Territory drag racers were a force to be reckoned with over the weekend as five teams took part in Perth’s 40th annual Westernationals, and it was NT registered Top Bike rider Troy McLean that lead the charge, ending with a win on his nitro powered Harley Davidson.
McLean secured the third place qualifying position with a 6.767 at 199mph in Top Bike, while team mate Mick Murray just missed qualifying by 0.007 seconds, his nitro powered Harley going 7.555 at 168mph.
Round 1 of Top Bike saw Troy McLean take on Dennis Grant. McLean took out the win with a 6.972 at 172mph, ahead of Grant’s 6.993 at 204mph. McLean’s successes continued in the semi-finals where he defeated Mark Ryder. Ryder suffered apparent engine failure and wasn’t able to fend off McLean’s 6.816 at 186mph.
McLean went head to head against Mark Drew in the finals of Top Bike. Drew had mechanical problems that saw him shut down after 60 feet but McLean was full steam ahead, carrying the front wheel across the finish line with a 6.92 to secure the win in the Top Bike category. McLean is now only 5 points behind the Top Bike championship leader, Chris Matheson.
Matt Abel provided a solid performance in the quickest Top Doorslammer field on record. Abel managed to qualify third with a 5.997 second pass at 240mph. The third place qualifying position was the best performance by Abel during an ANDRA Pro Series event.
Round 1 of eliminations saw Abel paired against Robin Judd. Abel’s hole shot 0.90sec reaction was not enough to defeat Judd, only 0.051sec separating the pair as they crossed the quarter mile. Abel finished with a 6.044sec pass at 240mph while Judd took the win with a 5.994 at 245mph.
Abel backed up his 5 second run with an exhibition pass later on Sunday night. Running a 5.992 it firmly secures Abel’s place in the five second club.
“The track felt really good and we had the horsepower to be more than competitive” said Abel. “It was a really close race with Robin (Judd) but his home track advantage helped him get through.”
“We’ve got some good data and hope to carry this through to Sydney in a couple of weeks.”
In Supercharged Outlaws, Bronte Henning qualified 19th in the 32 car field. Unfortunately Henning was defeated in Round 1 by Mark Mackay, only recording an 11.781 at 146mph. Henning next travels to the 2011 Winternationals in Queensland.
Phil Miller from Alice Springs also made the journey to compete in Competition Bike. Miller just made the field, qualifying in 32nd place with a 9.28 at 158mph but he was unable to make the first round of racing, alternate Ryan Learmonth from WA taking his place.
Photos courtesy of Paul Drady| Dragnews Australia
