Sensational Sydney – Fuchs Australian Nationals event report
COMPETITION Jason Maggs continued his domination in Competition at the Sydney venue with another victory backing up his Nitro Champs win. Qualifying second with a easy 6.784 (-.496) in the Corvette, Maggs never seemed to be pushed all event only needing to break into the sixes in the final. His opponent in the final was Troy Papadopoulos who was debuting his EB Falcon for the first time in Competition’s BB/GA class. With a solo in round one, Papadopoulos upset Wayne Cartledge in round two before benefiting from another solo in the semis. A valiant 7.27 (7.44) in the final pushed Maggs to run 6.84 (7.15) for the win. Tuelstrup put on a noble display in the B/DA dragster after defeating Tony Bellert in round one then the upset of the bracket as he held off Shane Baxter next up but became fodder for Magg’s hard charging Corvette in the semi. On the back of some very impressive testing numbers Shane Baxter had the CC/AA altered singing top to top qualify with a 6.91 (-.571). However it all came undone in round two after possibly lifting too early on a lackadaisical .215 reaction allowing Danny Tuelstrup’s dragster to sneak ahead for the win 7.22 (7.49) to 7.41 (7.58) Looking to avenge the non final at the Winternationals Cartledge’s 7.27 (7.62) fell fractionally of short of Papadopoulos’ 7.26 (7.62) in the race of bracket. Raymond Oxley red lit in round one against Cartledge but it was good to see the dragster back on track after a licensing accident with daughter Dee in the car last year. Nola ran a big PB in qualifying with a 6.53 (-.219) for the nitrous Pontiac, but was sent packing in round one by fellow Victorian Maggs. Bellert was into the sixes in qualifying with a 6.984 (-.426) Victorian Cameron Ambesi was competing in his first national event with his BB/DA dragster, but issue from testing continued to plague the mint looking rail and they could not front for round one. Geoff Kelly was another Victorian to be struck down by mechanical failure and unable to make the first round, but we did get a nice wheel stand from the CC/AA machine. SUPER STOCK Super Stock was excellently represented with 20 entries. Relative newcomer Jason Simpson did it in old school style with his Capri bodied G/GA stocker winning Super Stock amongst a field of mainly late model machines. Simpson qualified third with a 8.367 (-.503) and must have had the rest of the field running scared as Fred Soleiman, Mario Barbon, Omar Sedmak and Steve Norman in the final with the clean sweep all pulled cherries against Simpson in eliminations. Steven Norman debuted a new Cobalt for B/APA duties, a 7.53 (-.411) was only good enough for 11th in qualifying! But Norman powered on in eliminations defeating the tough Camaro of Tom Dimitropoulos 7.55 (7.95) to Camaro’s 8.50 (8.98) courtesy of a sleepy .303 light from Dimitropoulos. A 7.75 (7.57) drove around Les Heintz GTO’s 8.74 (8.83), before being the benefit of a Darren Parker red light in the semi, but succumb to his own cherry in the final. A red light by Sedmak in the semi finished the Pontiac for the event after qualifying with a 7.059 (-.471) and going past Nick Levitt in round one with a double cherry race and Vince Panetta’s Torana in round two. Darren Parker picked up the speed record a 182.65 for B/APA on the way to the semi final picking up the scalps of David Tucker and Clint George en route. Clint George is still a newcomer in Super Stock but after a 7.524 (-.426) in qualifying is not to be taken lightly. A 7.46 in round one is just shy of the national mark and had him defeat John Kuiper’s Commodore, if he could of repeated performance in round two he may of found his Cavalier in the semi. Harping back to his Super Sedan days, Solieman had the Torana airborne again in qualifying. An unfortunate redlight in round one tossed away a 7.48 sub A/MPA record run. Heintz had the GTO leaping off the line. Barbon qualified on the bump with a 8.490 (-.369), defeated Magner in the first round before cherry picking against Simpson. Best Engineered winner and number one qualifier by a bunch was Nick Panagiotlaris, a outstanding 8.288 (-0.692) in A/MP had the Falcon nearly two tenths up on the field. However something went array in round one against Panetta with Falcon shutting down after the launch. Another shock round one exit was Tom Dimitropoulos, following a 8.473 (-.507)second qualifier endeavor. Marino Prodan could not force the wheelstanding Charger in the field The first session of Super Stock saw the serious accident involving Grant Williams, returning to the track after a 4 year layoff, the experienced and record setting rotary driver lost control of his Probe and impacted the left hand and driver’s side wall. Though the impact at the time did not appear as brutal compared too many we see, the result ended racing for the night as Williams had to be cut free and airlifted to hospital. Fortunately the synopsis see’s Williams escape with a lot of bruising, cracked ribs, chipped vertebrae and a decent lump of the head leaving a black eye, he was released after a short hospital stay and we wish him all the best on his recovery. COMP BIKE Scott Keogh picked up his first Comp Bike win on the Players Racing V/CB Harley, following a solo in round one when David Shaw could not stage then defeating Blair Pennington in round two, a solo in the semi had Keogh against perennial Sydney finalist Corey Scholes. Scholes had top qualified with a 8.251 (-.0699) a decade under the DD/CB record. After a bye and a single when Geoff Kempe broke in round two, Scholes ran 8.40 (8.94) to pick up the ET record defeating Kevin Gummow 7.67 (8.20) in a crackerjack race. A 8.52 (8.67) in the
