Pro Stock competition is so tight that any slip up is costly under the challenging NDRC All Run Format as wily veteran Chris Soldatos experienced in the Soldatos Motorsports Pontiac GTO at the opening round of the NDRC/PDRC Australian Pro Stock Championship.
With rain washing out qualifying all competitors had to be on their games coming into round of the All Run Format with no on-track data. In turn, Soldatos was a bit rusty on the tree for his first past of the season with his showdown against John Barbagallo and paid the price.
“In the All Run Format, it’s crucial to get the win and a good time. We had the ET points but couldn’t get the win light, which set us back,” said Soldatos mulling over his first round loss.
Despite the loss, the team remained optimistic for the rest of the event and bounced back defeating Mario Polito in round two on the back of a strong 6.95 pass.
“After the first round, we knew we had to come up with a win light, and we did just that,” said a determined Soldatos.
The win and ET were enough to catapult Soldatos into a B-Final against last season’s championship runner-up Rick Chilton. With Soldatos holding a start line advantage on the green, the GTO extended its lead to stripe with a 6.994 win light to conclude a strong recovery from the first round falter.
“We could have had a worse weekend. We didn’t get a win, but we’re in a good place heading into Round 2 at The Bend,” reflected Soldatos. “There will be fast cars, so we’ll need to be on our game.”
Returning to South Australia, the birthplace of Pro Stock on February 8-9 for Round 2 of the NDRC/PDRC Pro Stock Series, Soldatos will seek his redemption at the place of pace – Dragway At The Bend.
The venue just into its second year of operation is already well-known for its record setting credentials and Soldatos knows all about records as the current National Pro Stock Record for ET (6.859) and Speed (199.71mph/321.40kph) in his GTO.
Pro Stock’s only outing ever at Dragway At The Bend was last season and Rob Dekert narrowly missed the national ET mark by a mere .002 of second. Soldatos knows the field will be gunning for his record and potentially the first 200mph pass of the unleaded fuel era, he will need to unleash all the horsepower his GTO can muster to be first across the stripe.
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!
Credit – Pro Stock Australia
