The National Drag Racing Championship has today announced major improvements to the Season One Aeroflow National Sportsman Championship calendar, including an additional dedicated sportsman event in QLD, points boosts for Eastern Conference motorcycle competitors, a Melbourne double header, and a new date for the Sportsman National Grand Final.
The NDRC feels keenly the challenges sportsman racers have faced in the first five months of the championship, with several lost rounds across both Conferences including the Desert Nationals, The Spring Nationals, Sportsman at Heathcote, the December round at Willowbank, and the Xmas Showdown in Sydney.
Eastern Conference Bike racers have perhaps suffered the most due to the inability to host motorcycle racing at IHRA tracks, most notably Sydney Dragway. This is a situation the NDRC and all lovers of drag racing want to see resolved as soon as possible.
All in all, we’ve lost a truly significant amount of sportsman racing. Our shared desire is to have a meaningful and fair national series and conference system leading to a true National Grand Final.
The NDRC has made some positive decisions that we feel address these issues and ensure a proper conclusion to the Sportsman racing season.
The Willowbank round on February 16-17 (originally including Group 1) is now a dedicated Aeroflow Sportsman Championship round. It will run as a one day event on Saturday 17 February, and the venue will offer test and tune sessions the day before.
Sportsman racers will have the freshly upgraded Willowbank track all to themselves and their fans! Also, the NDRC is going to reward bike competitors with 50% bonus points given the lack of racing opportunities in Sydney (awarded in exactly the same way as travel bonus points).
To help Eastern Conference Victorian racers make up for the lost Heathcote round, the Calder Park round in February 24-25 will now be an Aeroflow Sportsman Championship Double Header!
The Calder Park Sportsman double header sees one entry fee, two days of racing, two sets of trophies, and two sets of Championship points … all over one mega weekend giving all racers double the value. Qualifying for both days will be run at the start of the Day 1 event, with the Day 2 event going straight to the elimination phase based on those same qualifying results.
To make up for the lost December Willowbank round, we’ve added an additional round at Willowbank on April 13, 2024. This will feature the Aeroflow Sportsman Championship (plus Nitro Funny Cars, with other Group 1 categories to be announced in the New Year). This is also a one day event, and again the NDRC will reward bike competitors with the opportunity to earn 50% bonus points.
In order to fit in all this additional Sportsman racing, we’ve made changes to the location and dates of the Conference Finals.
The River Bend Nationals at The Bend in April 2024 (ANDRA sanction) will now be the Final of the Western Conference (previously Mildura). The Winternationals (IHRA sanction) in June 2024 will now be the Final of the Eastern Conference (previously Calder).
The Aeroflow Sportsman Season One Grand Final will now take place at the October 2024 round scheduled for The Bend (also featuring Top Fuel and Group 1). Event details will be announced in early 2024.
The extra time between the end of the Conference Series and the Grand Final will give Sportsman Racers who have qualified three months to make the travel and operational preparations to challenge for the Aeroflow Sportsman National titles at The Dragway at The Bend’s Spring Nationals.
It’s important to note that changes to the calendar have been discussed with all venues included in the calendar.
The existing rounds at Springmount, Darwin, Alice Springs and Mildura will all take place at their scheduled times between July and August and form part of Season 2. This creates an unusual, but completely manageable, overlap between the Grand Final of Season 1 and the start of Season 2.
The revised calendar as well as championship and event information, tickets and entries can be found by visiting the website – nationaldragracing.com.au
