggests the VPW Racer Payouts Pro Series 1000 was contested over the 1000ft distance for many of the

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categories with the short shut down at the venue. In Top Alcohol the Lucas Oils funny car of Gary Phillips stomped his way over the field to finish qualifying on top. Phillips smoked the tyres in session one before nailing the tune up with a 4.72 - the team sat out the last session confident their time would hold up, which it did.

Steven Reed was the early pace setter, leading the way after the first round of qualifying with a 4.85, while a second session 4.78 settled the Queenslander solidly into second, also choosing to miss the final round.

The flamboyant John Cannuli made a last minute decision to come down to Adelaide, a third place 4.84 in the second session was his best shot in qualifying. A 4.94 off the trailer for Debbie O'Rourke was the best she could muster.

Local racer Gary Busch and the team had an 'interesting' time in qualifying as Busch put it, their second session 5.01 saw the funny car's throttle stick causing the revs to scream past 10000rpm. The result of that was spun bearings, conrods at different lengths to when they went in and a long night of thrashing ahead to make race day. The easily excitable Rob Ambruosi and team were just having a good time as they rounded out qualifying with a 5.05 as they accumulated more data for their comeback to the bracket.

Frank Intini made a rare Top Alcohol appearance, closing out the field with a 5.07 as the only dragster competing.

Qualifying proved a test of their grit, including borrowing a set of slicks from

John Zappia for session two. In a mirror image of Busch's drama, the dragster's throttle hung in the final session, sending the revs to 10700rpm before the engine let go - with discretion the better part of valour, Intini packed up the trailer and headed home to inspect the damage.

With Intini withdrawing from the event the field dropped to six and Phillips' first round bye turned into a match up with Ambruosi. Phillips gave up a heap on the tree to come around Ambruosi on the top end with a 4.73 to a 5.01. After a night of hard labour Busch made the start line against Reed. At half track Busch could see the other funny car was on a number and shut down to save parts, as Reed went through to 4.76.

Cannuli pulled out a belter in the final pairing, with a track record smashing 4.70 to drive around O'Rourke's 4.93.

In the first semi Phillips did not waste his solo shot at the track following Canulli's numbers and came up with a 4.74. A disappointed Reed had the funny car hotted up to take on Cannuli but a fuel leak forced them to shut down, the team still looked at the positives in going quicker each run without hurting a single part. Cannuli again proved he had the track dialled in with a 4.72 and would enter the final as favourite.

The titanic final clash never eventuated, the Cannuli funny car went silent at the flash of the greens, running out of fuel.

Phillips rocketed through with a 4.77 to continue his perfect season of two wins from as many starts.

MOTOR SWAP STRATEGIC FOR PHILLIPS Gary Phillips now has two wins in as many meetings for the ANDRA Top Alcohol championship, but with three rounds left for the series he is hesitant to be counting any chickens just yet.

“With the Easter thing coming up and how big of a swing you can have, it's just how lucky you are on the day,” he said. “John Cannuli is only 60 something points behind us, so there can be a big swing on that deal there. We're not counting any chickens yet, just trying to keep it consistent. That has been our deal this year. Were just trying some stuff to make it go down every run. So far it has worked.”

Phillips' approach to both Adelaide and the upcoming Santo's Super 3 Extreme Drag Race at Willowbank has been strategic.

After testing at Willowbank and running a 5.46 he decided to pull the motor out of the Lucas Oils funny car and set it aside

so it can go straight back in for the Super 3 event, giving him a known combination straight out of the gate.

For Adelaide he inserted the motor from his Top Doorslammer into the funny car.

“I didn't want to get caught with the three round format (at Super 3) and the Top Doorslammer motor was due for a service anyhow,” he said. “It was a good exercise doing that and it will go to Willowbank as the spare.”

Phillips, Cannuli and Steve Reed all ran reasonably quick numbers down Adelaide International Raceway, with Phillips remarking on how the track changes across the event.

The track wasn't too bad. It was a bit how you goin' on qualifying, I got the left lane first up and it smoked the tyres which I was surprised it did,” he said. “It (the track) definitely came around, we missed out in the final by a couple of hundredths for lane choice but I don't know if that wasn't a blessing. If you get it right it is good.”

Opposite page: Gary Phillips is two from two for the ANDRA Top Alcohol season.

Left: Frank Intini was one of two racers affected by a stuck throttle and the resulting engine damage forced his withdrawal Below: John Cannuli set a new AIR track record but when he ran out of fuel in the final it was game over.

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Top Doorslammer John Zappia needed a Hail Mary in the final qualifying session to get into the show – but he sure got it answered.

After rattling the tyres hard in the first session and snapping a throttle cable in the next, the seven time champ sat precariously on the bump going into the final qualifier. Bill Goonan then made the situation desperate with his pass dumping Zappia from the field. But like a true champion Zappia went from the outhouse to the penthouse with a 4.88 crushing the track record.

After getting loose in his first two qualifying attempts, Marty Dack also used a last ditch 4.97 to send the Falcon to second position at the close of qualifying. The Camaro belonging to Pat Carbone was the early charger, his first session 5.01 held up as the benchmark until the last session where he wound up third. Maurice Fabietti, the only racer who can realistically stop Zappia from winning another championship, sat in fourth with a 5.08 from the Holden Trade Club Monaro.

Stuart Bishop was shut down when an oil leak developed from underneath the Camaro on his first pass, but the jeweller returned fire with a 5.09 for fifth followed by Pino Priolo on a 5.13 as the

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asphalt surface tested teams. Grant O'Rourke solidified his Firebird's position in the field with a last session 5.15 and Bill Goonan punched his way into the field with a 5.21 from his Camaro.

The up and down season for Peter Kapiris continued, the Saratoga was ousted from the show by the last session charges of Goonan and Zappia, where he was joined by West Aussies Daniel Gregorini and Shane Catalano as the other non qualifiers.

Racing opened with Bishop out of shape at mid track but staying in it for a 5.36, but by then opponent Fabietti was long gone with a 5.07. Carbone followed Bishop's suit as the Camaro kept hunting for the centreline, the detour possibly costing him the win with his 5.19 going down against a 5.12 by Priolo.

The antics continued into the next pairing, this time it was Dack out of shape against O'Rourke, the Firebird taking the win light with a 5.06. The final pairing of Zappia and his near qualifying assassin in Goonan would finish up the first round of eliminations, Zappia dumped a number on the field with a 4.90 as Goonan came up red after taking a shot at the tree.

The semi finals started with a pedalfest between Priolo and O'Rourke with

Priolo recovering the best for a 5.37 against a 5.43. Against Zappia, Fabietti was out of the groove and out of the throttle, and with that any real hope of challenging for the championship evaporated - the Fuchs/Striker Monaro motored to another final on a 5.00.

Zappia threw some more clutch in the Monaro and stamped the exclamation mark on the event with a 4.91 in the final round to defeat Priolo's pedalling 5.24. With three wins from three events Zappia's chances of an eighth championship are looking mighty fine.

ZAPPIA'S THIRD WIN RAISES TITLE HOPES Top Doorslammer winner John Zappia commended the track preparation at Adelaide International Raceway following his third straight victory for the year.

“Rino did a great job preparing this track,” said Zappia. “It held the power well, but is still tricky to drive on. The Fuchs/Striker Crushing and Screening Monaro rattled the tyres all weekend, and I had to really drive it as the car moved around.

“We are excited about the win here in round three of the championship. It gives us a 136 point lead with two rounds to go. We still need to stay focused as we are far from safe and need to complete the season leaving nothing to chance.”

Zappia had some nervous times in qualifying with a pedalling pass in Q1 and then a throttle cable breaking in Q2.

“We left the car alone for Q3 as we reckoned we had the

settings right,” he said. “First pairing out saw Goonan take my bump spot with a 5.210 and knock me out. Nothing like some pressure to qualify! But our setup proved spot on as the Crusher went dead straight to run a 4.882 giving us top qualifier, top speed and a new Adelaide track record.”

Zappia then proceeded to carve his way through the rounds.

“The track was just getting better and better, so we put more clutch in it for the final against Pino,” he said. “We have raced him plenty of times over the years and he is consistently creeping down on his times. I definitely had to be careful in that race.

“The big power and setup of the Fuchs/Striker Crushing and Screening Monaro was strong all weekend. We are making good progress with getting better traction results – I think we underestimated the track a little. Luckily the B&J transmission we run allows me to have confidence with pedalling the throttle over and over again – they rarely damage parts.”

Opposite page: Can John Zappia be beaten? The rest of the field sure hopes so.

Clockwise from left: Pino Priolo is always wearing a smile but that was even more the case after reaching the final. Grant O'Rourke was unable to repeat his success of last year at Adelaide.

Maurice Fabietti is virtually the only driver who can stop Zappia in the title chase.

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Pro Stock Motorcycle Pro Stock Motorcycle had five posted entries, reduced to four after the first session of qualifying with Glenn Wooster withdrawing from the event with problems. Running over the full quarter mile, the top three qualifiers were separated by less than two hundredths - if the class could just gain a few more bikes, it could revive the bracket's glory days.

Maurice Allen, aboard the Milwaukee Tools Suzuki, sat poised on the top of the qualifying sheets with a 7.382, just ahead of Scott White on a 7.395.

Pro Stock Motorcycle rookie Ryan Learmonth was a whisker behind White with a 7.399, and felt he would have gone quicker had he not had to abort his final qualifier at 1000ft when the bike drifted offline. Rounding out the small field with a 7.625 was former champion

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Locky Ireland.

Round one, now essentially the semi finals, kicked off with a scary ride from White, the front fairing of the Suzuki breaking away acting like a sail, nearly dragging White off the bike. As the bike entered the braking area the fairing broke away completely, going under the rear wheel and tearing up the rear body work. To make matters worse opponent Learmonth had won the race 7.42 to a 7.60. In the other match up Allen had no trouble with the track conditions with a crushing 7.20 defeat of Ireland.

The final of youth versus experience saw Learmonth get the early lead at the green following an old fashion burn down, but by half track Allen had the rookie passed and powered on to a 7.28 win over a 7.55 that spun the tyre off the line. Allen put the increase of performance down to finding some "stuff" during the off season and believes

there in more than a tenth still left in the bike.

Pro Stock The biggest disappointment of the event was the non-event in Pro Stock. The why and how is for another time, but out of the five pre entries, two no-showed and Gerry Parente was unlicensed in his return to the sport - leaving Emilio Spinozzi and Lee Bektash to grudge race, both putting up $5000 for kicks.

The unofficial record books will show Bektash took the cash 3 to 2. The Dodge boys' best ET was 5.84 to the 1000ft to Spinozzi's 5.87. Parente also successfully completed his Pro Stock licensing requirements in his gorgeous new Camaro and we should see the team at the Nitro Champs.

Opposite page clockwise from top: Maurice Allen got to raise the silver Christmas tree and set himself a new personal best. Scott White had a wild semi final round when bodywork tore off his bike. Lee Bektash was one of just three Pro Stock cars on the property.

Above: Ryan Learmonth reached his first Pro Stock Motorcycle final.

Left: Locky Ireland still managed a smile despite his semi final exit.

PB, BURNDOWN ENJOYABLE FOR ALLEN Maurice Allen believes the Milwaukee Tools Pro Stock Motorcycle is heading in the right direction after making what he described as a 'decent' change to their tune up.

Allen ran a new personal best of 7.200 seconds, finally able to harness some of the horsepower the team has.

“Last season we had some electrical gremlins we couldn't get our head around and no matter what we changed nothing would fix it,” he said. “We spent a bit of time going through everything and making sure everything was spot on. We found a few things that were holding us back.

“I had Michael Marriott looking at some data for me. I had some inklings about the things I wanted to change and he pretty much confirmed what I thought, so we made a fairly decent change.”

Allen said the wind affected his top qualifying pass which should have been much quicker.

“The last run we did at night which I figured would be the best one, I had a big gust of wind that picked the bike up and moved me to the wall, it went 7.382 which was good enough to top qualify, but I was off it so early so I thought 'this thing tomorrow is going to fly,'” he said.

“We have the horsepower, now it is harnessing it to the track.

We still left a fair bit behind. Adelaide has traction to 200-300 feet but from there it is a bit wirey. It was a matter of trying to win the race.”

Allen said Pro Stock Motorcycle still needs to put wheels on tracks for its future to be bright.

“A lot of people are questioning how it can be a championship, but at the end of the day there is a trophy at the end of the season,” he said.

“You don't always have to be the fastest bike on the day to be in the final. We know of the bikes that are coming out over the next few months and it is only going to get better. From my perspective as the president of the Pro Stock Motorcycle Association it is good news when you hear about some of these bikes and the quality of these bikes will put the bracket back up there in Group One.” The final round for Pro Stock Motorcycle featured a captivating burndown between Allen and opponent Ryan Learmonth.

“The burndown in the final was something, I figured I wanted to work on my reaction time, I wanted to stage last, and maybe that is his thing to stage second, so we both sat back,” he said.

“All I could hear was Michael Agius in my helmet going off, I thought the crowd was loving it, let's play with this a little bit.

It got to 30 or 40 seconds and then a look of terror came over my face and I thought I might run out of fuel here, so I thought what the hell let's go in.

“It certainly became a talking point after that and when something different happens to what everybody expects it adds to the spectacle a bit. It turned the final into something where people were waiting to see what the result was.”

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Super Comp Super Compact star and last start winner Domenic Rigoli was again the dominating force in Super Comp qualifying, the TRP Mitsubishi Eclipse went a sub record -.545 under the CC/SC index with a 5.855. Mark Davison's BB/Altered is a polar opposite to the Rigoli machine and he slotted into second with a -.484 under 5.62.

Craig Geddes (B/D 6.024 -.476), Steve Norman (C/APA 6.588 -.422), Jim Ioannidis (B/MSA 7.680 -.440) and Tom Dimitropoulos (A/MS 7.563 -.417) were all under their respective class records in qualifying as well.

Davison was upset in round one by Cartledge who went 6.17 on a B/D

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6.35 index when a dead plug lead on the altered slowed the Queenslander's performance, the rest of the top half qualifiers progressed to the quarter finals.

Rigoli's run ended at the wheel of Norman who crunched his index again with a 6.56. A red light from Dimitropoulos' Camaro allowed Geddes to cruise into the semis and Cartledge improved on his round one ET with a 5.99, but it was still not enough to run down Ioannidis' 7.72 on a 8.12.

Ioannidis took the bye into the final as Norman consolidated with a 6.57 ET to not hurt his index anymore in defeating a slow reacting Geddes.

Both Norman and Ioannidis set ET records enroute to the all sedan final. There Norman had the better

reaction - .074 to a .185 - and was never headed, the Cobalt driver earning his first career win with perseverance.

Comp Bike Competition Bike was posted, but with a number of racer no shows class numbers dropped below the minimum required and those who did show were absorbed into Modified Bike.

Supercharged Outlaws Tasmanian Mike Evans was on top of the blown brigade in Supercharged Outlaws after qualifying wrapped with a 5.42 in his Camaro. Local boy Peter Datson

Clockwise from left: Steve Norman took out his first ever national event with a win in Super Comp.

Don Freind made it to the final of Supercharged Outlaws but it was unable to be run due to time constraints. Drago Nikodijevic had to run the same race three times, but he eventually got the win.

was next closest with a wheelstanding 5.94 also in a Camaro.

Evans fell victim to the very consistent Holden ute of WA's Donald Freind in the quarter finals, and national champion Doina Day had an easy win over a troubled Datson, then the bizarre happened.

When the Paul Stephen altered lined up against Drago Nikodijevic's stunning Camaro for their match up, an instant red light flashed in Stephen's lane on the activation of the tree. Stephen was adamant the altered never moved and was granted a rerun, when the same occurrence happened again. Clearly something was afoot and the altered was checked for the correct clearance. Attention was turned to

the timing system, adjustments were made and a further rerun was awarded.

Unfortunately for Stephen, he pulled another cherry, this one legitimate, and Nikodijevic finally won his way to semis for real.

Freind had a bye into the final and tested his 6.00 dial with a 6.10.

Nikodijevic, who would have to been exhausted turning his Camaro around, went out at the hands of Day who was heading to her fourth straight final round. However due to the time lost with the reruns, the event curfew came into effect, preventing the final being run and both racers were awarded runnerup event status.

Top Sportsman The appointment of Top Sportsman as an official ANDRA eliminator has brought the Fowler family racing team back to the national series with Steve Fowler at the helm of their flying Pontiac. Fowler abruptly qualified number one with a 5.79, well ahead of the 6.22 from nearest rival Darren Saliba and his gorgeous new GTO. The only accident of the event came in Top Sportsman qualifying when the Willys coupe of Victorian Julian Carafa dropped oil and hit the left hand wall just past half track. Carafa was unhurt but the wild Willys has some substantial repair time ahead.

Come quarter finals time, Fowler was on his game as usual with a

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5.808 on a 5.79 dial coupled with a .014 light to dispense of Daniel Morris. It was a case of what could have been for Paul Russo, the Chevy driver tossed away a 6.337 on a 6.30 with a red light, his package good enough to beat Stuart McBain.

Likewise Phillip Yfantidis gave himself no chance, leaving well before the green in his S-10 truck against Steven Somer's Camira.

Somer lunched the Camira's engine in the burnout in the semi final, allowing McBain to test his dial in, going 6.652 on a 6.63. Fowler was looking ominous in his bye to the final with a .003 light. Fowler pushed the tree too hard in the final, going red by three thousandths, allowing McBain to pick up his second Top Sportsman win of the season.

Modified It was no surprise to see Michelle Osborn lead the Modified pack in qualifying with a 7.189 in her standout pink altered.

The Westernationals winner made a last minute call to compete at the VPW Racer Payouts Pro Series 1000 event.

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Ten of the twelve Modified cars broke out in the first round conditions were indeed better than expected. The quarter finals started with a red light from Luke Cartledge that had Osborn advance to the semi finals. Leanne Braggs has become accustomed to driving a dragster with a 7.343 on a 7.30 dial to down the national champion Shane Wynd. Chris Farrell in Braggs' previous altered showed Kenny Stewart where his trailer is with a 7.696 on a 7.69 dial and Simon Barlow had the bye into the semi finals.

Braggs red lit against Osborn by the barest of margins sending the West Aussie to her second consecutive Summit Series final, likewise Farrell went just -.003 red against Barlow.

It was clean greens in the final, Barlow with just five thousandths advantage when Osborn began her chase. The pink altered was slightly off pace at the stripe with a 7.265 on a 7.20 dial as Barlow claimed the silver Christmas Tree with a 7.262 on a 7.25. The win put Barlow on maximum points but unfortunately the team will be unable to contest the Winternationals due to family commitments.

Super Sedan In Super Sedan the Chevy Nova of Andrew Saliba was closest to the now 8.50 lower cut off for the class with an 8.684 to lead the thirty plus car field into eliminations.

Saliba was still in competition by the quarter finals but found problems against George "Tipo" Tipouikidis. A big -.042 cherry ended Laki Tsutsulis' run against Bob Sherry and Portland round winner Stephen Griffin was squeezed out of competition when his 9.887 on a 9.84 was nabbed by Danny Buccella's 9.218 on a 9.18.

The quarter finals were rounded out with national champion John Kapiris' 10.067 on a 10.02 being eliminated by Neil Davis' 10.310 on 10.29.

Tipouikidis snuck past the veteran Sherry in the first semi final by a couple of thousandths and Davis broke out by a bunch against Buccella on the other side of the ladder. The final was down to two the local racers. Buccella with a new Calibra cut an agonising -.001 red light and the big HK Monaro of Tipouikidis became the instant event winner.

John Kapiris handed out a bit of bracket racing 101 in the final of Super Street, giving Chris Dimech the stripe and forcing him to a breakout.

Modified Bike Rob Cassar made a return to racing aboard his nitrous Comp Bike for the first time in twelve months, but with the bracket pulled due to numbers found himself top qualifying in Modified Bike with a 7.965.

Cassar improved to a 7.81 in round one against Shane Walker but unfortunately for Cassar he had dialled in with a 7.89. Walker was still in eliminations at quarter final time and sent the Westernationals winner Ian Read home. Nathan Stone ran down David Willis with an 8.48 on an 8.40 forcing the Kawasaki rider to break out courtesy of a better reaction. Gavin Dohnt went red finishing out the round, allowing Joe Khoury to test the Harley Davidson Destroyer's dial in with a 9.435 on a 9.42.

Walker again had the holeshot in his semi final fight with Stone, the Destroyer rider taking a comfortable win in the end with a 9.663 on a 9.65. Khoury served notice on a bye into the final, carding a 9.407 on a 9.40 that showed he would be a force in the final.

It may have worked with Walker picking the cherry off the tree by four hundredths and the New South Welshman Khoury going away from Adelaide carrying the Christmas tree trophy.

Super Street John Kerr travelled down from Sydney and picked everyone's pocket as top qualifier in Super Street with an 11.030 in his Comet.

Kerr has the coolest race transporter ever, a 1964 Mercury 700 truck that travels to tracks all over the country.

Kerr pushed too hard in round two against Chris Dimech's blown XB GT. Dimech continued to the semi finals after being on the better end of a double redlight against Enzo Clemente. Jason Neve wasted a .019 light and a two tenths holeshot advantage over Bill Hondros with a breakout. A -.022 red light put Lisa Sherry on the trailer, advancing John Kapiris who was doing double duty in Super Street and Super Sedan. The last semi finalist was Mark Jachmann courtesy of a bye.

Dimech was raising the eyebrows of Super Street racers with his

sandbagging tactics, the XBGT clearly had ten second potential but he cheekily dialled in a tenth quicker than whatever his opponent had. In the semi final Dimech was dialled in with an 11.50 to Jachmann's 11.60. A slow light all but sealed Jachmann's fate, going down on an 11.66 to an 11.72 holeshot. The other finalist was decided also a holeshot, Hondros' .435 shocker was never going to win against the likes of Kapiris.

Dimech again dialled in a tenth quicker this time to Kapiris' 12.62.

Kapiris got a big holeshot advantage .109 to a .195 and the Super Sedan national champion was too smart to let this race go. He fed Dimech the stripe, claiming the Super Street event win with a 12.680 on a 12.62 to Dimech's breaking out 12.509 on a 12.52.

Super Gas It was Warren Bull who topped the time sheets in Super Gas, the Camaro ran 9.902 to out qualify a pair of 9.912s from Matt Forbes and Renee Cockerill.

Upset of the decade came in round one with Matt Forbes out of

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eliminations to Warren Smith 9.954 to a 9.911, the payoff for Smith increasing with a next round quarter final bye into the semis.

Bull broke out with a 9.898 in chasing down Bruno Romeo's .016 light. In an all gas girl match up Cockerill and Naomi Lightowler left with near identical reactions, Lightowler the Super Gas rookie getting to the line first by a bumper with a 9.96 to a 9.98. Michael De Rose overcame a slack light to drive around Danny Buccella to close out the round.

Lightowler missed the tree in the semi with a .221 reaction to Romeo's .049. It was enough of an advantage for the local to back off and play it safe on the top end with a 10.111 to the Sydneysider's 9.95. De Rose smashed the Super Gas index and then some with a 9.762 to present Smith a finals berth.

Smith nailed a perfect 9.900 Super Gas pass when it counted in that final, but will be kicking himself with his .108 reaction letting Romeo snatch the holeshot event win with a 9.911.

Junior Dragster Girl power reigned in Junior Dragster qualifying, Kelly Donnelly winning the top qualifier's medallion with an 8.009 ahead of Australian champion Toby Austin's 8.020.

Donnelly was still going strong in eliminations with an 8.103 on an 8.10 dial in win against Jake Cartledge and move on to the semis where she received a bye into the final. Austin's .017 reacting 8.067 on a 8.00 was too tight for Amber Young. Eden Ward, who defeated Tim Baker in the quarters, red lit against the champ leaving the two quickest cars in the field to face each other in the final.

A .037 light from Austin blew away Donnelly's .232 and the number one wasn't going to let his first win of the season escape with a cautious 8.131 on an 8.05 to Donnelly's 8.167 with an 8.08 dial in.

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BARLOW WINS BUT NO CHAMPIONSHIP CHASE ON AGENDA Hometown hero Simon Barlow captured the event win in Modified over Michelle Osborn, who was racing in her second home in front of family and friends.

Barlow survived a crazy first round where all but two competitors broke out in tricky weather conditions before advancing on a solo to the semi finals.

“There was a bit of luck early with the double breakout (in the first round),” said Barlow.

“I think the weather conditions caught everyone out with 10 out of the 12 cars in the field breaking out in the first round.

The solo gave us a good chance to dial the car back in.

“I have never raced Michelle Osborn before but have seen some of her results from Perth so I knew not to take her lightly and rightly so, the final was a great close race and I was just lucky enough to get the win.

“It is always a good feeling to win, hoisting the trophy is the

reward for all the hard work that my team and I put into the car and sport. It was really great to be able to do it at a national meeting at my home track against a tough field of racers where I had two of my sponsors present for this meeting.”

The win puts Barlow against the 160 point ceiling for the short season but unfortunately he will not be able to contest for the Modified championship at the Fuchs Winternationals due to family commitments.

“The plan was always to test the new car to iron out any problems and get some good settings for it and then have a crack at the championship next season which we look forward to kicking off at Alice Springs in July.

“I have a gold tree sitting at home from the Nationals in Sydney a few years ago and this silver one will be going to my crew chief Anthony Grivell for all the years of hard work he has put in. Without him, my partner Sonia and the rest of my team this would just be a dream.”

Clockwise from opposite page top: Michelle Osborn reached her second final in as many Summit rounds.

Simon Barlow has a stack of national points but isn't going to hunt for a championship. Danny Buccella did double duty in Super Sedan and Super Gas. Toby Austin picked up a Junior Dragster victory. 'Tipi' took his Monaro into the Super Sedan winner's circle. Stuart McBain backed up his Portland win with another Top Sportsman trophy in Adelaide.

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KHOURY SEEING THE COUNTRY AND WINNING DRAGS RACES Modified Bike winner Joe Khoury said winning the VPW Racer Payout Pro Series 1000 came a very close second to the Fuchs Winternationals when he goes through his racing highlight list.

The rider of the Harley Davidson Destroyer said his bike was consistent all weekend.

“I ran a new PB of 9.27 straight off the trailer. I was feeling good and confident after that run,” he said. “The event went very smoothly for me. And as per usual, the AIR staff and patrons are always friendly and welcoming to me.”

Khoury is in his second year of chasing the national Modified

Bike series.

“I must say it's been very rewarding for me,” he said. “Each track has its own character and atmosphere - especially the eighth mile tracks. It's also a great way to see our beautiful country I live in, especially when you have lived in Sydney all your life.”

The attractiveness of the Destroyer is that it is a factory built drag bike and Khoury says that is reflected in their ease of us.

“They are easy to ride with very little maintenance,” he said.

“I've changed the paint work from factory orange to black with a white chequered flag strip to be a little different. My engine has had a little tweak up last year and it has been running great with no major problems at all.”

ROMEO REVEALS ROADSTER SCHEME Bruno Romeo is preparing to make a brave move in his pursuit of a national championship with a change in car planned before the Nitro Champs in Sydney.

Romeo has been campaigning his Pontiac for some time but will be shifting to the ex-Matt Forbes roadster if all goes well in testing at an upcoming round of the Adelaide track championship.

The roadster runs Romeo's old engine and the plan is to have two cars running for him and his sons.

“I love Super Gas because it is just as hard to slow the cars down and be consistent at the same time,” he said. “With the throttle stops and all that it is a challenge on its own, it is hard with the pro light. It is a challenge trying to get that 9.90 with 170mph up the sleeve.”

“We ran the roaster as well on the weekend (in Modified) and we will make sure it is going alright by running it next week. I won the first one in the Pontiac so now we will give the

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roadster a go.”

The VPW Racer Payouts Pro Series 1000 was the biggest event Romeo has yet won.

“I've won the little stuff, but the silver Christmas tree is a big bonus, it gives you more determination to go for the gold Christmas tree,” he said. “Track championship events are the biggest events I have won before. I really want to win at the tracks in the eastern states.”

Romeo felt as though he really had to earn the wins throughout the event.

“In Super Gas they are all good racers,” he said. “It was a challenge just to beat some of the top runners, especially in the finals to beat the Smith boys there because they are there all the time.”

Clockwise from opposite page: Joe Khoury is enjoying the travel just as much as the racing as he pursues a Modified Bike championship. Paul Stephen had issues with the timing system which forced him to run the same race three times. Our photographer Grant Stephens was trying to document the cyclone fencing of Adelaide for his upcoming gallery exhibition 'Drag Racing Barriers of the World' but people just kept getting in the way. Bruno Romeo is planning a car switch ahead of the Nitro Champs in Sydney.

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When it comes to Modified racing it is all about the 00s.

Finding those thousandths of a second that can either make you a winner or put you back on the trailer.

Mark Allen is on the search.

Written by Grant Stephens. Photos by cacklingpipes.com.

A H

G N I S

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The difference between winning and losing in dial your own racing is often measured in thousandths of a second and while racers have many different approaches to racing, it is the racers that can quantify those thousandths that are most likely to have success.

Queensland Modified racer Mark Allan is one who takes such a meticulous analytical approach to his racing.

The obsession with data began when he was one of the original Junior Dragster racers.

“It's my 22nd year of racing and I'm only 31,” he said. “I started in Junior Dragster in 1993 after reading an article about them in Dragster Australia in 1992.

“My Dad (Barry Allan) built the first car in our garage, it featured a rear wing off a Modified dragster that had crashed at Willowbank and it weighed close to 400 pounds without the driver, most Juniors these days weigh around 200.

“My very first pass down the track was a lightning quick 33 second elapsed time at 30mph. That was over the full quarter Willowbank didn’t get eighth mile timers until around 1996 from memory.”

Allan developed his attention to detail in racing early due to the guidance firstly from his father.

“My father has been my biggest influence, he pushed me to be a better driver and person,” said Allan. “Right from the beginning as a ten year old he had me picking my own dial ins, which then became the catalyst for me to learn about weather and keeping log files of all my runs - because I hated losing.

And if I was going to be picking dial ins I needed to learn from my mistakes.

“He supplied me with any books I asked for, whether it was bracket racing guides or magazines, because my thirst for knowledge and winning was enormous right from the beginning. If I didn’t win the meet I’d spend my afternoons after school, hours on end analysing my time cards and where I went wrong.”

Enter the second major influence in Allan's racing development, a racer beyond comparison when it came to the analytical breakdown of dial your own racing.

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“In my late teens and towards the end of my Junior career I was lucky enough to have Juan Kudnig take my dragster around the country for race events,” he said. “He was the best and in my opinion the best bracket racer we have seen in Australia.

“He got me from racing in tenths of a second to hundredths of a second, and by that I mean it was about all the little things that add up from your start line routine to the finish line.”

After retiring from Juniors Allan stepped up into Modified with a series of dragsters.

“The best dragster I’ve had is my current Spitzer which we got from the States,” he said. “It ran 6.90s in Top Dragster with nitrous but we’ve never switched the nitrous on over here.

“We still have the set up and it looks like it might be getting used in the future, but it won’t be in my dragster - watch this space. My personal best is 7.82 at 170mph, I have no real interest in going quicker, I’m all about repeating.”

Allan's fixation with data and research in competitors to seek that advantage has grown increasingly more complex into his Modified tenure.

“These days I’m chasing thousandths of a second in Modified, I like to analyse everyone's runs after an event, from qualifying sessions to rounds of racing because you can see trends develop between each session. I keep logs of everything and even have a spreadsheet of all my competitors - anal I know!

“I like going to the line knowing just about as much of my competitor's car as my own. When we are talking about thousandths of a second - sometimes I think maybe my competitor has dialled in a little hard or maybe we've had a big weather shift and they haven't taken that into account with their dial in and could be on a breakout.

“I know it's about running your own race but when we are playing with thousandths, this sort of information can be handy in playing the finish line stripe - it is an art closing a race up to the .00s.”

Allan also explained the on track skill required when duelling with an opponent.

“Willowbank is a little easier because reaction times are displayed and nine out of ten races are won and done on the start line, especially the experienced racers that can close up a win,” he said.

“I treat every race different. If you're racing someone like Rob

Harrington who is killer on the tree and is chasing, I might hold a hundredth or two on my dial in so I can try and change the perception of the race to him so it is not as easy to pedal the other end if he does get any sort of hole shot - this also means I'll have to dump the brakes on the finish line so I don't break out, it's a tight rope to play.

“Then there is the other side of the coin when I'm chasing, on average I react to the tree .010 to .020 slower than when I leave first. It's a bit of a gamble to how much I take out of the box but it also depends on who I am racing as to how I will attack the race.”

There is nothing left unexamined for Allan in the quest for absolute consistency.

“I have experimented with finger pressures on my transbrake last season for six months, seeing if I could be more consistent in my reaction times - instead I just red lit a lot and now changed back to what I've always done. I did find that I reacted on average .030 quicker but it wasn't as consistent as my previous staging routine, but it's about trying things and if they don't work, at least you tried.”

Allan's thorough approach to racing has delivered a fair amount of success, with an Australian championship in Junior Dragster, three South East Queensland Divisional Championships and three Willowbank track championships.

But there is still one achievement he really wants.

“I've made four Winternationals finals and am still yet to taste victory – twice in Juniors and twice in Modified.

“One of my track championships that I won at Willowbank was with a 17 second Honda Prelude, as an 18 year old my eight second dragster wasn’t enough and I wanted my street car to be able to race in as many meets as possible as well. So with that in mind it had to be a four cylinder because that meant I could race it in the Street Series Championships and the Four Cylinder Import Series that Willowbank used to run - my best race package is still actually from my 16 second daily driver and not the dragster, a .001 light and .002 over the dial in.”

While Allan is enthusiastic for more success,

there comes a time when other priorities take precedent over racing, and that is where he is at now.

“We want to chase for a championship again but with the birth of my first child and purchasing my first home, they are my priorities at the moment,” he said. “We will chase the Queensland Drag Racing Championship this season and then re-evaluate again for next season whether we take the dive and travel for the Summit Series.”

The fire still burns however.

“Like any passionate racer, we are always chasing that number one, whether it is QDRC or the Australian Championship. If I won the lotto I’d become the Brett Stevens of sportsman racing because that’s where my passion is - I’d have a race car in Top Sportsman, Modified, Super Sedan, Super Street and Super Gas - until that happens I’ll be in Modified running 7.90s.”

And Modified the way it is now, is the way Allan wants it to stay.

“I love Modified - personally I think Modified at the moment is in a really good place,” he said. “The cars are quick and competitive. I don’t want to sound biased but I think that Modified is the best class to race in Australia. Everyone gets along - most of the time - and it’s probably the most economical class in Australia if you want to go fast on a budget - if ANDRA is reading this, don’t change a thing.”

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ENTER THE BATDAN

STORY BY LUKE NIEUWHOF. PHOTOS BY CACKLINGPIPES.COM.

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Daniel Carranza has quickly become one of the most well known names in the Junior Dragster category, with the 10 year old racing around the country and even appearing on Channel Ten's 'The Project'.

While his skills as a racer are actually up there for such a young driver, it is the challenges that Daniel has faced that lend his story a more significant meaning.

Daniel has been around drag racing since birth, with his uncle Dom Zito competing in Super Sedan and family friends Peter Kapiris and Jeff Cutajar being a part of the circus that is Top Doorslammer. With that influence, it was always likely Daniel was going to see a drag strip in one capacity or another.

When Daniel was three years old, his parents Eddy and Maria became aware of some different habits he had that pointed towards autism.

“He would place all his toys in order, memorise things and didn't speak,” Maria said.

“Our biggest scare was his speech, because if he couldn't talk then that would definitely limit his interaction with other people, especially other kids, and trying to fit in at kindergarten and so on.

“So he started doing speech therapy and other forms of therapy to help him to understand and interact with others.”

Maria said drag racing piqued Daniel's interest early. But that might have been a case of wanting to drive to avoid some other race day chores.

“He took a liking and started to understand the racing at the age of five and always said that when he's old enough he would like to start drag racing at the track, rather than cleaning Dom and Peter's cars at the track,” Maria said.

When Daniel reached eight years old, the youngest age at which a driver can participate in Junior Dragsters, the family travelled to Western Australia from Victoria to check out a car that might suit him. They were lucky enough to be 'thrown the keys' for Daniel to get his licence straight away.

“Daniel received his Junior licence at Perth Motorplex,” Maria explained.

“We went to Perth to inspect a couple of cars that were for sale and we were lucky enough to be able to test it and licence in it.”

Like any parents watching their eight year old take a dragster for a drive for the first time, Eddy and Maria had some butterflies in the stomach – or perhaps some albatross.

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“It was very frightening as you can imagine,” Maria said. “He had never driven anything motorised in his life other than a four wheeler motorbike. But he proved me wrong when coming back on the return track he was so confident and knew everything that he had to do.

“He knew due to always being in the back of a tow vehicle and memorising all the steps involved.

“He then further proved to every one at the track how confident he was by licensing in only four passes.”

Autism has a number of symptoms – with repetitive behaviour one of the most recognised. It has to be argued that while making life for Daniel difficult in some areas it could ultimately be a benefit in drag racing.

Outside of drag racing, the family has learned how to work with Daniel.

“Daniel doesn't understand sarcasm and needs to know things,” Maria said. “You couldn't just give him a brief answer to questions, he will want the answer broken down and diagnosed.

“It's very hard to make the every day people in society understand this about him. The ways to converse with him, and how to ask him something in a manner for him to understand.

“It make it frustrating at times, as you can imagine not everyone is patient and understanding.

“He is one to always try and master whatever task he may be doing, and can be very emotional if his goal doesn't turn out quite the way he had planned it.”

Daniel's parents weren't the only ones with nerves before his first pass. He might have tried to blame the cold but it was the adrenalin surging through his young body.

“I was sitting in the car to do the first test for licensing and I said to my dad, 'Gee, it's freezing here tonight at the track, my knees wont stop shaking!'” he said.

“My dad replied, 'Daniel, I think it's nerves mate, because it's like 22 degrees here tonight in Perth.'”

Daniel gets a kick out of the social side of the sport as much as the sensory thrill that is acceleration and speed.

“I love meeting all my mates that I have met over the year who come to race. I love cars and drag racing,” he said.

“I love racing at all the tracks in Australia, that was my dream.

I only have a couple left that I haven't been to yet - Darwin and the Benaraby track.”

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Daniel enjoys the notoriety that being a drag racer gives him, with his school friends excited for him when ever he goes racing.

“My friends at school are very happy for me, the year 12 school reporters did a story on me about me going on Channel Ten's 'The Project',” he said.

“My school teachers and students always wish me luck when I'm about to go interstate to race.”

While he still has a good seven years or so left to race in Junior Dragsters, Daniel said that he has some big ambitions in the sport – though he doesn't want to unseat his hero.

“If I have enough money and sponsors I would love to keep racing,” he said. “Maybe race in Pro Stock. I cant go in Top Doorslammer because I don't want to beat Peter! One day maybe I will go to America and watch the drags.”

The Junior Dragster community includes a lot of great families and the camaraderie between them all is one of the most positive aspects of being involved.

Maria said that has been an amazing experience.

“I must admit it's so overwhelming as to how we have been welcomed into the sport,” she said. “From purchasing the JD in Perth, testing and licensing there, all the way from home.

“The Lamattina family are always there for us when we need help with transporting our gear around Australia.

“Then meeting all the racing families in Juniors and all the classes who always come and say hello to Daniel and make him feel welcome and comfortable. It has been great.”

The family have been very active in promoting their team away from the track as well, with media appearances and a Facebook page with almost 1500 likes.

All of this social interaction is invaluable as Daniel grows into a young man.

“We have fun no matter what we do as a family, promoting Daniel and introducing him to the drag racing world is also a form of treatment for him,” Maria explained.

“We use it to help him socialise and interact with others who share his passion and it's important for us to also promote and give exposure to all our sponsors who deserve nothing less for all the help and support they have given us: LMR Roofing, KC Tools and Penrite Oils.

“We also try and promote that we race to raise awareness for autistic kids, hoping that one day they too can achieve their goals as Daniel has. Nothing is impossible.”

Top: Daniel Carranza throws out giveaways to the crowd at Adelaide International Raceway Bottom: The Carranza family including mother Maria and father Eddy are all smiles at the track. Going drag racing has massively helped Daniel's social skills.

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QUARTER REPORTER

READ'S WING RECEIVES HANGOVER CURE Brisbane-based Top Fuel driver Steve 'The Pom' Read wants to make it count when he lines up against five of the toughest Top Fuel racers from around Australia at the third annual Santo’s Super 3 Extreme Drag Race presented by Uplift Cranes and Titan Cranes, held at Willowbank Raceway, Ipswich on Saturday 4th April from 5pm.

“In 2013, we pulled together six consecutive four second passes and won the inaugural Super 3, taking home the Louie Rapisarda Memorial Trophy, which means an awful lot to me personally, having raced for Santo for 10 years,” Read said.

“Racing in Louie’s memory is at the centre of everything Santo does on the race track and for the sport of championship drag racing.”

While the premise of the Santo’s Super 3 is to promote the ‘short, sharp show’ aspect, this year’s version has gone from a two night event to a Saturday night show – a move that Read says makes perfect sense over the Easter weekend.

“Over the Easter long weekend, a lot of people want to maximise those four days off and do a lot of different things.

With the Super 3 event as a Saturday night-only deal this year, I believe it will help boost fan attendance. There’s just something special about watching Saturday night nitro at

Willowbank. Today’s race fans love to go see drag racing, or any live event for that matter, but in a shorter time frame, which I think is a real sign of the times we live in. It means a shorter, high intensity show – just like a concert – you’re in and out of there in a few hours.”

Having tasted success at this unique event in its first year, Read is hungry to make this year’s race really count.

“We’re up against two Rapisarda cars, two Lamattina cars and Mark Sheehan’s state-of-the-art new canopy dragster. I’m really looking forward to mixing it up with these guys on track.

We have to hit our stride right out of the trailer and be on the pace. The crowd will be in for a hell of a show.”

The four hour program means that Read and his team need to judge changing track conditions and make tuning decisions quickly, something that he knows can have far-reaching effects.

“From 5pm, we’re in game-mode. We’ve won before, and I want this one again. We’re racing on a track surface that doesn’t play favourites – you either get it right, or you’re shaking the tyres and burning up parts.”

Read hinted that the Team RSR Dragster might also feature a ‘piece of Vegas’ on Easter Saturday.

“We found some damage to our main rear wing after the 2014 Australian Nationals in Sydney. My crew at the workshop have already given the ‘Vegas’ wing a new nickname – ‘The Hangover’, because the last time this rear wing went down the track, it had a bad night in Vegas,” Read laughed.

Left: Steve Read is no stranger to success at Santo's Super 3 and wants more.

Image by Dave Reid.

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BRAY TO MAKE COMEBACK FROM BACK INJURY Queensland drag racing legend Ben Bray will make his comeback to the drag strip this Easter Saturday (April 4) as part of the Santo’s Super 3 Extreme Drag Race Event, presented by Uplift Cranes and Titan Cranes.

The 31 year old made headlines in June of 2014 when his Nissan Altima race car hit the safety wall of Willowbank Raceway, rolled, and came to stop on its roof.

The three-time ANDRA national champion sustained back and rib injuries and was fitted with a full body brace for three months, making his first trip to a drag strip in November of 2014 to watch his father – six-time ANDRA champion Victor Bray – compete at the season-ending Australian Nationals at Sydney Dragway.

Easter’s Santo’s Super 3 Extreme Drag Race Event will be the first time Bray has competed since the incident, with private testing set to be scheduled for the racer in preparation for his return to active competition.

While his return is hotly anticipated, Bray is cautious about making any big calls as far as performance.

“I am really excited to be getting back on the track after so

long out of the driver’s seat,” said Ben Bray.

“The Easter event at Willowbank Raceway is a great event and was the site of my world record breaking passes in the Altima in 2013 (fastest and quickest ‘doored’ four cylinder car of the time), it is my home track, and while it is also where I had my incident, it is my home away from home.

“This Easter is all about taking baby steps, getting back in the car, getting my ‘eye in’ as they say, and just getting back into the sport I love.

“The Pro Mod class which I am competing in is set to be a really great event, and I am just pleased to have the chance to get back on track and make my return.”

Bray will take to the track in his father Victor’s ’57 Chev Doorslammer, as his brand new car is still undergoing preparation work.

“I was hoping to be able to debut my brand new 1979 Corvette Stingray at the same time that I made my way back to the track, but it isn’t quite ready yet, so I have stolen Dad’s car!” laughed Bray.

“I really want to thank everyone in the drag racing industry from the fans to my fellow racers and the officials for their support, and I look forward to seeing everyone out at Willowbank this Easter.”

DANIEL INSPIRED BY DUKES Daniel Schultz will have a bright new look for the Aeroflow Outlaw Nitro Funny Car round in Adelaide on Good Friday with The Dukes of Hazzard-inspired ‘The General’ set to shake up the field.

Schultz was excited to get behind the wheel of the new look car.

“I can’t wait to race the car in Adelaide! We have had so much positivity from all around the world on the new car, it’s time to make sure it goes as good as it looks,” he said.

“Dad (Greg Schultz) spent some time on the phone to YBI Creative about a new look and this is what Drew Jongebloed (YBI Creative’s Head Designer) came up with, we are all super-happy with the final product – the Facebook comments have been amazing.

“We wanted to have one of the iconic cars of this series and I think we have achieved that, now we need some gold to

complete the picture!”

The Adelaide event continues to grow in momentum with the confirmation by event promoter Rino D’Alfonso that the event will be followed by a post race concert by Angry Anderson of Rose Tattoo.

“Once you have finished watching an awesome day of racing, kick back and listen to Angry Anderson of Rose Tattoo for an after race concert. Once you pay your spectator entry price, it gives you all the drag racing action plus the concert all for the same price!”

The event also includes Round Two of the Sprint Auto Parts SA Track Championships, so the local racers will be out in force.

“This event will have everything,” added D’Alfonso. “From the very fastest street cars to the nitro cars and the jets, no matter what your taste might be, this event will have the very best of them.

“Not to forget two wheelstanding funny cars doing full quarter mile passes on the back wheels.”

Left: Daniel Schultz carries a brand new look into the Adelaide Aeroflow Outlaw Nitro Funny Car round.

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MR YES

Welcome to Mr Yes and Mr No. This month our anonymous contributors debate: should we switch to the IHRA?

I believe the time is right for a changing in sanctioning body to the IHRA. ANDRA has had its chance, it has had its time, but it has been shown that the body has too much baggage holding it back to be able to drive the sport forward any longer.

I'm not a fan of dramatic change in drag racing but sitting around and doing the same thing year after year expecting a different result is not going to help move the situation along.

The IHRA would have a simpler structure, saving money for racers and venues and indeed making the sport easier to get into.

I think it would also be a little more hands off, potentially allowing for more flexibility in what the make up of our championship series is. But we certainly have to answer some questions in that regard first on what responsibilities lie where. For example, ANDRA looks after the national series at the moment, calculates points, does all those kinds of things. Is that something IHRA will be doing or will they simply be an insurance provider?

Call this answer a yes with a but.

More than anything I think a switch to the IHRA could be a catalyst for change that is needed in many areas of drag racing. Something to force the hand if you will. That could be the most important factor here.

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MR NO

United we stand, divided we fall. Those are the words that should echo through anyone who thinks a switch to the IHRA would be a good idea.

ANDRA is not perfect but it is our organisation as racers and we must support it.

Drag racing in Australia is unique and I'm not sure that a sanctioning body on the other side of the planet will be capable of bending to suit that individuality.

While people have been quick to consider the cost savings, the other side of that coin that needs to be considered is the reduction in service and value. At the moment it is relatively easy to call up the ANDRA head office and get an inquiry answered.

What kind of structure will be in place under IHRA to ask a technical query? Will tracks be responsible?

Will you have to try and make contact at night to get an answer from the USA? I would certainly hope that if IHRA was going to set up here they would have a regional office of sorts to answer queries.

There has been some talk that tracks might keep both IHRA and ANDRA on board. I see this as a case of wanting to have the cake and eating it to, using all the good elements of ANDRA but then not returning the favour by having them sanction events and giving them the funds to be able to continue doing that good work.

Anyone advocating for the IHRA to come into Australia had best be prepared for some radical changes. I don't think it is going to be a smooth transition. Can the sport handle such a potentially bumpy ride?.

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