COMPETITION
Jason Maggs continued his domination in Competition at the Sydney venue with another victory backing up his Nitro Champs win. Qualifying second with a easy 6.784 (-.496) in the Corvette, Maggs never seemed to be pushed all event only needing to break into the sixes in the final.
His opponent in the final was Troy Papadopoulos who was debuting his EB Falcon for the first time in Competition’s BB/GA class. With a solo in round one, Papadopoulos upset Wayne Cartledge in round two before benefiting from another solo in the semis. A valiant 7.27 (7.44) in the final pushed Maggs to run 6.84 (7.15) for the win.
Tuelstrup put on a noble display in the B/DA dragster after defeating Tony Bellert in round one then the upset of the bracket as he held off Shane Baxter next up but became fodder for Magg’s hard charging Corvette in the semi.
On the back of some very impressive testing numbers Shane Baxter had the CC/AA altered singing top to top qualify with a 6.91 (-.571). However it all came undone in round two after possibly lifting too early on a lackadaisical .215 reaction allowing Danny Tuelstrup’s dragster to sneak ahead for the win 7.22 (7.49) to 7.41 (7.58)
Looking to avenge the non final at the Winternationals Cartledge’s 7.27 (7.62) fell fractionally of short of Papadopoulos’ 7.26 (7.62) in the race of bracket.
Raymond Oxley red lit in round one against Cartledge but it was good to see the dragster back on track after a licensing accident with daughter Dee in the car last year.
Nola ran a big PB in qualifying with a 6.53 (-.219) for the nitrous Pontiac, but was sent packing in round one by fellow Victorian Maggs.
Bellert was into the sixes in qualifying with a 6.984 (-.426)
Victorian Cameron Ambesi was competing in his first national event with his BB/DA dragster, but issue from testing continued to plague the mint looking rail and they could not front for round one.
Geoff Kelly was another Victorian to be struck down by mechanical failure and unable to make the first round, but we did get a nice wheel stand from the CC/AA machine.
SUPER STOCK
Super Stock was excellently represented with 20 entries.
Relative newcomer Jason Simpson did it in old school style with his Capri bodied G/GA stocker winning Super Stock amongst a field of mainly late model machines. Simpson qualified third with a 8.367 (-.503) and must have had the rest of the field running scared as Fred Soleiman, Mario Barbon, Omar Sedmak and Steve Norman in the final with the clean sweep all pulled cherries against Simpson in eliminations.
Steven Norman debuted a new Cobalt for B/APA duties, a 7.53 (-.411) was only good enough for 11th in qualifying! But Norman powered on in eliminations defeating the tough Camaro of Tom Dimitropoulos 7.55 (7.95) to Camaro’s 8.50 (8.98) courtesy of a sleepy .303 light from Dimitropoulos. A 7.75 (7.57) drove around Les Heintz GTO’s 8.74 (8.83), before being the benefit of a Darren Parker red light in the semi, but succumb to his own cherry in the final.
A red light by Sedmak in the semi finished the Pontiac for the event after qualifying with a 7.059 (-.471) and going past Nick Levitt in round one with a double cherry race and Vince Panetta’s Torana in round two.
Darren Parker picked up the speed record a 182.65 for B/APA on the way to the semi final picking up the scalps of David Tucker and Clint George en route.
Clint George is still a newcomer in Super Stock but after a 7.524 (-.426) in qualifying is not to be taken lightly. A 7.46 in round one is just shy of the national mark and had him defeat John Kuiper’s Commodore, if he could of repeated performance in round two he may of found his Cavalier in the semi.
Harping back to his Super Sedan days, Solieman had the Torana airborne again in qualifying. An unfortunate redlight in round one tossed away a 7.48 sub A/MPA record run.
Heintz had the GTO leaping off the line.
Barbon qualified on the bump with a 8.490 (-.369), defeated Magner in the first round before cherry picking against Simpson.
Best Engineered winner and number one qualifier by a bunch was Nick Panagiotlaris, a outstanding 8.288 (-0.692) in A/MP had the Falcon nearly two tenths up on the field. However something went array in round one against Panetta with Falcon shutting down after the launch.
Another shock round one exit was Tom Dimitropoulos, following a 8.473 (-.507)second qualifier endeavor.
Marino Prodan could not force the wheelstanding Charger in the field
The first session of Super Stock saw the serious accident involving Grant Williams, returning to the track after a 4 year layoff, the experienced and record setting rotary driver lost control of his Probe and impacted the left hand and driver’s side wall. Though the impact at the time did not appear as brutal compared too many we see, the result ended racing for the night as Williams had to be cut free and airlifted to hospital. Fortunately the synopsis see’s Williams escape with a lot of bruising, cracked ribs, chipped vertebrae and a decent lump of the head leaving a black eye, he was released after a short hospital stay and we wish him all the best on his recovery.
COMP BIKE
Scott Keogh picked up his first Comp Bike win on the Players Racing V/CB Harley, following a solo in round one when David Shaw could not stage then defeating Blair Pennington in round two, a solo in the semi had Keogh against perennial Sydney finalist Corey Scholes.
Scholes had top qualified with a 8.251 (-.0699) a decade under the DD/CB record. After a bye and a single when Geoff Kempe broke in round two, Scholes ran 8.40 (8.94) to pick up the ET record defeating Kevin Gummow 7.67 (8.20) in a crackerjack race. A 8.52 (8.67) in the final with a smashed index was the difference as the turbo Kawasaki could not catch Keogh’s 9.13 (9.29)
Kevin Gummow picked up the national record in CC/CB in his 7.67 losing run against Scholes in the semi.
Maurice Allen was doing triple duty at the event, here aboard Mick Donohue’s DD/CBI Suzuki, he could not get it to tango all weekend being eliminated by Pennington in round one.
After some excellent testing and a solid 7.775 (-.255) in qualifying Robert Cassar’s Kawasaki unluckily quit against Kempe in round one.
SUPER COMPACT
Its been a dramatic couple of months for Jason Both, following a accident which saw him barrel roll his RX3 ten times in the braking area, he returned at the wheel of Joe Signorelli’s RX7 and claimed a Australian Nationals title. Qualifying last with just a ten second pass, the car had yet to even make a full powered run ever coming into eliminations where he would meet Zoran Gajic first up. A 7.45 (7.33) when Gajic broke before the start gave a heads up finally in to the RX7’s potential, a pedalling 8.09 was enough to surpass a breaking Johnny Criticos in round two and Both now found himself in the final.
Damien McKern holeshot counterpart George Rehayem in round one and with a solo in the semi faced Both in the final. Reactions weren’t pretty from McKern and Both (.355 to a .233 respectively) but it made the difference at the strip, Both’s 7.12 (7.33) personal best mowed down the RX2’s 7.77 (8.01)
Criticos has been making some great leaps with performance with the little R100 in a tough CC/SM class. A 7.91 (7.97) put away on holeshot Joe Signorelli’s 6.48 (6.97) in the first round.
A 0.930 reaction from Signorelli in the first round won’t win any racers.
George Rehayem was behind driving the PAC teams old faithful MX6 following the loss of the Mazda 6 at the Nitro Champs, they picked the top qualifiers medallion with a 6.709 (-.0621) but were beat in round one by a customer in Mckern. A .426 reaction left their great 6.73 (7.33) round one lap for the taking by McKern’s 7.86 (8.15).
After a grand 6.64 (-.326) in qualifying, the normally reliable 2JZ BMW of Gajic faltered in round one breaking on the line.
SUPERCHARGED OUTLAWS
Since debuting in Supercharged Outlaws at the Winternationals Luke Marsden remains undefeated with the funny car as the winning streak continued into the Nationals earning the Gold Christmas Tree. After defeating Norm McCormack with a 6.97 (6.91) and a perfect reaction time the flopper was dialled in going 6.95 (6.93) over Dave McGaw in round two, 6.95 (6.94) in the semi defeating John Ward and in the final a 6.96 (6.94) to hold off Nathan Peirano.
Nathan Peirano has had plenty of success at Sydney Dragway in the past but the Lexus powered hot rod had a relatively blessed run to the final this time. After defeating Frank Mamone with a tough 7.46 (7.46) in round one, opponents Peter Xiberras and Les Rodgie broke in subsequent rounds before meeting Marsden in the final. A .12 holeshot to the funny car had Peirano break out 7.38 (7.42) trying to stay in front.
Les Rodgie was mixing it up in the championship last season and the form continued going past Zach Peirano and Jeff Gatt until mechanical failure stopped the funny car from fronting in the semi.
Ward defeated Alex Souris in the first round then had a killer race against the national champion in round two, a .004 light from the HPW dragster and a 7.26 (7.25) at the finish kept the Matty Watts altered trailing with a 7.21(7.20). The semi though saw Ward tattooed on the line by Marsden’s funny car causing a 7.21(7.25) break out.
Peter Xiberras sporting a new engine combo top qualified the field with a 6.63, ran 6.57 on a solo in the first round but broke in round two.
Paul Stephen was due to face Marsden in the Winternationals final before the rain so the pair decided to grudge run in qualifying to determine a bragging rights winner, after meeting in the first session to dial cars in, the pair met up again in the second qualifying session where Marsden red lit earning Stephen a mocked up Gold Christmas Tree trophy. In the real racing though Stephen was not so fortunate being eliminated by Dave McGaw in round one.
Jason Cunliffe in his first ANDRA event was one a several competitors to succumb to the woes of supercharged engines before eliminations.
MODIFIED
If your going to win any event it should be your sponsors one, and Ken Stewart did just that taking the Australian Nationals crown in his Fuch’s sponsored dragster. Eliminating Mike Bailey, Tim Neilsen and Rod Scanlon on the path to the final, Stewart the number one qualifier was due to face Dave Ferricks. Unfortunately the Ferrick dragster broke in the semi leaving a solo for Stewart and probably not how he wanted to win, but never the less were ecstatic with the title.
Dave Ferricks has more than just a few laps under his belt and is always a tough racer to get around, the Queenslander beat Craig Baker, Peter Brown and Graham Blake before the dragster let him down on a solo in the semi breaking during the burnout.
The semi finals of Modified was an all interstate affair with Rod Scanlon making up the other pairing against Stewart, Scanlon all the way from Townsville was having a superb meeting with the altered. Conquering Neil Dyson, then local track champion Jenny Petrie in early rounds Scanlon’s 8.02 (7.86) was defeated by Stewart’s 7.71 (7.62) which in essence was the race for the event win.
One of the newest modified racers around is Graham Blake in his mint FED, Blake was looking good in eliminations driving past Darren Piddington and Greg Smith before stopping himself with a red light against Ferricks.
National champion Tony Littlewood did not have the best start to the new season losing to Peter Brown in the first round.
Leanne Braggs officially debuted their teams slick new altered, qualifying with a 8.01. Braggs had a win over Graham Hullah’s C/MD in round one before breaking out with a 7.94 (7.98) against Nielsen.
There was some round one controversy after Scott Bettes and Brady Lowcock received LB3A (Left Before Third Amber) red lights on consecutive runs, there was conjecture then and since over a remote flash which was operating many runs before and after. Although its against the laws of physics for a flash light to block a infrared beam, and video footage shows no flashes were fired before the cars received the red light. The run data indicates both cars moved well before the third amber came on either caused by the cars coincidently rocking on the transbrake when the throttle is hit or a timing malfunction, though that is now left for the bench racing.
SUPER SEDAN
Super Sedan is always the largest and toughest field at an event and Marco Tolomeo surpassed six rounds of racing to claim the coveted Australian Nationals title for the Ford fans. David Gruber (10.03 9.93DI) was the first victim of the XY Falcon (9.38 9.35DI) which has been proving a force locally in Super Sedan. Next up was John Kapiris from South Australia 10.52 (10.39DI) to the winning 9.37 (9.35DI) followed by Joe Valenzisi big block Monaro’s perfect 9.100 9.10DI falling to a holeshot 9.39 (9.34DI) from Tolomeo. Round four had Tolomeo against another South Aussie in the form of Danny Buccella’s Cortina who’s 9.30 (9.27DI) could not beat a 9.41 (9.38DI) and after stopping the wheelstanding XW of Chris Papadopoulous with a 9.39 (9.38DI) it set up a final with Jason Haebich’s HQ Monaro.
After spectacularly having the rear wheel exit the car at last Australian Nationals, Jason Haebich found himself in the final a year later. The seven second HQ drove around Tony O’Connor, Brett McNiff and Frank Oliveri on his path to the final round but a little anxious to leave the line brought up a -.011 cherry handing the win to Tolomeo.
Speaking of cars redeeming themselves after accidents, Chris Papadopoulos ended the Nitro Champs by sticking the XW into the wall. Freshly repaired Papadopoulos was back to his wheelstanding best mythbusting the theory wheelstanding cars are not consistent by going to the semi finals including a victory of the national champion in Steve Fowler in round two.
I don’t know where to start with this machine, Robert Campisi has turned the turbo world upside down in Australia after running a five second pass a week earlier. With no other class for this style vehicle currently available then Super Sedan it was at the Nationals, and the SS/AA record was in for annilation. Campo qualified with a 6.04 and a monster 255MPH the fastest speed recorded by sedan in Australia, but it was only sign of what was to come.
Aftera 5.94 dial in!, Campo rocketed to a 5.95 at a mind blowing 260MPH becoming the fastest sedan in the world period, the pass backing up the SS/AA national record at 6.04|255MPH. The race?, well once jaws were picked up a .-248 red light cost him the round win against Hatzi who may of caught pneumonia from the 160MPH top end speed difference.
Campo returned for a grudge run against Marty Dack’s Top Doorslammer in a much anticipated match up, but disaster struck the big block Ford with exiting conrods causing a nasty oil fire in the braking area for the Mustang.
Frank Oliveri was bundled out in the fourth round by Haebich
The Bricklayer was back doing what Graeme Cooper does best, Oliveri ended his run in round two
South Aussie Buccella went three rounds with his Fiat before being stopped by Andrew Little.
Jason Mansweto debuted a stunning customer car running mid sevens but got loose in the first round losing to Andrew Little
John Kapiris up from South Australia made his first appearance at Sydney Dragway before becoming one of Tolomeo victims in round two.
Neil Constantinou was a shock round one loser after redlighting.
Joseph Somma was stepping up the Campo-esque Mustang on each run, but after a 6.61 219MPH pass a chute malfunction spun the Mustang into the wall deep into the braking area causing significant front end damage.
Great to see this icon of Sydney Super Sedan racing back on track after so many years now with father and son duo Paul and Simon Bradbury back behind the wheel.
Second generation racer Thomas Leake purchased the Anthony Penna 2JZ Hilux and debuted it with a big block which so far has been good for low nine’s
MODIFIED BIKE
Matthew Welch cleaned up in Modified Bike earning a Gold Christmas Tree for the Welch family racing team after over forty years of trying. After bagging Maurice Allen in round one, followed by Rob Wilkinson and Rod Barchet, Welch claimed the event in style on a holeshot over Victorian Corey Buttigieg.
Buttigieg ran a near perfect 9.396 (9.39DI) but a .144 light allowed the blue Suzuki to come around at the top end on a 9.23 (9.14DI)
Shane Walker eliminated himself in the semi when the Tasmanian went picking cherries, a victory over National Champion Sekli in round one, then Luke Johnston and Matt Tansley was his path to the semi.
Sekli had to borrow a ride from Mick Withers after blowing up his bike in testing a couple days earlier.
Queenslander Alberto Marques was part of a strong interstate presence in Modified Bike though losing to Barchet in round two but was the number one qualifier with a 8.90.
Maurice Allen competing in three bike brackets was aboard the bracket sponsor Rapid Bikes Magazine’s Suzuki.
Robbie Shaw’s bucking Triumph was proving difficult to tame and eventually losing to Wilkinson in round one.
SUPER STREET
Joe Zammit dropped back to Super Street after recently contesting Super Sedan and the local track championship events in a bid to claim the one prize missing from his trophy cabinet, a Gold Christmas Tree. The multiple times Sydney track champion has appeared in countless finals but the one that has always eluded the VL driver has been that Gold Christmas Tree event. Zammit was beyond determined to make amends at the Nationals and after defeating Mark Phillips, Lauren Wallace, Henry Spicak a local nemisis and current track champion Stan Nikitaras was between him and the title.
Nikitaras cut a -.031 red on the line and Zammit drove on for Nationals glory.
Nikitaras would probably rival Zammit in event wins but today would not be his with the red light in the final.
Carl Taylor picked up his first gold tree at the Nitro Champs and was looking good for another until being stopped in the semi by Nikitaras.
The spectacular wheelstanding beetle of Henry Spicak hopped its way to round three where he was stopped by Zammit
Likewise Kylie Tanner who has made a habit of being in big event finals fell in round three to Taylor
New national champion Rob Harrington exited in round two at the hands of Taylor.
Ante Miletic a Street Meet regular has made the transition to racing was the top qualifier with a 11.006
SUPER GAS
Warren Smith was victorious in Super Gas, the teams involvement in the sport dates back 50 years and now they have a Nationals crown on the mantle. Smith qualified on pole with a 9.909 and took on a breaking out Bruno Romeo in round one before a bye in the next round left him facing Paul Clarke in the semi. A 9.93 to Clarke’s 9.97 sent Smith to his second Nationals final against a second generation newcomer Michael Stivala, the Camira driver clocked a 9.905 in final but his .08 RT was trumped by Smith coupled with a 9.908 was enough for the win light.
Stivala has only stepped into Super Gas a couple of months ago though has a fine pedigree in the sportsman ranks with the Stivala and Culmone team. Stivala was the beneficiary of red light from national champion Joe Catanzariti in round, the knocked off Rick Dudek 9.94 to 9.97 before a solo in to the final.
Paul Clarke has been persisting in Super Gas with his big block Atlantic Oils Mustang and that is paying off with a semi final birth after defeating McGrotty and Panetta.
A newcomer to the Super Gas ranks is South Aussie Bruno Romeo, who also has been contesting the local track championship rounds in Sydney but was put on the trailer by event winner Smith in round one.
Adrian McGrotty has been a long time campaigner from the traditional home of Super Gas, with no full time track in Melbourne the once powerful Victorian Super Gas force has waned, but a few racers like McGrotty and Smith are still keeping the northern counterparts honest.
JUNIOR DRAGSTER
Queenslanders had a strangle hold on Junior Dragster with only one NSW racer left by round four. The final came down to the national champion Jake Donnelly against Brandon Gosbell, in a back off-athon it seemed, both dragsters ran well over their dial in, a 8.32 (8.14 DI) for Donnelly and a 8.25 (8.13) for Gosbell. The victor was Donnelly courtesy of a superiorly better reaction and the perfect start to a title defense.
Fellow Queenslander Brandon would take home 80 valuable points for the runner up and will surely be in the mix at the end of the season.
Obe Ward was the top qualifier with a 8.012 and reached the semi when a red light against Gosbell ended his campaign.
Samantha Saunders was the only non Queensland car left in the field by round four, where the Sydneysider was defeated by Ward.
That wraps up in the end a very successful Fuch’s Australian Nationals.
Solid crowd numbers were a vast improvement over previous years.
Plenty of young faces in the crowd enjoying atmosphere.
And the presentation held trackside immediately following the finals, having all the winners tow up the track and allowing the crowd to spill on to the track was great way to top off the event.
Photos by www.cacklingpipes.com
