The penultimate round of Willowbank Raceway’s Queensland Drag Racing Championship was completed last weekend with racers battling for the last remaining points to make an impact on their championship title chase.
Before we get into the racing results there were a few vehicles of note testing on the day.
Steve Badcock showed off his nitrous Top Fuel Motorcycle with a few low seven second passes.
The Mazfix team were preparing for the inaugural Melbourne Jamboree and dosed out a 6.52 best.
Kelly Bettes tried her hand at steering the Jett Racing Eclipse.
Nikki Hepburn left her big block twin turbo Gemini in the shed in favour for and new ride – a 1FZ powered Toyota 86 destined for Factory Extreme.
Video highlights of testing.
In Super Comp Ash Hamblin was looking to repeat his ripping 6.2 second testing performance from the night before after slotting Shane Seawright’s BBC into the altered but could not hit the tune up again.
Fresh off his win at the Jamboree, Sam Kiprios continued the winning form defeating Chris Tait in the final. The two 3RZ powered machines coincidentally made up that Jamboree final – but now playing on indexes – Kiprios ran a 8.05 on a 8.15 DD/GA number to Tait’s off pace lap for the win.
Les Rodgie’s “Teacher’s Pet” QDRC Outlaw Funny Car was certainly sporting a radical new look with a Dodge Challenger body now flopped over the chassis. In a small QDRC Outlaw field Rodgie earned a final shot against the ever consistent Josh Fletcher.
Fletcher was undefeated through the three Chicago Shootout rounds and was on his game again in the final slotting a 7.219 on a 7.19 to Rodgie’s 7.100 on a 6.76 to edge further ahead in the championship.
Kellie Kidd asserted herself as the one to beat going into the last round of the QDRC as she defeated Andrew Sargent in the Modified final. Kidd overcame a .009 light dropped on her from Sargent to run a 7.489 on a 7.48 to take the all dragster final over Sargent’s 7.903 on a 7.86.
Tony Whyatt was off the button two thousandth’s too quick in the Super Sedan final against David Morris but still holds a commanding championship lead.
The Modified Bike final saw no championship contenders meet in the final, though Phil White – who now sits second to Brian Alvisio – did score three round wins and lost a finals showing on count back. Instead we saw Paul Pires throwdown against Shaun Soboll, unfortunately Soboll made the win easy work for Pires when he left a -0.028 cherry on the Willowbank tree.
The Super Gas championship is still a tight tussle between David Gauldie and Simon Isherwood, with Gauldie creeping ahead in the points after a final round appearance against Kerry Boyde. The roadster of Boyde was perfect on the lights in the final pushing Gauldie to drive the Cutlass out the back door breaking out with a 9.864 to Boyde’s 9.892.
Neil Tschutura brought on the red light with his Commodore in the Super Street final passing the win over Andrew Stathis’ VL Commodore, though the points earned just may see him claim the QDRC title with a 16 point margin over his nearest rival Mitchell Bauer.
Young Jett Willshire claimed his first ever win in Junior Dragster defeating a red lighting Rhys Beauchamp – you can read more about Jett’s win by clicking on this story http://www.dragnews.com.au/index.php/news-all/local-news/3038-junior-jett-jumping-for-joy. Class heavy hitters Tim Barron and Caleb Oberg are still virtually locked together in the championship with one round to go.
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