Queensland drag racing is proving something of a leader when it comes to new generation drag racing categories, showing in several new marks set during Saturday’s Queensland Drag Racing Championship at Willowbank Raceway.
Rod Harvey’s Toyota Celica belted out a 5.94 but it was the speed that set tongues wagging, a massive 253.14mph that was only just shy of the world’s fastest import run – 253.47 by Gary White. Whatever New Zealand’s Harvey has discovered lately for the Yuasa team, it seems to be working!
Ace Edwards created history on his Suzuki, running Australia’s first no-bar six second run. Edwards didn’t just sneak in either, running 6.93 and cracking his first 200mph pass to boot. As if that wasn’t enough, his reaction time was .000 too.
Terry Seng overcame his problematic Winternationals with a stunning 6.73/199mph, the quickest and fastest run for a factory block and head LS motor in the world.
“After doing some suspension changes and finally having the time to corner weight the Chev, we were really happy with the half track time on our first pass, we knew our goal was within sight,” he said.
“We can still make some improvements from the data we collected. We’ll keep working on it and see where we end up.”
Like Seng, Aaron Tremayne had a Winternationals to forget when he missed the Pro Stock field, but the many times Pro Stock champion bounced back on Saturday with a 6.88/198mph pass, making the Mega car the quickest and fastest naturally aspirated small block Chev in the world.
The biggest and most exciting category of the day was Kenda Tires Pro Radial, which was not without records of its own. With almost 70 entries this heads up class has gone crazy and the pace continues to get ever quicker. After two rounds of qualifying, Perry Bullivant’s new Proline Racing combo had proved its worth with a 4.36 from the Snickers Camaro holding top position, with the top ten looking like this:
1 PERRY BULLIVANT 4.367 172.30
2 JOE GAUCI 4.446 177.11
3 SHAUN HALE 4.540 176.74
4 BRETT BENZ 4.866 147.49
5 COREY DARKE 4.894 147.88
6 SCOTT HIPWELL 5.023 155.61
7 DANNY LANSDOWNE 5.161 148.14
8 DANIEL PURNELL 5.177 136.97
9 ASHLEY MASON 5.351 135.05
10 DOUG DAY 5.354 131.09
Bullivant would prove unstoppable during racing. After a 4.37, 4.35, Bullivant dropped a new Australian eight mile radial record of 4.28 in the third round before a 4.49 in the final to defeat James Horan.
“The Camaro was flawless all day, running faster every pass,” he said. “Kon Michaloudakis, my tuner, you are by far the best in the business and I’m looking forward to setting many more records with you.”
Super Comp saw Jai Schluter’s 9.23 on a 9.23 H/MP index defeat Rolinia Tremayne, who got loose on the cooling race track and had to abort the run in her B/DA.
Ace Edwards might have been a favourite to take out Comp Bike following his six second blast but it was Chris Collin getting the last laugh as his 8.56 on an 8.38 C/AB index got by a faltering 8.12 from Edwards.
Rob Harrington seems to be capable of winning no matter how long he spends out of the seat and he was back in form again with a victory over Stephen Gouws in Modified with a 7.14 on a 7.06 dial in.
In Super Sedan, Paul Doeblien red lighted away his chances with a big -.087 to see Allan Woods take the win with a 9.85 on a 9.83 dial in.
Jeff Sutcliffe was the winner of a rather sleepy Modified Bike final, with his .272 reaction time getting the holeshot over an even less glamorous .359 from Daniel Sekli. A 9.22 on a 9.20 dial in for Sutcliffe was much better however as Sekli broke out by two hundredths.
Super Street stalwart Neil Tschutura went cherry picking with a -.034 red light to hand Andrew Stathis the win.
Jett Willshire was there to take advantage in the Junior Dragster final when Joshua Langridge also went red, his a big -.073.
The next round of the QDRC takes place on August 12. Thanks to the boys at Drag Photos for all the top work yet again!
