Victorian Top Bike rider Graeme Morell is looking forward to the opportunity to show off his skills in front of a home town audience for the first time when he tackles Fuchs Nitro Thunder presented by Crow Cams at Calder Park this Saturday. Morell is currently second placed in the ANDRA Top Bike championship and this season has carved out a reputation as a giant killer, demonstrating that consistency is just as important as outright pace when it comes to racing on nitro.
“We have just been persisting, our motor is not as big as the other bikes but we are right on their tail every pass and if they make a mistake we are there to take advantage,” he said.
“I’ve done this year mainly to try and get somewhere in the points and try to achieve sponsorship, no one wants to sponsor someone that hasn’t achieved anything so we are putting in the effort to do the series.”
Morell achieved his first ANDRA Top Bike victory earlier this season at the Nitro Champs and with a successful event in Calder could be within striking distance of championship leader Chris Porter. Morell was however forced to miss the last round of the championship in Darwin with his motor breaking a crankshaft at the Fuchs Winternationals in June and needing major repair work.
“We just put too much horsepower into it and were trying to go too far,” he said.
“I thought about sitting out the rest of the season but Calder Park is my home track and I really wanted to be there.
“It will be pretty awesome really, a lot of people follow the bike and without any racing being in Melbourne it has made it hard for them to see it, so I think there will be a quite big support group.”
Morell doesn’t plan to always be behind the eight-ball performance wise, with a new engine waiting in the wings once he can find a suitable chassis.
“I have a 160 cubic inch motor to put into another frame, then I will be properly competitive,” he said.
“We have got on top of the tune it with our small motor and I don’t think we can get much more out of it. We’ve put some stronger components into it to see out the season and hopefully they hang together,
“I’ve got a great team that help me keep going and we have had a lot of luck this season, but to go drag racing is my passion and it is great to have the ANDRA Drag Racing Series back at Calder Park.”
The nitro Top Bikes will be joined by Top Fuel dragsters and Pro Stock Motorcycles, plus over 150 sportsman teams at Fuchs Nitro Thunder presented by Crow Cams. Qualifying begins on Saturday from 9am, with racing from 5pm.
