Jeremy Callaghan made the perfect racing debut with his absolutely stunning twin turbo IHRA Pro Mod Camaro in a bracket that now has official professional championship status.
IHRA Pro Mod is run on a fixed 5.85 index and in the lanes for Nitro Thunder was a mix of turbo and blown V8s with a five-second six banger for added spice.
Running the same ‘All Run Format’ as with the other professional classes, racing started with Craig Burns putting the big shoes back on his Mustang to take on Joseph Murina’s blown Corvette, Burns put up a red light, though it didn’t matter as he blew the tyres off it anyway and Murina bolted away to a 6.003. Frank Tarabay in the GAS Racing 2JZ powered Celica scored the bye and headed straight for the wall before lifting off the power.
Danny Makdessi had an uphill challenge in his former street driven VC Valiant against Stew Walsh’s latest spec Pro Mod Camaro, however Walsh spun the wheels and had to pedal and couldn’t rein back the ‘Devil’s Taxi’s’ 6.31 with a 6.45 but Makdessi had left a mere -.004 cherry hanging.
Callaghan couldn’t have started his campaign against tougher opposition, lining up against Greg ‘Mauler’ Tsakiridis. Callaghan put a holeshot on the Mauler Mustang and held the advantage to the stripe in a great 5.98 to 6.01 side by side race. The round was closed out by Zoran Gajic in the GAS Motorsport twin turbo Hemi motivated Mustang taking a very nice 5.87 into the next round when opponent Leigh Ryan rolled through the beams with his blown Camaro.
Round two opened with a wild run, a skating Tsakiridis nabbed the win with a 5.96 as Tarabay made sure of his loss with a -.007 red light before mowing down the timing blocks. Makdessi again drew Walsh, but this time stayed on the right side of the tree and despite skimming along the centreline held on for a win with a 6.29, as the Walsh turbo Camaro was all over the lane and he wisely abandoned the lap.
Burns and Murina also were on repeat from round one, this time it was a door handle to door handle race. The Burn’s Mustang was starting to look wounded trailing smoke but nosed out Murina on the line 6.00 to a 6.04. Callaghan was to face Gajic, but the GAS Mustang couldn’t fire and Callaghan shook and spun hard at the hit before aborting the run. The final would be Callaghan on two wins and Tsakiridis on the back of his quick ETs.
Before we get to the final, the rest of the third round had to run which started with Burns against Tarabay. The Celica of Tarabay dropped its best run of the day with a 6.36, but couldn’t match Burn’s 6.003 before all hell broke loose for the blown Mustang in the braking when a monster fire engulfed the car. Fortunately all the safety gear did its job as to the Sydney Dragway safety crew and Burns walked away unharmed.
Gajic’s Mustang was wounded and had a solo so he elected just to idle down track for championship points. Murina’s blown Corvette fell silent after the burnout handing a solo to Makdessi. The VC Valiant pulled a 6.25 using the full width of the Sydney Dragway left lane. The money run was a wild one, both cars popping huge flames from the pipes on the two step before leaving, with a slight holeshot going to the Camaro. From there Tsakiridis slipping the tyres headed for the centreline and the Mustang mowed down the 330′ block and his race was over, Callaghan kept the Camaro stuck in the middle of the track to clock a 5.91 and a win on debut with a new car.
Tsakiridis tied up the championship lead with Gajic going into the Winternationals, with Callaghan and Walsh outside chances 70 odd points behind.
