The Atura Championship Series for the Sydney Dragway Track Championship rolled on with round three as contenders for this year’s title start to immerge.
In Supercharged Outlaws, newcomer to the class Gordon Carlsen checked off his first six second and double tonne runs with a 6.89 and 202mph with his new blown altered. Carlsen blazed the tyres and fell to John Ward in the semi finals, as the HPW dragster moved on to meet Rob Coote’s altered in the final. Ward strapped a tenth on Coote at the green and despite running 6.56 on a 6.52 Coote could not reel back in Ward’s 7.39 on a 7.25.
Spectators were seeing double in Top Sportsman as Frank Palumbo unveiled his [EVLTWIN] Torana, with son Ronnie taking over the driving duties fulltime with the identically presented [SIKGTR] machine. Fresh off his ANDRA Championship win, it was no surprise too see Jason Stares in the final, and attempting to upset the new National Champion was Brett Balfour with his beautiful Nova. And an upset it was, Balfour holeshotting the champ as both racers ran over their dial in’s by an equal amount, Balfour’s better light bringing the win.
Peter Ilsey had a front end failure resulting his little altered cleaning up the wall in the braking area during Modified qualifying, Ilsey was unhurt but the altered was sans front wheel and fairly roughed up. Veteran racer Graham Millet was proving the rather be lucky than good theory during eliminations, Millet has not raced for some time and was running his newer altered – not the traditional “Bounty Hunter most link him with – however was fighting traction problems off the start line. The first round saw Millet put in a respectable 9.20 on a 9.10 to win on a big holeshot of Allison Evans, a red light from Stephanie Huysmans progressed him past round two where opponent Emma William broke out, and thanks to a solo in the semi Millet was in the final against the altered of Leon Flack. This where the fortunate circumstances ran out as the Millet machine spun the wheels on the line and Flack powered away with a safe 8.19 on a 8.11 to move into second in the track championship.
Super Sedan is the most hotly contested bracket in the series and the usual suspects are forming at the top end of the championship table. The final shook down to Brett McNiff’s Valiant and Marco Tolomeo’s Falcon, a big cherry from McNiff decided the win on the start line, but Tolomeo showed he was still on his game running it through for a 9.226 on a 9.22.
Matthew Hunt has created a little points buffer in Modified Bike with a semi final result after winning the first two rounds of the championship. Peter Strudwick red lit his chances away on his Destroyer in the final against Robert Simmonds, the Simmonator is now Hunt’s nearest rival 30 points off the pace and setting up yet another championship dual between the two nemisis’.
In Super Street, James Barnes acquired the points lead with a final round showing but fell short of the event win breaking out against the American muscle of Tex Griffith’s Plymouth. Griffith’s .005 to .075 reaction sealed Barnes’ fate on the line and was also neat at the stripe with a 11.10 on a 11.08.
Birthday boy John Somoracz was given a present from his Cortina with a perfect 9.900 qualifying run in Super Gas. New ANDRA Super Gas National Champion Darryl Stephen ended the party putting JB on the trailer in round one in a double breakout race. Stephen went on to keep his perfect record of final appearances this year intact, to then light up the win light against opponent Naomi Lightowler in a race where both racers went well under the index, 9.87 to a 9.82.
Joel Burns wrapped up Junior Dragster with a holeshot 8.077 on a 8.04 pass to down Georgia Fardella’s 8.584 on a 8.57, young Georgia though moved equal points leader through consistent results this season.
Monique Zahra chalked up a win for the ladies in Street Fighter, her little table top ute did the business against a breaking out Commodore of David Jennings. Zahra now moves into second in the championship with Danny Stadelmaier a couple rounds clear of the field.
Neither rider in the Street Bike final came close to their dial in, Brendan Miglionico nabbed the win with a 10.63 on a 10.21 over Michael Close’s 11.76 on a 11.10.
Finally HAMBster had a final that did not feature the name Danglmaier – probably because the family were not racing. Instead it was Ezio Cacciotti taking the trophy with a 16.43 on a 16.17 via a huge holeshot to Gerard O’Neill’s 13.93 on a 13.90.
There were not enough numbers in the Top Comp, Super Comp and Outlaw 10.5 classes to conduct racing in those classes.
Check out our gallery below – you can find further photos at http://www.facebook.com/cacklingpipes
{fcomment}
