It was billed as the ultimate drag racing show and so far, the Gulf Western Oil Winternationals has more than lived up to its name – with world and Australian records broken today in qualifying ahead of what is expected to be a truly intense day of racing for National Drag Racing Championship (NDRC) Gold on Sunday at Willowbank Raceway.
Highlighting a long list of incredible performances for the capacity crowd today was Australia’s quickest Top Fuel ET (3.681) and speed (536.44kph) by Wayne Newby; the world’s two quickest Pro Alcohol ETs – with Cheyne Phillips running first a 5.346 and then a startling 5.330; Australia’s quickest Top Doorslammer ET (5.579) by Russell Taylor; and Australia’s first 200mph (321.9kph) Pro Stock ET (under current era regulations), set by Rob Dekert.
With such amazing performances today and more to come tomorrow, fans are encouraged to click here now to secure their tickets and avoid queues at the gate for Sunday’s racing.
Wayne Newby ‘blahsts’ to new BLAHST Top Fuel Australian ET and Speed record
In BLAHST Top Fuel, Wayne Newby dislodged Kyle Putland’s three second Q1 pass (3.96 set at 435.47kph) to take the top spot and the Australian ET and speed records in Q2 with his 3.681 second pass at 536.44kph.
“Tino (crew chief Santino Rapisarda) has been telling me to get ready to hold on, and I did have to do that on that run!” Newby said.
“It was good, we are really happy, and we will see what happens tomorrow now. There is more in it definitely, that is what is scary!” he grinned.
“For tomorrow, we will be making sure we don’t beat ourselves out there – we know we have the car to do it, we will focus on making wise calls and we will go from there,” he said, before adding, “I love all my crew, they are the best in the world – bring on tomorrow!
“It put me in the seat pretty hard, and I was just hanging on!”
Third quickest for the day was Shane Olive, who despite his chutes coming out early in his Q1 pass due to a wire that had been cut too short, kept the boot in it to remarkably cross the line in 4.006 seconds at 427.8kph.
Local hero Steve ‘The Pom’ Read set a 4.180/399.88kph pass in the first qualifier complete with a mid-track fireball to be fourth quickest after being unable to improve in Q2, sitting ahead of Damien Harris (5.860/176.11kph) and Phil Lamattina (10.616) – with the defending champ and the current points leader both having a difficult day at the office today.
Cheyne Phillips breaks the Pro Alcohol world ET record – twice
Cheyne Phillips has turned heads the world over today, breaking the world record ET for Pro Alcohol not once, but twice during qualifying for the Pro Alcohol class – first with a 5.346 at 440.05kph in Q2, before going even quicker to 5.330 seconds at 441.04kph in Q3.
“I am over the moon, proud as punch, whatever analogy you want to use – I am feeling it all at the moment,” Cheyne grinned.
“That record is something mum (Debbie), dad (drag racing legend Gary Phillips) and I have been chasing for 10 years since the last time we held it. It has always been a target to aim for, and we knew we would get there; it was just a matter of finding the tune-up and finding what the cars want.
“We have been tweaking and finding what it is happy with, and obviously we have found the sweet spot!
“The engine we put in this weekend is the engine dad had in his funny car when it ran the first ‘five-thirties’ and the first ‘two-seventy’ mile per hours back in 2016. It was also the same engine that dad ran the Pro Alcohol Altered World ET and Speed Records last year at this event, and so we decided to put it in my car.
“That 5.34 was the first full run it had done in my car. We tweaked it a bit and the air came around a bit better for Q3 and here we are, 5.33 – and so close to a ‘32’ – it went 33 with a zero, so what an awesome couple of runs. This is definitely my favourite engine!” he laughed.
“With that ticked off the list, now we will try and race smart Sunday and see if we can go back-to-back and win this event again like we did last year. It is a long day tomorrow so we will just take each round as they come – the track changes a lot through the day and each round so we have to keep on it, it will definitely be about racing smart.
“It is mum’s birthday Sunday, so I want to try and get her a present for that with a win! And it is mine on Monday.”
It was an incredibly competitive Pro Alcohol field, with Darren Fry second quickest at 5.401 seconds ahead of John Cannuli (5.407), reigning champ Daniel Reed (5.418) and Chris Hargrave (5.467). Andrew Searle (5.493), Ben Bray (5.502), and Luke Marsden (5.532) rounded out the race day field, with Bray’s Sunday berth coming at the expense of Brett White, who had improved his time but remained on the bump spot on 5.742, vulnerable to Bray who improved in the final Pro Alcohol pass of the night to jump from 11th on the sheets to 7th. Joining Smith in watching from the stands on Sunday will be Stewart Prior (6.418), Wayne Price (8.276), and Steven Carpenter (10.686).
New Australian record for Russell Taylor in Top Doorslammer
In Top Doorslammer, the intensity was sky high with only eight spots on offer for 12 racers, but Russell Taylor – the two-time and current champ – didn’t blink an eye, making Australian history with the quickest ET in the history of Aussie Doorslammer with a 5.579 at 415.08kph in Q2, which also saw him celebrated at the end of the day as the Top Qualifier.
“Yep, I’m happy. It actually felt slow. It didn’t hit like it normally does off the line, and it felt really lazy. I couldn’t really believe it when I got to the end of the track. We feel like there might be a little more in it,” a relaxed Taylor said in his trademark nonchalant style back in the pits after his record-setting run.
“Stu (Stuart Rowland) and Hami (Steven Ham) threw everything at it – they’re a bit Yin and Yang, so you get the best out of them. Everything’s just coming together.
“It’s pretty cool (the record). We might have to put a sticker on the blower, but I think that’s been done, so we’ll leave that one,” he said cheekily before continuing, “I’m excited, and we’ve got a lot more to do this weekend, so we’ll see what we can do.”
Second quickest and also with plenty of celebrate was Emilio Spinozzi, who laid down two personal best ETs today – first a 5.641 in Q2 before improving to a 5.627 in Q3.
Brodie Zappia (5.663), John Zappia (5.709), Peter Lovering (5.730), Ronnie Palumbo (6.081), 2025 Winternats winner Rob Harrington (5.773) and Brody Davies (5.992) – in only his second Doorslammer event – rounded out the top eight, with Jack Danaher (6.116), Daniel Gregorini (6.744), Lisa Gregorini (7.105) and Salim Matta (7.951) set to watch on from the sidelines Sunday after failing to break into the highly competitive race day field.
First ever 200mph Australian Pro Stock pass (modern era) delivered by Rob Dekert, Aaron Tremayne Top Qualifies
In Pro Stock, while Rob Dekert made history with Australia’s first modern era 200mph (321kph) Pro Stock run (the first since leaded fuel was outlawed).
With this breakthrough, Dekert has become the only racer other than Lee Bektash to go 200mph in Pro Stock, and the first in over a decade and since leaded fuel was outlawed. As such, he is set to claim $5000 that was offered up by Bektash for the first to go 200.
“It was really good, running 200 – I was rapt!” Dekert said after the breakthrough run.
“We knew it had it in the car, but we have been struggling in testing and racing, and we were still struggling in that pass, it rattled the tyre and it wasn’t fast in ET, but it sure has plenty of power!
“We can definitely go faster – and I think it will go quicker and faster tomorrow. I would like to go 6.86 at least tomorrow, that is where it should go, and if we can do that and clean the run up, then there will be more MPH in it as well.
“We haven’t seen the $5k yet!” he laughed when asked if Bektash had paid out, before thanking ETS Race Fuels, Unique Body Smash Repairs, Plucka Race Cars, Chaps Autos, Bazoom Alcohol, Con at Pro Race Engines, Ridgeway Motorsports, LAT Racing Oil and his family – wife Deanne, and his kids Alisha and Brayden.
While Dekert was undeniably fast, his ET wasn’t quick enough to make it to the top spot, with that honour going to Aaron Tremayne.
After being the quickest in Q1, Aaron had been bumped off the top spot in Q2 by his older brother Tyronne by just one thousandth of a second, but he was quick to take it back in Q3 with a 6.867 second ET seeing him lock down the top spot. Tyronne settled into second on the ladder after having the chutes fall out on the startline in the final qualifier.
The ET of Dekert (6.917) was quick enough for third on the ladder. Omar Sedmak (6.928), John Barbagallo (6.962), Darryl Stephen (7.027), and Tony Polito (7.068) round out the field, with Peter Mammone seeing both of his runs today disqualified due to coming in underweight.
Josh Leahy a dominating force in XPRO Nitro Funny Car
In XPRO Nitro Funny Car, Josh Leahy was a dominating force today – only briefly dethroned from the top qualifier spot he first claimed in Q1 by a charging Adam Murrihy in Q2 (4.086/479.80kph), with last year’s Winternationals winner striking back on the very next pass in Q2 to take it right back with a 4.007 second pass at 517.77kph, which saw him remain on top in Q3.
Morice McMillin was third quickest with his Q2 4.175/389.83kph pass, while Damon Paton improved from a non-starter Q2 in his new look XTR Funny Car run to be fourth quickest by the end of Q3 at 4.647/292.75kph. Local racer Justin Walshe (4.722/274.31kph) and newly licensed Luke Shepherd (5.120/237.84kph) round out the field ahead of Sunday’s race day.
“Today it went really good for the first round, we were stoked to get Top Qualifier with the 4.00 and a big MPH as well for that ET, so we were pretty proud of that. It is not often we get to go to 321 (mph/517kph), so the team is stoked with that,” Leahy said.
“We are definitely seeing improvements in the short time and the MPH at the end, and we just need to convert that and see if we can get us some more round wins tomorrow.
“The track staff have done an outstanding job – the weather is here, the track is there, so tomorrow should see some very fast racing!”
Top Fuel Motorcycle, Pro Stock Bike, and Pro Mod impress
In Top Fuel Motorcycle, Damian Martini continued his leading run this weekend by top qualifying with a 6.656 effort over Ian Ashelford (7.651), Neville Smith (8.829), Corey Buttigieg (13.565), Danny Rickard (23.979) and John Zahra (26.342). While it was a difficult day on track for much of the Top Fuel Motorcycle field, big performances are expected from these flame-throwing two-wheeled missiles on Sunday.
In Pro Stock Bike, championship leader and the winner of the last two Pro Stock Bike rounds, Callam Godeassi, continued his dominating form to improve in each qualifier to never be moved from the top qualifier spot, ultimately finishing out with a 7.192 second ET ahead of next quickest, Locky Ireland (7.278), Paul Andrews (7.366), Sam Scerri (7.392), Ryan Learmonth (7.435), Jason Lee (7.463), Luke Crowley (7.719) and Vanessa Rohdmann (10.948).
In Pro Mod, Adam Tassone’s Q1 5.862 ET (to the 5.85 index) was enough to see him maintain his Top Qualifier spot throughout today’s two qualifiers, with Zoran Gajic putting himself second on the ladder with a 5.913 in Q2. Also turning heads in Q2 was Lorenzo Gullotto who ran his first five second pass (5.972) to be third quickest today. Joe Gauci (6.027), Neil Murphy (6.039), and Stew Walsh (9.723) rounded out the field.
A big Sunday to come
All eight pro categories will be back on-track Sunday for racing to decide the winners of the NDRC Gold Christmas Trees, as will the Aeroflow Sportsman Championship racers after hundreds of these racers provided no end of racing thrills today across 10 championship brackets.
The Gulf Western Oil Winternationals action concludes tomorrow, Sunday June 8, with action on-track from 8.00am for the Aeroflow National Sportsman Championship, with Group One on-track from 11.00am. For the full event schedule, entry lists and other event information, visit https://nationaldragracing.com.au/event/winternationals/
To learn more about the National Drag Racing Championship, visit www.ndrc.tv
