The Kenda Tires 660 Radial Series saw yet another healthy event in what has quickly become one of the biggest grass roots racing series in the country.
Over 100 teams turned up at Willowbank Raceway on June 29, 2019 with five classes on offer – Outlaw Radial (anything goes on maximum tyre size of 315/60R15), Outlaw 275 (half chassis vehicles, maximum tyre size of 275/60R15), Outlaw 235 (half chassis vehicles, maximum tyre size of 235/60R15 or 26×8.5R15), Radial Renegade (5.50 index) and Radial Rumble (6.40 index).
Matthew Grubisa got people talking before the event with a test run of 4.100/199.43mph, yet again going within a whisker of the first double-ton run on the eighth mile for a radial car in Australia. Grubisa ran 199.82mph earlier in the year and there was hope that this would be the day the 200 would fall. He top qualified in Outlaw Radial with a 4.070/198.52mph and took two round wins, but lost the third round to Dale Heiler and missed the final.
Dale Heiler didn’t have the outright pace of Grubisa but still had plenty of horsepower on tap and delivered a series of 4.2 second runs, including a personal best 4.206/179mph in the first round. He made the final round where he defeated Shaun Hale with an off-pace 4.94.
Timothy Cross’ Cortina was too good in Outlaw 275. He took three race wins to reach the final against Peter Rallis, where his quickest run of the day, a 4.54/172mph, took the stripe from a 4.61/158mph.
Phil Penny didn’t have a great start to his year when he crashed at Sydney Dragway, but his fortunes have improved recently, taking out the win in Outlaw 235. Penny had the little Honda on rails with runs of 5.07, 5.02, 4.98 and a final 4.96, which he used to defeat Joey Bridge in the decider.
Dale Duffy’s [NUGGET] Torana went all the way in Radial Renegade. He top qualified with a 5.511 in the 5.50 index class and his worst run of the day was a 5.58 in the final to get around Dean Ferris’ 5.77.
Rod Williams’ hot rod is far from your usual style found in the Kenda series, but it is no less successful. The blown six cylinder had a holeshot 6.46 to win the final of Radial Rumble (6.40 index) against a 6.42 from Paul Fuller.
The day delivered plenty of spectacular moments. Tim Goodwin’s nitrous backfire left his Holden Commodore a little scorched.
Simon O’Carroll has been one of the great supporters of the series and it was unfortunate to see his nitrous-assisted Holden Torana get into the wall. O’Carroll was unhurt and believes the car is repairable.
There were plenty of wheels up moments, with Luke French’s awesome Toyota Landcruiser arguably the wildest! Check out the video below.
And here’s a video wrap up of the rest of the day’s action.
Check out photos from the day below, all thanks to dragphotos.com.au.
