Frankie Taylor set not one but two personal best ETs across the Gulf Western Oil Nitro Thunder event at Sydney Dragway at the weekend, while between them Taylor and stable-mate Ben Bray claimed three race wins for the GWO-supported Team Bray Racing.
While blisteringly cold weather for Friday’s two test sessions saw the majority of the Pro Slammer field unable to set representative times, come Saturday’s test run US-star Taylor was able to lay down a 5.744s pass at 239.44mph – a new mark for the Texan in Australia.
When it came time for the three-round ‘all run’ racing format, Taylor would go on to better that personal best ET to 5.703s at 255mph in his second round redemption win over Steven Ham. That PB effort followed on from a first-round loss against Ham and preceded a third-round victory over the Moits Racing Mustang.
“We may not have won the meeting outright – our congratulations go to John Zappia on his victory – but for me to walk away with two race wins and having reset and then bettered my personal best here in Australia is something I am very happy about,” Taylor said.
“It was also really great to see the fans at Gulf Western Oil Nitro Thunder – I am told the crowd was the biggest it has been in years and that is always great to see.”
For Bray, a 5.716/251.85mph round one win over Michelle Davies preceded some more difficult racing in rounds two and three.
“In round one we had a great run to the finish against Michelle to take the opening win in the Gulf Western Oil TBR Pro Slammer,” Ben said.
“In round two we looked set to do it again, however, unfortunately we had a gear break at the 1000-foot mark which gave Emilio Spinozzi the chance to drive around me right on the finish line!
“For round three, Mark Belleri broke his car on the start line, but as I was running down the track I unfortunately got out of the groove and crossed the centre line which saw the win handed back to Mark.
“While things might not have gone to plan for me, it was great to see Frankie putting out some really strong times and for TBR to have the chance to put on a show in our Pro Slammers and also the burnout car for such a huge crowd – it was the biggest I have seen at Sydney Dragway in 10 years I think!”
Following the Gulf Western Oil Nitro Thunder event, which was the penultimate round of the 400 Thunder Pro Slammer championship, the battle for third place will continue to the Gulf Western Oil Winternationals in June with Taylor (fourth – 362 points) and Bray (fifth – 347 points) still hot on the heels of third-placed Belleri (390 points).
Before TBR heads to that event, to be held at their home-track of Willowbank Raceway, they will first visit the Ipswich (Queensland) facility this coming Saturday (May 12) for the Aeroflow Outlaw Nitro Funny Car event where Ben will compete in the Top Sportsman bracket in his Gulf Western Oil Toyota Solara.
– Media release courtesy TBR. To keep up to date with all of the latest news from TBR, visit www.teambrayracing.com, follow the team on Facebook at www.facebook.com/teambrayracing, or interact with them on instagram (#teambrayracing).
