Hi tech mayhem – J20 report

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Twenty years on and Willowbank’s Fast Fours & Rotaries Jamboree is now the biggest Sport Compact event in the world.

From its humble beginning as the then VW Jamboree the event has been developed into an internationally recognised Sports Compact event. Celebrating its 20th anniversary, the Fast Fours & Rotaries Jamboree boasted international stars from Sports Compact crazy Puerto Rico and New Zealand to take on over 250 local racers. The Jamboree itself is more a festival than a race meeting, outside the racing there is stage shows featuring dancers or scantily clothed lasses parading in front of cheering masses to all the bling of a large car show, trade displays and dB sound offs.

Despite torrential rain leading up to the event, both days were crystal clear with temperature reaching high twenties and Willowbank provided their usual killer traction which can either make or break a race car. A dampener on the event was that Puerto Rican star Eddie Colon would be unable to race his six second “Sporty” RX7 with the car still stuck on board a container ship a month over due from docking, a lifeline was given to Colon from NSW racer Dib Taouil to allow him to race his RX7 in Street 289 for the weekend. The Willowbank traction caused a lot of drama early on simply because it was too good, tearing up at least a third of the Street Compact competitors’ drivelines. New Zealand star Reece McGregor also fell victim to the traction in his world record holding Skyline, breaking an input shaft on his first qualifier ruling him out for the event. Despite the mechanical carnage the event ran reasonably smoothly, the loss of cars put some holes into the program on Sunday then within an hour or so on Sunday afternoon there was a spate three accidents which upset proceedings. Racers who had a handle on the traction were rewarded, the pristine air conditions seeing some outstanding performance and world record passes.

Pro Turbo led the charge featuring 20B and six cylinder combinations. Qualifying saw 6 seconds passes flash up on the boards at regular intervals highlighted by Rod Harvey from New Zealand running in his 2JZ Celica a 6.441 at 221 MPH eclipsing the quickest time seen in this country.

Pro Turbo Qualifying
ROD HARVEY 6.44 221.71
BEN BRAY 6.67 210.18 210.18
CRAIG DYSON 6.76 207.56
GEORGE REHAYEM 6.89 205.57
TONY WEDLOCK 6.92 199.76
ARCHIE KAJEWSKI 7.08 192.06
NATHAN FARRUGIA 7.27 188.04
ANTHONY MAATOUK 7.71 171.93
JOE SIGNORELLI 8.55 106.08
MALCOLM GLASSETT 10.56 85.39
ZORAN GAJIC 17.487 43.94 43.94

Pro Turbo utilised the three round format for racing, the first round was a struggle for most of the teams, Dyson was unable to front before Maatouk, Kajewski, Signorelli, Bray claimed wins with less than perfect runs before Harvey again outshone the pack running 6.46 on a solo. The second round Rod Harvey was quickest with a 6.58 defeating Maatouk’s solid 7.72 in the VL, the Mazda truck of Kajewski 7.42 slipped past Farrugia’s RX7 7.27, Rehayem 7.25 easily took care of Signorelli who could not get a handle on the Celica this weekend despite strong testing performances and Ben Bray soloed to round out a depleted field with the Scion. By the third round they were down to five racers, Maatouk took a popular victory over Wedlock, Harvey’s 6.89 was enough for Farrugia and Rehayem’s 6.89 from the Mazda 6 would place him in the final against Harvey. Rehayem gave it a shot in the final running 6.96 @ 207MPH but Harvey streaked away for the win recording a world record setting 6.41 @ 224MPH.

Pro Compact features the same style vehicles as Pro Turbo but running 13B or four cylinder engine combinations, qualifying shook out like this, unfortunately Puerto Rican star Jorge Lazacano would not be able to make race day .

Pro Compact Qualifying
RODNEY REHAYEM 7.456 174.21
ANTHONY RODRIGUES 7.547 175.50
CRAIG DYSON 7.597 176.65
DEAN CORDOWINER 7.715 174.14
BEN BRAY 8.14O 167.97
JORGE LAZCANO 8.308 125.62
JIM MAGLIVERAS 9.59O 101.53
BRETT MORGAN 9.973 136.08
MICHAEL TENISWOOD 10.235 107.08
STEVEN DIMECH 0.00 0.00

Also running the three round format the pocket rocket Pro Compact cars went heads up in round one with Teniswood debuting his new RX2 defeated Bray’s Datsun Ute, Cordowiner 7.83 making his competition debut in the Starlet beating Brett Morgan’s Morris Minor ute 7.83. Dyson driving Robert Prior’s R100 also at the cars first meeting chalked up a 7.45 win over Magliveras’ Corolla 7.62, both Rehayem’s RX3 8.16 and Rodrigues’ Cougar 7.62 soloed for points. Round two saw Rodrigues easily take care of Bray who cannot get the car up on boost still. Morgan cracked a 8.97 in the Morris but still lost out to Dyson’s 9.03, Cordowiner was consistent with a 7.72 to defeat Teniswood and Rehayem 7.63 took out Magliveras 8.22. In the final points round Bray and Magiveras both slept on the line, Bray finally leaving with some boost had enough for the Corolla 8.05 to a 8.20. Dyson 7.61 won a side by side race over Cordowiner 7.73 and both Rodriques and Rehayem soloed. The final featured Dyson and Rehayem, despite a 0.203 light from Dyson his 7.73 was all that was needed over a troubled Rehayem pass.

Extreme hosts anything and everything as long as the engine is EFI or turbo then any combination is allowed in any chassis, from dragsters to sedans. Qualifying looked like this.

Extreme Qualifying
ROBERT CAMPISI 6.285 233.68
STEVEN PETROVSKI 6.976 198.26
GLENN ANDERSON 7.321 178.50
BEN DIGGLES 7.597 172.25
DARRYL MARSH 8.403 153.98
JUSTIN SIMPSON 9.092 160.02
PETER DUFFY 9.924 137.30
KIMELLE ANDERSON 10.543 122.30

Steven Petrovski had the LS1 powered ute into the sixes again.

Ben Diggles exploded a transmission in spectacular fashion in the last qualifying round, pushing his four cylinder FJ20 powered dragster to the brink.

Blaze Hansen debuted his Hayabusa powered dragster at the Jamboree, still aspirated and manually shifted, the ANDRA C/MD maybe under threat this coming season.

Jaws were dropped as “Campo” continued to take ET chunks from his personal best run after run, Campo red lit in the final to Justin Simpson in the big block turbo Valiant but all eyes were fixated on the readout boards when a 6.21 at 237mph flashed up bringing the crowd to their feet.

Street 289 is always action packed with high powered cars trying to put all that power down through a 28×9 tyre. The top eight qualifiers were split from the rest of the field to run a pro tree round robin format while the rest were seeded into DYO eliminations.

Street 289 Qualifying
WAYNE DYSON 7.92 177.23
EDDIE COLON 8.012 167.41
NICK TSOULOUDIS 8.189 164.64
DAMIEN MCKERN 8.194 178.73
BEN HUNT 8.297 171.86
BRYCE MILLER 8.34O 159.48
BEN GRAHAM 8.814 150.21
CHRIS HALL 8.909 158.20
MICHAEL VROUXIOU 8.91 155.56
ERROL BRITTAIN 9.058 147.76
CHRIS ADAMS 9.173 144.91
MOUHAMED IBRAHIM 9.322 106.95
RODNEY SPANNENBERG 9.343 144.00
MICHAEL SILK 9.679 147.36
BRAD WOOD 9.694 136.32
TROY SPELMAN 9.704 137.22 

Nick Tsouloudis, better known for driving the pink world record setting “Superman” RX3, debuted an Escort from Mazsport.

Brad Wood soloed for a win not before experiencing some wild launches in the Mazda 323.

Puerto Rican Eddie Colon was left without a car due to shipping delay, Dib Taouil came to the rescue loaning him his RX7. Colon cracked a 7.97, the first seven second pass for the car, before losing to Dyson in the Pro Street 289 final.

Wayne Dyson dominated Street 289, a 7.68 best at 182mph had daylight next as he wrapped up the pro bracket.

Modified 10.5 at the Jamboree varies a little to the Outlaw 10.5 that is all the rage at the moment, the difference being cars must be no more than back halved chassis but virtually any engine combination with in hi-tech genre is allowed.

Modified 10.5 Qualifying
SCOTT HOFFMAN 8.355 175.68
MATT LISLE 8.624 162.98
MOUHAMED IBRAHIM 8.903 121.62
JOHNNY HYDE 8.944 158.73
SHANE CRICHTON 9.22O 157.03
BEN PEARCE 9.309 145.56
GEORGE HARAMIS 9.413 158.99
MICHAEL ARNOLD11.524 72.01
ADAM CIRILLO 16.903 139.41

Shane Crichton finally broke into the 8 second zone with a 8.93 in the Cressida, it has been a long struggle for Crichton to get on top of the 1.5JZ combination after a string of set backs.

Photo crash sequence by Phil Melvin
Photo crash sequence by Phil Melvin

Matt Lisle was piloting Phil Laird’s RX7 at the event, after winning his third straight round of racing disaster struck in the braking area when a door blew off causing Lisle to lock the brakes careering the car into the wall narrowly missing Adam Cirillo. Lisle was fine after the incident but now has a story to tell his US team mates when he heads stateside to compete in the ADRL later in the year.

Scott Hoffman was thrilling the crowd with half track wheelstands from his 2JZ Corolla, despite the aerial antics Hoffman not only won Modified 10.5 he kept the ETs dropping to a 8.07 personal best in the final.

Perhaps the bravest men in the sport are the pilots in Outlaw Sports Bike, these nitrous or turbo bullets are capable of low 7 second times at over 200MPH, the clincher is no wheelie bar to keep the bike grounded, wheel stands and back flips are a very present danger.

Outlaw Sports Bike Qualifying
LEONARD AZZOPARDI 7.511 195.28
MATT GILDON 8.494 157.41
ROWAN LIND 8.766 169.83
RUSS THOMAS 9.116 158.17
KYLE MAJOR 9.291 160.06
LEIGH TURNER 9.435 151.36
WAYNE CLARK 10.441 149.90
SHAYNE HOMES 10.99O 134.22

Rowan Lind’s transition to Outlaw Sports Bike was a wild one, as these bikes can bite you very quickly.

Matt Gildon is gradually stepping up the performance of his Hayabusa, now comfortable in the low 8 second range, it won’t be long before we see Gildon into the sevens.

Leonard Azzopardi was again the leading force in the bracket, “Quiksilver” qualified quickest and was unheaded to final where he defeated Gildon 7.92 to 8.46. Azzopardi did not achieve their first 200MPH run yet however which is their primary goal now for the bike.

Modified Compact was the sedan all in bracket for any race car 10 seconds or quicker that did not fit into the other classes, the result was a wide variety of vehicles from Skylines to Anglia’s all capable of quick passes and wild wheels up antics. The top 16 qualifiers looked like this:

Modified Compact Qualifying
MARK JACOBSEN 8.307 136.04
SCOTT COUSINS 8.394 159.64
JASON ARCURI 8.66O 156.01
SCOTT HOOK 8.721 147.07
SIMON SADEK 8.934 149.27
KEVIN POWER 9.06O 147.94
THEO WOOLLETT 9.132 157.52
BRENDAN GORMAN 9.154 152.47
KYM VONHOLDT 9.193 155.52
GARY HALPIN 9.356 139.36
MAT KELLY 9.47O 153.37
BILLY MASSI 9.502 150.23
MARK WAINHAUF 9.593 135.46
PETER KIPRIOS 9.614 142.18
SIMON HAY 9.783 135.09
PHILL PENNY 9.85O 126.67

Gary Halpin had close call with fluid under the tyres in the first qualifier, but withdrew with a suspected transmission issue later in the event.

Kurt Scott was mixing it up with his FWD Mazda 3.

Photo by Jonathon King
Photo by Jonathon King

After top qualifying Mark Jacobsen let it all hang out on a exhibition run which ended in disaster, clouting the wall.

Reece McGregor broke a input shaft on his first run  leaving the worlds quickest GTR in the pits for the rest of the event.

First round was a disaster for Mohammed Khan, the harmonic balancer laying on track would suggest a fatal blow for that RB30.

The VW of Neil Penboss harks back to the Jamboree origins.

Phil Penny’s Honda S600 was spectacular on his first qualifying run, but it would be his last run for the weekend.

Victorian Frank Cammaroto reached the semi finals with a best of 8.66 from his 2JZ Supra.

Despite this huge wheelstand in qualifying due to a loose set of wheelie bars, Scott Hook went on to become runner up.

Young Simon Sadek competing at his first event defeated Hook in the final 8.87 ( 8.79) to 8.76 (8.60).

All Motor as the name suggests if for cars with no power adders and the top 8 qualifiers were;

All Motor Qualifying
CRAIG WASSON 9.477 137.82
PHILIP CORBET 10.516 125.37
PETER PAGE 11.064 120.35
CRAIG SCHULZ 11.796 115.25
MICHAEL FORWARD 12.488 108.25
SCOTT CLIBBORN 13.312 100.37
BRENDAN KILGOUR 13.762 100.45
GLENN ALCORN 14.247 94.73

Craig Schultz had some traction (and possibly balance) issues on his first qualifier.

No one can get close to Craig Wasson’s aspirated 20B, as it leaves plenty of turbo cars in its tracks.

The final was a family affair with Glenn Acorn defeating Jason Acorn.

Late model road bikes make up the Sports Bike bracket the top eight consisted of the following riders.

Sports Bike Qualifying
DANIEL SEKLI 8.959 150.41
ANDREW MEARNS 9.272 152.88
SAM TAYLOR 9.282 148.66
ROBERT SIMMONDS 9.307 151.19
RUSSELL LACEY 9.454 154.74
KEITH MEARNS 9.68O 144.36
GREG MURRAY 9.579 147.88
JASON HAMMELSWANG 9.733 144.43

Wayne Smith had a serious accident in eliminations, falling off his Hayabusa at 130MPH across the finish line, Smith suffered grazing and a number of broken bones inhis arms and legs.

Top qualifier Daniel Sekli edged out Andrew Mearns 8.97 to a 9.07 in the final

Street Compact rounds out all the brackets competing at the Jamboree, basically for your streeters slower than 11 seconds, the sticky Willowbank traction was responsible for a lot of start line mechanical decimation of drivelines in the first session.

Street Compact Qualifying
NICK MORONEY 10.748 131.64
MICHAEL MACLEAN 11.002 128.55
GARY GRANT 11.016 119.93
MITCHELL READ 11.108 131.15
SHAUN PYWELL 11.11O 121.97
MATTHEW MOORE 11.123 117.46
MICHAEL RAMSAY 11.225 121.20
MITCH PRESTON 11.279 126.91

Several side by side breakages bite the under powered Street Compact cars on the legendary Willowbank traction, Michael Reberger’s RX7 sheared off a rear wheel.

Mark Blackwood in his Gemini overcame the track and opponent Matthew Moore in the final to win the event.

 

With the 2010 Jamboree in the books focus now shifts to Sydney and the Compak Attack early next year for the breed, plan are under way to try and keep Eddie Colon’s RX7 in Australia until then once it docks, also look out for coverage of J20 on OneHD in the near future.

 

Photos by www.cacklingpipes.com (Grant Stephens & Mark Allan)

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