Parker Has Memorable Send Off – Drew Dominates

Parker Has Memorable Send Off – Drew Dominates

By Mark Humphrey

Willowbank, Qld/Aus. 15^th June 2015. The fairy tale didn’t quite eventuate for Top Fuel Motorcycle rider Phil Parker at this year’s Fuchs Winter Nationals but the team went away from Willowbank Raceway with the memories of their best ever Winter Nationals.

Whilst Parker’s assault on the event petered out at the semi-final stage the same could not be said for West Aussie champ Mark Drew. Coming into the event Drew had virtually an untouchable lead in the national series and only needed to go a round to wrap things up. Drew was untouchable all weekend and finished up with the top speed (219.97mph), low ET (6.380), the Fuchs Top Fuel Motorcycle Winter Nationals crown and to top it off the national crown.

With qualifying done and dusted top qualifier Mark Drew had the bye run in round 1 but that didn’t stop him from chasing that elusive 6.20 ET. Drew had talked about the mark and thought his preparations, the conditions and the track surface were primed for a record breaking pass. A 6.466 @ 218.69 was the best he could pull from the solo run which still had the champ way out in front of the chasing pack. Matheson was up against Porter in the 2^nd heat with Matheson locking in a 7.668 @ 159.08 to take the win from a stationary Porter. Things hadn’t gone to plan for Chris Porter over the week and after coming off the bike in practice the week before he just seemed to be out of the groove throughout the weekend. Spann was up next in heat 3 against Guillory but was unable to make it to the grid giving Guillory a solo pass Guillory posted a 6.907 @ 189.58mph. Sentimental favourite Phil Parker was up next in heat 4 against Smith. Both guys got away slow off the line but Parker managed to get things together to take out the heat with a 7.29 @ 172.3mph pass with Smith cruising over the line in 9.108 seconds at just 119.39mph. Parker was competing in his last ever Top Fuel Motorcycle competition due to health reasons and was soaking up every minute of the event along with the Parker Racing Team.

Into the semis with Drew up against Matheson in semi-final 1. After getting away slowly Drew was able to run down Matheson with a 6.425 pass @ 211.76mph. Matheson put in a creditable 6.96pass @ 175.96mph. Semi-final 2 had Parker up against Guillory with Guillory ending the run of Parker with a consistent 6.909 pass @ 184.72mph. Parker in his last competition run posted his best ET of the nationals with a 7.118 @ 162.45mph to sadly finish his campaign. Talking with Parker after the run he said that he washed off some speed when he realised Darien had the win. Not having been in the saddle since the Heathcote February test, Parker wasn’t showing a lot of faith in the Willowbank lane 1 breaking area and decided to get off it before the finish line. Parker Racing’s Vereen Elwood said the team had a wonderful weekend with lots of racers and fans passing on their best wishes to Phil. She said it was the best racing weekend they have ever had and even noted that people were offering up cures and remedies for Phil’s illness. Talking with Phil on his return to his home base of Geelong you couldn’t help but think there was more in the pipeline. “Yeah Gracie was alive and kicking and got better as the event went on”. Parker went on to say “I have another supercharger I can bolt on to Gracie, clean up a couple of bits and pieces and we’re right to go again” he said. Parker enjoyed his time at the Winters so much so that he intends to get Gracie ready for a test at Sydney Dragway. “Yep I think I’ll round up the team for a test at Sydney in the not too distant future” he said. You could tell by the excitement in his voice that there was a bit left in Gracie and why not get in some more passes while his health allows it as it would need some sort of miracle to be able to contest round 1 of TFM in Adelaide this October.

So onto the final with Drew up against Guillory. Like in his semi run, Guillory picked up more than a tenth on the start and made Drew chase him down. Drew was able to run over the top of Guillory but only just with a final winning pass of 6.447 @ 195.42. Guillory posted his best ET for the event with a slick 6.861 @185.84mph to finish off what was a very successful campaign for Guillory and the bracket. Congratulations to Mark Drew and the rest of the bracket for providing lots and lots of entertainment over the 3 days.

To source images from the event go to: http://www.dragphotos.com.au/

To read additional articles from the event go to: http://www.dragnews.com.au/

To view ANDRA’s race calendar go to:  http://andra.com.au/

To view Willowbank Raceway’s site go to: http://www.willowbankraceway.com.au/

Fuchs Winter Nationals Top Fuel Motorcycle Video Package.

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