Whyalla Round Sets Up Grand Finals

Whyalla Round Sets Up Grand Finals

By Mark Humphrey

Whyalla, SA/Aus. 14^th March 2016. Another successful round of the Summit Sportsman Series this time at Whyalla Steel City Drags had wound up with the scene now set for an enthralling grand final series at Adelaide International in April.

What an event for the Whyalla Steel City Drags with 110+ teams making the journey over to the steel city venue chasing down series points and ultimately an ANDRA Xmas tree. Hats off to Whyalla Steel City Drags for conducting a faultless event which included 4 qualifying rounds on Saturday culminating with finals on Sunday. We didn’t see any national records produced from the round 9 fixture but from the opening heat there was a buzz around the venue as teams battled the conditions looking for that perfect set up. The club had the welcome mat out for teams that had come from far and wide to contest the round 9 fixture with most taking advantage of the relaxed dining environment provided by the club each night.

Steve Norman once again proved why he is Australia’s #1 Super Stock runner taking out the Super Comp bracket with a win over Jim Ioannidis in the final. Norman who come into the round sharing  the points cap lead with Kim Fardella was solid off the line producing a 5.214 pass on a 5.27 index to Ioannidis 6.049 on a 6.14 index. Norman took care of Kim Fardella in round 1 in one of the day’s best races while Ioannidis picked up wins against Neil Davis and the wheel standing Louis Svingos. Ioannidis courtesy of his round 9 points haul heads into the grand final locked on 300 points with Norman and Fardella with Daniel Camilleri sitting in 4^th spot on 230 points.

Top Sportsman produced a cracker final with Paul Russo in the 57 Chevy picking up his second win of the series taking out Stu McBain in the Foreign Affair Chevy. Russo courtesy of the win joins a packed leader board in Top Sportsman and heads into the grand final in white hot form. Russo joins Jason Stares, Top Qualifier Darren Saliba and McBain at the top of the table capped out on 300 points with Jason Arbery still in the mix. Russo ended Arbery’s weekend in round 1 with a solo in round 2 while McBain took care of Brody Sonntag in round 1 and top qualifier Darren Saliba in the semi. McBain looked sharp on the weekend and has found some consistency in his driving over the latter part of the series and is definitely one to watch heading into AIR next month. What a bracket it’s been for ANDRA with Stares dominating mid series only to see McBain and Russo close the gap with some fast consistent racing. Saliba has always been in the mix along with Arbery and although Arbery was a 1^st round loser this weekend you can’t count him out of the championship race. Paul Russo once made the statement that he was coming after Jason, well after the win this weekend he has caught the series leader. What a bracket and one I’m looking forward to come Adelaide.

Shane Kramer picked up the win in Supercharged Outlaws getting past former national champ Doina Day in the final. The Kramer team have put some hard yards in trying to get the car down the track over the past couple of seasons and look to have finally got a handle on the car  with Kramer posting a 4.531 on a 4.51 dial in @ 154.3mph. Day was impressive in only the second time out in the new dragster and had to get past Nationals winner in Peter Datson along the way. Day now heads into the grand finals just behind series leader Adam Murrihy and is a real chance along with Dave Thorton of taking out the 2015/16 series.

Simon Barlow proved why he is one of the best Modified racers going around picking up another win in the 15/16 series beating home former national champ in Craig Baker. Barlow posted a 4.77 on a 4.70 dial in to Baker’s 5.56 on a 5.48 dial in. Baker is an outside chance heading into AIR next month courtesy of his runner up placing and joins Kenny Stewart, Barlow and Matt Forbes in the chase for the modified title.

Gavin Dohnt has continued on with his recent hot streak taking out the Modified Bike bracket with a win over West Aussie Gordon Crawford. For Dohnt the win has catapulted him to the top of the points table sharing the position with Shane Walker on 300. Dohnt has made the last 3 Summit Sportsman Modified Bike finals with back to back wins including the Nationals. Walker looked solid on the way to a semi-final loss to Dohnt while on the other side of the draw another contender in Wally Hosta also looked solid on the way to a semi-final loss to Crawford. Although Crawford has a round 7 win out of Portland to go with his runners up placing he looks to be too far back to challenge for the 15/16 series title. The same could be said for local Bryan Finn. Looking to capture some valuable points from his home track Finn was a 1^st round loser to Hosta and will find it hard to overtake Walker and Dohnt in the race for the series title.

Super Sedan was taken out by multiple Aussie champ John Kapiris with a win over George Tipoukidis. It was the 3^rd win of the series for Kapiris and surely has him as the one to beat heading into the finals. Tipoukidis by way of his runners up placing joins Kapiris at the top of the table on 300 points and now has a real chance of being crowned the national champ. Danny Buccella, Michael Jennings, Steve Hunt and Joe Bresciano all missed out on the big points this weekend and now have it all to do come the finals.

Super Street was taken out by Creagh Stuart with a win over Rod Kerr in the final. The result was good for the Stuart camp but didn’t have any impact on the series leader board with the race for the national crown down to just two. Harry Harris has been at the top of the leader board after taking the win in round 1 over Kylie Tanner and backing that up with wins in rounds 3 and 5. Tanner although not picking up a win this series is locked in a battle with Harris at the top of the table and only needs to finish higher than Harris at next month’s grand finale to be crowned the national champ. Paul Garbellini is a remote outside chance of taking the title and needs to win the grand final with both Harris and Tanner going out 1^st round. That isn’t going to happen.

Michael Naylor joined Josh Baker and Natalie Bishop at the top of the Junior Dragster points table with a win in the final over Natalie Bishop. Coming into round 9 both Baker and Dan Carranza were tied at the top of the table on 290 points. Baker was the first to reach the points cap with a heat 1 win but bowed out in the quarters going down to Bishop after breaking out. Heading into the series final we have Josh Baker, Natalie Bishop and Michael Naylor all locked up on 300 points with Carranza, Kelly Donnelly and Brad Bishop all within striking distance.

Collin Griffin continued on with his fine season in Super Gas taking out the win over another wheel standing racer in Johnny Ienco. This was the 3^rd win of the series for Griffin and now heads into the grand final locked at the top of the leader board with Matt Forbes and Darrell Stephen. Current National champ Graeme Spencer sits just back behind the top 3 and is still a chance to go back to back.

Well that wrapped up what was another killer round of Summit Sportsman racing. Heading into the round there was a lot riding on the results with some taking advantage of the round and some missing golden opportunities to set up a series win. The Whyalla Steel City Drags club had the welcome mat out from the moment the racers arrived on site and conducted another classic regional drag race meeting that had it all. Hats off to Mark and Lia Kuhn, Tim Reedy and all the Steel City club members who combined together to present yet another memorable round of Summit Sportsman Series racing. The club put their hand up at the request of ANDRA to conduct a round of the series and no doubt have ticked off all the boxes and deserve to be included in the 16/17 series.

The series now heads to Adelaide International Raceway on the 9^th and 10^th of April for the combined grand finals with group 1. This should be an absolutely huge event and the perfect way to cap off what has been a fabulous 2015/16 Summit Sportsman Series which started way back in July at the Alice Springs Inland Dragway.

For more details on the event go to:http://www.andra.com.au/

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