Geddes Closes Out A Fantastic Summit Sportsman Series

Geddes Closes Out A Fantastic Summit Sportsman Series

By Mark Humphrey

Virginia, South Australia/Australia. March 2^nd 2017. Competition Eliminator Craig Geddes capped off another championship winning season for the team taking the win over newly crowned Australian Super Stock Champion Jamie Chaisty in the final pass for the 2016/17 ANDRA Summit Racing Equipment Sportsman Series at Adelaide International Raceway. For Geddes, it was back to back Australian Championships in a class he has dominated for the past two years while for Chaisty the runners up placing clinched his first Australian Championship Super Stock title in a car his brother Jake had used to win the 2014 Super Stock Australian Championship.

After a hotly contested round of qualifying on Friday night the scene was set for a massive day of drag racing on Saturday with 2 rounds of qualifying followed by eliminations pencilled in to see out the 2016/17 series. Unfortunately, due to a bit of weather and some technical issues with the timing system race day was delayed by several hours leaving organisers with no option but to cancel the remaining two rounds of qualifying on race day. By the time the technical issues had been sorted the racers were greeted with perfect racing conditions and a racing surface that would produce a stack of PB’s and entertain the huge crowd that had assembled to watch the action.

Rapisarda Autosport International had 2 top fuel cars leading the way for the Group 1 guys and put down 3 sensational match races over the weekend that was only bettered by the king of Top Doorslammer in John Zappia. Zappia rounded out his 10th consecutive National Championship with an unforgettable win against the legend of Top Doorslammer in Victor Bray in the final. To have these two guys going head to head in an ANDRA Grand Final was a promoters dream and hopefully with the highly speculated combined Group 1 series that is gathering some substance, the future of more Zappia v Bray battles around the country will become a reality. With only 5 door cars making the trip to Adelaide, the sport is crying out for some common sense and hopefully an announcement will be made in the next couple of weeks about a combined series with 400 Thunder that will include Sydney. Although we only had 5 door cars on the weekend we did have the best of the best with both the Brays, Paul Cannuli, John Zappia and Rob Taylor all laying down spectacular passes over the weekend. Rob Taylor had his Camaro door car over here as well as the Chevy Corvette which was wrapped in the familiar “Mad Professor” livery. The late model Corvette was a standout amongst the tough machinery on display and no doubt will become a favourite of race fans all around the country. The sport is indebted to guys like Taylor, Zappia and the Brays who have invested mega money to go racing.  I bit early to pop the champagne but the new series is just about over the line and for the record ANDRA is on record as far back as December 2015 saying that they would sanction a 400 Thunder series.

Top Alcohol and Pro Stock were also on the card for the Grand Final with John Cannuli beating Wayne Talbot in the Alcohol final and Lee Bektash dominating the Pro Stock final against Chris Soldatas.

The Sportsman Series finished on a high and capped off what was an emotional series that had 4 meetings unfinished due to varying circumstances which included the tragic loss of Chris Stewart at the Portland round. Many tributes were paid to the Stewart family over the past couple of months with Adelaide no exception. Craig Geddes backed up his two wins from the Western Australia swing with another win on the weekend and reinforced once again why he is the golden boy of sportsman racing in Australia. There is never a bad word spoken about the champ who does nothing but support the sport of drag racing in a positive and professional way. His outlook on the sport along with the entire Geddes Racing team typifies what this great sport is all about.

Geoff Chaisty was absolutely over the moon when son Jamie took out big Tommy Dimitropoulous in the semi-final to clinch the Super Stock championship, one which he has won twice before along with his other son Jake. Upcoming vision will show just how happy the team was with the win and although Jamie red lit the final against Geddes it was yet another stellar round by the West Aussie outfit. Well done Jamie who like Geddes is a credit to Australian index racing.

Supercharged Outlaws had many twist and turns throughout the weekend with early favourite Justin Russell having a weekend that wasn’t up to par for the team. Spud just couldn’t get in the groove over the weekend and was bundled out by Customline runner Mark Hunt in round 1. It was an amazing year for the Spud Racing Team which no doubt has increased their fan base with some spectacular racing that took in most of the rounds around the country. Thanks Spud for the year. Doina Day was another who supported the ANDRA series and although leaving Adelaide without the glory she was hoping for will remember the season for plenty of highs.  For Mark Hunt from Huntsman Racing what a turn of events over the weekend. After an excellent qualifying effort, Hunt was tested early with the round 1 clash against Russell. Hunt marched all the way to the semis and looked like booking a final with Adam Murrihy after putting Mick Mahoney away in the semi only to break out down the bottom end handing the win over to Mahoney. It run was a PB to Hunt and enough to be crowned runner-up for the national crown. For Mahoney, it was a chance to have a shot at Murrihy who had advanced to the final with a solo pass in the semi after Jason Keily struck mechanical trouble on the line. Mahoney said in his acceptance speech that he has been battling the Mustang for near on 3 years to finally get it right. The black and gold Pro Mod look alike is a fine example of drag racing machinery and a credit to the money invested into the project. For Murrihy it was another Top Qualifier medal, a weekend that had the altered runner blazing the drag strip culminating in a round win that secured his second Supercharge Outlaws Australian Championship. Fantastic effort by Murrihy and his support team along with all the other Supercharged Outlaw teams that provided so much entertainment for fans across Australia.

Top Sportsman was another bracket that had multiple entries going into the round with a chance of being crowned Australian Champion. I bet the recipients didn’t count on West Aussie Amanda Martin wrecking their chances for glory. Martin basically disposed of the heavy hitters one by one on her way to the final against Victorian Jason Arbery. What a weekend for Arbery who after being in contention for the championship last season has had an indifferent 2016/17 series finishing well back on the front runners going into the final round. All that is just a memory now as the Henley Chassis built Capri tasted victory in the final with a win against Martin. Like the Outlaws, the Top Sportsman bracket entertained plenty of fans across Australia with hard fought racing that included series leaders like Paul Russo, Matt Forbes, Darren Saliba and Jason Stares. Stares was in Adelaide defending his 2015/16 series win and made it all the way to the quarters where he watched his rival Darren Saliba go down to Martin handing him the 2016/17 championship to make it two years running. Stares who was sitting in his car waiting to complete a solo pass was trembling with emotion after learning of his series win. Fantastic effort for Stares who had been laid up for several months after a workplace accident. For Saliba it was a tragic end to his 2016/17 campaign with the car resting on its roof in the deep end after the loss to Martin. The loss was enough for Saliba to be crowned runner-up behind Stares. Thanks to Amanda Martin for trekking across the Nullarbor to make this field the strongest yet for Top Sportsman. Not that long ago the newly sanctioned bracket struggled with 6 or 7 entries which is a far cry from the 20 plus machines that rolled out for the Grand Finals.

Modified like most of the other brackets had plenty of drama with likable character Stewie Johnson taking the win over Paul Utting in the final. Newly crowned national champ Craig Baker struck mechanical trouble in the semi to end his 2016/17 campaign which included the prized Nationals win. Speaking of campaign ends, Leanne Braggs finished her racing career with a solid days racing which netted enough points to be crowned Australian Modified Runner Up behind Baker. Although it wasn’t the Gold version of the Xmas tree she has been striving for during her racing career she can now look back on her career with pride every time she looks at that big shinny Xmas tree on her mantel piece. What a fantastic career she has had which included some amazing consistency and that awful crash as Mildura. Well done Leanne and good luck in the future as a “grey nomad”.

Super Sedan had George Tipouikidis going up against 4 x champ in John Kapiris for the national crown prior to the event. The big battle come before the final where the two GMH runners faced off with the spoils going to the winner. Tipo got the job done along with the badge of Super Sedan Australian Champion. His work was not finished there as young gun Dylan Argent was waiting for him in the final. Argent who is a product of ANDRA’s Junior Dragster program is the future of Australian drag racing and definitely a pin up boy for the sport. Well done to Dave, Dylan and all the team who have guided this future star along the way. Congats to John Kapiris for another fine year of bracket racing and although not on the top rung this series has to be considered as the best bracket racer of the past 5 years.

Modified bike witnessed the champ Bryan Finn backing up his 2016 Australian Championship series with another Australian Championship for Modified Bike after winner the Grand Final round against Daniel Natalotto. Finn had to work hard to clinch the title win Grand Final wins against every contender for this year’s series. He dispatched Gordon Crawford, Gavin Dohnt and Matt Lisle on the way to the round win and the Australian title. Well done to Matt Lisle who finished runner up in the series.

Super Street was taken out by local Harry Harris who beat long time racer Graeme “The Bricklayer” Cooper in the final. For Harris, it was a welcome return to the podium after an indifferent season which had the Commodore runner mid pack coming into the round. Harris finished runner up to Kylie Tanner in last year’s series but hasn’t had things go his way this season so to round out the series with a win was a fine effort. For Cooper the meeting was to be his last ever at Adelaide citing a scale back of racing commitments going forward. Costs have played a big part of his decision to base his racing around his home town of Melbourne going forward. Cooper on accepting his runner up tree thanked all the good people of South Australia and the friendships he has made over the last 35 years competing at AIR and now looks forward to semi-retirement with regards to drag racing. Thanks Graeme for all the years of EH Holden Station Wagon racing. Good luck for the future. Chris Tatchell was awarded with the Super Street National Champion Gold Tree which was well deserved.

Junior Dragster was taken out by Kelly Donnelly with a win over Josh Baker in the final and Colin Griffin picked up the win over Graeme Spencer in the Super Gas final. A more in depth look at Super Gas and Junior Dragster will follow complete with bracket videos and Australian Champion tributes over the coming weeks.

Thanks to ANDRA, Summit Racing Equipment, the series tracks and support staff and of course the fantastic sportsman racers who have all been part of an amazing Summit Sportsman Series for 2016/17. Time for a well-earned break.

Share this article