The thrill of victory was tainted by several broken engines for the Tremayne Pro Stock team and a fault with the fuel has been suggested as the reason.
Father of the brothers Aaron and Tyronne, Kerry Tremayne, said it was a weekend of highs and lows, with the team qualifying 1-2 but then coming crashing down in the first round.
“Elimination one was definitely a low, with some kind of fuel issue also experienced by other teams seeing both engines damaged,” he said. “Aaron just won after shutting off at a 1000ft and Tyronne wasted a huge start line advantage to suffer the same as he also shut off early and had to watch Nino Cavallo drive past him and record a 6.99 sec pass. Congrats goes to Nino.”
At first look, the Tremaynes thought there would be no chance of getting a replacement motor into the car in time but John Barbagallo and other hired hands set to work, after coming over to discuss their own engine issues.
“Getting the spare in wasn’t easy seeing that they had to modify the front and rear engine plates as well as the hood scoop,” Kerry said. “Thanks goes to John and Phil for their help.
“We still had an issue, (we looked for) who had some old fuel and thanks again to Shane and Rob Tucker who supplied Aaron with an old drum.
“Aaron goes out, accepts the tree and returns to the pits for some final adjustments for the semis.”
There Aaron would have to face Australian champion Jason Grima. With Grima having issues at the start line and shutting down before coming to the staging beams. Tremayne went through for a 7.06 win.
That would lead to the final against Emilio Spinozzi, appearing in his first final.
“Aaron had the start line advantage and opened up the lead with a 7.001 compared to Emilio’s 7.12 pass. Not bad for a spare engine,” Kerry said. “A big congrats to Emilio for a great performance and his runner-up spot.
“The team are overjoyed with the win, a big effort was put in by all and resulted in an awesome outcome, a win at the X-Champs.”
Kerry said that it was on returning to the pits however that the full cost of winning the event hit home.
“The winters is less than five weeks away and both the good engines are damaged,” he said. “With parts having to be processed from the USA it is not looking good for the team and it will be miracle if we have them rebuilt in time.”
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