We have a new track record at Perth Motorplex after an astonishing weekend of Top Fuel drag racing with some of the quickest times ever seen in Australia.
Mark Sheehan dropped jaws with a 4.537 second run in the elimination round of Sunday night – the quickest ever pass by an Australian drag racer on Australian soil.
But we weren’t done yet annihilating the record books, as in the final round Damien Harris hit a 4.538 against Sheehans’ 4.562 to produce the quickest ever side by side race in Australian drag racing history.
It was Harris’ second win in two nights at Nitro Max.
Predicting only 4.6 second runs the night before, Harris was surprised to hear the nitro fuelled, 10,000 horsepower dragster had just run into the ‘fifties’ for the first time at a speed of 527kmh.
“It was awesome, I was very surprised to find out it was a 53 and it was good to go back to back (with wins),” he said.
“The guys (on my team) work tirelessly all the time. We don’t even have to question what is going to happen when they start the car.
“We have been waiting for the ‘fifty’ to come up for a while and now we have done it, so it is awesome.”
As well as leaving the Motorplex with two wins, Harris has also assumed the lead of the 400 Thunder points, taking over from Darren Morgan who experienced an unlucky weekend, losing three races by less than a tenth of a second.
Sheehan was runner up on both nights of Nitro Max. He was right with Harris until the very end of their incredible contest.
“I got pretty close to the centre line (which divides the two lanes) and we lost a belt about 20 metres before the finish line which is why we went over a bit slower than Damien,” he said. “Congratulations to those guys on their run, they pulled it together when they needed.”
Sheehan was also happy to be rid of the mechanical carnage he endured two weeks ago at the West Coast Nitro event.
“We did a lot better than we did two weeks ago, we are getting more consistent with what we are doing,” he said.
Meanwhile in Top Bike, Chris Matheson was the class of the field on night two, running a 6.35sec. time in the final round to defeat Mark Drew who had to settle for his second runner up of the weekend after a loss to Chris Porter in the final the night before.
“(The performance) is in there, we’ve just to to find it,” Matheson said. “The team got me down the track both days. We’re making a lot of horsepower.”
Strong performances weren’t just restricted to the pros as the sportsman racers of Western Australia and beyond impressed with their racing.
Al McClure ran new personal best times in his Comp dragster, defeating John Napier in the final round.
Errol Quartermaine said he finally got his driving to match the potential of his car, defeating Ralph Lewis on a holeshot in the final round of Super Stock.
A returning Daniel Natalotto defeated a red lighting Brett Ghedina in Competition Bike.
Alan Mahnkoph got up over David Biggs in Supercharged Outlaws.
Alby Bakranich took out the Top Sportsman final against Lorenzo Gullotto.
Simon Barlow was too good against Ron Crosby, the SA racer earning his second win in the west.
Paul Downe put away Kathy Regan in the final of Super Sedan.
Bruce ‘Budgie’ Jones defeated Zoe Nieuwhof in Modified Bike.
Richie Stevens won and then drove his Holden Commodore home from the Motorplex in Super Street, defeating Mike Caridi.
Bailey McClure went .008 on the tree and 8.48 on an 8.46 for a well earned Junior Dragster win against Alannah Cope.
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