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Watch this type of action and more in the comfort of your home 20 kms away or 20,000 kms away. Drag Racing, Hot Rodding, Boats, Speedway and more. Sportingscribe.com travels the width and breadth of Australia filming drag racing events with the occasional hot rodding and speedway event thrown in, all packaged up in video edits usually within a week of the event finishing. Scheduling and growth of the industry has made it difficult to find the editing time to process all the action in a reasonable time frame. My quest here at sportingscribe.com is to set up a live streaming service that will deliver the same content to my viewers, live as it happens. All the action from the Australian National Drag Racing Association Summit Sportsman Series plus selected marquee events including hot-rodding from around Australia delivered live right onto your device. Get us close and personal with drivers, pit action and all the drama that go hand in hand with competition. Be there to celebrate the highs of motorsport achievement with victory speeches, interviews and pit parties. Catch all the cool guys and gals in the ever growing hot-rod scene with live vision of the coolest rides on the road, the girls in their rock a billy gear and the finest featured hot-rodding live music.
Sounds entertaining you say! I agree and want to bring it to you live free of charge onto your device, yes free of charge, no pay per view charges, but I need your help.
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Mark Humphrey
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Thornton goes bang with broken conrods while Talbot goes bang with PB’s
Top End Track Day 8 Eliminations
By Mark Humphrey
Hidden Valley, Darwin/NT. 23rd July 2017. After a solid day of qualifying by the race teams’ things looked good for the Trek party to go some rounds with a finals appearance on the cards.
The juniors were solid in qualifying with the newest member to the Top End Trek Bradley Bishop qualifying well. Bishop along with Jake Berias and Daniel Carranza are seasoned competitors in the junior bracket are were quite capable of going the distance and putting the Top End Trek on the map. Young Nathanial Kuchel is just starting out and was excited to be among the action and no doubt learned from his experience at the Hidden Valley Drag Strip. And on that subject, what a fantastic facility the Northern Territory government has provided for the drag racing community in the top end. Both racer and spectator facilities are world class with one of the flattest racing surfaces in the country providing our poster boy Wayne Talbot the opportunity to set his PB in both ET & MPH, but more on that later. For the juniors, Nathanial went out in round 1 along with Daniel, Jake went out in round 2 and Bradley lost his round 3 encounter. Next weekend’s round at Alice Springs Inland Dragway will provide a platform for the experienced boys to go rounds with a finals appearance definitely on the cards.
The Top End Trek was represented in the Modified Eliminator bracket by Kingsley Kuchel driving the nostalgia type front engine dragster. To say Kingsley attracted his fair share of media coverage would be understating the fact as every time he rolled into the beams camera flashes were going off everywhere. Although Kingsley was a first-round casualty he made the point that this was the first time his car put together consistent runs over the whole weekend. He now heads to Alice full of confidence that the little green machine will take him rounds.
In my favourite category, Supercharged Outlaws, the Top End Trek was represented by both Dave Thornton and Tim Stewart. Both elected to sit out the 3rd round of qualifying happy with the days qualifying. Dave had developed a small oil leak and after re-sealing the leak thought it would be better to sit out round 3. Both his qualifying rounds were in the low 7’s with a 7.037 @ 184mph and a 7.137 @ 186mph. Tim had two qualifiers in the mid 7’s posting a 7.66 @ 172mph and a 7.86 @ 164mph.
First up was Dave and after his bad run of luck on the Top End Trek journey we were hoping for a good hit out by the altered. A strong burnout went bang on the line and Dave slowly rolled over to the wall with the car shut down. That was the end of Dave’s Nitro Up North campaign and on further inspection, the end of his racing holiday with two broken conrods. A hole in the sump gave away the bad news early and has definitely put a halt to his racing program. Dave is the typical grass roots racer using a wage to support his racing career. After being in contention for the national series in the 2015/16, Dave started off his 2016/17 campaign by popping off the supercharger in round 3 of the series. After scrimping together enough funds to get the Poppy Daves Racing altered back on the track for round 7 which doubled up as the Nationals, he found trouble again this time shearing the timing gear off the big block chev. A total of 5 passes was all the Mildura based racer could manage for the 2016/17 series. After last night’s fiasco, Poppy Daves Racing could be laid up for some time with a season ending brakeage the most likely outcome.
Dave picked up the "Hard Luck" award donated by the "Darwin Gang"
Tim was primed to go rounds after recently winning the Supercharged Outlaw event at Mildura’s Sunset Strip. The event is one of the premiere Outlaws events on the southern states calendar and was a big feather in the cap for “The Stang” racing team. After dialling in a 7.60, Tim found himself on the outer losing his round by a few hundredths posting a 7.77 @ 154mph. This was well outside his dial in and a shute release on the 1000ft mark wouldn’t have helped the situation.
Picture perfect. Thanks to Sue Stewart
So after round 1 the Top End Trek had lost all of our racers with the exception of Jake Berias and Brad Bishop. This left “Mr Hollywood” Wayne Talbot to fly the flag for the group which he did in spectacular fashion.
Lining up for exhibition passes against Nathan Coles in a Nitro Funny Car, Wayne was keen to come away from the event with PB’s for ET & MPH and that is exactly what he did.
In his first pass of the night he posted a 6.411 @ 243.06 mph which was a mph pb. His second pass was aborted after direction from his aviation wearing sunglasses crew chief Jayden Talbot. Jayden was all over the program and was the mastermind behind Wayne’s 3rd and final pass of the night. After inspecting the start line surface, Jayden signalled to the pilot to start off in 2nd gear foregoing the usual 1st gear selection. He got away from the line hard and shifted into 3rd hauling all the way through the tapes to record a 6.187ET @ 243.77mph which was a pb for both ET & MPH. What a fantastic effort for the team and the Top End Trek travelling party with congratulations being handed out everywhere. Unfortunately for the travelling party, Wayne flew out today to take up his duties with the family vegetable growing business. He was good enough to send through some images of his flight plans although word around the traps was that Wayne wasn’t too happy with the seating arrangements. 
Can't understand what's wrong with the seating. Images courtesy Wayne Talbot
Jayden has now boarded the Top End Trek for the week’s journey down the Stuart Highway for round 2 of the Summit Racing Equipment Sportsman Series at Alice Springs Inland Dragway. Wayne will fly in Friday evening with the focus on the Modified Eliminator track record which he says is “soft”. Who know, after last night’s effort he could be the star of the show once again in Alice Springs.
Finally, after all the drama on the race track it was time to relax with plenty of beers going down and what “could have beens” being thrown around all night. One thing this Trek hasn’t gone without is delicious food and last night was no exception. Ms MasterChef Caroline Milics prepared a basted marinated chicken gyros that had been cooking for several hours while the racing was going on. The kebabs were accompanied with salad and were the perfect finish to what was a fantastic event.
WOW. Dinner tonight. Image courtesy Caroline Milics
For racers or spectators who haven’t ventured to Hidden Valley in the past, I suggest you put it on your bucket list. Although Friday was a touch slow the venue facilities and racing were first class with the Nitro Up North event getting a big tick.
Well done to Scott Maclean, Ray Treasure and all the Hidden Valley Drags staff for a wonderful event that is only going to grow in statue over the coming years.
For the Top End Trek, it’s time to relax at the AM Cranes depot for a couple of days courtesy of the current Australian Supercharged Outlaw champion Adam Murrihy, and take in some of Darwin’s best places of interest before we make the trek back south to the Alice.
Video highlights of last night’s eliminations including interviews with Thornton, Stewart, Talbot and others will be posted over the next few days.
A highlight package covering all sportsman categories will also be produced over the next few days with the focus on Supercharged Outlaws where Justin “Spud” Russell took out the win and Top Sportsman where Jason Arbery backed up his Summit Racing Equipment Grand Final win earlier in the year with a win over Top Sportsman new comer Vlado Turic in the Turic Family Racing Nissan.
Norman Goes European With The R/T Marine Prepared BMW
By Mark Humphrey
Adelaide, SA/Aus. 16th June 2017. 2015 Australian Super Stock champion Steve Norman will debut his new ride this weekend at the Adelaide Drag Race Promotion’s Sunday Funday at Adelaide International Raceway. Having been out of the racing seat for the past 15 months, Norman is itching to get some seat time in the R/T Marine built BMW coupe which had been in the pipeline for about 5 years.
I dropped a line to Steve to find out a bit more on the vision he had with the BMW, “Well I noticed the BMW sitting in the Perth Motorplex pits at a Westernationals 5 years ago and straight away thought about debuting a Super Stock version” he said. Norman went on to say “I got the boys (Ryan & Reg Lee) to measure it up and here we are 5 years later with an unbelievable version of European motoring”. Norman added, “we embarked on the project less than 2 years ago with Ryan Lee from R/T Marine responsible for making it happen. Along with his father Reg and the help of others, the team has put together a race car that is as good as anything I’ve had in the past” he said. Norman went on to say “the attention to detail is simply unbelievable and I cannot fault any part of the build at all. I had enormous trust in the boys to get the job done and they certainly haven’t let me down” he said.
The history of the car is quite chequered with the car originally part of a divorce settlement in the USA. Legend has it that the ex-wife snatched the BMW, poured acid over the boot and then proceeded to drive the car into a dam. The Norman camp found the car at a salvage yard via a friend in the USA and the rest is history.
The guy responsible for the unique transformation was Ryan Lee who owns and operates R/T Marine SA, a business that had its roots in boat repairs but has now expanded into fibreglass auto products, vehicle modifications and of course complete race car builds. I caught up with Ryan and his father Reg to find out more on this simply stunning build and started by asking Ryan his thoughts on the BMW build “absolutely over the moon. The team has done a fantastic job on the car with the end result being an amazing BMW Super Stock car”. Ryan added “ we took possession of the car from the US and completely gutted the car in order to get it ready for the build. Originally, we looked at a Jaguar but because it had an aluminium body it was going to be too expensive to put chrome moly bar work through the car. It then come down to transforming either a Mercedes or BMW car into a MP Super Stock car. We measured up a BMW in the pits at the Perth Motorplex and found that everything would fit and the rest is history” he said.
After being stripped back to a bare shell the car was sent to interstate chassis builder John Lang to get the bar work installed along with some tin work. Ben Seal was then called in to complete the tin work which included all the necessary bracketry, front end and 4 link suspension points. Ben worked solid for 3 straight weeks and then dropped in after hours on more than half a dozen occasions to complete any alterations that were required. Also helping out on the tin and aluminium work was Doug Elsworthy from Elsworthy’s Chassis Shop.
The running gear was fitted up to see what alterations if any were required. The running gear for this project come out of the championship winning Chevy Cobalt and consists of a 312ci Bob Book small block coupled to a 3 speed Pro Flight transmission.
Power is transferred down to the JRI sprung titanium housed diff via a carbo fibre tail shaft. Lamb front struts work nicely with Lamb carbon fibre disc brakes to provide plenty of stopping power.
Next it was the job of brother Bryce with help from good friend Matt to prep the body and bar work for paint. Bryce spent a solid 3 weeks straightening the panels alone before prepping the car for paint which in the end was coated with Electric Orange. I asked Ryan what the most difficult part of the build was and he mentioned choosing the paint color. “I first suggested orange to Steve but that was rejected with a pearl white looking like the color. I liked black but in the end, it was Steve’s decision and after some deliberation Steve decided that it would be Electric Orange” he said. Ryan added “I think the color choice was spot on as it certainly showcases the car”.
Once the car was painted it was time to fit out the car and that’s when Reg took over. The car was completely re-wired starting from a bare shell and color coded to MSD color codes. Every wire was color matched to components with all original hinges used. The boot retains its electric opening operation keeping some originality with the car.
The interior was completely re-trimmed by Vicki in the color of their choice still incorporating the woodgrain in the dash and door trims. The attention to detail with the trim is unsurpassed with Steve Norman noting how the interior trim was altered to incorporate bar work encroaching into the door armrests. The choice of trim color certainly adds to the build and compliments the vision the boys had when they first set out to build the car. 
Asked what the most pleasing part of the build was, they both responded simultaneous with “today”. “Having the car 100% finished with nothing to do but turn the key is definitely the most pleasing part of the build” said Ryan. The car is built to 25.5 C SFI specification as a MP car and will initially be running in Gas.
Now that the car is 100% completed the next thing to do is get some laps into the car. As noted, the team will head out this weekend to Adelaide International Raceway to put down an installation pass testing out things like brakes, tracking, parachute and the like. They hope to get at least a second pass in which with all things being equal will be under full noise. The fact that they are using the running gear out of the Cobalt, takes away the uncertainty of how the drivetrain will go and leaves the team with one less thing to worry about. The team hope to run a private test next weekend and provided they meet all parameters will debut the car for competition in round 3 of the ANDRA Summit Racing Equipment Sportsman Series at Sunset Strip Mildura in late September.
Obviously to put together this masterpiece the team relied on some outstanding help with Steve Norman thanking Ryan and Reg for their commitment with this build. With regards to the workshop activities Ryan and Reg would like to thank Bryce and Matt for the paint, Ben Seal for the fabrication, Doug Elsworthy for additional fabrication, John Lang for bar work, Vicky from Vicki’s Trimming Shop, Motorsport Connections, Craig at RCE, BMW Adelaide and Brett Henley from Henley Chassis for all his advice.
For race fans, keep an eye on the ANDRA website for details on the 2017/18 Summit Racing Equipment Sportsman Series dates which will feature the likes of Steve Norman, Competition champ Craig Geddes, Super Stock champ Jamie Chaisty among others duking it out in Super Stock/Comp.
Click on the link for more details http://andra.com.au/
All images supplied by Reg Lee
Outlaw Stewart Heads Up Nitro Convoy On Back Of Easter Win.
By Mark Humphrey
Melbourne, Vic/Aus. 21st May 2017. Victorian Tim Stewart has settled nicely into the outrageously loud and wild drag racing bracket known as Supercharged Outlaws. The “Outlaw” bracket caters for supercharged doorcars, dragsters and funny cars that are limited to no quicker than 6.50 seconds over the ¼ mile distance. Providing the most spectacular side by side drag racing in the sportsman category, Supercharged Outlaw machines can take a number of years for race teams to get their heads around the set-up and this certainly looked the case for modified come outlaw racer in Tim Stewart. Having purchased the ex-Aaron Russell “Russler” Mustang Funny Car, Stewart provided the small block powerplant that was once again going to power up the old-school Mustang. Sportingscribe.com was on hand to capture the debut of the re-born Mustang at a local Test N Tune day run at Calder Park Drag Racing. After a strong burnout, Stewart had to pack up the car courtesy of a blown power plant. It was back to the drawing board for the team that coincidently have the slogan “Throwback” highlighted across the race team uniforms.
Less than 12 months down the track and the “Stang” race team have tasted victory lane with a win in the prestigious Gateway Tavern “Easter Supercharged Outlaws” event at Sunset Strip Mildura. Being one of the biggest Supercharged Outlaw events on the Australian drag racing calendar, the event attracts some of the biggest heavy hitters in the bracket with the 2017 version no exception. Stewart was the only racer to win all rounds in the Chicago Shootout format with wins over Mark Newman, Mark Kuhn, the returning Paul Stephen and Dale Tucker in the final.
Speaking with Stewart recently, I asked the former modified racer why Outlaws? “It’s something I have always looked at. I like the idea of the man and machine format that comes with Supercharged Outlaws where the focus is on the driver pedalling the car down the race track the best they can using extreme horsepower combinations”. Stewart went on to say “it was the 3rd race meeting for the car with the Easter Shootout always the focus for the team. Last year I managed to win the Modified bracket as a support for the Outlaws but to win the feature event in our first attempt with the car is quite unbelievable especially given the circumstances leading up to the event” he said.
Stewart had spent the 4 days leading up to the event in Adelaide caring for his gravely ill father who sadly passed away on Good Friday. It was then a hastily organised flight back home to pick up the race truck and head for Mildura to contest the 2017 Easter Shootout. “Yeah it was a pretty hectic time for Sue and myself. We booked the flights back home at 1.30pm on Good Friday after dad had passed away. I drove as far as Bendigo that night but had to hand over the driving duties to Sue for the rest of the journey. Understandably my reaction times were all over the place during qualifying but everything seemed to come together once racing started” he said. Stewart flew straight back to Adelaide after the race meet to help out with funeral arrangements for his father.
Stewart’s next mission is to take on the territory with some of his drag racing buddies as they prepare for the road trip of a lifetime heading north in July for the opening rounds of the Australian National Drag Racing Association’s 2017/18 Summit Racing Equipment Sportsman Series starting with the “Nitro Up North” event at Darwin followed by the “Dessert Nationals” the following week in Alice Springs.
A “Nitro Up North Convoy” has been put together by a group of Victorian racers which departs from Mildura’s Sunset Strip on Saturday the 15th of July for the road trip of a lifetime which will take in the two ANDRA sanctioned drag racing events. Talking with Stewart on the upcoming new sportsman series it was easy to see how excited he was with the prospect of the 2 ½ week road trip. I asked Tim about the proposed road trip, “yep it’s going to be huge. So far, we have the Stewarts, Thorntons, Kuchels and Talbots on board for the trip with possibly Spud Russell’s car in the convoy along with a few others. We head out of Mildura on the Saturday stopping above Port Augusta the first night. We plan to stop north of Coober Pedy the 2nd night with Alice Springs Inland Dragway our destination for night 3. From there we will keep cruising the Stuart Highway stopping Tuesday night along the highway and then cruising into Darwin Wednesday evening with a stopover for the night at Adam Murrihy’s A&M Cranes depot. From there we head to Hidden Valley Drags on Thursday morning which is only 10 minutes down the road from the A&M Cranes depot. At this stage, there are no set plans for the week in between the two race meetings but sportingscribe.com has jumped on board to assist with this part of the road trip" he said.
At sportingscribe.com we are pleased to announce that we will be covering the road trip in its entirety starting out of Mildura with daily video edits covering each day’s activities leading up to the race days and then dedicated coverage of the Nitro Up North Convoy race teams competing at both the Nitro’s and Dessert Nationals. This year sportingscribe.com will embark on a different format whereby we will be covering a nominated bracket each round with dedicated video edits of pit activity, qualifying and eliminations for that bracket with minimal video footage from other sportsman brackets complimenting the race coverage. By introducing this format, we heavily reduce the time commitments required to produce up to 9 individual brackets per round (don’t have the time required), instead opting for a more dedicated video edit for the nominated bracket. For the NT Convoy, we will feature Convoy race teams rather than a dedicated sportsman bracket.
Sportingscribe.com are currently working in with NT Tourism with regards to promoting the event and places of interest both along the way and in between the two events. Christie Thornton (daughter of Outlaw racer Dave Thornton) has jumped on board to assist with putting the video package together. Christie has just finished a university degree in Tourism and Event Management and will bring fresh ideas to the video coverage of the road trip. As noted, we hope to produce a 3-5-minute grab of the day’s activities spent on the road and by the campsite each night with a more substantial grab of racing activities during the 4 days of racing.
Talking with Tim about the convoy, he mentioned that race teams are quite welcome to join in the convoy stating “the more the merrier”. To join the Nitro Up North discussion group simply contact either Tim or Sue Stewart through their respective Facebook pages or any of the other racers that have jumped on board the convoy. The convoy is currently represented by Top Alcohol, Supercharged Outlaws, Junior Dragster and Modified Eliminator brackets. Sportingscribe.com will also be providing updates on the convoy as they come to hand. This is one road trip that we can’t wait to get into filming. Should be epic!
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2017 is here and with a full slate of ANDRA Championship Drag Racing coming up, The Accommodation Brokers are here to help ANDRA members save on their travel plans.
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Cast from resin, this accurately detailed |
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PRESS RELEASE, 09/07/2016 |
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STARES PERFECTS TITLE DEFENCE START WHILE LISLE OVERCOMES HELLISH ROAD TRIP FOR DARWIN VICTORY |
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Australian Top Sportsman champion Jason Stares has started his title defence off in the best possible way by taking victory tonight as part of the Nitro Up North event, in what was his first ever trip to Darwin. The Hidden Valley Drag Strip hosted a frenetic evening of racing for the Summit Racing Equipment Sportsman Series on Saturday, with Stares joined in the winners’ circle by Joel Burns (Summit Racing Equipment Junior Dragster), Grant Radcliffe (Modified), Matt Lisle (Modified Bike), Kim Fardella (Super Comp), Chris Parris (Super Sedan), Tim Bryan (Super Street) and Adam Murrihy (Supercharged Outlaws). To say the last 12 months of the New South Welshman’s racing career has been phenomenal would be an understatement. Until last season, Stares had never won an ANDRA tree, with his 2015/2016 season finally seeing him take out two silver trees and the gold at the Grand Final on his way to taking out the ultimate gold trophy as Champion. This evening, he would take on Todd Knight in round one before enjoying a bye run on his way to a finals victory over Ben Phillips. Stares was just one of a host of racers who have travelled to Darwin for the first time this weekend, joined by racers including (but not limited to) Craig Geddes (Competition Champion), Kim Fardella (Super Stock Champion), Bryan Finn (Modified Bike Champion), Vlado Turic (Super Sedan), Mark Hunt, Doina Day and Justin Russell (Supercharged Outlaws), John Kapiris (Super Sedan Champion), David Yanko (Super Sedan), Matt Lisle (Super Compact Champion on this occasion racing on two wheels) and Daniel Carranza (Summit Racing Equipment Junior Dragster). “I didn’t think we had won – Benny Phillips put up a hell of a fight. We crossed the line and he crossed first but unfortunately broke out by eight thousandths. I feel bad for him but I feel great as well to get another win,” said Stares, who took the win with a 7.34s/195.36mph pass on a 7.29s dial-in from Phillips’ 8.482s/159.51mph result on a 8.49s dial-in. “Benny had a bit of drama starting up there for the final - he had a fire come out and so we shut down and waited for him to put the fire out and clean the car up, and then we fired up again and raced him. At the end of the day we were the lucky ones. “Defending the Championship is what it is all about isn’t it, going for number two, and we couldn’t have had a better start – it is unbelievable. “As usual the car was absolutely killer. I think we put down three 7.30s, a 7.28s and a 731s pass so the car was faultless. The driver could probably use a little bit of polishing, but we will get there for next weekend. “We can’t wait (for the Alice Springs event) – for racing new tracks and new people, with a bit of a holiday in between. “I have got to say a massive thank you to Jeff Pahlke at Lucas Oil Australia – there is no way we could have come up here to both the races without his support. Also to Aaron and Bruno at VPW Australia, Pro Flow, Sunoco, SunX and Sunset Performance Engines.” In Modified Bike, New South Welshman and current Super Compact Champion Matt Lisle swapped four wheels for two, enduring the road trip from hell ahead of tonight’s victory. On his way to hoisting the trophy, he took on Leigh Darrach (round one), Brian Hotker (round two) and Heath Costello (round three) before facing Murray High in the final. He would take victory with a 10.258s pass at 124.65mph (10.18 dial-in) from High’s 9.909s/137.34mph result (9.76 dial-in). “This feels pretty surreal,” said Lisle. “We had the road trip from hell – I hit a kangaroo somewhere between St George and Mitchell and that sent us flying off the road, and then the trailer has hit something else. I didn’t realise it had broken the trailer at the time, I was a couple of hundred ‘ks’ up the road and I thought the bike looks a bit funny, so I got out, and everything was just a mess. “I have broken or scratched every faring on the bike, the trailer is broken and has no mud guards on it - I had more bike straps holding the trailer together than the bike on the trailer! For me, just getting to the front gate was a win. “But race day was awesome. I couldn’t have dreamt it to go any better. It was just like one obstacle at a time and it just got better and better and I just started cutting better lights - I struggled with lights for a little while. I said to Phil that it is mainly because of the car (Lisle often also competes on four wheels). “Because it has got enough to run home pretty hard I am getting lazy, so I have been really crappy on the tree, but the last two runs tonight was a 0.50 and a 0.40 reaction times, which is sort of where I need to be. “In the final, I took two looks in the mirror and (Murray High) was still behind me so I rolled off early and I thought, okay, this is it, I’ve won. It was good!” In Super Comp, Kim Fardella’s victory came after dispatching fellow West Aussies Dave Dequen and Jamie Chaisty in the earlier rounds, before facing Craig Geddes in the final. An 8.468s (8.72s dial-in)/159.57mph effort would see Fardella trump Geddes’ 7.412s (7.62s)/175.27mph pass. For Geddes, tonight’s finals appearance follows on from taking five wins from six finals last season, on his way to winning the Competition Eliminator championship. For Super Sedan winner Chris Parris, victory came after taking on Darren Baumann, Travis Hagen, Des Groves and Daniel Franklin, with a finals effort of 9.339s/142.93mph (9.32 dial-in) handing him the trophy over Franklin’s 8.549s (8.58s)/160.10mph pass. Super Sedan outfit Full Throttle Racing won the Gridstar by YBI Best Presented Team Award, with the team receiving Best Presented Trophy, six Best Presented caps and a $50 Summit Racing Equipment credit voucher. Summit Racing Equipment Junior Dragster winner Joel Burns impressed with wins over Madison Brown, Lachlan Slamar and Brooke Harris before defeating Jasmine Slamar in the final with a 8.279s (8.12s)/74.88s pass; while in Super Street, Tim Bryan took on Sam Campbell and Allan Hutchen before taking victory with a 11.752s/119.38mph result in the final from a red-lighting Shaun Boyer. Grant Radcliffe (8.296s/140.80mph) and Adam Murrihy (6.724s/167.66mph) found themselves taking home the winners’ trophy in the Modified and Supercharged Outlaws brackets. Radcliffe faced Bradley Hicks and Allan Arthus on his way to victory, while the top qualifying Murrihy took on and defeated Jay Bouchere, Alan Mahnkoph and Doina Day to kick off his title defence in style. While the Summit Racing Equipment Sportsman Series provided plenty of fanfare for the packed house at Hidden Valley, there was also plenty of other action on-show across the evening, including championship racing for Top Doorslammer and Top Fuel Motorcycle and thrilling exhibition passes from both Outlaw Nitro Funny Cars and Top Fuel racers. In fact, Aaron Hambridge and Wayne Newby ensured the night concluded with as much excitement as possible by punching out side-by-side 4.61 second passes in their Top Fuel dragsters, with Hambridge setting a 4.610 second effort at 336mph, while Newby traversed the track in 4.614s at 289.57mph – one of the quickest side-by-side passes in Australia to go alongside Damien Harris’ earlier 4.581 second pass at 321.73 mph – a new Hidden Valley Drag Strip track record. ANDRA congratulates the Hidden Valley Drag Racing Association on a fantastic event and thanked the volunteers for their outstanding efforts prior to and throughout the weekend. For full results from today’s racing, please click here. The next round of the Summit Racing Equipment Sportsman Series will be the Desert Nationals, held next weekend at Alice Springs Dragway across Saturday 16 and Sunday 17 July, 2016. The event will feature racing for Top Doorslammer, Super Stock, Supercharged Outlaws, Super Street, Super Compact, Super Sedan, Super Gas, Comp Bike, Modified, Summit Racing Equipment Junior Dragster, Competition, Top Sportsman and Mod Bike. On-track action will be held from approximately 11.00am to 5.00pmeach day. For more detailed event information, please click here. |
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LEASE, 09/07/2016 For Immediate Release |
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PHILLIPS AND MUSCAT TASTE VICTORY IN THE NORTH |
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Gary Philips and Damien Muscat have each overcome some tricky runs to take the Nitro Up North Top Doorslammer and Top Fuel Motorcycle event victories this weekend. For Phillips, it was a slippery run to the event win, but he held on to take the victory from Mark Belleri with a 5.949s/245.36mph effort to Belleri’s 6.473s/165.76mph result. On his way to the final, he faced and defeated Ben Bray (semis) and Sam Fenech (round one), while Belleri took on John Zappia and Victor Bray. “That was great. I love coming up here, it is fantastic, it is just a pity it is so hot!” said Phillips, who along with his fellow Top Doorslammer racers will also compete in next weekend’s Desert Nationals (Alice Springs, 16-17 July). “The car was good and we come up here with the attitude - especially with Alice Springs next weekend and the Northern Territory Government doing an awesome job up here helping out – of putting on a great show for the crowd and they were just fantastic – tonight there was the most people I have ever seen here before, it was really good. “For Lucas Oil and Speedflow and everyone else that helps us, we didn’t back into this one, this was an earned deal. “The car ran well, we didn’t hurt anything. We used the same oil all weekend, put fuel in it, and changed the plugs. It was really good. “Race day today was great. We had a bit of selected shuffling with qualifying which is why we didn’t do the last session, as we looked at the ladder and said we can run 90 and we know it can go faster. It was a bit of a Russian roulette type of deal, but it played out well and every run was great. “In the final, I got a bit of oil under the tyre and it got really close to the wall, as in the semi-final the rear cover in the transmission had vibrated loose and I didn’t pick it up. But then it went 9.7060. It went 9.70 something in qualifying but I didn’t believe it as we didn’t back it up, but then it went ‘80’ and ‘82’ and then 9.70 and we don’t try and go that fast. But the old pig gets twenty seven hundred pound – it is the motor out of the Funny Car and it showed its colours today.”
For Muscat, the victory comes after qualifying sessions he would rather forget. However, it wasn’t enough to hold him back from taking wins from Greg Durack (round one) and Chris Porter (semis) on his way to the final against Mark Drew – where his 6.514s/218.94mph effort would better Drew’s 7.020s/228.65mph pass. “This feels unreal. It couldn’t be better. We had a bad start in qualifying, it took us a bit to get a handle on the tune-up, but we just started stepping it up in eliminations and here we are,” said Muscat, who was third fastest at the end of three qualifying sessions on Friday. “The rest of the race day went pretty good. I am lost for words as to what actually happened in our qualifying sessions – we missed one run as we had a rookie mistake and left the fuel pump out and didn’t put it back in so one was a cancelled run, and the other two were a 7.1s and a 7.04s I think. “We went 6.51 in the final which might be low ET, it was great to have the bike turn around, and a big thanks to our sponsors and crew and everyone.” While the Group One racing provided plenty of action for the packed house at Hidden Valley, there was also plenty of other action on-show across the evening, including championship racing for Summit Racing Equipment Sportsman Series and thrilling exhibition passes from both Outlaw Nitro Funny Cars and Top Fuel racers.
In fact, Aaron Hambridge and Wayne Newby ensured the night concluded with as much excitement as possible by punching out side-by-side 4.61 second passes in their Top Fuel dragsters, with Hambridge setting a 4.610 second effort at 336mph, while Newby traversed the track in 4.614s at 289.57mph – one of the quickest side-by-side passes in Australia to go alongside Damien Harris’ earlier 4.581 second pass at 321.73 mph – a new Hidden Valley Drag Strip track record. ANDRA congratulates the Hidden Valley Drag Racing Association on a fantastic event and thanked the volunteers for their outstanding efforts prior to and throughout the weekend. For full results from today’s racing, please click here. ANDRA Drag Racing in the Northern Territory continues next weekend, with Top Doorslammer and the Summit Racing Equipment Sportsman Series heading to Alice Springs Dragway for the Desert Nationals – to be held across Saturday 16 and Sunday 17 July, 2016. The event will feature racing for Top Doorslammer, Super Stock, Supercharged Outlaws, Super Street, Super Compact, Super Sedan, Super Gas, Comp Bike, Modified, Summit Racing Equipment Junior Dragster, Competition, Top Sportsman and Mod Bike. On-track action will be held from approximately 11.00am to 5.00pm each day. For more detailed event information, please click here.
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PRESS RELEASE, 08/07/2016 |
| SUMMIT RACING EQUIPMENT SPORTSMAN RACERS PUT ON A SHOW IN DARWIN |
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Day one of Hidden Valley Drag Strip’s Nitro Up North has hosted qualifying today (Friday July 8, 2016) for the first ever Summit Racing Equipment Sportsman Series event to be held in the Top End. Qualifying was held for all brackets today, with fields now complete for all but two categories who will run a final qualifier each tomorrow afternoon ahead of the beginning of racing. Top qualifying today were Clive Mainland (Modified Bike – 8.064s/162.90mph), Vlado Turic (Super Sedan - 8.651s/157.85mph), Bradley Hicks (Modified - 7.973s/164.59mph), Todd Knight (Top Sportsman - 6.832s/200.80mph), Adam Murrihy (Supercharged Outlaws - 6.574s/213.30mph) and Craig Geddes (Super Comp - 7.217s). Tomorrow will host a final qualifying round for the Super Street and Summit Racing Equipment Junior Dragster categories, with these fields currently topped by Luke Veersma (8.027s/80.78mph) and Sam Campbell (10.115s/136.62s) respectively. For full results from today’s proceedings, please click here. For Supercharged Outlaws top qualifier Adam Murrihy – the current Supercharged Outlaws champion – today was all about running ‘the number’. “We are wrapped to be the top qualifier. We have a new motor tonight, so we sort of snuck up on it and just slowly took the fuel away from it until we got our number – we were always wanting to run the 6.50s,” said the local Territorian. “The reset of our day went well – it has been pretty casual for us actually, we have been working more on other cars than ours,” he laughed. “It feels good to see them doing well. “As far as the plan for tomorrow – we will get that ‘6.50’ out again and hopefully we can put a few people on the trailer! “We aren’t having or expecting any trouble with the conditions – we are pretty used to running up here so we have a pretty good idea of what it should do. But we will need to get used to that pro tree – I think that will be one thing upsetting the racers I think as they try and get their head around that, it could be a win/lose point for a few.” Qualifying concludes tomorrow afternoon from 4.00pm with the final sessions for the Super Street and Summit Racing Equipment Junior Dragster brackets, before racing for all categories commences from 4.30pm. Also on the schedule are Top Fuel passes and an Outlaw Nitro Funny Car exhibition. For results from today’s action, please click here. For full event information including a full event schedule, please click here.
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PRESS RELEASE, 08/07/2016 |
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O’ROURKE AND DREW LEAD THE WAY ‘UP NORTH’ |
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At the conclusion of day one of Nitro Up North, Grant O’Rourke (Top Doorslammer) and Mark Drew (Top Fuel Motorcycle) lead their respective fields in what is the first round of the 2016/2017 ANDRA Drag Racing Season. Qualifying is now complete for both group one brackets, with racing to commence tomorrow from 4.30pm. For a full list of qualifying results from today’s action, please click here. O’Rourke tops a field of eight Top Doorslammers who will race tomorrow (Saturday 9 July), while three of his compatriots – Geoff Gradden, Robin Taylor and Bill Goonan – will watch from the sidelines after failing to qualify for the field. For Gradden, the difference between racing and watching was agonisingly close, with his 6.367s result just 0.05 of a second slow of the qualifying time of surprise bump-spot holder and reigning champion John Zappia. “We are absolutely very happy with the result today, we couldn’t be happier. This is everybody’s goal – to first get in the field, and then to be number one is number one! It is as simple as that,” said O’Rourke. “Today went not too badly. It is one of those things here where the conditions are always different. We were here 12 months ago, and today’s conditions are certainly different to what we experienced 12 months ago. “We were dealing with what is probably a bit of a high corrected altitude for this time of year, and the track was a little bit slippery and actually quite a challenge to be bluntly honest. “But you just do a lap, look at what you have got to deal with and just move forward from there and that is what we did. After the first round we were the fifth fastest qualifier, after the second we were third fastest, and then after the third we were number one. “Tomorrow we will just take each run as it comes. We have a good base line and are certainly happy with where we are starting out from.” For 2014 and 2015 Top Fuel Motorcycle champion Drew, a new engine didn’t stop him from making sure he put his name on the top of the time sheets. “I am definitely happy with the number one spot, it is really good,” said Drew. “The track conditions tonight were a bit tricky, I thought they might be a bit better as when I came here a couple of years ago I was surprised then by how good the track was, but tonight I think everyone was having a bit of trouble getting down there. I think tomorrow will be better. “It was a good day. At the Winters we broke a crank, so I have had to build another motor during the week and it is a little bit different to the last one so I need a bit of testing time to get it going a bit quicker. “Tomorrow we will be all about going just quick enough to win!” Also on the track this evening was qualifying for the Summit Racing Equipment Sportsman Series, as well as exhibition passes from Top Fuel Dragsters and Outlaw Nitro Funny Car racers. Tomorrow’s racing action commences from 4.00pm with the final sessions of qualifying for the Super Street and Summit Racing Equipment Junior Dragster brackets, before racing for all categories including Top Doorslammer and Top Fuel Motorcycle commences from 4.30pm. Also on the schedule are more exhibition passes from both Top Fuel and Outlaw Nitro Funny Car racers. For results from today’s action, please click here. For full event information including a full event schedule, please click here.
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