Luke Crowley set the fastest ever speed in Australian Pro Bike history in a rain interrupted Friday at the 2018 Gulf Western Oil Winternationals.
Crowley’s 190.32mph clocking was the first time a naturally aspirated motorcycle has been over 190mph in Australia, surpassing Rhett Lougheed’s five year old 189.55mph mark, set at the 2013 Winternationals.
The 7.162 second time attached to the speed was also enough for Crowley to top qualify so far in the Drag News Magazine-sponsored bracket, followed by Glenn Wooster’s 7.397 and a 7.550 from Daniel Rabnott.
Pro Stock was the only other bracket to get a full round of qualifying in, with Wayne Daley’s 6.979 leading the way from Aaron Tremayne’s 6.999, Tyronne Tremayne’s 7.008, Jason Hedges’ 7.020, Jodi Racco’s 7.054 and Brian Pursell’s 7.067. The bump spot is currently a soft 7.350 held by Chris Soldatos.
Pro Slammer got a couple of runs in before the rain started to fall, a hot pace already being set with a 5.866 from Paul Cannuli and a 5.874 by Marty Dack.
Pro qualifying is set to resume at a much earlier time than scheduled for Saturday, with Pro Slammer back on track at 9.49am. Here is the new schedule from Willowbank Raceway.
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In Group Two, Mike Bailey leads the way in Competition qualifying following a -.016 7.164 pass in his B/AA. Bailey was the only driver to go sub record but has Tony Bellert on his tail with a .035-over 6.845 in the big, bad A/DA.
Jason Payne made his presence felt in Super Stock with a stunning -.221 7.079 out of his DD/API Nissan Skyline. Payne wasn’t the only Jason to go under a record as Jason Simpson took on the extremely tough G/GA record and came up with an 8.071 to be over a tenth under the 8.18 record – could a seven second pass in G/GA be on the cards soon? Despite 21 cars being entered only 15 have qualified so far.
Competition Bike saw national champion Peter Puznik give the A/AB record a smashing with a 7.817 to be .183 under. He has almost four tenths of a second on the rest of the field with Chris Collin second at .189 over in C/AB with an 8.399.
Speaking of quick bikes, Ace Edwards is number one in Extreme Bike currently following a 7.096 pass in session one. Brandon Gosbell has impressed too in this exciting bracket, with a big 210.14mph speed. With current record holder Leonard Azzopardi also at the event, we look forward to seeing these two go toe-to-toe some more!
Pro Radial sees Perry Bullivant on top despite his wheelstanding antics, with a 4.359 over the eighth mile, followed by a 4.467 from blown contender Craig Hewitt.
Robert Coleman’s Ford Mustang is more commonly seen in Comp but has made the switch to Supercharged Outlaws, where a 6.222 at 207mph is currently the quickest pass. Dean McClennan’s 6.424 in his Funny Car and a 6.458 by Matthew McKnight’s Studebaker hold the two and three positions.
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Not so lucky was Mark Davison, who got severe bounces up in the braking area in his altered, breaking the steering and seeing him get into the wall and then the parachutes of John Brunner, catching the altered around the motor and flipping it over. Davison escaped serious injury but it was a devastating blow after only just returning from another crash.
Modified is all about Brendon Luke right now, with the Procharged altered making a very impressive 6.66 second run in Q1. He’s no slouch when it comes to going DYO racing, so we’ll see if Brendon can find consistency next in the wild Topolino.
A 6.822 is currently the quickest we have seen in Top Sportsman, supplied care of New South Wales driver Steve Fowler.
Ashley Smith made the long tow from Darwin to race in Super Sedan and the flaming 1973 Camaro is currently quickest with an 8.534 on the 8.50 Super Sedan cut off.
Lachlan Dilley’s 8.003 is the leader in Modified Bike, Ray Ross’ 10.176 holds Super Street’s top spot, Tom Parry is looking good in Super Gas with runs of 9.901 and 9.905 and an 8.006 by Harrison Thwaite leads Junior Dragster.
(Please note all of these results are unofficial, having been taken from 1320go).
