The final round of the 2023 Kenda 660 Tires Drag Radial Series headed to North Queensland with Willowbank Raceway out of action, along with a whole bunch of radial tyre warriors to fight out the final round of the championship.
Awesome looking championship belts were on offer for the series winners literally, but the tricky condition of the Tropics would make any winner earn the title.
With the sun out during the day it was hard work to hook up the finicky radials, still the Kenda team worked tirelessly on the prep and the track responded when the sun went down and racing got serious.
Standing up at the end of the night to collect the event win and title belts were;
Outlaw 315
Winner: Paul Merry
Runner Up: Steve Smith
Champion: Paul Merry
Outlaw 275
Winner: Rob Chaplin
Runner Up: Randall Laurie
Champion: Geoff Campbell Brown
Outlaw 235
Winner: Scott Cortina
Runner Up: Jaiden Seng
Champion: Scott Cortina
OG 315
Winner: James Horan
Runner Up: Clint Heburn
Champion: James Horan
OG275
Winner: Grantley Schloss
Runner Up: Billy Shelton
Champion: Cameron McNabb
Radial Renegade
Winner: Luke Rosadi
Runner Up: Jason Seng
Champion: Jason Seng
Radial Ruckus
Winner: Jamie Kitching
Runner Up: Derek Logan
Champion: Derek Logan
Radial Rumble
Winner: Dean Zammit
Runner Up: Shane Locke
Champion: Chris Pattinson
Radial Rebels
Winner: Hayden Clark
Runner Up: Dave Rickards
Champion: Filip Petrovic
NEWS & NOTES HIT LIST
Cashed Up: Scott Cortina cleaned swept the event and boosted the bank account at Karnage. While winning the event and the championship in Outlaw 235 with his 481x powered HG and all the cash and bling that comes with that, Cortina went with the 275 shoes and won the $10K Sugar Daddy Shootout on the Friday night.
Reward for perseverance: We have heard plenty of horror road trip stories over the years, and Victorian Rob Chaplin added to the collection. Chaplin’s started before he even left, finding a cylinder head problem with his nitrous Camaro, just days before needing to leave, a thrash by Westend Performance in Sydney had the team on their way with a 14 hour day one journey ending with a dirt detour making a mess of the trailer and ute. Day two’s 8 hour journey turned into 15 when the trailer blew three tyres, making that a total of five for the trip leaving them stranded. A tilt tray came to the rescue to get the car to the track unharmed, albeit in a need of a good rinse as the trailer was limped to the track.
Good testing with .00 lights and a 4.70 had Chaplin in good stead for the the Sugar Daddy Shootout even after swapping out a couple of injectors. However the hot temperatures in the first round had the nitrous car looking to impale itself on the wall and Chaplin wisely aborted the run – “It was like driving on wet grass.” Later that night a suspension issue was found due to the adventurous trek north.
Race day though Chaplin went to the top with a 4.72 in Outlaw 275 qualifying and after hunting down more nitrous, battled through the racing rounds, culminating in a 4.62 event best ET win in the final over series champion Geoff Campbell-Brown, capping off a fine rookie racing season.
Thanks to Rogue Snapper and Deb Ford Photography for these images of the event.
