Midnight Mayhem was a new radial tyre event venture from the Street|20 crew who have been running a series of popular private days at Sydney Dragway for sometime now. The event distinguishes itself from other radial tyre series in that it is contested over the full quarter mile, with the exception of the Outlaw Radial class.
Strong word of mouth and social media presence saw a strong crowd rock up to the event that lived up to its name by running well past the midnight hour. Some class numbers were down after a number of casualties during testing, but the event was still well reviewed by both racers and fans post-race.
In Outlaw Radial, Frank Marchese proved to be the new speed king with a whopping 214mph out of the Szabolics-Marchese procharged Camaro on the back of a 3.87, Marchese also claimed the top qualifier bragging rights with a 3.71.
However at the end of the night (or early morning rather) – after repeatedly axing the blown small block record – Jarrod Wood stood as victor in Outlaw Radial defeating Steven Smith with another record setting 3.62-second run at 209mph.
Still it was an impressive first outing for Smith who had just stepped up to this Outlaw Radial Mustang.
Pro Street Villains was hard fought with a wide range of angry radial weapons. Mark Drew with his “Crusty” LX Torana was the early pace setter in qualifying with a 7.02, until Steve Bezzina’s twin-turbo Proline powered XW ate up the track when the conditions turned killer as the sun went down. Bezzina punched out a 6.66 at 212MPH in route to the final to face Assaf Abou Sehal who has the quickest R33 on the planet bar none. A waste-gate issue in the final for the BYPOLA Nissan caused the RB to over-boost, blowing the tyres off as Bezzina romped to a 6.67 212mph win.
The tough line up of cars continued to front in Ford vs Holden, Todd O’Leary’s Mustang went on a tear, top qualifying with a 8.883 at 154mph and was unstoppable, winning the event over Salim Matta’s LJ with a 8.96.
Daniel Moit got the job done with his Capri in True Street Machines, defeating Jimmy Vroutzos’ Capri in the final round.
The mix and match All The Rest bracket was dial your own, and the final was decided at the tree with Alysha Teale kicking herself by going red in the final, handing the win to Peter Tsekenis’ XY Falcon.
Bikes had a spot on the programme as well, with Pro Radial Bike, which was taken out by Alex Borg on his mental Hayabusa.
The Street|20 boys have already announced dates for Midnight Mayhem II and Midnight III set down for May 19/20 and Nov 10/11 respectively, promising more prize money and a bigger show.
Photo gallery courtesy of Cackling Pipes and Joe Maday.
