The Castrol EDGE Winternationals has resumed in spectacular fashion today at Willowbank Raceway with today’s focus on Sportsman testing and racing before tomorrow the big guns of the ANDRA Pro Series hit the track.
Today’s action hasn’t been without drama. The Castrol EDGE Winternationals acts as the Grand Final for national drag racing categories – and two of the fastest femmes in Australian motorsport – Kelly Corbett and Michelle Osborn – were both bundled out of the Modified category.
Corbett (second in the Championship) and Osborn (fourth) are joined on the sidelines by Championship points leader coming into this weekend – Tony Littlewood.
It paves the way for Andrew Loy to come from 60 points behind to take the Rocket All Stars Series Modified Championship. He has to first make the semi-finals on Sunday and win his semi if he is to take the Series win.
The atmosphere around the Willowbank pits is palpable ahead of tomorrow’s continuation of qualifying for the ANDRA Pro Series categories, with race teams having travelled from all over Australia.
It has given him confidence ahead of this weekend:
“We’re feeling very confident, actually,” Noonan said. “My aim in the first qualifier back in June was just to get off the line and get down the track without tyre shake.
“I didn’t know what a ‘quick run’ felt like – as I’d never done one in full race conditions, so to come in and be told you’re the quickest driver was amazing.
“It’s fired me up for this weekend, we’re in the field, so now I can just get comfortable and understand what the car is actually doing,” he laughed.
The Super Charged Outlaws category is always one of the most popular outside ANDRA Pro Series racing and local driver, Darren Fry is looking to propel himself up the order when qualifying resumes tomorrow.
Today’s time would put him into the top eight on current qualifying form.
“It’s coming together nicely, we’re working on being in the top half of the field for racing so we have lane choice,” Fry said. “It was one of our quickest passes ever. The car feels really good – and the day time running really suits us, so the revised program bodes well for us.”
Another to impress in the Super Stock category was Omar Sedmak – setting a testing time of 6.96 seconds at 190.84mph (307.2kph). That time was significantly faster than that being run back in June.
Tomorrow, the heavy hitters of the ANDRA Pro Series hit the circuit for round three and four of qualifying – kicking off at 11:55.
Eliminations for the Rocket All Stars Series Sportsman categories start early from 8:30am.
Eliminations will continue through Sunday with Finals for all categories on Sunday afternoon.
The Castrol EDGE Winternationals is a jam-packed weekend of entertainment for the entire family, including Australia’s leading drag racers, roving entertainers and static displays.
Special historic displays include the Ash Marshall Scorcher and the Bob Keith 1966 ‘Dragfest’ front engined dragster, both of which will be started during the weekend.
For ticketing information and sales, visit www.willowbankraceway.com.au
