Top Fuel racer Wayne Newby delivered the perfect end to a sensational night of racing at Sydney Dragway, racing to the quickest time of the weekend en-route to overcoming Peter Xiberras in the Top Fuel final.
Culminating in one of the closest races of the day – a 4.65 for Newby to a 4.67 for Xiberras. Newby said of the win “This is for Santo. Tino told me that it would run a .65 at over 515 kmh, and it did! I love the Rapisarda team like family, this is just great!”
It was one of the most competitive days of racing in recent memory for the class with side by side 4 second runs the order of the day. Newby downed both of his team mates, Damien Harris and Larry Dixon on his journey to the final. Xiberras overcame Terry Sanity and Darren Morgan respectively.
Pro Alcohol saw Steven Ham take home the Gold trophy over Wayne Price in an all funny car final round. Price used a .009 reaction time to beat reigning champion Garry Phillips, who ran low elapsed time of the event with a 5.43 in the semi final round.
Mark Belleri picked up where he left off last season, with a win in Pro Slammer over local hero and long-time racer Jeff Wilson, who raced to his first ever 5 second run in his semi-final win over Gary Phillips. Number one qualifier Scott Maclean’s hopes were dashed with a red light in the semi finals – instantly disqualifying the Northern Territorian despite racing to the quickest elapsed time of the event with a 5.81 at 405.77 kilometres per hour.
Top Bike racer Chris Matheson looked on track to give a 5 second run a shot early in the event, but power application issues plagued the team throughout the weekend. Despite this, Matheson took home the Gold winners trophy and with it the points lead in the 400 Thunder Top Bike Championship over Queensland’s Damien Muscat.
Multi-time champion Aaron Tremayne dominated the East Coast Thunder in Pro Stock, taking home the top qualifiers award, the winners trophy, low elapsed time of the weekend with a 6.91, top speed at 317.90 kmh and the points lead in the 400 Thunder Pro Stock Championship. Bill Perdikaris took a deserved runner up position after returning to Pro Stock after a serious accident earlier in the year.
Brad Lemberg delivered world class performances in winning Pro Bike at the event, defeating Corey Buttegeig in the final round. His 7.09 from qualifying held up for the quickest run of the event despite some blistering performances from Buttegeig and Glenn Wooster respectively.
Other 400 Thunder Drag Racing Series winners were Paul Mouhayet in Pro 10.5 , Perry Bullivant in Pro Radial, Clint George in Super Comp, Blair Pennington in Comp Bike, Alf Sciacca Jnr in Supercharged Outlaws, Steve Fowler in Top Sportsman, Rolinia Tremayne in Modified, John Kapiris in Super Sedan Manuel Hliounakis in Modified Bike, Shaun Smith in Super Street and James Hazzard in Junior Dragster.
The Series now moves to Willowbank Raceway for the New Years Thunder on January 7, the next round of the 400 Thunder Championship for Top Fuel, Top Bike, Pro Slammer and Pro Bike before heading back to Sydney two weeks later for the Santo’s Summer Thunder on 21st January.
-Sydney Dragway media release
