South Coast Produces One Of The Classics As Forbes Makes History

South Coast Produces One Of The Classics As Forbes Makes History

By Mark Humphrey

Portland, Vic/Aus. 15^th November 2015. Portland’s Fuchs South Coast Raceway produced one of the more memorable Summit Sportsman Rounds that netted no less than 8 national records, first time winners, and emotional speeches along with Ballarat super racer Matt Forbes creating ANDRA Summit Sportsman Racing history by winning 2 brackets at the same event. To sum up Forbes’s domination here at Portland you have to go back to Saturday’s qualifying where he managed to top qualify two drag cars in Super Gas and Modified Eliminator. In Super Gas Forbes was up against the current National Champ in Graeme Spencer along with a few of the sports elite runners with the goal of posting an ET as close to 6.30 seconds as possible. Forbes managed to be the closest in Qualifying and then took on the highly competitive Modified Eliminator bracket where it simply comes down to sheer horsepower and driving skill with the outright quickest ET (elapsed time) recognised as the number 1 qualifier. Come finals day the rules change somewhat with racers nominating a set time or dial in time that they think they will run over the distance. If they go faster than the time they nominated they are out so it comes down to a lot of pre planning and driver skill to stay in the competition. The Super Gas bracket remained the same on finals day with racers having to stay either on 6.30 or above. As with dial in times if the racer goes under the Super Gas time they are ruled out of the event. So now you get a picture of how hard it is to win one event let alone two on the same day. Most racers will go through a lifetime of racing never winning an ANDRA Xmas tree yet Matt Forbes managed to pick up 2 on the same day.

In the Super Gas final Forbes was up against a South Coast regular in Colin Griffin who dispatched Aussie Champ Spencer in round 1 and Warren Bull in round 2. Forbes as top qualifier had to get past Jeff Romeo in round 1 with a bye in round 2 sending him straight to the final. A 6.332 on a 6.30 was enough to get past Griffin in the final snagging the first Xmas tree.

In Modified Eliminator Forbes was up against the ever consistent Leanne Braggs who has battled through tough times recently to get back on the track. A serious accident a couple of years back put the racing program on the shelf for just under a year but Braggs worked through the hardships to get back in the saddle once again to do the thing she loves most outside of family and that is to go racing. Braggs had to get past Derek Wills in round 1 and then Craig Baker in round 2. A bye in round 3 meant that Braggs was straight into the final with a chance to win her first ever ANDRA Xmas tree. Forbes on the other side of the ledger had a round 1 bye as top qualifier and then got past Shane Wynd in round 2 to set up a round 3 clash with the Fuchs sponsored dragster of Kenny Stewart. Forbes got through this tricky round to pair up against Braggs in the final. History tells us that Forbes took out the win over Braggs but not before Braggs put up an awesome challenge for the win. In the end Braggs dipped under her dial in time posting a 4.653 on a 4.66 dial in to hand over the win to Forbes who amazingly posted a 4.634 on a 4.63 dial in. It was a very emotional presentation for Braggs who had been battling a medical condition of recent times. Son Michael had taken on the driving duties recently while Leanne was sitting it out waiting to get the all clear again. Although Braggs who had to gather her thoughts several times during her acceptance speech noted that she had never won an ANDRA Xmas tree in her life, she felt there was one just around the corner. Leanne Braggs displayed the reason why the ANDRA Summit Sportsman Series is held in such high regards with racers around the country and it’s not money. It’s passion for the sport and for competing. After such an emotional speech that reached out to plenty in the audience and knowing what she has endured to get back in the car in recent weeks it is testament to her character and the passion she has for the ANDRA Summit Sportsman Series.  Matt Forbes in accepting his second Xmas tree for the day assured Braggs that an ANDRA win was just around the corner. Having just recently returned from the USA, Forbes spoke of how he had adopted the things he learnt in the states into his Australian racing program. Special attention to shock absorbers and settings had helped him with both of his racing programs over the weekend. To c come away with 2 x top qualifiers and 2 x bracket wins is simply outstanding and testament to Forbes’s professionalism in the sport of Australian drag racing.

Even more emotion was to come on the presentation dais when Top Sportsman runner up Jeff Fitzgerald got up to accept his runner up trophy. Having to re-check himself several times during his speech Fitzgerald thanked all of his supporters and sponsors for the assistance they have given him over the distance. Fitzgerald is the pilot of LOW JOB an LJ Torana regularly featured on sportingscribe.com and walked up on stage to accept his runners up trophy sporting a Mohican haircut. Once again the emotion displayed by the racers at this event showed just how much they love the sport of drag racing and in particular the ANDRA Summit Sportsman Series. There is no doubt these racers wear their hearts on their sleeves. Winner of Top Sportsman was Jason Arbery driving a Henley Chassis Ford Capri. Arbery posted a 5.449 on a 5.39 dial in while Fitzgerald posted a 5.505 on a 5.40 dial in after red lighting the start.

Junior Dragster had Kelly Donnelly sitting on the start line for the best part of 4 seconds while Daniel Carranza tried to put some space between himself and Donnelly. Nominating an 8.01dial in, Donnelly barely got the job done posting an 8.114 to take the win over Carranza who had posted a 12.383 on a 12.30 dial in.

Super Street was a battle between two South Aussies with Harry Harris going up against Kylie Tanner in the final. Tanner had looked on the money right from the start of qualifying and you just had this feeling that she would turn up in the final. Tanner was up against the #1 qualifier Garth O’Hehir in round 1 and after dispatching O’Hehir she worked her way past Cammileri and local racer Greg Holland in round 3 to reach the final. Harris had an even tougher run getting past Kalantzis, Tatchell, Franze and Kendall in the semi to reach the final. Harris nominated a 7.26 dial in running a 7.264 race to take the win from Tanner who dipped under her dial in posting a 7.307 ET on a 7.31 dial in. Extremely tough racing in a category that is currently under the hammer.

Super Sedan like Super Street was once again a highly competitive bracket with Steve Hunt taking out the win in a Ford XW Panel Van over a fellow South Australian in Danny Buccella. Hunt dialled in with a 6.45 and managed to stay inside his dial in with a close 6.458 time to take the win over Buccella who posted a 5.722 on a 5.67 dial in. Current dual Aussie champ Johnny Kapiris was a surprise first round loser today along with Dave Yanco and Vlado Turic. These three guys have been at the pointy end of events for quite a while and it was strange to see them all bow out in round 1. Kapiris in particular didn’t look comfortable during qualifying and had the car on the trailer unusually early for the current champ. Top qualifier Glen Henley went all the way to the semis in his neat Datsun ute before getting rolled by Hunt in the semi. On the other side of the draw Ned Karanovic driving the Haddad Performance 57 Chev had made it through to the semis for a meeting with Buccella after taking care of wheel standing Bill Farrugia in round 1, Brett Mathew in round 2 and then Caine Reed in round 3.

Modified Bike was taken out by Tasmanian registered racer in Shane Walker on a Harley Destroyer. Walker who had comp bike pilot and current Warrnambool Drag Racing Club president Tony Frost in his corner was too good for New South Welshman Wally Hosta posting a 5.991 on a 5.95 dial in to Hosta’s 6.112 on a 6.14 dial in after red lighting the start. Top qualifier Matt Allen made it all the way to the semi-final stage but couldn’t get past Hosta. As is the case when there is a big field, a lot of fancied riders were packing up early with Alice Springs runner up Brian Finn out in round 1 along  with Rob Cassar due to mechanical issues. Walker had made a calculated decision to travel to Alice Springs in search of bonus points with a semi-final appearance paying dividends for the well-travelled mod biker. Today’s win will have Walker close to heading the category.

Supercharged Outlaws provided the highlight of the round when local Calder Park drag racer Jason Keily put the 34 Ford Couple into victory lane for the first time in his career. Posting a 4.951 on a 4.65 dial in Keily was handed the win when Mildura regular Dave Thorton broke out with a 4.623 on a 4.64 dial in. That aside, the improvement coming out of the Keily camp has been nothing short of encouraging with the blown racer making big in-roads with the cars performance over recent months. Having witnesses Keily’s development with the car over the past 2 years it’s times like this that provide the sport with those special once of moments  just like Steve Normans Summit Series win last time out at AIR after 23 years of competition. 12 Months ago Keily was hesitant with the car opting to get off the gas as soon as the car was out of shape which seemed to happen on a regular basis. With limited running time in the car over the past 18 months due to the temporary closure of Calder Park Drag Racing, Keily perserveered with the set-up and after making some adjustments to both the car and his driving methods was able to find some consistency with the set-up. A turning point for Keily was a recent trip to Whyalla to contest the Whyalla Steel City’s Supercharged Shootout event. Although he didn’t make the final the car showed tons of performance especially in the early part of the event to give Keily the confidence to drive the car hard with the end result being the #2 qualifier behind Doina Day this weekend culminating in an ANDRA Summit Sportsman Series win. Day who had been faultless all weekend lost to Thorton in the semi but will add nicely to her points tally in this year’s series.

The final bracket to be contested at this year’s Summit Series round 3 fixture was the Super Comp bracket which was a combination of Super Compact, Super Stock and the Competition brackets. This class had some of the sport’s biggest heavy hitters lining up to take a shot at the champ in Craig Geddes. The Geddes team never seems to be under duress with what it seems like a walk in the park for this team every time they roll into the staging lanes. I’m sure that’s not the case but it was certainly a surprise when Geddes just rolled through the finish line after completing a burnout during round 1 of qualifying. To see the Geddes dragster limping through to the finish line was unbelievable but it wasn’t long before all was set right with Geddes running under his index by 0.25 seconds with his second qualifying pass. In today’s action Geddes was up against Wayne Talbot in the funny car. Talbot posted the quickest ET yesterday and was the first big scalp of the day for Geddes. Next up was Shane Baxter who had put away the Nissan powered Pontiac of Daniel Camilleri. Although Baxter had been smashing records along the way Geddes found a way past the dragster to reach the final where the bracket’s #1 qualifier Jim Ioannidis was waiting. Ioannidis had the bye in round 1 courtesy of the top qualifier tag and faced off against West Aussie Kim Fardella in the Ford Falcon. Having just competed in Sydney Fardella decided to stick around and do the Portland round before heading back home. Fardella put on an awesome display of drag racing with his viscous Falcon and was definitely another highlight of the weekend. I don’t know what it is but the West Aussie cars we see over here in the East are always spectacular and put on such an awesome display of drag racing for the fans. Fardella had earlier taken out Andrew Dyson in the rotary powered Mazda which was a mission in itself. Next time the Dyson rotary is entered in an event in your area do yourself a favour by getting along to watch the best in the business when it comes to rotary power. The Dyson dynasty goes way back with rotary powered drag racing cars and at one stage were the world leaders in rotary performance. So the win by Fardella over Dyson was even more impressive but unfortunately for Fardella that is where it ended as the top qualifier in Ioannidis managed to get the win against Fardella.

The final saw Geddes go even quicker than qualifying posting a 4.578 on a 4.75 index to take the win over Ioannidis who posted a 5.911 on a 6.03 index.

That wrapped up one of the best Summit Sportsman Series rounds ever contested and with 8 national records coming out of the event puts the Fuchs South Coast Raceway up with the best tracks in Australia. With all the turmoil in the industry over the past few weeks it was good to witness first-hand the incredible emotion and commitment displayed by the sportsman racers.

The ANDRA Summit Sportsman Series moves onto Warwick for round 4 on the 28/29^th of November with the series returning to Victoria the following weekend for round 5 at Mildura’s Sunset Strip.

Queenslanders now have the opportunity to support Australia’s greatest sportsman series when Warwick host round 4. Lots of track prep and improvements have taken place in preparation for the block buster round.

For more info on the series go to: http://andra.com.au/series/calendar/2015-16-calendar.html

For more info on the Warwick round go to: http://www.warwickdragway.com/

For more info on the Mildura round go to: http://www.sunsetstrip.org.au/

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