The hotly contested Atura NSW Championship series is go for another year, as racers begin their quest for a Sydney Dragway track championship.
Starting off with Top Sportsman and Paul Crocker honoured his late mate and fellow competitor Frank Palumbo with a win from his little Escort, Crocker overcame a substantial start line deficit to drive around Thomas Leake with a 8.36 on a 8.25.
Modified Eliminator mixed things up a bit by qualifying on reaction times, a great idea for any sportsman dial your own bracket, and the honour went to Jenny Petrie with a perfect light in her fiat bodied altered.
In the final was Josh Leahy who was steering Kelsey Walford’s “Gas Gal” altered. The car has been misbehaving since purchased, and after some chassis modification, Leahy gave it a test run and came home with the winner’s trophy after when Alan White picked off a cherry against him in the final. Though Leahy’s tight 8.68 on a 8.67 final’s package would of been a tough one to beat anyway, so the changes appear to work just fine!
A red light decided the Super Sedan final with Brian Mortensen on the gas 9 thou too early throwing the win to Jim Denaro to draw first blood in one of the hardest fought brackets in the series.
Robert Simmonds began his chase for a fifth straight Modified Bike track championship with a final’s appearance but was outgunned at the tree by 400 Thunder Champion Sean Ricketts forcing the ‘Simmonator’ to break out.
In Super Gas Darryl Stephen dropped a .001 reaction on Vince Panetta in the final, and capped off the run with a 9.910 at the strip for the win, forcing a 9.892 breakout from the Panetta Torana.
Super Street fielded the largest number of cars of any bracket of the event, and it was Anthony Gattellari with his Holden ute and Bill Hatzi’s wheelstanding Camaro left standing for the final. Gattellari had the start line jump in the final, but both racers pushed each other to a break out at the stripe, Gattellari going under by the least amount with a 10.682 on a 10.69 for the win.
James Hazzard won Junior Dragster on a holeshot with his .012 reaction, and despite Chelsea Smith’s 7.972 on a 7.97, could not run down the Hazzard dragster’s 8.093 on a 8.07.
Danny Stadelmaier red lit in his little peace loving Echo against reigning champion David Jennings in the Street Fighter final.
Street Bike only had a small field, and the final featured opposing levels of experience, with long time racer Michael Borg racing relatively newcomer Sharona Reddy. Despite a slack reaction time from Borg, experience won out this time at the line riding around Reddy for the winner’s trophy.
Finally the HAMBster round robin battle was won by James Rodriquez in a double breakout final against Anthony Mastromauro,
Pro Extreme, Top Comp, Super Comp and Supercharged Outlaws did not have the numbers to make fields and were reduced to just test runs. Also testing was Stephen Brown in the ‘Light Horse’ AA/Fuel Altered, and the team are making steady progress in licensing with a strong half track run.
And those wild Extreme Bikes put on a exhibition bracket.
Next round of the Atura NSW Championship Series is on March 23.
