A healthy crowd came out to Hidden Valley Drag Strip in near perfect weather to witness the opening round of the 2018 Track Championship season.
Competitor numbers were a little down due to some racers having last minute issues and others waiting on parts. It was pleasing to see a good turn out of motorcycles and also some new racers in the off street category that have well and truly got bitten by the drag racing bug.
The event ran smoothly and the racing was close in all brackets, the only downside to the event was Dieter Herrmann’s crash in the third round of Top Eliminator. Dieter’s nitrous equipped Camaro drifted out to the centre line then came around, contacting the wall at the finish line. Dieter emerged from the car under his own power and later went to hospital for a check and was found to have a broken rib.
In results, Matt Abel was unopposed in the Top Eliminator final following Herrmann’s crash.
Ashley Smith was better at the tree and the stripe to beat Michael Dureau in Super Modified.
In Modified Bike Mark Tattingham took another win, defeating Heath Costello.
Super Street was won by Justin Neck over Howard Munt.
Grant Radcliffe won Street Car against Phalan Lang in the final.
Street Bike went to Reece Tjung who rode to victory against Alan Henry.
And finally Aiden Abel backed up Matt’s win to take Junior Dragster against Brooke Harris.
The next round of the Hidden Valley Track Champs is on Saturday May 19.
Photos courtesy Craig Radcliffe.
