Rocket Allstars Racing Series
Many of the RARS eliminators finished qualifying bar Supercharged Outlaws and Group 2, with some even completing their first round before the rains came. At the rerun all brackets were given test passes to dial cars in before qualifying or eliminations commenced.
Competition
Competition Eliminator was a open slate, Jeff Clarke has a slight lead over Craig Geddes and team mate John McSweeney going into the event.
Craig Geddes had top qualified in his E/AAltered with a 7.50 (-.055).
Michael Davies had the BB/AAltered launching hard, but couldn’t carry it through to the finish.
The WA Holden pair of Wayne Keys and Maurice Brennan couldn’t get on top of a tune and did not return for the rerun.
A lazy .475 reaction from Clarke had him out in round one despite a 5.80 (6.33) against Greg Clayton’s BB/A 6.41 (6.93)
Geddes also fell in round one 7.65 (8.05) against Peter Zelows hard launching A/DA dragster 6.80 (7.41).
McSweeney though got past his first round match up over Anthony Buckley’s A/Dragster to give him the championship lead.
Not in the championship hunt but Tony Bellert had his A/DA dragster going skyward on every launch and went to round two with a 7.02 (7.41) over Mike Nola’s AA/AP nitrous Pontiac.
Wayne Cartledge kept his championship hopes alive defeating Glenn Anderson also in round one.
McSweeney was Dq’ed after winning round two for putting a foot in the beams, a mistake that could cost him the championship if Cartledge could continue winning.
Cartledge did just that running 7.44 (7.28) over Zelow’s 7.58 (7.11), but Cartledge would need to win the event now.
A redlighting Justin Walsh sent Bellert through to the semi to face Clayton.
Clayton would run 6.50 (6.67) over a troubled Bellert to earn a final’s birth against Cartledge who had a solo, but rain ended the event handing the championship back to McSweeney. Consolation for Cartledge is he would be awarded the Willowbank Super Comp Track Championship.
Super Stock
A whopping 25 cars attempted qualifying in Super Stock, reduced to 18 after the rerun. The championship was also very open with South Aussie Tony Caroscio having just a 10 point lead over Nino Cavallo and Tim Sizmur with a number of other on their heals.
Kevin Magner headed the qualifying sheet with a 8.46 (-0.79) in his B/MP Pontiac, but lost in round one to Peter Clark’s D/GA Calibra.
Nino Cavallo C/AP 7.70 (8.43) kept his chances going defeating a returning Dave Tucker’s B/G Firebird 7.97 (8.19)
Likewise Tony Caroscio stayed in the game defeating Nick Levitt, but the Pontiac driver lost control in the braking area nosing the car into the right hand wall.
Jim Ioannidis also kept in the championship hunt with his B/MSA Commodore 9.46 (10.07) putting Nick Karantonis’ G/GA Dodge on the trailer 8.45 (8.87)
Tim Sizmur’s hopes ended had the hands of Omar Sedmak’s Pontiac, Sedmak had run his first six second run in the rerun’s test session. Paul Beauchamp C/APA Firebird also went through to round two when Jason Simpson red lit in his G/GA Capri, Dimitropoulos’s Camaro took out Ross Sacre who was back in his Trans Am and Michael Hunt took the scalp of Fred Soleiman.
Sedmak ended Cavallo’s championship with a A/APA 7.03 (7.37) over the Dodge’s C/AP 7.74 (8.07), but Cavallo would go home with the John Storm Memorial trophy.
A wheelstanding Tom Dimitropoulos left before the tree handing Beauchamp a round two win.
Ioannidis moved within one round win of the championship when he defeated Clark and points leader, Caroscio who had managed to tape up the Pontiac from its excursion into the concrete lost to Hunt’s B/MSA Falcon.
Michael Hunt was having a great event after slaying some of the brackets top contenders, but was stopped in the first semi by Jim Ioannidis. The Commodores B/MSA 9.43 (9.76) beat the A/MSA Falcon’s 9.18 (9.49) and gave the South Aussie the Australian Championship.
Sedmak fouled against Beauchamp’s Pontiac in the other semi , and that’s where eliminations finished.
Super Compact
Super Compact has had trouble attracting travellers, with points leader Rocky Rehayem resting up after his monumental crash in Sydney it was left to Rod Harvey and Damien McKern to fight out the championship after the rainout.
Before the rain out kiwi Reece McGregor ran a Skyline world record of 7.56 competing in AA/SC
Fellow New Zealander Rod Harvey top qualified with a 6.48 (-0.4) in BB/SC
The field was reduced from ten to six after the rains, Damien Mckern defeated a red lighting RX7 of Chris Hall. Harvey secured the championship beating Rob Novak’s Dato 1200 ute without issue running 6.52 (6.97) and Mark Jacobsen’s Skyline fell to Bryce Miller’s RX3.
Miller’s great BB/OM 8.01 (8.42) ended the now former national champ in McKern’s run despite a 7.89 (8.15).
The new Super Compact national champion Rod Harvey had a solo to the final which failed to get completed.
Competition Bike
Competition Bike was really a race in two between Kevin Gummow and Peter Everett, the later firing the first shot in qualifying topping the time sheets with a D/SB 9.83 (-0.66).
David Gajsek travelled from the West Coast with two bikes, definitely loves his Doorslammeresque burnouts
Scott Keogh V/CB 9.30 (9.50) lost to Blair Pennington’s B/SB 9.30 (9.56) in the first round, but the team was ecstatic after the earlier test session running 8.97, the first Harley V-ROD Destroyer to achieve a eight second pass in Australia.
Despite qualifying third with a 7.84 (-0.27) in AA/CB Geoff Kempe had troubles in round one and couldn’t come past Rowan Lind’s CC/CBI Hayabusa despite his own electrical problems.
Tony Ward V/CB 9.38 (9.50) put the Harley through over Bob McNamara, likewise Williamson, Gummow and Everett also advanced taking the championship fight to the next round.
Pennington’s B/SB 9.05 (9.43) ended Everett’s desire for a championship in round two 10.23 (10.50)
Kevin Williamson continued on in A/SB as Lind continued to have electrical gremlins.
Kevin Gummow was assured of the Australian Championship as he watched Everett lose and maybe was little to eager to get to the end of the track to celebrate, red lighting against Ward.
A 9.12 (9.22) on his A/SB Suzuki over Pennington’s B/SB 9.07 (9.30) took Williamson to the final and also the track championship against Ward who had a single.
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