Top Fuel Motorcycle racer Jay Upton and team are headed back to Sydney Dragway for the first time since 2009 for this weekend’s East Coast Thunder.
After an extended break from championship racing, Upton and the ‘big white bike’ have been testing at their home track with the intent of making the most powerful bike in Australia more reliable. Having run as fast as 333kmh (205mph) at the eighth mile mark, horsepower is no issue.
400 Thunder kicked off the new championship at Nitro Up North in Darwin in July where Upton won the event and took every point there was. The following weekend, the team ran at the Desert Nationals in Alice Springs, winning again and resetting the track record. They also did both events on one engine, with reliability showing through.
Ahead of East Coast Thunder, Upton has welcomed three of his everyday business partners as racing partners. Upton owns and operates Wear Parts WA (www.wearpartswa.com.au), who distribute the WPA range of Ground Engaging Tools (for construction and mining machines). Also coming on board are Gulf Western Oils, with their range of oils, greases and other associated products for the transport, construction, mining and automotive performance markets.
“It’s great to be able to sell the products we endorse and to endorse the products we sell everyday,” Upton said. “The Gulf Western Comp R50 that we use in the bike has made a fantastic improvement to our reliability. You can have the same oil for your high performance car, or the latest OEM-approved extended oil change Top Dog Indestructible for your big rigs.”
The Top Fuel B Double is proudly supported by Specialised Equipment Xpress (SEX), a growing family-owned trucking business out of Newcastle, NSW. Specialised Equipment Xpress specialise in show freight (they’re currently hauling 63 semi-trailer loads of the Taylor Swift Show around Australia) and is Rio Tinto’s preferred carrier in Australia.
Managing director Grant Mundy is a huge supporter of the team and his enthusiasm is infectious.
“Having Grant and the SEX team on board is fantastic. Grant is a hard worker, pushing us to excel, and allowing me to concentrate more on going fast,” Upton said.
Upton loves to race in Sydney and considers the track the best in the country, despite surviving a huge crash there in 2009 (https://youtu.be/BXryx4ilUTU).
Sydney Dragway is celebrating 15 years of racing this year and Upton is proud to have run the first two professional category national records ever at the opening event.
Current national champion Chris Matheson will also be there, doing his best to keep Upton at bay this weekend, so stout performances are pretty much guaranteed!
– Media release
