Two incredible days of National Drag Racing Championship (NDRC) action has come to an epic conclusion at Dragway at The Bend this evening, with the Aeroflow Spring Nationals living up to its record-breaking reputation in front of packed grandstands.
The championship ledgers were opened in NDRC Top Fuel, XPRO Nitro Funny Car and Top Doorslammer, while a stellar list of Aeroflow National Sportsman Championship competitors did battle for the 2023/2024 title as well as new season points, NDRC Christmas Trees, and a share in a $25k prize purse.
When all was said and done in the group one brackets, it was the quickest man in Australia, Phil Read (Top Fuel), third-generation champ Josh Leahy (XPRO Nitro Funny Car) and Lisa Gregorini and her groundbreaking all-girl team (Top Doorslammer) who claimed the NDRC Christmas Tree trophies over runners-up Wayne Newby (Top Fuel), Adam Murrihy (XPRO Nitro Funny Car) and Ronnie Palumbo (Top Doorslammer).
Kyle Putland (Top Fuel), defending champ Justin Walshe (XPRO Nitro Funny Car), and 11-time champ John Zappia (Top Doorslammer) claimed third place for their respective brackets by winning their B-Finals.
In Top Fuel, Read was the toast of the town as not only the holder of the quickest Top Fuel pass in Australian history (3.72 seconds set in qualifying last night) but also as the Top Qualifier and Winner of the Aeroflow Spring Nationals A-Final against Newby, with a 3.762/516.74kph effort over Newby’s 8.035/80.52kph pass.
Read – who was racing while raising funds for Snap-On’s Socket to Breast Cancer campaign this weekend – had ensured his place in the A-Final with a 3.793/486.2kph win over Damien Harris in round one and a winning early shut-off 3.835/434.49kph against Putland – who had only just made the second round after borrowing a part from the Reads following problems encountered in round one.
Harris unfortunately was forced to withdraw from the meeting after round one following his second motor-destroying explosion in as many days, while his team-mate Newby secured his A-Final berth with a round one 3.845/488.46kph over Putland (5.233/219.92kph), which was dampened by a fire after the finish line, and a round two winning 4.04/381.96kph solo.
“That proves (the record) wasn’t a fluke!” enthused Read after taking the victory.
“It felt good, it felt really good from start to finish, it just took off and it was flying; smooth as.
“A 3.76 is great, we thought it would run 3.77. I think we are starting to get a handle on this at this track, so hopefully we can keep it going!
“Thank you to all of our partners, we couldn’t do this without you, and also to my crew – they are just the best.
“And to Dad (drag racing legend Jim Read) and Denise (watching at home in Sydney), look dad – no oil!” he laughed.
“This place (Dragway at The Bend) is the mecca of drag racing – it is so, so smooth, and is just a great place to be.”
In XPRO Nitro Funny Car, third-gen racer Leahy showed talent and control well beyond his time in the bracket, with the newcomer blazing through for a well-deserved victory and a new PB while he was at it over Murrihy.
It had been a remarkable turnaround for Murrihy to make it to the A-Final against Leahy following a difficult qualifying and round one, but his round two 4.090/488.59kph effort had signalled a return to form allowing him to make the A-Final, where he ran a 5.405/222.89kph early-off pass to Leahy’s winning 4.069/489.23kph performance, which followed the Rocket Industries’ racers earlier strong 4.134/418.95kph and near-PB 4.070/467.71kph performances in rounds one and two.
McMillian and Walshe meanwhile had each had their fair share of trouble over the day, with Walshe splitting the dry sump for a large oil leak to miss round one before enjoying a redeeming 4.177/423.71kph effort on a round two loss, while McMillin had the chutes come out early in both rounds one and two today, remarkably still running four second passes (4.302 and 4.261) despite the drag. In the B-Final, it was Walshe who took home the chocolates in a blazing side by side pass against McMillin, with the Queenslander’s 4.072/512.63kph effort bettering McMillin’s 4.166/391.94kph run with his chutes once again out early.
“That is a PB and this Rocket Industries Nitro Funny Car is just on rails!” Leahy grinned.
“I just can’t thank Graeme Cowin, Wendy Cowin and Morice enough for giving me this opportunity, it is just unreal to even think I am here doing this today!
“We couldn’t do it without all our partners, they are what supports us, and this whole team is just amazing – the whole Aeroflow workshop busts their butts to get us out here and I can’t thank them enough. It is a real team effort; it is not down to an individual or a couple of individuals, it is the whole Aeroflow and Rocket and Harts team.”
With a 12 car field this weekend in Top Doorslammer, race fans were treated to A, B, C and D Finals for this bracket, with Lisa Gregorini and her all-girl Scratch and Match Auto Colour team (5.719/404.39kph) blazing through to become the first all-female team to win an NDRC Christmas Tree over a red-lighting Ronnie Palumbo (5.702/409.36kph) in the A-Final.
Palumbo and Lisa Gregorini headed into the A-Final with two wins apiece in a rematch of last year’s Spring Nationals match-up (where neither was able to proceed with the final, leaving it to be run at a later date), with Palumbo having won over Tassone with a 5.816/368/50lph and Mick Mahoney with a PB-ing 5.678/408.21kph, while ‘Mrs YoungBlood’ had a solo round one win after Andrew Sutton was pushed back (5.726/381.52kph) and a round two 5.719/404.17kph win over Abel (5.887/396.58kph).
“Last year was definitely playing on my mind – when Ronnie put me in the other lane (with his lane choice) I thought at least it isn’t exactly the same, hopefully we won’t have dejavu!” Lisa said.
“Thankfully both cars were able to accept the tree and it was a great run, a real close race.
“I had no idea he had red lit until I got out of the car at the end and Daniel (Gregorini) told me.
“It has been an epic weekend for us with a lot of problems, including issues yesterday where it shut down in the burnout and we weren’t sure what the problem was still going into today – thankfully it didn’t pop its head up again and we were able to race on.
“This wouldn’t be possible without these girls, all of our sponsors, Daniel and his boys, and Pete for driving the truck – thank you to everyone!”
The B-Final was taken out by Zappia (5.656/407.93kph) over Lisa’s husband Daniel Gregorini (5.737/396.76kph). The pair did battle after Top Qualifier Gregorini enjoyed a round one solo win (6.573/371.71kph) before a round two victory over Carbone (5.669/407.94kph), while Zappia had a red light in round two against Tassone following a round one 5.693/406.07kph victory over Mahoney.
The C-Final win was claimed by Peter Kapiris on a holeshot 5.865/399.78kph run over defending champ Russell Taylor’s 5.599/415.05kph performance. Taylor had earlier had a great round one pass of 5.602/413.16kph to a 5.95/388.51 kph of Kapiris, before Kapiris went just into the beach after a solo win in round two (5.915/397.68kph). In the D-Final, Tassone (6.397/379.03kph) claimed the win, with Matt Carbone unable to front and Matt Abel taking his place on the track to run a 6.868/231.32kph.
A stellar line-up of Aeroflow National Sportsman Championship racers was also on-track at Dragway at The Bend.
In the chase for the 2023/2024 Aeroflow National Sportsman Championship title, as well as valuable 2024/2025 season points, an NDRC Christmas Tree trophy, and the chance to win a share of a $25k prize purse, taking out the wins were Rob Bergamin over Colin Griffin (Super Gas), Zayne Condello over Seth Jarvis (Junior Dragster), Tex Griffiths over Andrew Waight (Super Street), Sean Ricketts over Dean Jamieson (Modified Bike), Ken Collin over Chris Allen (Competition Bike), Lillian Hagan over Lawrence Raschella (Junior Drag Bike), Sean Maher over Chris Lioulios (Super Sedan), Cory Dyson over Daniel ‘BatDan’ Carranza (Modified), Steve Norman over Kim Fardella (Super Stock), Matt Forbes over Peter Pisalidis (Competition Eliminator), Mike Evans over Mark Hunt (Supercharged Outlaws) and Paul Partridge over David Foster (Top Sportsman).
Stay tuned for further reporting regarding the 2023/2024 Aeroflow National Sportsman Championship winners in the coming days.
The next opportunities to score NDRC 2024/2025 championship points will come at Benaraby Dragway’s Harbour City Nationals (November 1-2, Aeroflow National Sportsman Championship), Dragway at The Bend’s DragBike Nationals (November 9, Top Fuel Motorcycle), at Sydney Dragway (November 15-16, Pro Racing Championship), the Perth Motorplex’s Goldenstates (November 22-23, Aeroflow National Sportsman Championship, Top Doorslammer and Top Fuel Motorcycle), and Portland’s South Coast Nationals (December 7-8, Aeroflow National Sportsman Championship). For the full listing of events, please visit https://nationaldragracing.com.au/calendar/
To learn more about the NDRC, visit www.ndrc.tv
