Competition drag racing made a return to Australia with the fourth round of the Queensland Drag Racing Championships at Willowbank Raceway taking place on July 11, 2020.
While it was officially number four on the calendar, this was in fact only the second QDRC event completed for the year, as the first was lost to rain while the third fell during the government-imposed COVID19 closure.
Top Sportsman featured a healthy nine-car field duking it out in the QDRC’s three round, Chicago Shootout style format. David Gauldie and Patrick Barron went to the final round as each took three from three in the early rounds. A -.027 red light from Barron turned on the win light for Gauldie.
QDRC Comp Bike had only a handful of entrants, leaving the Collin family to once again run rampant. Some engine problems for Ken Collin unfortunately left him out of the final where son Chris rode to an 8.11 win on his B/AB Suzuki Hayabusa.
Modified turned out in strength as 18 competitors fronted the starter for the first round. While plenty of red lights affected the field early, everyone got their act together later in the day, as the final came down to veterans Phil Bellert and Scott Bettes. Bellert took almost three hun on the tree with a .028 jumping Bettes’ .054, and a 7.747 on a 7.73 dial-in claimed the victory from Bettes’ hard chasing 7.609 on a 7.58 in his front engine dragster.
Ten Super Sedans worked down to Phil Youlten and Allan Woods for the final round. Youlten jumped the start in a big way with a -.080 turning on the red light. Woods had no such problem, cutting a perfect .000 and then running out the back door with a 9.366 on a 9.37 dial-in, just four thou from the perfect run!
Modified Bike featured 11 motorcycles in dial-your-own combat, where three wins a piece from Mark Gordon and Tammy Goldthorpe earned them places in the final. This was yet another race decided by the red light, as Tammy’s -.043 gave away the race to Gordon.
Super Street’s 15 entries were whittled down to Daniel List and QDRC round two winner Shaun Doeblien for the final round. They left evenly, List securing a small advantage with a .026 to Doeblien’s .036, but staying ahead at the stripe proved costly as an 11.318 on an 11.33 dial-in broke out, giving Doeblien’s 10.605 on a 10.59 dial-in his second trophy of the season.
It is somewhat confidence building in the sport to see Junior Dragster as the strongest field, where 29 entrants did battle. Jett Sargent and Rustie Willshire made it to the final round, where Willshire’s -.028 ended his day a fraction too early, while Sargent took an 8.71 second victory lap.
Check out the pics below thanks to Drag Photos, and remember to visit their full gallery for even more.
