The Saltwood @ Rosedale Australia Day Nationals was set to host two rounds of championship racing for Top Fuel at Sydney Dragway this weekend (January 26/27), however only one has been completed with no racing held on day two due to wet weather.
Following a difficult day one filled with mechanical issues beyond the team’s control on Friday, Hydraulink Jim Read Racing was highly disappointed with Mother Nature Saturday, as they had hoped for a much better day on the track for day two.
However, it wasn’t to be, and now the team awaits news (expected Wednesday) as to when Saturday’s round of the Top Fuel title chase will be rescheduled to by the National Drag Racing Championship (NDRC).
“We were straight into racing on Friday with no qualifying in this weekend’s format to allow the two championship rounds to be held over two days,” Hydraulink Jim Read Racing Crew Chief, Bruce Read, explained.
“In round one we pulled a main stud while up against eventual A-Final winner, Wayne Newby.
“In round two it was a lot more fun with a side-by-side three second pass with Peter Xiberras, with Phil laying down a 3.917 second holeshot win at 456.14kph to better Xiberras’ 3.906/501.87kph effort. But it still wasn’t completely smooth with spark plug issues, part of the issue of some bad batches in America over the past year.
“We then lined up for the C-Final against Shane Olive and everything started off great, but then we broke a crank and that was that.
“We were really hopeful of having a better day for day two, it was going to be a complete reset with another full round of the title chase to be run, but Mother Nature had better ideas it seems. So now we regroup and get ready for what’s next.”
Hydraulink Jim Read Racing Driver, Phil Read, joined his brother and crew chief in lamenting what could have been.
“Aside from a pretty cool pass and win against Xiberras in the second round, Friday was quite difficult for us here in Sydney and frustratingly due to mechanical issues that are outside of the team’s control,” Phil Read said.
“But we pulled the positives out of the day and we regrouped overnight and were ready and rearing to go Saturday for a shot at redemption.
“Unfortunately, Mother Nature instead took the win on Saturday, and we weren’t able to head out on track, despite the best efforts of the NDRC and track officials to make it happen.
“You can’t beat the weather sometimes as much as you want to, so now we look forward to the pending calendar update and getting back on track to try again soon.
“In the meantime, as always we want to thank all of our fans both on-track and those who reached out online with well wishes, and to all of our sponsors for their support – we couldn’t do this without you.
“We also want to say a big thank you to ‘Jim O’ who was here with us in Sydney for this weekend after the original plans for him to visit for the Top Fuel XMas Showdown were rained out. As always his help and knowledge were exceptionally helpful,” concluded Phil, referring to highly respected Rick Ware Racing Top Fuel Dragster Crew Chief, Jim Oberhofer.
Hydraulink Jim Read Racing is supported on track by Hydraulink, Valvoline, Snap-On, McDonalds, FXD Workwear, PremiAir Hire, Odyssey Batteries, PMP Motorsport Products, Diamond Pistons, Trend Performance Wrist Pins, Oasis Aquatics, Oasis Heat Pumps, Speed Gas, Spa Electric Pool Lighting, Pacific Pools and Comp Cams. The team also thanks Richard Smith for his assistance with photography services. To learn more about Hydraulink Jim Read Racing, visit https://www.facebook.com/JimReadRacing
