History was made at Round 1 of the Summit Racing Equipment Sportsman Series in Portland last weekend as Stuart McBain became the first ever championship round winner in Top Sportsman.
Fuchs South Coast Raceway was the first to debut the new ANDRA Championship Drag Racing bracket Top Sportsman encompassing some of the quickest sedans in the country utilising normally aspirated engines and engines with power adders under the dial your own handicap system in Group Three.
Eight such vehicles descended on Portland in regional Victoria to contest the first ever national championship round with McBain emerging victorious in the final over Brett Henley.
McBain turned on the win light in a dramatic final running a 5.257 over the eighth mile on a 5.23 dial in to lift the first ever ANDRA Christmas Tree for the class while his opponent triggered the red by just 0.006 seconds.
“Winning the first Top Sportsman event was pretty special mainly because of the little bit of history that we created but also because it was the start of the new deal with Summit,” said McBain.
“I was very excited for my crew guys and myself to be a part of that. Any win is good but that was just a bit sweeter than most.”
Seeing an opportunity to potentially make a run at the newly created championship, McBain felt the only thing he had to lose was the additional cost of upgrading his licence.
“The opportunity was there to have go at it, so I just thought why not,” he said. “I think the bracket will get a lot stronger once the fast cars that are in Sydney and Brisbane come out to play.”
“The main difference for me will be that I will be the slower car a lot of the time now. I am usually in the pointy end of the field doing the chasing so now I will be getting chased a lot and I will have to adjust to that. Rather quickly I hope.
“There are already a few people stepping up their operations just for this. It will definitely grow as time goes on. The Fowlers and Neil Constantinou will be right in the thick of things soon so they will be worth watching.
“With the short season this year it presents a unique opportunity to make a run for the championship so we will go to Adelaide in March and try and gather up some more points and see how it plays out for us.”
The next round of the Summit Racing Equipment Sportsman Series takes place at Perth Motorplex on January 30-13 as part of the 44th Westernationals. The Series then visits Adelaide International Raceway March 14-15.
{fcomment}
