Once again weather played havoc for the start of day two of the Gulf Western Oil Super Thunder event, and continued off and on for the rest of the afternoon, before the skies cleared and a full action-packed schedule of racing followed.
The stars of the day were the Top Fuel Funny Cars – the quickest accelerating cars in motorsport – these 10,000 horsepower beasts turned up the heat for Super Thunder. Basically, the same engine combination as a Top Fuel Dragster, but with a shorter wheelbase and a carbon fibre body making them wider and harder to control.
“400 Thunder is excited to be able to bring back Top Fuel Funny Car racing. It has such a rich history, and we are really looking forward to the field growing and providing a fresh and exciting opportunity to provide more excitement at every event for the fans,” said the General Manager of 400 Thunder Steve Bettes.
“With the bracket running the full quarter mile at each event, it promises to provide that ground shaking, loud, flame throwing action we have come to love.”
“The air was much cooler tonight, and the track had really come around, people came out to see the Funny Cars break the four second barrier.”
With low runs on the board and their first paired pass for both drivers ever in the nitro Funny Cars, Adam Murrihy in the Nitro Freak Top Fuel Funny Car was quicker to the 60 foot, but then smoke the tires with Morice McMillin in the Aeroflow Top Fuel Funny Car taking the first win with a 5.02/312MPH.
Following the first pass, crew chief Brandon Gosbell said, “That was a real treat for the crowd, and really looking forward to seeing how fast we can actually go.”
“People don’t see the hours put in behind the scenes and how many people are involved to get the car to the start line – over 500kph that’s just the icing on the cake. But we aren’t done yet, just you wait.”
Both Top Fuel Funny Cars raced to the track conditions, with a second run seeing McMillin going after it with a 5.01 winning pass, and header flames standing tall. Following side by side burnouts, the third pass resulted in another win from McMillin after pedalling the car to the finish line with some tyre shake. Murrihy had the lead at 330ft before also pedalling causing a backfiring explosion that rocked the Nitro Freak machine ending his run.
Tim McCarthy continued his licensing procedures as he comes to terms driving his nitro consuming animal.
Pro Mod also turned it up with a huge field in only their second season of racing. The bracket has a bit of a cult following with the old school racers with the blowers versus the new school racers with the turbos. Runner up rookie Rob Harrington is one to watch as he is really backing up the talk in his blown Commodore. But it was Zoran Gajic up from Sydney taking the win for the Gulf Western Oils Super Thunder event.
Pro Slammer saw the first ever Christmas Tree win for Russ Pavey the fortunate hero after Rob Taylor clipped the timing blocks over the finish line in the final. Pavey did everything he needed to do to put the car down the track during today’s racing to make it to the final. The Pavey Corvette’s unpredictable past returned though in final, after finally behaving this weekend, when in a rare sequence of events, Pavey was able to put the win on the board in the final while barely leaving the start line.
Pro Alcohol had a solid field, but the biggest surprise of the night was Gary Phillips not in the final after taking home a small forest of Christmas Trees over the years. Instead, we saw a head-to-head final between Justin Walshe in his altered and the veteran Steve Reed who top qualified in his funny car. Walshe ended up taking the win though with a great 5.66/247MPH as Reed’s funny car bounced violently at half track ending his chances.
Pro Categories Event Results:
Pro Alcohol
Winner: Justin Walshe
Runner Up: Steven Reed
Pro Mod
Winner: Zoran Gajic
Runner Up: Rob Harrington
Pro Slammer
Winner: Russ Pavey
Runner Up: Rob Taylor
Sportsman Categories Event Results:
Junior Dragster
Winner: Sienna Nunn
Runner Up: Jessie Linder
Real Street
Winner: Cooper Leahy
Runner Up: Cody Leahy
Super Street
Winner: Josh Fletcher
Runner Up: Mark Rossow
Pro Radial
Winner: Jaidyn Seng
Runner Up: Sini Sveiger
Top Sportsman
Winner: David Gauldie
Runner Up: Simon Isherwood
Performance Bike
Winner: Chris Collin
Runner Up: Ken Collin
Super Comp
Winner: Adrian Vella
Runner Up: Mike Bailey
Modified
Winner: Jason Vanderlinde
Runner Up: Gavin List
Modified Bike
Winner: Tammy Goldthorpe
Runner Up: Sean Ricketts
Super Sedan
Winner: Patrick Barron
Runner Up: Mitchell Bauer
Supercharged Outlaws
Winner: Josh Fletcher
Runner Up: Fiona Reed
The countdown is also now officially on until a four massive days of high adrenaline racing at the 2022 Gulf Western Oil Winternationals. As the biggest event of the year, and the largest drag racing event held outside of North America, it is the event not to be missed. For more information or to pre-purchase tickets visit www.willowbankraceway.com.au
If you missed the action you can watch a highlights package on Monday night on Fox Sports.
