A hotly contested 2025/2026 ANDRA Regional Sportsman Championship has come to an epic conclusion at the ANDRA Grand Finals at Dragway at The Bend this weekend, with many of the championship battles coming down to the very final hours of the season.
When all was said and done, it was the following racers who were heralded as the championship winners, taking home the Gold ANDRA Championship Christmas Tree trophies as reward for their triumphant performances across the 2025/2026 season: Grame Spencer (Three Dimensional Construction Super Gas), Zayne Condello (Junior Dragster), Cooper Plummer (New Gen Business Park Junior Drag Bike), Dean Jamieson (Ballistic Performance Parts Modified Bike), Stefan Lainas (Goodyear Racing Super Street), Darren Russell (South Australian Drag Racers Association Super Sedan), Adriana Cartledge (Gallagher Modified), Shane Baxter (New Gen Business Park Supercharged Outlaws), Tommy Turic (Top Sportsman), Edge Mallis (New Gen Business Park Competition Bike), Shayne Reid (Super Stock) and Connor McClure (Competition Eliminator).
Also with plenty to smile about were the championship runners-up: Jason Wilson (Three Dimensional Construction Super Gas), Taylor Horton (Junior Dragster), Bailey Paul (New Gen Business Park Junior Drag Bike), Bryan Finn (Ballistic Performance Parts Modified Bike), Neil Mellett (Goodyear Racing Super Street), Peter Furlanetto (South Australian Drag Racers Association Super Sedan), Fiona Crisp (Gallagher Modified), Mark Hunt (New Gen Business Park Supercharged Outlaws), Darryl Stephen (Top Sportsman), Jake Hamilton-Moderate (New Gen Business Park Competition Bike), and Craig Geddes (Competition Eliminator). There was no championship runner-up awarded for Super Stock.
Spencer, Plummer, Lainas, Mallis, and Geddes also took out event victories, joined in the ANDRA Grand Finals’ winners’ circle by Todd Wagner (Junior Dragster), Peter Bartlett (Ballistic Performance Parts Modified Bike), Michael Vlasakakis (South Australian Drag Racers Association Super Sedan), Daniel Cassar (Gallagher Modified), Lachlan Walker (New Gen Business Park Supercharged Outlaws), and Tony Miskelly (Top Sportsman).
Alongside their title runners-up, Crisp and Hamilton-Moderate also collected ANDRA Grand Final event runners-up trophies, alongside fellow event runners-up Jordan Spencer (Three Dimensional Construction Super Gas), Tyler Jarvis (Junior Dragster), Cooper Ashelford (New Gen Business Park Junior Drag Bike), Derryn McGregor (Ballistic Performance Parts Modified Bike), Craig Ferguson (Goodyear Racing Super Street), Lisa Sherry (South Australian Drag Racers Association Super Sedan), Fiona Crisp (Gallagher Modified), Brendan Carr (New Gen Business Park Supercharged Outlaws), Sam Cardinale (Top Sportsman), Jake Hamilton-Moderate (New Gen Business Park Competition Bike), and Luke Cartledge (Super Comp).
Also presented at the end of event presentations were the winners of the Best Engineered Award, which was taken out by Mario Busljeta; the Longest Distance Travelled Award, which went to Cooper and Kobe Ashelford; and the Top Qualifier Medallions presented by New Gen Business Park, which were claimed by Wilson (Three Dimensional Construction Super Gas), Cody Hunt (Junior Dragster), Lucas Bergamin (New Gen Business Park Junior Drag Bike), Jamieson (Ballistic Performance Parts Modified Bike), Ken Borg (Goodyear Racing Super Street), Furlanetto (South Australian Drag Racers Association Super Sedan), Adriana Cartledge (Gallagher Modified), Mike Evans (New Gen Business Park Supercharged Outlaws), Daniel Jones (Top Sportsman), Mallis (New Gen Business Park Competition Bike), and Geddes (Super Comp).
For Cooper Plummer, the day just kept getting better. Not only did he take out the New Gen Business Park Junior Drag Bike Championship and the ANDRA Grand Final event win, but he was also named as the 2026 John Storm Memorial winner – the first ever Junior Drag Bike competitor to do so, and the first Junior racer since 2015.
Commissioned in memory of Mr John Storm, the first National Director of ANDRA, the John Storm Memorial Trophy is an annual national award made to the competitor in Group Two, Three or Four who scores the highest total overall points from all rounds of the ANDRA Regional Sportsman Championship, including the final event.
The 16-year-old was understandably overwhelmed by the enormity of his achievement.
“I really have no idea what to say, I never thought I would actually get that!” Plummer grinned.
“It means a lot, to be the first Junior Bike to win the John Storm Memorial, and the first Junior in 11 years.
“To win the title, I worked hard for it, I have been chasing an ANDRA title for six years, and to finally get it is a dream come true.
“To then win the event as well, well that was a big bonus!
“I am pretty much speechless, I just don’t know what to say.
“This is a big reward for everything we have put in, all the kilometres we have travelled, all the people we have helped, all the people who have helped us, it is just massive.
“It was a great Junior Drag Bike battle, it was really fun having some good competition the entire season and having a five way battle going into the Grand Final.
“I want to say a big thank you to Luas Bergamin – he is the one who convinced me to get my parents to buy me a Junior Drag Bike and today was his last meeting, and I was the last person to knock him out of eliminations!
“I want to say thank you to the entire field, and also to Dragway at The Bend, all the track staff and volunteers, and ANDRA, SADRA, my mum, dad, and Michael, and all my sponsors and supporters including David Collis, Bridgestone Select Aberfoyle Park, SA Truck Tarps and Service, Westside Hydraulics, Highbury Automotive Services and Repairs , Audisound, Revolution Racegear, Modcon Civil, Sock Lyf, Mike Pasin, Bradley Hicks HB Racing, Maxxi, Lisa Bourne, Allstate Locksmith, and Archie Fabian Motorsport. We couldn’t have done this without you.”
Further details from the 2026 ANDRA Grand Finals, including national record updates and comment from more of our championship and event-winning racers will be released across this coming week.
ANDRA thanks Dragway at The Bend and all of its volunteers and sponsors for an outstanding race track and a well-run event.
For full results from the ANDRA Grand Finals, please click here.
The details of the 2026/2027 ANDRA Sportsman Championship will be released soon.
For more from ANDRA, visit www.andra.com.au
Photo credit to Ben Alexander / Snapshot Media
