Next weekend (October 18-20) will host two massive sportsman racing events as part of the Aeroflow National Sportsman Championship at Dragway at The Bend.
Friday hosts the Street Machine Sportsman Spring Nationals with $25,000 in prize money up for grabs. Competitors will not only be duking it out for the dollars, but also valuable points in the 2024/2025 Aeroflow National Sportsman Championship and a special Street Machine Spring Nationals trophy.
Saturday and Sunday will then see racers who qualified through their performance across the Eastern and Western conferences competing to be crowned the outright Aeroflow National Sportsman Champions for the 2023/2024 season and an NDRC Grand Final Christmas Tree trophy, plus their share of an additional $25,000 prize purse.
Dean Jamieson heads to the Grand Final as the Western and Eastern Conference winner for Modified Bike and was also the winner of his bracket at the NDRC’s last trip to Dragway at The Bend – the Riverbend Nationals.
“I am feeling semi-confident that we will go well; the Bend is my home quarter-mile track and I am also the current Track Champion for Modified Bike, so that gives me some confidence and hopefully will give me a bit of an edge over what is a really high quality field,” Jamieson said.
“There are some very tough racers lining up for this battle. For example, Sean Ricketts is someone who has been a benchmark in our bracket for three to four years so to take it out over him, and racers like him, would be fantastic – no one in this field will be a push over, that is for sure.
“Honestly, to win the title would be something really special – I lost my dad in November of last year and he was my biggest supporter, so to win it for him would be really huge for me.
“Family is so important, and my 19-year-old daughter Marissa goes to all the events with me and really enjoys the drag racing; she is my crew chief and does all the hard yards with me, so to win it together would be amazing.”
Super Gas Colin Griffin is another racer who has triumphed in both conferences across the 2023/2024 season.
The Craigieburn (Victorian) racer is currently doing all he can to make sure he is as prepared as possible for the winner takes all challenge which lays ahead.
“I have done really well all year and the reality is you could have one bad run and it will be all done, so I am going over the entire car and making sure everything is as good as I can get it, and then we will just hope for the best!” Griffin said.
“To win it would just be great, it has been a long season and I have done quite well already, so to get this title on top would really top it off.”
For event information, visit https://nationaldragracing.com.au/event/sportsman-national-grand-final/
