Round two of the Track Championship Series was a repeat performance for Grant Rowe as he secured his second consecutive win of the season at Hidden Valley Drag Strip on Saturday night.
Rowe was competing in the fiercely contested Super Sedan bracket and met rival team mate Tony Gray who was off his game with an 11.089 second pass on a 10.90 dialin. Rowe capitalised and secured the win with a 10.565 on a 10.50 dialin.
In Modified Bike two rookies made it through to the finals, knocking out veteran riders Colin Sainsbury and Leith Darrach on the way. Ray Joy-Warde got off the line quicker but handed the win to Geoff Hawkins after he only managed a 10.525 on a 10.2 dialin. Hawkins showed his reliability on his Suzuki Hayabusa with a 9.593 second pass at 148mph on a 9.50 dialin.
For the street orientated fans Greg Reed showed up Bob Czerniawski in the Street Car bracket. Reed was ever reliable with a 15.139 on a 15.1 dialin in his HQ Holden. Over in the Street Bikes Mark Tattingham defeated Dale Smith while in Super Street David Voysey took out the win against Alvaro DeCastro.
In Junior Dragster, Travis Hagen took out his first ever round win with an 11.236sec pass over the eighth mile after his opponent, Darcy Muller, unfortunately stalled on the line.
In the exhibition eliminator the Doorslammers found it hard to get down the track with nearly every pass ending in tyre shake. The shake was so severe that it destroyed the rear of Scott MacLean’s Studebaker, forcing him to abort his last pass.
Speaking after one of his passes Doorslammer driver, Matt Abel said it shook the car so violently that his vision went white and he was almost sick.
“While we’re disappointed we couldn’t get down the track the data we got was our best ever” said Abel.
“We threw everything at the car for the final pass but the track was still too good and we again ran into tyre shake.”
“A 0.988 to the 60ft mark is the best we have done anywhere in Australia and we are confident we are on our way to a 5 second pass when we have tuned the car setup.”
Hidden Valley Drag Strip re-opened for Beat the Heat Off Street racing on Friday 22 June before launching into a massive line up at the upcoming 2012 NT Titles on the 13-14 July.
Photo courtesy of Ed Forman
