It’s race day at the JAX Tyres & Auto Super Thunder event for the 400 Thunder Aeroflow Drag Racing Series at Willowbank Raceway. Here are the results from today’s racing.
ALL ROUND FORMAT ROUND 1
The Top Fuel Funny Cars fired to life to kick off the professional class proceedings wit Morice McMillin and Adam Murrihy the first pairing. Murrihy dropped a .081 light on McMillin and put up a fight until the Aeroflow Camry drove around him on the top end with a 4.88 – the first four second funny car pass at Willowbank in over a decade.
After a delay starting the burnout procedure, Brandon Gosbell took on Justin Walshe next. This however was a paired solo pass with Anthony Begley – who was due to race Walshe – unable to front, so both racers would earn win points, but ET points were still up for grabs.
Gosbell was spinning the Goodyears hard by sixty-foot and his race was done, while Walsh futilely fought to keep a cylinder dropping Dodge funny car in his lane, clipping a timing cone.
“I probably did a bit of a bad job there,” said Walshe. “The car was a little bit ahead of me, and once the clutch comes in, and that clutch dust comes in with the sun shining, I knew I was over near the centreline, and I had it cranked to the right, and it was just not coming back.
Tim McCarthy went for another licensing pass, but a fuel leak on the launch sent the Monte Carlo funny car sideways immediately.
In Pro Alcohol, Cheyne Phillips in his first ever Pro Alcohol race met Tim Clifton straight up for an all dragster showdown. Phillips dumped a huge .083 to .221 holeshot at tree, but the championship pedigree dragster refused to play nice, shaking hard and stepping out of the groove forcing Phillips to pedal, this let Clifton slip by and despite clicking it early, hit the stripe first for his first Pro Alcohol win light with a 5.74.
Steven Reed earned a solo after qualifying and had a chance to test a few driver changes made overnight with the clutch pedal setup. Despite a little shake off the line, it was a straight and clean 5.58 as a result.
Chris Hargrave and Jake Donnelly put on a great side by side funny car race. Both funny cars drivers needed a pedal early on through shake with Donnelly hanging on to the stripe for the win – 5.78 to 5.83.
Scott Porter double-bulbed Aaron Tremayne going into stage for their Pro Stock round one match up, Tremayne still tattooed Porter to the tree with a .030 to .140, and drove away for the win with a 7.024 to 7.039.
Brian Pursell has been behing the eight-ball after problems in qualifying with the GXP, the North Queenslander kept Tyronne Tremayne honest in their match up, but the Tremaniac Camaro still picked up maximum points with the win and 7.002 low ET of the round.
Chris Matheson ended up on a solo in the only Top Bike pairing after Andrew Badcock shut down the giggle-gas sniffing Suzuki in the other lane. The Nitro Voodoo bike started mixing up the cylinder on the top end for a 6.34, but plan to step it up on the next run.
Russ Pavey on a test pass was very sedate in the sixty with the Corvette, but still went on a straight run on full noise for a 6.099.
ALL ROUND FORMAT ROUND 2
Pro Stock opened round two for the pro classes. Pursell bombed the tyres hard off the line and went nowhere against Aaron Tremayne. It was a missed opportunity for Pursell with the Tremaniac GXP coughing on a off pace 7.06.
“When it left, it popped on the one-two gear change, then again on the two-three, whether a carburettor float was a bit sticky, and a bit of fuel come over the top of the bowl, it has happened to me before,” said Tremayne.
Tyronne Tremayne cranked out the first six-second Pro Stock run of the event with a 6.99 against Scott Porter’s honourable 7.012 to remain perfect for the weekend.
There is question marks over the health of Aaron’s engine in the turnaround area with a water leak, if it can’t be fixed they may just have to stage for the final that will be against his brother.
Mark Brew, crew chief for Clifton, turned the wick up on the dragster to take on Donnelly, but you can’t give up a monster .093 to .261 holeshot to the DBS funny car and expect to come away with the win. Donnelly clocked a 5.56 for the win and Clifton did step it up to a great 5.58, but also tagged the centreline.
Massive tyre shake for Phillips on a solo ruined his ET. Steve Reed looked to have his race wrapped up against Hargrave despite the holeshot to the Middy’s Electrical funny car, but a big bang from under the Reed funny car body before 1000ft saw Hargrave rocket past for the win with a 5.85.
Reed said post-race he doesn’t run the engine that hard or lean usually to bang the blower, so he suspects a dropped valve in the Allstar Batteries funny car.
Matheson and Badcock met in their Top Bike match race for round two, Matheson’s run was clean with nice header flames, still shut of a little early for a 6.33 at 215mph. Badcock ran 7.888 as they are still finding their way with the new fuel system set up on the nitrous Suzuki.
Crew Chief Ben Bray, turned up the Russ Pavey Corvette Pro Slammer on the line with a much quicker sixty than round one, but it still may not have been enough to get it up on the tyre with the Corvette rattling hard early.
Round two for Top Fuel Funny Car and it was McMillin versus Walshe to open the round. A clear holeshot went to McMillin in the Aeroflow funny car, the lights went out for the chasing Walshe at half track, with McMillin clicking it off before 1000ft still for a 5.082 win.
Begley missed round one, and the Dodge Charger was unfortunately shut down for round two by the starter after the burnout with a small oil leak.
In the final pairing Murrihy delivers the upset taking down championship leader Gosbell. Sparks emanated from the rear of the Rocket Industries funny car with Gosbell giving up the run after a few pedals, Murrihy zoomed away into the night with a 5.22 and what should be a A Final against McMillin unofficially.
ALL ROUND FORMAT ROUND 3
Brian Pursell will miss the final round of Pro Stock, the team found an issue with the GXP’s engine and didn’t want to risk damage ahead of the Winternationals. As a result Porter singled to his best pass of the weekend with a 7.005.
The Tremayne siblings would battle out the A-Final. Tyronne was on maximum points to this stage of the event, but it wouldn’t stay that way, the Camaro struck the tyres hard on the launch and Aaron rocketed away to 6.966 at 196mph, low ET of the event.
Russell Pavey rattled the tyres again hard in the Corvette in his final test pass of the event.
Final round for Pro Alcohol and Hargrave takes the win over a red lighting Phillips in first pairing. Hargrave had to pedal a few times for 5.85, despite the red light, Phillips again had wild tyre shake that would of ended his chances either way.
Tim Clifton ripped a 5.47 low ET of the event on a solo, easily a PB for the Pro Alcohol rookie.
A thrash for Reed to make the A-Final after dropping a valve in the previous round preluded a final full of drama against Donnelly. During the burnout the throttle cable came off, the crew quickly on to the issue, having it corrected so he could stage. In the race of the event, Donnelly strapped on a .083 to .164 holeshot, and he would need every thousandth of that advantage to hold off Reed’s 5.448 low ET powerhouse run with a winning 5.524. The action didn’t stop at the stripe, the DBS funny car had no chutes and ended up buried into the catch net, Donnelly climbed out unharmed.
Unfortunately the damage to the net can not be repaired quickly and as a result the rest of night’s racing has been cancelled.
400 Thunder Sportsman Series final round results.
Supercomp: Number one and two qualifiers, Jai Schluter and Chris Sankey met in the final. Schluter was well under the 9.50 I/MPA record in qualifying and had the performance advantage against the Sankey altered. Schluter jumped with a safe reaction and the race was his when Sankey was all out of shape spinning the slicks.
Performance Bike: The reigning 400 Thunder champion Chris Collin picked a cherry in the all B/AB final handing the easiest of wins to Nathan Ward.
Extreme Bike: Craig Edwards pulled a big wheelstand off the line in the Extreme Bike final, as Shaun Soboll rode away for a 7.41 win at 196mph
Pro Radial: Anti-climatic final with Tanya Thompson timed out trying to stage her Commodore against Jared Blair. It was an underdog win for Blair in his Supra, coming from the back of the qualifying pack, wins fell his way.
Supercharged Outlaws: Defending champion Josh Fletcher was too good for Terri Jones in the final. Fletcher was business like in the dragster going .088 on the tree and 7.324 on a 7.26 at the other end, while Jones dialled in with a super quick 6.06 looked to have shaken the rears and tossed a blower belt in the process.
Top Sportsman: Dave Gauldie, who is no stranger to finals, collected another victory in Top Sportsman, the veteran nailed a holeshot over Carl Davies’ Monza and drove past with a 8.107 on a 7.50.
Modified: Sarah Bourke let the win slip in her FED after a big holeshot, Bourke couldn’t capitalise on the top end, breaking out with a 8.491 on a 8.52, handing the win to the chasing Dallas Everett altered.
Super Sedan: In an absolute cracker of a final, Shaun Doeblien and Tim Barron were both up on the wheel ripping identical .006 reactions. Neck and neck at the stripe, Barron lit up the win light with the Beretta with a 9.342 on 9.33 to the Falcon ute’s 8.610 on a 8.58.
Modified Bike: Tammy Goldthorpe would be adding to her Christmas Tree trophy forest, it would only be a matter of colour, as she took on Brandon Lacey’s Suzuki. At the line the stretched Suzuki of Lacey upset the Modified Bike juggernaut with a tight 8.715 on 8.70.
Super Street: Brett Kelly big Falcon put the holeshot on Shaun Taskis’ Capri and held his cool to the stripe with a 10.480 on a 10.47 forcing the breakout from Taskis.
Junior Dragster: Dakoda Bray ended up staging deep after trouble getting her Junior into stage, as a result she cut a .004 light against Caleb Seng and rounded him up before the stripe with a 8.037 on a 7.96. The win marking three generation of Gold Christmas Tree winners for the Bray Family.
Junior Drag Bike: James Lowday nabbed the win overcoming a .168 to .031 holeshot to ride past Jayden Badcock before the finish line with a 9.794 on a 9.73.
PROX695: Simon Isherwood had a bye in the final of the new fast 6.95 index exhibition class. For the record Isherwood clocked a 6.975 in the final with his Oldsmobile Cutlass.
