SPORTSMAN RACERS SHINE DURING SUNSET NATIONALS DAY ONE IN MILDURA

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A full day of action-packed qualifying for round two of the ANDRA Regional Sportsman Championship at the Sunset Nationals has come to a close ahead of what is sure to be a thrilling day of racing on Sunday. Racers across ten championship brackets took to Mildura’s Atlantic Oils Sunset Strip Saturday to set the stage for Sunday’s racing (September 22).

At the conclusion of qualifying, the following racers took home the Top Qualifier Medallion, presented by New Gen Business Park, for their respective brackets: Malcolm Todd (Goodyear Racing Super Street), Zayne Condello (Langtree’s Machinery Services Junior Dragster), Dean Jamieson (Ballistic Performance Parts Modified Bike), Tony Tedesco (Super Sedan Competitors Super Sedan), David Foster (Top Sportsman Competitors Top Sportsman), Doina Day (Huntsman Racing Supercharged Outlaws), Rob Cassar (Lectron Australia Competition Bike), Steve Norman (Jackie Watt Consultancy / Fardella and Watt Racing SuperComp), Luke Cartledge (Modified), and Colin Griffin (Super Gas).

Also hitting the track were competitors for the non-championship Street Car and Junior Drag Bike brackets. Brett Tiller claimed the Street Car top qualifying honours, while Seth Jarvis leads the way in Junior Drag Bike with one more qualifying round in that bracket to go on Sunday.

In Modified, it’s all about family this weekend for Top Qualifier, Luke Cartledge, who is eager to keep up his strong qualifying performances in his wife Adriana’s Undercover dragster when racing gets underway on Sunday. The dragster has a winning history at the Atlantic Oils Sunset Strip, with Adriana claiming victory at the Ken Scroop Memorial – the last national-level event held at Mildura – in Modified earlier this year.

“I am racing Adriana’s car this weekend; she is 30 weeks pregnant and I damaged my car last time out, so I stole the keys off her and decided to go out and run it!” Cartledge laughed.

“Today was pretty straight forward, on the first pass I took it easy to get used to the car, and in the second pass it went 4.49 and then 4.48 on the final pass so the last two were pretty consistent.

“We have no expectations heading into tomorrow – if everything goes to plan I think we should be allright. We are mainly here to have fun and get on track, but of course we are obviously hoping for the best.

“We are excited to get into it, and the track has been really good – it is a bit windy with a tail wind but the track has been spot on – we actually ran a PB to the 60 foot in that last pass, so the track is definitely awesome,” he added, while thanking his sponsors Pro Street Towing and Transport, Wild Ink, and ETS Race Fuels.

In Super Gas, three-time ANDRA champion Colin Griffin is happy with his performance and is ready to do all he can to back up his Ken Scroop Memorial win earlier this year after taking out the Top Qualifier honours.

“It has been a good day today, the track has been good, the weather has been good, and I have been happy with how the car has run,” Griffin said.

“I haven’t been out for a while, so it was good to blow the cobwebs out and come up with a six-zero with a three – I was a bit worried someone was going to sneak in under it, and Adrian (McGrotty) came close, but we hung on and it gives me a solo in the morning, so that is good.

“The Super Gas racers all get together and put some money in the kitty that goes to the top qualifier too, so that makes it a bit more interesting!

“We are just taking it one round at a time looking ahead to racing tomorrow, but we are looking forward to it,” he concluded, while thanking his wife Anne, and also Maggie, for their support.