CALENDAR

The Gulf Western Oil Winternationals at Willowbank Raceway have delivered another exciting day of National Drag Racing Championship (NDRC) action, setting the stage for an epic final showdown on Sunday. With perfect Queensland winter weather, race fans packed the stands to witness some of the fastest runs in the history of the event.

Pro Alcohol saw a shakeup in the top spots

In Pro Alcohol, it was anyone’s game with the provisional Top Qualifier changing from round to round. Jake Donnelly held it early, before the number one spot was taken over by series leader Russell Mills in Q2, before local hero Daniel Reed claimed the top honours with a Q3 5.413s/431.65kph run, dislodging Mills’ 5.423s/427.45kph effort and relegating Donnelly to third spot (5.486/412.79kph).

Luke Marsden (5.507s/419.25kph) was fourth quickest ahead of Wayne Price (5.549/392.16kph) and Gary Phillips (5.549s/361.13kph) – who earlier in the day had everyone on the edge of their seats when he tagged the wall during a wheelstanding run. Rounding out the race day field is Chris Hargrave (5.550s/419.08kph) and John Cannuli (5.598s/416.67kph), while Andrew Searle and Brett White were unable to make it into the eight. 

Crowley Leads in Pro Bike

In Pro Stock Motorcycle, series leader Luke Crowley never yielded the Top Qualifier spot, leading the way in qualifying from the start and improving in Q2 with a 7.155s/301.78kph pass which was enough to see him hold onto the number one spot in Q3. Daniel Rabnott also enjoyed consistency in qualifying, holding on to the second quickest time throughout, with his best run (7.201s/295.74kph) coming in Q3. Tony Frost rounded out the top three with a 7.286s/301.20kph, ahead of Jason Lee (7.345s/290.51kph), Paul Andrews (7.375s/294.34kph), and Andrew Badcock (7.854s/245.21kph), who closed out the field as sixth quickest. 

T. Tremayne Heads tight Pro Stock field

In Pro Stock, defending champ and last year’s Winters winner Tyronne Tremayne took the Top Qualifier honours (6.908s/318.50kph) ahead of his brother, teammate and nine-time champion Aaron Tremayne (6.981s/318.13kph). 

Tremayne led the way throughout each of the three qualifying sessions, while Mario Polito had the run of his day on Friday setting his first 6-second (6.993s/312.72kph) pass. Championship leader Rob Dekert rounded out the top three (6.919s/319.45kph) ahead of Rick Chilton (6.943s/309.17kph), Omar Sedmak (6.958s/315.68kph), John Barbagallo (6.989s/309.39kph), Mario Polito (6.993s/312.72kph) and Shane Tucker (7.049s/312.01kph).

It was a stressful Q3 for Tucker who was sitting on the bump spot when he was pushed back from the start line and unable to lay down a run. It came down to Tony Polito’s solo run as to whether he would make it through. Unfortunately for Polito, he would roll the beams to have no time recorded and while it was a happy ending for Tucker, this put an end to the weekend for Tony, who was hoping to make his way into the field with his Q3 performance. 

It is an incredibly tight race day field, with the top eight all covered by just .141s. With 12 racers lining up and only eight positions available, Wayne Daley, Bill Perdikaris, and Ray Oxley joined Tony Polito in finding themselves outside of the field at the close of qualifying. 

Champion Elect Burns takes Pro Mod #1

In FuelTech Pro Mod, Top Qualifier and championship leader Craig Burns knocked last year’s Winters winner Zoran Gajic off the top of the time sheets in the final qualifying session of the weekend with a 5.861s/391.10 pass, lined up against third-place qualifier Frank Tarabay (5.870s/409.06kph) in what was also the running of the Gulf Western Oil Nitro Champs Pro Stock B-Final, with Tarabay taking the victory on a holeshot. 

Gajic had been the provisional Top Qualifier during the first two sessions of the weekend, with his Q2 5.867s/409.06kph run enough to earn him second spot on the sheets. Gajic had his fair share of issues today but was still able to take the Nitro Champs A-Final win with a slow solo pass when his team-mate Paul Mouhayet was unable to front for their Q3 match-up. 

Greg Tsakiridis was fourth quickest with a 5.889s/392.37kph run set in Q2, ahead of Mouhayet (5.890s/404.34kph), Stew Walsh (6.066s/374.76kph) and Steve Smith (6.139s/398.92kph), with Daniel Camilleri (6.346s/303.73kph) rounding out the field in eighth. Peter Gratz was unable to qualify after electrical issues in his Plymouth Hemi Cuda.

“Sydney was a good meet for us, everything had worked A to B, and we made the A-final against my teammate, Paul Mouhayet before the track was shut down as it got too cold, so we decided to finish it off here in Q3 at the Winternationals,” Gajic explains.

“In Q2, my diff locked up at the finish line and broke the diff, the tail shaft, and the gearbox in half. And Paul in Q2 torched a piston. We tried to get them both ready for the final, but Paul didn’t make it, and I made it but without a trans brake, so I just accepted the tree to win the final.

“It was going good until that happened, but it is still good to take the Sydney win of course and we should be all good for tomorrow.

“Heading into tomorrow’s racing, we are feeling pretty confident. We have data on board, the track is very good, and the weather looks promising. So, hopefully, a new day tomorrow can bring us some better running.”