Race day for the Sydney round of the 2022 Kenda Tires 660 Drag Radial Series backed up the insane performances from testing, and then some. Across the event, radial records were belted over and over from the the very first pass of the day.
You can catch up from what happened from some wild test days leading into the event here:
GALLERY: 2022 Sydney Kenda 660 day 2 testing goes wild
GALLERY: 2022 Sydney Kenda 660 testing day 1
Testing left us with temptation of seeing the first 3.50 over the eighth mile distance in Australia, however the Outlaw Radial racers gave the commentators little time to build the suspense of potential 3.50s through the event. On the very first pass of the event, Daniel Szabolics in the Dandy Engines procharged Camaro and Wade Wagstaff in the all-conquering blown 57 Chev dropped a lap for the ages. Wagstaff went under the record with a 3.629, but that was obliterated by Szabolics 3.573 at 209.92MPH opposite. Both machines under the 3.632 record – that was only set less than 24 hours earlier – on the quickest side by side run ever in Australia by a car with doors over the eighth, and this was just the first run of the event.
The two passes held up to top qualifying, Paul Merry ran his personal best to slot into third with a 3.85. Terry Seng driving Brad Lane’s Dodge Stratus flew into the threes with a 3.88, backed with just a little LS small block between the rails – the quickest of both incarnations in the land. Joe Gauci rounded out the three second runners with a 3.92 in the ProFab Mustang, while Frank Tarabay was coming to grips with his new twin turbo Camaro radial weapon clocked a 4.05 best run to date. At the tail of the field surprisingly was Andrew Zada, the ‘Boogeyman’ Camaro that terrorized testing with new records, could not hit the set up during qualifying.
That all changed in round one, Zada found the groove and dropped a 3.68 on red lighting Seng, but the Boogeyman Camaro pumped out of a lot of smoke at the finish line. Merry and Tarabay fought track adhesion, the Nova of Merry victorious in the pedalfest, likewise the heavy weight match up of Szabolics and Wagstaff was a drivers race, there were wheelstands on both side of the race track, leaving both drivers having to pedal, the Camaro legging it to the stripe first.
Szabolics had problems on the start line to kick off round two, against Seng who was up on the wheel with a .009 reaction and a 3.93 at the stripe. Tarabay earnt his first radial round win over Merry, but neither car had a clean run. The smoke from the Zada Camaro proved fatal for his event chances, leaving Wagstaff free to take a shot at the track but came up snake eyes this time.
With temperatures plummeting, the air was reading -300ft, Tarabay made a bid for a final appearance with a 4.11 win over Szabolics who blew the tyres off it on the hit. Wagstaff and Seng threw down in the next race, a win for either could see a final round shot if they can outrun a 4.11. Wagstaff was dialled into the conditions perfectly dumping a 3.58 on Seng, the Paramount Performance team were hardly disgraced equalling their 3.883 PB from the little small block LS. With Wagstaff guaranteed of one final slot, Paul Merry, on a solo, would need to outgun Tarabay’s run, and he did so on a clean 3.85 that will keep Wagstaff honest in the final.
Air conditions were phenomenal for horsepower in the final, but sticking it to a cold track would be the challenge. Wagstaff hit the tree with a .032 reaction and was unstoppable from then on, the ‘Grinch’ blasted off into the night with a record setting 3.571 to Merry’s respectable 3.828 personal best.
It was prochargers to the front in OG315 with newcomer Morgan Smith sending his Pontiac to the top of the list after qualifying with a 4.04, ahead of Geoff Campbell-Brown’s cool Moonshine Chevelle that sat on a 4.06, and James Horan’s black Hilux ute with 4.11.
Smith had to withdraw after qualifying, Campbell-Brown was consistent with a round one 4.05 on a solo, Daniel Nunziante joined the party with a 4.18 from his stunning fox body Mustang, defeating a debuting Kyle Hopf now with his own Camaro. Aaron Gregory’s big HR Panel Van and Brad Cullen’s wheelstanding Valiant ute also knocked up a win light.
Nunziante put everyone on noticed with a 3.98 in round two, Campbell-Brown also improved to a 4.02 and Gregory checked another win with a 5.22, setting up an interesting round three fight for the final. Gregory with a solo in round three guaranteed himself a final round birth as Nunizante and Campbell-Brown were drawn against each other. The Chevelle driver threw a 4.06 down but it wasn’t enough against Nunzante’s 4.000, sending the fox body through to the final round.
On paper Gregory had no chance in the final, with the HR’s best in the low fives, but anything can happen in radial racing, and it was a dramatic final. Nunizante lit up the tyres on the Mustang and was sideways giving up the run, Gregory though was battling to keep his panel van in the lane, dislodging a timing block possibly from the exhaust pressure, the result in the end had to go to the bunker, and ref’s call declared Gregory the winner.
Outlaw 275 saw an awesome duel between Tony Webb’s Torana and West Aussie invader Lorenzo Gullotto who for the first time in a long while could stretch the legs of his fox body Mustang on a proper radial prepped track. The pair traded blows over testing and qualifying, with Gullotto finish on top in qualifying with a 4.07 to edge out Webb’s 4.08.
Webb cut through the rounds with 4.12, 4.09 and 4.20 wins to go straight into the final. Gullotto carded a solid 4.12 as well in round one against Sean Muscat with a Cortina that wanted to go to the moon, the WA team were back on it in round two with a 4.08 win, then dumped a record setting 4.052 in round three to bound into the final.
Gullotto had the slight holeshot advantage at the green in the Outlaw 275 final, and went from light to stripe with a 4.07 to win against Webb’s 4.13.
In OG275, Cameron Riley wheelstood his VK Commodore to the top of qualifying pile with a 4.572, but issue forced him to miss most of racing. Trent Brimble punched in consistent 4.6s from his VL Commdore to land in the final against John Elfes big VT Commodore. After some bump city action on the start line in the final, the CV Performance VT zinged the tyres and Brimble romped to the with with a 4.665.
On small tyres in Outlaw 235 Michael Arnold’s HT ute fought hard with Scott Cortina’ HG Holden in qualifying to end up on top with a 4.593 to 4.643 respectively, Simon O’Carroll’s flame throwing nitrous Torana kept them looking back with a 4.698.
Arnold had trouble keeping the wheels on the deck during the racing rounds, ultimately costing him in a must win third round match up against O’Carroll – who suffered a massive mid-race nitrous backfire himself leaving the Torana to slow to a 5.19. Scott Cortina clean swept all three rounds to slide into the final with ease, his third round was against Jess Beckham was also a deciding factor. The LS powered RX7 driven by Beckham lost to Cortina, leaving him on two wins, but his 4.834 was quicker than O’Carroll setting up a rematch with Cortina in the final.
Beckam pulled the RX7’s wheels way up in the final and had to lift, it was inconsequential anyway, the Cortina HG drilled a 4.570, a new Australian 235 tyre record for the win light.
After top qualifying in six bike Extreme Bike field with a 4.647, ahead of Alex Borg’s 4.754, the pair fought their way through racing undefeated to set up an all Azzopardi Racing final. Borg had the jump at the tree in final, and closed out the race with a 4.877 to conquer Azzopardi’s 5.354.
Into the fixed index racing classes and the 5.40 Radial Renegade bracket came down to bracket racing gun Dale Hartill-Law with his Mustang defeating Shadi Tobaji’s big wheelstanding Cortina 5.55 to a 5.60.
Michael Little is another tough NSW bracket racer, his LJ Torana took home the winner’s cheque in the 5.80 indexed Radial Ruckus, with a 5.86 after opponent Jarrod Wood went too early with his XT.
The 6.40 Radial Rumble saw Jamie Turner make the trek up from Victoria with his HQ worth it, winning a tight final 6.452 to 6.439 against Shane Locke’s Chevy ute.
And finally Alysha Teale earnt a popular win in the 7.00 Radial Rebel bracket with her blacked out HQ, running a 7.109 against a breaking out Filip Petrovic, the big XB knocked out a too quick 6.98 in the final.
You can catch up with all the latest Kenda Tires 660 Drag Radial Series including championship points via their Facebook page. The next stop will be Willowbank Raceway for Radial Riot on Oct 6-8.
