Determined to bounce back from a disappointing Pro Stock final loss at Sydney Dragway, Rob Dekert is more motivated than ever to reclaim his dominance. The defending NDRC Pro Stock Champion sets his sights on South Australia’s Dragway At The Bend on February 8/9 for the next round of the Pro Drag Racing Championship, targeting a record-breaking run.
Contesting the A-Final at the first round of the final, Dekert set Low ET and Top Speed – 6.955 at 198mph (319kph) – of the event in the Unique Racing GXP against veteran John Barbagallo but fell just short in opening the season with a win due to a holeshot.
“We felt we had a pretty good car that weekend, I’ve had a couple red lights in the last two finals and I was a touch too conservative on the light, but highly motivated for the next race meeting,” said Dekert.
Despite the loss the team are positive with the GXP’s performance. With qualifying being washed out from the weather the team’s had no track time heading into the first round of the All Run Format.
“For not having much data that day we were very happy with the car’s performance just some driver error on my part let the team down,” continued Dekert.
An error Dekert is determined not to let happen again.
“I’m really trying to dial in and focus on my reaction times and try and get back on track for the rest of this season. I was happy with the performance, just trying to now be a little bit more consistent on the parts of racing that I have been lacking in the last couple race meetings,” Dekert said.
Dragway At The Bend has quickly gained a reputation as a venue where records are broken, and the regular below sea level atmospheric conditions are ideal for the naturally aspirated 400 cubic inch Pro Stock engines, and Dekert is eager to return to the venue for the Pro Drag Racing Championship chase.
“Yes, very excited to get back on the track and to hopefully run some pretty quick times and catch up with all the racers,” grinned Dekert. “The Bend has very good altitude and the venue is on point, so we are very much looking forward to racing back there again.
“Depending on conditions of the race meeting, if the conditions are good anything is possible, and we will have some good safe racing on the day.
Dekert was victorious the last time he raced at Dragway At The Bend, and just fell shy of breaking National Record by a few hundredths of second. Now sitting second in the points, the Victorian team will certainly be hard to stop come round two of this year’s NDRC/PDRC Pro Stock Championship as he targets reclaiming the championship points lead.
Dekert thanks his sponsors; Unique Body Smash Repairs, ETS Race Fuels Australia, Ridgeway Motorsports, Plucka’s Racecraft, Outlaws Images, Boozoom Alcohol, Jat’s Automotive, Nexus Pools, Custom Engines, Powerup Electrical Solutions for their support.
The PDRC are not just bringing Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle to Dragway At The Bend but also see Pro Alcohol, Pro Mod and Pro Import for the very first time ever – Feb 8/9 2025.
General Admission tickets are available NOW at https://www.outix.co/tickets/event/summit2425-tcs4 – and remember KIDS UNDER 15 FREE!
