Round two of the APSA Pro Street Shootout series at Willowbank Raceway was heating up to be another day of awesome wheels up action after some tease in testing leading up to the event. But all that brewed were the rain clouds restricting the event to just one qualifier and one round of racing as the heavens opening up numerous times and ultimately putting an end to the event.
Washout aside, Pro Street is all about the numbers and there were some belters run.
Outlaw Extreme had two combatants with Stew Walsh in his twin turbo Camaro and Dieter Herrmann down from the Territoryin his monster cubed Pontiac GTO. The pair put of the best pass of the day with a door handle to door handle run that went to Stew Walsh with a 6.55 at 218.12mph PB over a 6.72 at 168.68mph.
Outlaw 10.5 had only five entrants take a hit in qualifying that was topped by Jeremy Callaghan in his turbo ’69 Camaro with a 6.82 at 216.62mph
Graham Harrison was trying his hand at Outlaw 10.5 in his turbo Firebird and qualified second with a 7.24 at 175.87mph, a new PB for the car.
Nikki Hepburn ran a 8.00 at 194.49 in qualifying but came out swinging in the only paired pass in racing defeating Jeremy Callaghan with a 6.95 at 203.28mph over a 7.67 at 203.58mph.
Glen Forster in his Mustang was top of the pops after the one qualifier in Pro Street Blown with a 7.07 at 213.54mph, closely followed by Craig Hewitt’s Monaro with a 7.08 at 189.20mph and Steve Athan’s in his Muzzy on a 7.14 at 203mph.
The best pass in racing was between Hewitt and Karl Wicht’s gorgeous pro-charged 555ci Torana, Hewitt got the nod with a great 6.87 at 202.03mph over a 7.36 at 192.96mph.
Glen Forster improved in the racing round by 2/10ths with a 6.86 at a honking 217.25mph over Steve Athans’ backing off 7.86 at just 130.35 clicks.
It might not have been the quickest pass in Pro Street Blown, but the neatest looking pairing would have been the matchup between Dave Knightley’s Commodore and Randall Laurie’s Torana, both with blowers sticking way above the bonnets – Laurie won the pairing with a 8.08 at 165mph over a 8.40 at 161mph
Dom Luppino was unable to repeat his 6.66 at 213mph in testing, his Outlaw Radial Mustang rolled the beams in qualifying and just accepted the green in racing.
Top qualifier in Outlaw Radial was Michael Kalaitzakis in his big block twin turbo Supra with a 7.33 at 193.07mph followed closely by Steve Bezzina with his XW Falcon on a new PB, 7.50 at 187.55mph.
A worthy mention should go out to number three qualifier in Outlaw Radial, Justin Wilkinson’s VL Commodore still houses stock suspension, and is the quickest single cam VL Commodore running, Wilkinson improved on his Jamboree PB with a 7.66 at 182.11mph.
Possibly the pass of the event, Bezzina in racing belted out a 7.38 at 194.49 in his XW Ford on radials from what could pass as a streeter any day of the week.
Modified Street Blown had eleven cars that managed to put a pass down in qualifying, with top spot going to Ashley Mason’s RX-7 running a 8.16 at 169.76mph.
Guy Hall in his 427ci blown black ’69 Merc put in the best run of racing pumping out a 8.56 at 158.50mph.
Pro Street Unblown and Mod Street Unblown were combined to make a five car field. The top three spots were all courted by Torana’s with Geoff Campbell-Brown sitting on top with a 8.10 at 166.68mph, closely followed by Michael Brody running 8.15 at 170.26mph and Andrew Milford on a 8.25 at 163.41mph. Milford in his gorgeous new weapon was the quickest in the racing with a 8.21 at 162.72mph, the pairing of the round however was Chris Stevermuer defeating Michael Brody on a holeshot with a 8.72 at 155.60mph on a .096 leave over a 8.52 at 169.08mph off a sleepy .350 light making it oh so close on the top end.
X275 Pro had eight entrants qualify with Jay Goodwin’s Capri leading the pack with a 8.10 at 173.76mph. Terry Seng in his VC Commodore hit a new PB for the car in racing with a winning 7.81 at 158.63mph over Craig Eveleigh’s Cortina which clocked a 8.59.
Brett Benz VL Calais also rattled off a stunning 7.84 number on a solo at a colossal 174.62mph.
The extremely popular X275 class was very tight at the top in qualifying with Brock Harvey’s VH Commodore in the number one spot with a 8.83 at 155mph, very closely followed by Douglas Day’s Commodore on a 8.85 at 156mph, Ricky Fenwick Mitsubishi Triton rounded out the top three with a 8.87 at 161.40mph.
True Street was owned by ex-Doorslammer racer Andrew Searle in his Falcon with a 8.74 at 154.09mph in qualifying and improving on that with a 8.69 at 153.63mph in racing to be in a in a league of his own at this event.
Jason Ellem travelled down form Calliope in Central Queensland to be the only seven second runner in qualifying for Pro Street Bike going 7.85 at 178.45mph.
Brandon Gosbell went 8.27 at 165mph with his first shot at the track, when it came to racing he showed Ellem he can run the numbers too with a great 7.93 at 171.12mph.
Dial Your Own was dominated by Neil Maxwell in his GTO with a 7.42 at 185.33mph in qualifying, daylight came next then Allan Grimsey’s Capri with a 9.10 at 147.86mph.
More photos courtesy of Blacktrack.com.au & Dragphotos.com.au
