The highly anticipated Burson Auto Parts Australian Top Fuel Championship is finally here, and it delivered on the promise of a taking drag racing into a new era of event promotion and fan entertainment.
In these very tough times for event organisers, kudos has to be paid to the event promoters and Top Fuel Australia for pushing ahead during a COVID peak in Sydney while other events – not just in drag racing – were being cancelled in NSW and around the country. Also knowing full well there would be a hesitancy for fans to attend major events, coupled with a not so promising weather forecast.
The weather did strike on the Friday of the event, only one round of qualifying was predominately completed, despite multiple drying attempts of the track surface by hard-working Sydney Dragway officials. Persistent rain squalls eventually forced the organisers to raise the white flag on the day’s proceedings.
However, despite a light shower that delayed to start to the Saturday program, the day evolved into the best Summer conditions one could hope for in Sydney, and the show would be able to deliver its full potential.
A very strong crowd rocked up despite all the factors against the event, and they were treated to some stunning Top Fuel racing, with the addition of a plenty of support categories including Top Bike, Pro Mod and Pro Stock as flames and pyro detonated with each pass down track. When racing wasn’t happening, there were drift displays, crazy Freestyle Motocross riders flipping for the cheering crowd, or fans could suck up the nitro fumes with the many Top Fuel warm ups. The night finished with a tyre destroying blown car burnout display and fireworks spectacular.
The event was streamed live on the World Wide Web through the Sydney Dragway YouTube channel, with the main program going national on 7Plus, and since the event, the produced show has gone to air on 7Mate for maximum exposure of the product and sponsors.
With all the factors working against the show – and of course for a first effort there will be tweaks and changes to come to the experience – it was still considered highly successful by spectators, racers and event organisers.
Event promoter Andy Lopez – co-owner of the Summernats, MotorEx and Out There Productions – who has partnered with the man behind Supercars TV production and media, Nathan Prendergast and Top Fuel Australia in delivering the new series was beaming after the event.
“It was an awesome weekend at Sydney,” said Lopez. “Friday was tough with weather, but we still got some good racing away. Saturday was fantastic. We got kissed on the dick with the weather, and a really big crowd enjoyed world class racing. Seven Top Fuel cars at the one show was sensational.”
“We tried a different style of show, with FMX, drifting, fireworks, music, and a proud presentation of the Top Fuel show. All the racers got treated with respect, the Sydney Dragway officials worked really hard, and we ended up with a great show.”
To racing, and in Top Fuel and Peter Xiberras’ test run against Phil Lamattina during the morning on Friday was only supposed to be a half-track shakedown pass with the team unable to do any testing in the lead up to the event. Fortunately, the PremiAir Racing team principal didn’t obey the team plan and kept into the noise for a 3.83 at 279MPH, unknowingly at the time this would count as his first qualifier.
With dark clouds rolling in from the South, the first qualifying session opened with American Larry Dixon and Shane Olive – in his first side by side Top Fuel run – that saw the striking Burson Auto Parts dragster streak away on a 3.89 297MPH blast. Phil Read sent the new Hydraulink dragster quicker in the next pairing with a 3.85 at a stomping 312MPH as Newby zinged the tyres on the hit.
As fate would have it, Xiberras and Lamattina lined up again as the final pairing of Q1 in a repeat of the test session. As both drivers were bumping into stage, rain started to fall and their machines shutdown by officials. Continual intermittent showers forced the cancellation of the of qualifying for the evening and it was agreed for the test passes to count as their first qualifier.
Far better weather conditions – at least on the rain front – were presented to the Top Fuel teams on Saturday, though the humidity and quickly warming track would be a curveball in their rescheduled Q2 attempt.
The results showed this with no one able to topple Xiberras’ time from the day before, in fact the top three positions remained unchanged. Dixon though moved into fourth with a 3.957, while Wayne Newby and Lamattina rounded out the field with troubled but improved runs 4.389 and 5.391 respectively.
After the opening ceremony and TV introductions that showed off the spectacular sight of all the Top Fuel cars lined up side by side, we had Xiberras and Lamattina kick off the new age in Top Fuel. The FUCHS dragster left with a clear holeshot but hazed the tyres, a quick pedal from Lamattina wasn’t enough allowing Xiberras to drive around with a 3.86 to 4.25. The power went away early for Newby in the next pairing as the RAI team’s number one car still seems to have a few cobwebs to blow out. Read rocketed away in the other lane to a 3.98. The first round of racing was closed out with a tight race 3.91 to 4.03 with US import Dixon the victor for RAI over Olive in his first ever Top Fuel race.
Top Fuel were running a three-round format, 30 championship points for the win, 10 points for a loss, only other points available are for low ET and top speed, with bonus points for the finalists who will be decided by points and ET after round two.
Newby lost the blower belt at half-track in his round two race against Xiberras, the PremiAir car at a 3.90 was a little vulnerable shredding the belt in the top end as well. The win set the scenario that Dixon and Read would need to win and run quicker in their pairings to oust Xiberras out of a final. Olive blazed the tyres on the hit against Read, and the Hydraulink dragster ripped a 3.88 to guarantee the Jim Read Racing team a shot at the event win. With Dixon needing the win and to run quicker than 3.90 against Lamattina, the ANDRA emblazoned dragster threw the belt at half track and Dixon watched helplessly as the FUCHS dragster brought on the win light with a 3.94.
In the third round and racing for championship points Olive experienced the downside of nitro racing, after a major thrash in the pits with cylinder head issues, the Burson’s car grenaded an engine while leading Newby. The RAI dragster came past for the win and the was team back on track with a nice 3.87. The next race was a classic, Lamattina side by side with Dixon, 3.88 to 3.89, giving Lamattina third place of the event. If you thought that race was good, Phil Read said ‘hold my beer’ for the final. Read planted Xiberras to the tree with a .077 to .189 reaction and held off a closing Xiberras with a 3.89 to an event low 3.82 holeshot win.
“Hats off to my crew and Hydraulink, I rolled her in a little bit deep, the brakes have been playing up a bit all day, and I didn’t mean to go in that deep,” Read said after the final. “The car has been flawless all day, to debut a new car, hats off to my brother and all my guys, just a great job all weekend to turn it around.”
“This is new Top Fuel series is alive and well, and I think we’re going places.”
PremiAir Racing team team principal and drive Xiberras was still upbeat after the final.
“What a spectacular new series and what a wonderful event – our congratulations go to Andy Lopez, the track staff and the rest of the team behind the Burson Auto Parts Australian Top Fuel Championship; they have created a fantastic event and we have thoroughly enjoyed ourselves this weekend,” Xiberras said.
“We headed to this event feeling like we were the underdogs, as we had been unable to complete any testing since our title-winning and record-breaking performance at the Winternationals back in June of 2021, whereas all the other teams had had the chance to get on track before this event,” Xiberras explained.
“To come to this event after so much time off the track and Top Qualify and then take out the runner-up trophy has been absolutely fantastic – even if it stings a bit to have lost the victory on the startline,” he sheepishly grinned.
First round jitters struck the Top Fuel Motorcycle field, with only three bikes completing passes in the first qualifier. Victorian Rob Cassar dropped a personal best 7.09 at 185mph onboard his Kawasaki to top the sheets after Q1. Danny Rickard in his Top Fuel Motorcycle debut hugged the centreline for an 8.11 with his Pro Fuel Harley, and Chris Matheson clicked it of just past the sixty on his attempt.
The status quo remained after round two with no one improving on their ETs.
Matheson opened his win account defeating Rickard in round one in an untidy affair for the Nitro Voodoo bike, 7.67 to 7.86. Zahra who experienced a nasty backfire in the warmup back in the pits made the start line and clocked a 7.53 win over Locky Ireland aboard Rod Barchet’s nitrous Suzuki, and Rob Cassar ran a 7.03 PB on a solo to finish up.
Round two started with Matheson beginning to find the tune up with a 6.51 over a problematic run for Zahra, the win guaranteeing a final slot. Cassar overcame a holeshot to ride around Rickard with a 7.06 to 7.67 race to take the other final opening.
In the third round Rickard grabbed the points with a 7.80 over Zahra whose bike didn’t want to play the game all weekend. Cassar was the underdog in the fight for the event title, his Kawasaki was singing and consistent all weekend, but in the end despite another solid run with a 7.05 couldn’t fend off the power of Matheson’s machine. Matheson on Nitro Voodoo winning the event with a 6.71.
Tricky conditions for the aspirated Pro Stock cars met the field in Q1. Chris Soldatos just edged Rob Dekert out for provisional pole with a 6.941 to a 6.946 respectively in a classic side by side Pro Stock dual that brought cheers from the crowd. Clint George the nearest competitor to the six second duo with a 7.05. The top half of the field didn’t change for Q2 with the midday conditions knocking a few hundredths of the ETs.
Round one was missing Mario Polito and Darryl Stephen with both racers retiring from the event. Dekert still had his GXP on rails though, shooting to a 6.94 win over Bruce Leake’s 7.11. Rick Chilton’s Avenger had an issue leaving George on a solo which he clocked off with a 7.10. Nino Cavallo who has been having niggling issues getting the Avenger to the start line pulled a monster red light handing an easy 7.14 win to Soldatos, who was lucky in his own right with the car rolling through the beams as well.
Dekert again had it on a string in round two with another 6.94 defeating a valiant 7.08 from Chilton, this certainly would see the Victorian into the final. Soldatos escaped again when Leake rolled the beams, and the Soldatos Pontiac rattled hard on the hit forcing him to abort the run. Cavallo again jumped before the tree came down as George headed for the centreline before wisely aborting the pass to secure the win, and by virtue of a quicker ET than Soldatos was through to the final.
The field was reduced to four cars for the final round, Soldatos got the Pontiac’s start line in order with a 6.99 to take down Chilton’s 7.18. The final was an anti-climax, George looked to take a big swing at the tree in a hope to holeshot Dekert and left before it had activated, Dekert kept it together for a 6.96 and the event win which included $10k in prizemoney.
“The Unique Body Smash Repairs GXP entered the Sydney Top Fuel Championship round purely to get some more testing under the team’s belt,” said Dekert. “And with Nino Cavallo and Chris Soldatos coming up for a run we were able to see how close we are getting performance wise out of this Ridgeway Motorsports Slawko headed beast.”
“We are super excited how the car and team are performing, without the support of my family we wouldn’t be doing this, Braydon my son works on the car and has been great support for the guys. Paul, Hayley, Matt, Merv, Simon, Jordy for giving the guys a hand when needed, Peter Ridgeway for the ongoing support.”
Pro Mod were in the house, the turbo and blower machines were doing battle heads up on a 5.85 index. Zoran Gajic has proven to be Mr Consistency in the GAS Racing twin turbo Mustang, slotting it in pole with a 5.894, even so narrowly edging out Jeremy Callaghan’s 5.897 in his twin turbo Camaro.
Joseph Murina picked off a cherry in round one with his blown Corvette as Greg ‘Mauler’ Tsakiridis dropped a 5.88 in the other lane from the ICE Group twin turbo Mustang. Peter Lovering’s classic ’55 Shoebox Chev upset Callaghan 6.08 to 8.55 and Gajic was close to perfect with a 5.86 defeating Rob Campisi’s aborted run.
Lovering’s Chev looked more like a steam train as smoke pumped out of the right header bank as he bumped into stage against Murina in their round two clash. Murina went from post to post in the race ahead of the shoebox winning with a 6.09 to 6.10. Callaghan and Tsakiridis were up next in a heavyweight hit out, Tsakiridis gave the win away with a red light before the Mustang billowed smoke in what may have been a transmission expiry, nevertheless the Mustang was done for the event, as Callaghan went 5.88. Campisi shut his Mustang after the burnout against Gajic, he still would have needed an almighty run to win, as Gajic hit the index with a 5.856.
In the third and final round, Murina ran a solo for 6.31, and Campisi decided he was done with the 5.85 index and unleashed the power of the Mustang with a 5.61 at 272MPH. In the final Callaghan couldn’t get the Camaro to turn the tires in the burnout, but bumped into stage anyway against Gajic. Both cars left clean but Callaghan started to head for the wall and jumped off the power leaving Gajic to the win with a 5.87, in an amazing display of five second consistency.
Extreme Bike was the Azzopardi Racing show, team rider Alex Borg topped the six bike field qualifying with a 7.04 at 210MPH. Borg along with team principal Leonard Azzopardi would be undefeated in the first two rounds to reach the final, honorable mention though to relative Extreme Bike newcomer Darren Foley who gave it to Borg in round two with a 7.04 PB only to be edged out by a 6.95. The final was a barnburner, Azzopardi riding past a holeshot from Borg with a 6.90/211MPH to a 6.95/210MPH from Borg.
A nice field of Super Comp machines were bashing the ANDRA indexes. Daniel Camilleri went a mile under the DD/GA national record in his turbo six powered Pontiac with a 7.08 (-.550) to top the qualifying sheets. Others under the index were Adrian Vella with his E/GA Chev Cobalt, 8.65 (-.263) and the small block XF Falcon of Tony O’Connor, 8.33 (-.085).
Also running the three-round format, Craig Geddes had dialed in his C/SMA Chev Cavalier by round one defeating O’Connor with a sub-index 8.816 (8.88IN), Camilleri and Vella also took wins. Round two, and Geddes and Vella both continued their winning streak to secure a face off for the event win as Camilleri was upset by Hugo Di Gianvincenzo’s A/APA GXP.
The final was a modern Super Stock visual with a Cavalier versus Cobalt, Geddes left the line on the green first with a long wheelstand, but at the stripe the Cobalt of Vella had run him down with a 8.457 (8.92IN) to win against a 9.078 (8.88IN).
“The AVR team entered the event last week mainly to get some testing after making plenty of changes to the car and the motor also undergoing a freshen up,” said Vella.
“It was the boost our team needed, we have made a lot of changes to the car to try and give us the best opportunity to win the 52nd Australian Nationals in February and this was a real sweet end to a fantastic two days of racing.”
There was quite a bit of mechanical mischief in Supercharged Outlaws and that continued into the final with Doina Day when the former Romac alky dragster was shutdown, this left young gun Toby Austin whose funny car was on song all day to blast a 6.76 on a 6.50 DI.
Paul Partridge took the prize in Top Sportsman, the Mustang pushed the tree with a .15 light in the final against Thomas Leake in the former Chilton Pro Stock Grand Am. Partridge crossed the stripe with a 7.971 (7.90DI) for a holeshot win over Leake’s 7.950 (7.89DI).
Modified was an invasion of Victorian teams, the final was an all-dragster throw down with Craig Baker back in the seat against former Sydneysider Adrianna MacCaskell in her first meeting with her Modified dragster. Sadly, for MacCaskell her dream debut ended harshly when her dragster stalled going into stage, Baker ran off unchallenged with a still tough to beat 8.556 (8.55 DI) run.
A couple track regulars duked it out for the Super Sedan event win though, Michael Little was back with his Torana at his first event since COVID shut things down, and the NSW regional racer had lot nothing fronting the final against Nathan Watts VL Commodore. Watt had the race in his pocket with a .035 to .123 leave but may have backed off a fraction early with a Little coming past on the stripe with a 9.417 (9.35DI) to a 9.597 (9.43 DI).
Chris Hocking and Dale Williams fought through the Modified Bike field to meet in the final. Hocking let the clutch go for a great .018 reaction at the hit chasing Williams’ .086. Both racers pushed each other to a breakout at the stripe, Hocking breaking out the least for the win with a 9.360 (9.45 DI) to 9.525 (9.68 DI).
Peter Violaris was doing it old school style in Super Street, dropping the clutch, wheelstanding and pulling gears all the way to the final in his XT Falcon – there he would face the wily Luke ‘Tex’ Griffiths. The Satellite of Griffith, while a potent performer in the Super Street ranks left the door open with a slow reaction compared to the high stepping Falcon chasing. The race should have been in the bag for Violaris rounding up Tex before the stripe, but didn’t go for the save on the dial in and broke out with a 10.319 (10.37DI), Griffiths taking the win, also on a breakout 10.449 (10.47DI).
Moving in to the fixed 9.90 index Super Gas and Joe Catanzariti took his Firebird to the stripe with a tough 9.902 to beat Tony Polito’s Probe’s 9.45 in the event final.
There may have been no Lamattina name in the Top Fuel final, but in Junior Dragster, Phil’s son Ross ensured the family would take home a winner’s trophy from the event. Against Claire Little in the final, the final was over at the tree will Little going red.
– Drag News Magazine
