200 racers contested the penultimate round of the Queensland Drag Racing Championships and final round of the Kenda Tires Drag Radial Series at Willowbank Raceway on September 17.
With the QDRC reaching its crescendo, the time is now for the championship contenders to make their moves, and in QDRC Outlaws the contenders also happen to sit at the same dinner table. Father and son duo Bill and Josh Fletcher are locked in titanic fight for championship honours, both racers squared off against each other in the final in their dragsters only to see Josh go red by an agonising one thousandth of a second. With Bill gifted the win, both racers head to the final showdown on equal championship points.
A red light decided the Modified final as well. Kevin Morton was the culprit pulling the trigger on his altered 9 thousandths too early handing the win to Andrew Sargent in his dragster. Neither racer though will be featuring in the championship as Kellie Kidd continues to rack up enough round points in the Chicago Shootout format that all classes run at QDRC to remain ahead of Bob Frawley.
Lee Sherwin has brought his Super Sedan Escort back from across the pond for another tour, the likeable Kiwi made an immediate impact at the QDRC with a final against Max Carpenter. The all Ford battle saw Carpenter get the jump at the lights in his Falcon and hold that advantage all the way to the strip with a 10.062 on a 10.02 for the win, and the lead in the championship over Tony Whyatt.
In Modified Bike, Ken Collin closed the championship gap to Tammy Goldthorpe by winning the final against Scott Hornick. Collin overcame a slight holeshot to ride around the Honda of Hornick with a 8.833 on a 8.80. Blaze Hansen was also using the day to accrue more laps on his turbo Top Bike and shot out a 7.04 PB.
Red light fever caught Neville Heffler in the Super Street final against Lucas Holz, the win to Holz cements his championship lead.
It was no holds barred in the Junior Dragster final, the championship contenders Dylan Leo and Dominic Nipperess were throwing down in the final. At the stripe Nipperess would come out on top with a 8.977 on a 8.95 dial in, Leo broke out with a 8.031 on a 8.04 trying to make up the .034 he gave up on the start line.
The event saw a number of machines testing including Dan Donnelly getting some nitro experience behind the butterflies of the Bumble Bee Outlaw Nitro Funnycar running a 5.84 245mph best pass.
Kaine Schwarz was in Donnelly’s normal seat in the Rocketship wheelstander.
Tyronne Tremanye put down the first test laps in the teams ex Spinozzi Pro Stock Camaro – best run was 7.04.
Chasing world sport compact records Rod Harvey uncoiled a 6.12 best run for the day.
The event also played host to the final round of the Kenda Tires 660 Drag Radial Series. With 65 entrants from multiple states pushing every kind of engine combination imaginable, it again produced spectacular racing.
The title belt for the overall series win went to Greg Emberly who collected enough points with his Dodge at the final event to take Kenda 660 Kombat Battle For The Belt Series.
But the Kombat winner (16 quickest radial cars after qualifying) for the final round was Danny Lownesdowne. His VL wagon upset radial gun Joe Gauci in the final 5.67 to a 6.00.
Mark Talbot went 5.56 to defeat Scott Harker’s 5.76 in the Kenda Drag Radial Warz class.
And Michael Headley was too quick for Cameron Sendall in the Drag Radial Rumble bracket.
Other achievements from the event were:
ALL CARBITZ TOOL BOX
Micheal Headley
ARMSTRONG MOTORSPORT QUICKEST 275 RADIAL CAR
Joe Gauci
TTS TYRE & MECHANICAL QUICKEST 235 RADIAL CAR
Scott Harker
HORSEPOWER SOLUTIONS WILDEST PASS
Stu Henry
SPEED CITY QUICKEST 60″
Stu Henry
WIRING & TUNING SOULTIONS QUICKEST EFI RADIAL CAR
Joe Gauci
JOE SEEGER SMASH REPAIRS QUICKEST ASPO RADIAL CAR
Mark Talbot
PHANTOM PERFORMANCE QUICKEST 6 CYL RADIAL CAR
Nikki Heppburn
GAZZARD BROS ENCOURAGEMENT AWARD
James Horan
6BOOST HARD LUCK AWARD
Perry (Snickers) Bullivant
POWERCRUISE POWER WHEELIE
Scott Hoffman
MOOD MOTORSPORTS ANNOUNCERS CHOICE AWARD
Simon Kryger
JUST COFFEE MACHINES BEST APPEARING RADIAL CAR
Simon Kryger
PERFORMANCE WHOLESALE MOST CONSISTENT RADIAL CAR
Rod Willams
RCE PERFORMANCE WAREHOUSE BEST REACTION TIME
Nitro Nick Harvey
Next up for Willowbank Raceway is the Eighth Mile Series this Saturday, followed by the finals for the Street Series during the 1st of October (Powder Puff) and 8th of October (Street Sedan, Street Bike) Test n Tune events, with the final round of the QDRC to crown the 2016 Champions on October 29th.
Check out the gallery from the day courtesy of the boys from Drag Photos.
