Time To Sever All Cooperation With 400 Thunder

The announcement by 400 Thunder that they were withdrawing their GP1 round namely the Australian Nationals from Calder Park is a prime example of why we need to cut all cooperation with this organisation. This organisation made a commitment to the Victorian public to bring their GP1 series to Melbourne by including Calder Park as a round of their National Championship. Based on their recent announcement the Victorian drag racing community has been screwed over once again by an organisation that from the outside seems only interested in developing their own brand in lieu of the sport.

400 Thunder made this announcement.

 “Following concerns regarding the racing surface at Calder Park Raceway raised by 400 Thunder Professional competitor groups, today 400 Thunder has announced that these categories will not race at the Australian Nationals event in January 2018.

Both the Pro Stock Association and the Australian Top Doorslammer Association members have raised concerns about the ability of the Calder Park racing surface to deliver safe and competitive racing for the 400 Thunder Series.

After consultation with the Competitors, the sanctioning body ANDRA and the event Promotor Peter Pisalidis the 400 Thunder Board has made the difficult decision to withdraw the 400 Thunder round scheduled for Victoria.”

Ok let’s have a look at the decision. 400 Thunder state that the 400 Thunder Professional Racers Group raised the concerns.

Back before this year’s Nitro Up North, promoters Peter Pisalidis and Scott Maclean summoned up the GP1 racer groups to discuss a single Australian GP1 series which as we now know was the 400 Thunder national series. ANDRA was not a part of these discussions and in fact was not invited to take part. What transpired out of that meeting was the recognition of a single series run by 400 Thunder. Obviously, ANDRA had to agree to walk away from running their own series and allow 400 Thunder to operate their series on ANDRA sanctioned tracks around the country. ANDRA generously offered up $50 licences to the GP1 teams that were not currently licenced ANDRA members so they could run the Nitro Up North event. I know that was a commercial decision but it’s a slap in the face for our sportsman racers who pay way more that $50 to hold an ANDRA licence.

400 Thunder then proceeded to construct a series calendar that included Calder Park Raceway as one of their rounds. 400 Thunder boast how that have the Racer groups involved at board level to help make decisions on the sport. So, what went wrong? The racer groups were the first to sign on to a national series that included Calder Park, 400 Thunder included Calder Park Raceway into their National series only to come out and do a backflip some 6 weeks out from the event. What has changed with the track condition at Calder Park Raceway between the dates of releasing the calendar on the 2^nd of August (http://www.400thunder.com.au/10593-2/) and last weekend? On the 2^nd of August, 400 Thunder made the decision to race in Victoria, today they are not.

Yes, the racing surface at Calder Park Raceway is below par when it compares to Sydney, Willowbank and the Motorplex, but lets just look at some of the numbers from last year’s Nationals. Although GP1 raced over 1000ft at Calder, a multiplication by 1.2 will give you a close ¼ time. The Rapisarda Top Fuel cars twice posted 4.90’s while Morgan was around the 5.03 mark. The #8 qualifier at the East Coast Nationals was slower than the Rapisarda passes. Don’t forget that Top Fuel was only tuned for demonstration runs. Top Doorslammer had Zappia around the high 5.80’s all weekend, Belleri and the Brays in the 6.10’s to 6.20’s. Cannuli bested a 6.09. Only the top 8 Doorslammers qualified better than Cannuli with Zappia one of them. Pro Stock only had 4 cars at the Nationals but Bektash’s 7.18 in the final would have been the 5^th quickest time in the East Coast Pro Stock qualifying. Aaron Tremayne had a best in Sydney of 7.001. John Cannuli ran an equivalent 5.76 in Top Alcohol at the Nationals, a time that would stack up in any round of Top Alcohol. So, I say again, what’s changed so dramatically that 400 Thunder had to cancel the Calder Park Raceway round?

 I’m not sure if people picked it up but many race teams and fans were referring to the recent East Coast Nationals as the “Nationals”. ANDRA has the “Nationals” and know one else, but you can see how easy people fall into the trap of thinking an event is the Nationals. This is why we need to act on this now and walk away from 400 Thunder.

Why on earth would the ANDRA board roll over and hand over GP1 competition rights to this organisation? I have heard numerous reasons/excuses why the decision was made to sell our arse and let me tell you, none of them stack up. There were stories going around that GP1 teams suggested they would only support one series being the 400 Thunder series and then there was the line that ANDRA couldn’t afford to run the series and so on.

Well let’s look at both of these points. Firstly, the GP1 teams sole purpose of existence is to race. Yes, some individual teams may have used that threatening line but so what. Let them run SD and Willowbank. No individual team should be bigger than the sport and if it meant that some teams parked up then so be it. ANDRA has to realise that they are providing a complete sport for our spectators not just Top Alcohol, Pro Stock or Top Fuel. Luckily for ANDRA there have been Top Fuel teams that have supported ANDRA events over the past few years. We have seen Top Doorslammer along with a minority group of Pro Stock, Fuel Bike and Alcohol also support ANDRA events so why were we in such a hurry to sell our arse to 400 Thunder? As the leading organisation in Australian Drag Racing, why would you give away any of the assets you hold in the organisation to a rival and destructive competitor? This amounts to business suicide if it’s left to go on unchecked. I have heard first hand on numerous occasions by people in positions of importance within the industry that they are just waiting for 400 Thunder to screw it up all by themselves so ANDRA can reclaim the sport while 400 Thunder simply goes away. That is one of the most absurd comments I have heard in this whole saga. So, what this affectively means is that the peak body of the sport is prepared to give their destructive business opponents all the tools to succeed hoping that they will make a mess of it and hand back the sport. Fantastic business sense right there, don’t you think? Please name one professional Australian business that would adopt that same practice and if you can find one, I would like to know how it panned out. So, who made this decision, not the members, that’s for sure.

The other comment that has been flown around is that ANDRA couldn’t afford it. My understanding is that the tracks are responsible for covering the costs of GP1 brackets racing at their venues. Yes, ANDRA may assist from time to time but the responsibility of covering GP1 racing rests squarely on the shoulders of the track or promoter. We have seen ANDRA GP1 Championships over the last few years and we have also seen on several occasions where promoters have paid in a bracket namely Top Fuel, so how is this an ANDRA issue? Promoters pay in Top Fuel to boost the attendances and ultimately nett profit. If Top Fuel became financially unviable, do you think promoters would continue to buy in a show? And just on that, if you talk to Jim Walton or even Graham Cowin, they will tell you that back in the day they were part of a buy in show. Tracks complimented their normal drag racing meeting with a buy in show much the same as promoters have done with Top Fuel over the past number of years. Calder Park, AIR, Alice Springs and Hidden Valley come to mind. So, where’s ANDRA’s financial commitment required?

Once again, I just can’t justify what logical reason/reasons ANDRA had to hand over the top echelon of the sport to 400 Thunder. Every single time a spectator looks at a 400 Thunder banner it helps brand the organisation and ANDRA is currently providing them the platform all over the country. Spectators don’t walk away from a GP1 event saying “that was a cool ANDRA track sanctioned event”. Branding is everything in business and ANDRA is providing their destructive competitor the platform to build theirs. And another glaring issue with this dumb decision, is how on earth will ANDRA attract a naming rights sponsor when they don’t even have a series? I do understand that securing a major sponsor for the sport is proving extremely difficult, but under the present situation, ANDRA have nothing to offer with regards to securing a major sponsor, so have they given up on the idea of having a major corporation back the sport?

ANDRA employs Jennifer Harrison as their Business Development Manager and part of her portfolio is to secure sponsorship for ANDRA series racing. No doubt Jennifer was instrumental in obtaining the recent Summit Racing Equipment sponsorship extension, but how can she secure a GP1 Series (Major sponsor) if we don’t have a series? That’s like the AFL giving over the competition to the WAFL and asking their Business Development Manager to secure a major sponsor for the AFL.  It’s just stupid. What needs to happen is that we take back the sport of drag racing and in no shape or form continue to support an organisation that has been and will continue to be destructive against our own organisation. Today, we have no GP1 racing in Victoria unless the promoter Peter Pisalidis pays in a show. Hang on, hasn’t this been the scenario since 2013 at Calder Park Raceway including the past Australian Nationals? Wake up ANDRA, we don’t need 400 Thunder.

Some people will say, look at the television rights 400 Thunder have. Yeah, anybody can pay 7Mate to come out and televise a series. Word is that Yak couldn’t afford the $40,000 tv levy that 400 Thunder had imposed on Alice Springs to host the 400 Thunder. Actually, what track could afford the tv levy given the recent declining fan base? So what alternative does a track have with covering the tv levy? Pay it from profits generated through the gate or simply pass the levy onto the sportsman racers? Sound familiar? Do the sportsman classes even get coverage on 7Mate? Funny if the sportsman racers had to pay a tv levy so Australian drag racing fans could watch GP1 on tv.

Right now, every track in Australia is sanctioned by ANDRA with the exception of Sydney, Willowbank, Springmount and Warwick. This clearly puts ANDRA is a position of authority. Add to this the new tracks of Swan Hill and Tailem Bend coming on line within the next 12 months and it’s easy to see that ANDRA holds all the keys to building once again a successful GP1 championship. It’s time right now to move on this poor business decision of giving over the GP1 rights to an organisation that seeks out racers on a daily basis to give up their ANDRA licences in preference to an American licencing organisation. Oh, just in case people have forgotten, 400 Thunder have boasted previously how they have converted in excess of a 1000 racer over to IHRA just to rub salt into the wounds. This further demonstrates the lack of business sense our board had in supporting 400 Thunder. I just can’t for the life of me think of any logical reasons why ANDRA would think that this decision would benefit them.

So now is the time we say goodbye to any cross assistance with 400 Thunder cancelling out any future cooperation with the organisation. Let them run SD, Willowbank and Springmount while we promote our 2018/19 GP1 series headlining the exciting Tailem Bend on the back of Hidden Valley, Alice Springs, Perth Motorplex, AIR, Calder and sometime in the future Swan Hill. This is the only smart business decision ANDRA can make on this subject moving forward. If Thunder 400 can make a go of it on 3 tracks, good luck to them, but they will not use our tracks to promote their American licence backed racing.

So, based on the above, the current board and management needs to be held accountable for what was clearly a poor business decision and one that looks to have been made because it was the easier option. Peter Pisalidis or Scott Maclean would have bought in a GP1 show if it was still run under an ANDRA banner otherwise why would they be in the sport as promoters?

Furthermore, it seems that the power of the ordinary member has long gone which poses another issue considering ANDRA is a member based organisation. The DC was set up so members elected to the various councils could make decisions about their sport on behalf of the members they represent, and have them forwarded onto the board via the DD’s.  There are plenty of rumblings going on within the drag racing community that this procedure has long gone and the DC is now seemingly powerless. Surely if the 6 Divisional Councils are unanimous in their opinion on a subject, then that opinion should stand as accepted by the board. The Divisional Directors should be delivering policy to the board directly from the Councils knowing that the policy/ruling/amendment stand as law. Only in exceptional circumstances or a hung vote, should the board be in a position to override a recommendation from the Divisional Councils. The members certainly need to feel that they are the organisation, as set out in the constitution. The board is in place to represent the members not rule the members. Either the existing rules on the functionality of the board need to be policed, or changed in the constitution to reflect the ordinary member as an integral part of ANDRA. I wonder what the decision would have been if the Board sent back to the DC the option of handing over controlling rights of Australian GP1 sport to 400 Thunder? Maybe the Board structure needs to change or even be reduced. Something has to change in either the way the board is structured or how it conducts business.

On a positive note the Board has been pro-active in putting together a series to accommodate our Queensland members but has failed to look after what was once an integral part of ANDRA namely NSW. Yes, Queensland has purpose built racetracks which unfortunately NSW doesn’t, but has the board sat down with representatives from the Dubbo and Tamworth Drag Racing clubs to nut out a QLD style championship between the two tracks. It’s not the ideal situation for some classes but a NSW Championship of some sort would cater for some of our loyal members who want to remain under an ANDRA licencing system. Sydney and IHRA collectively, have taken over plenty of ANDRA subscriptions with the knowledge that some will never return to ANDRA whilst Sydney is under the IHRA licencing system, but what about the former members that would prefer to remain under the ANDRA banner? What reason have we given them to tough it out. What about the thought of offering a 50% discount rate on entry fees for any event they participate in outside of Queensland and NSW? Obviously track promoters and regional clubs would need to get on board, but ½ an entry fee from a NSW or QLD racer is better than nothing and I’m quite confident that all ANDRA members would see this as a positive move in the interim. Anything to been seen as genuinely trying to assist our QLD & NSW members will be a step forward.

ANDRA has lost a lot of revenue which has recently been well documented, primarily through the introduction of an American licencing body namely the IHRA thanks solely to the 400 Thunder organisation. Grant Goodall as CEO, obviously worked tirelessly in his effort to get ANDRA financially viable and then resigned from his paid position by making it redundant to save ANDRA some more overheads. I believe plenty of cost-cutting measures were put in place to ensure ANDRA remain viable well into the foreseeable future with regards to overheads but there are still plenty of financial decisions yet to be made

Both the Board and ANDRA management need to come clean on their decision making over the past year with satisfactory answers that address all the points raised. Not sure what the answer is, but getting rid of our ties with 4oo Thunder is a start. Our DC’s from around Australia can get the ball rolling by demanding that ANDRA sever all ties with 400 Thunder. What about it, DC’s?

Live Streaming Campaign

https://www.gofundme.com/andra-drag-racing-live-streaming

                        How cool is this entertainment!!

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.
To give you all this supercharged cool action I have set up a fund to help raise capital for the purchase of live streaming equipment. I have a regular job and currently cover drag racing and motorsport events free of charge and not for profit. Your support and assistance with this campaign will kickstart my journey into live streaming, bringing all the men and women of motorsport right onto your device. Let's get this campaign rolling and see what we can do with a little bit of support. I thank you in advance. 
Mark Humphrey

Click here to support my campaign.

https://www.gofundme.com/andra-drag-racing-live-streaming

Norman Goes European With The R/T Marine Prepared BMW

By Mark Humphrey

Adelaide, SA/Aus. 16^th 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

Mike Trahar Takes Wild Bunch Win.

By Mark Humphrey

Keilor/Vic, Aus. 28th February 2017. The Australian Wild Bunch Association rolled into Calder Park Drag Racing as the support category for round 1 of the 2017 Australian Pro Street Association series. Although the car count was down due to recent and future racing commitments the Wild Bunch racers put on an entertaining day for the limited number of spectators that did make the journey out to Calder Park on Saturday.
Mike Trahar driving the multi coloured Studebaker put in a perfect race day finishing on top of the time sheets after qualifying and then followed that up with 3 wins from 3 starts to be the first driver to make the final. Up against Trahar in the final was Wild Bunch promoter Mark Hunt driving the now familiar yellow Ford Cuzzi. 
Hunt had a solo win in round 2 and a win in round 3 against Drago Nikodjevic to move into the final ahead of Jason Keily and John Mol who each had 2 wins from 3 starts. Hunt managed to be the closest to his dial in for his round 3 pass without going under the nominated time. For the record, Hunt was .013 away from his dial in compared to Keily (.352) and Mol (.430).
Trahar was the standout at Swan Hill and continued that form into the Calder round to now lead the series from Jason Keily and John Mol. The next tentative round for the Wild Bunch is the April round of the APSA series at Adelaide International Raceway.

For more info on the Wild Bunch go to: https://www.facebook.com/AustralianWildBunchAssociation/

For more info on APSA go to: https://www.facebook.com/AustralianProStreetAssociationApsa/

Zappia King Of The Kings As Spud Goes Gold.

By Mark Humphrey

Keilor/Vic, Aus. 30^th January 2017. The 51^st Australian Nationals have been done and dusted with some memorable moments coming out of the 2 day event. Super Comp provided the platform for record setting with a number of new national marks over the 2 days. We should know in a few days what marks were reached once ANDRA have formerly verify the claims.

The Super Comp bracket was just one of the highlights over the weekend that gave us the battle royale of Top Doorslammer with the Gulf Western Oils double team of Victor and Ben Bray rolling into Calder Park Drag Racing to take on the king of Top Doorslammer in John Zappia. What a drag racing feast  fans were dealt up over the weekend with the undisputed king of Top Doorslammer John Zappia despatching both Brays on the way to taking home yet another gold xmas tree but more on that later.The world’s fastest Top Alcohol Funny Car driven by John Cannuli took all before him to win the Top Alcohol bracket with visiting American Top Fuel pilot Dom Lagana picking up the gold in Top Fuel. Lee Bektash had a solo run in the Pro Stock final after Joe Polito tipped his car over just after the finish line in semi-final 1 and after years of trying, Supercharged Outlaws runner Justin “SPUD” Russell picked up a gold in the grass roots category much to the delight of his team and competitors alike. Also, lots of highlights scattered throughout the sportsman brackets which included some outstanding feats like Gordon Crawford’s 120^th & 121^st return trip across the Nullarbor to compete at yet another ANDRA sportsman event. The trip back home will be even sweeter as he will have some gold to keep him company.

Before we touch on Zapp’s day a special thanks once again has to go out to Rapisarda Autosport International for their commitment to Australian drag racing with no less than three Top Fuel cars rolling out to take on the AEG team of Darren Morgan. American hotshot Dom Lagana driving for Rapisarda picked up the win with a 4.08 pass @ 286.38mph to Morgan’s 4.24 pass @ 243.20mph. These machines are definitely crowd pleasers every time they fire up and are mostly responsible for generating the big crowds over the weekend. Saturday’s crowd was one of the biggest seen at Calder Park Drag Racing in recent times so hats off to RAI and Calder Park Drag Racing promoter Peter Pisalidis for going out on a limb to get these guys here.

Top Alcohol honours went the way of John Cannuli with a 4.801 pass @ 229.90mph beating home a red lighting Brian Lockman in the Bantam Altered who strangely enough found himself in the final after having mechanical trouble in the semi. Running up against the powerful team of Jason Maggs in semi-final #1, Lockman experienced trouble with his gear selector leaving him with first and reverse only. Although the team tried to keep the mechanical issue low key a team member from the Maggs outfit overheard the conversation and swiftly informed his team of the ensuing outcome much to the hushed delight of the Maggs team. After a bit of a staging duel to fire up their respective cars Lockman was first to fire up and proceeded to lay down a strong burnout. Maggs followed shortly after with both reversing back at the same time. Lockman went into pre-stage and then stage waiting for Maggs to do the same. Somebody forgot to get Jason to stage which seemed unbelievable as Maggs was timed out leaving Lockman to launch in first gear then simply roll through the finish beams to book his spot in the final. That was a golden chance that went begging for the Maggs Racing Team. Maggs best over the weekend of 5.431 @ 200.68mph was clearly the 2^nd best time for the bracket.

Lee Bektash got the job done in Pro Stock taking the win in the final with a solo pass of 5.958 @ 175.68. Joe Polito was the other finalist after beating home Chris Soldatos in semi-final 1 with a 6.148 pass @ 154.58mph. Unfortunately for Joe his Ford Escort was upside down as he crossed the line to take the win with the car sustaining considerable damage preventing him from starting the final. Bektash announced at the presentation ceremony that this would be his last year racing and that every trophy he wins along the way this year will be donated to crew members. Great move by the Mopar man and one that was well received by the audience. Make sure you get along to the next Pro Stock event in your town to say thanks to Lee Bektash.

The final GP1 bracket was Top Doorslammer where the Brays went toe to toe with Zappia. The pre-event script would have looked something like this. Zappia beats all, Benny beats all and the 2 face off in the final. Funny thing is Paul Cannuli had other ideas and started eliminations day with a 5.079 pass that was only eclipsed by that man Zappia who just so happened to be the only driver to dip into the 4’s with a 4.890 @ 224.28 to dispose of Victor Bray (5.405 @ 199) in round 1, a solo pass in round 2 (4.919 @ 223.69) and the winning pass of 4.903 @ 225.33 mph in the final against Paul Cannuli who returned a 5.118 pass @ 219mph. Cannuli got past Mark Belleri in round 1 and then took out Ben Bray in round 2 with a 5.164 @ 218.34mph to Bray’s 5.340 @ 194mph. There has been a bit going on between the Brays and Zappia over the past number of years which come to a head on the weekend. Accusations of using traction control electronics were put to bed in the semis with both John Zappia and Ben Bray removing their electronics from the car before their runs. For the record Zappia’s car ran straighter than it had all weekend and Bray’s car was not quite as tight on his run as it had been over the weekend dropping the round to Cannuli. The fact is that John Zappia is the best Top Doorslammer driver the sport has ever seen and partly the reason he has won 10 consecutive National Championships. There is no doubt Ben Bray has enormous talent and in my eyes, has the meanest looking hot-rod on the circuit but Zappia is the king just like Victor used to be in the early years of the bracket only Zappia is now surely the greatest of all time in Top Doorslammer. The hype was definitely there pre-event and the very first round of qualifying had Zappia up against Benny culminating in a Zappia win. From there it just built until it all boiled over. What a fantastic action packed weekend of Top Doorslammer racing and it’s all set to continue the very next weekend when the circus hits the Motorplex. No Brays in Perth but O’Rourke, Gregorini and MacLean are just some of the 12-car field that will take it up to the champ. And just so you know this bloke is human, he was getting emotional at the presentation ceremony when he was thanking his crew. He lives and breathes Top Doorslammer and obviously shares that passion with some very dedicated and special support staff.

The Summit Sportsman Series went to another level on the weekend with super strong fields in the elite brackets with Super Comp, Supercharged Outlaws and Top Sportsman all boasting the country’s biggest heavy hitters. In what was a tough ride in Super Comp West Aussie Jamie Chaisty driving a Commodore took the Gold beating home Darren Parker in his GTO Pontiac. This is certainly a tough bracket and Chaisty had to do it the hard way knocking off the current Australian Super Stock champ in Kim Fardella in round 1 then the current Rowe Memorial champ in Tom Dimitropoulous in round 2 and then Michael Caroscio in the semi. Parker had wins against Peter Deguara in round 1 followed by current Australian Comp champ in Craig Geddes in round 2 with a semi win against the 2015 Rowe Memorial winner in Les Heintz. The corresponding round last year had Geddes taking his 5^th win from 6 starts which just goes to show how cut throat this bracket can be. For Chaisty it was a welcome win with both his dad Geoff and brother Jake coming close at the Nationals in past appearances. Actually, father Geoff was walking around with a constant smile on his face right from the outset. Maybe he had a gut feeling that this was going to be the weekend. I’ve seen Geoff in the past walking around with anything but a smile on his face. Well done to the West Aussie family who are fantastic supporters of the Summit Sportsman Series.

Supercharged Outlaws had a fairy tale ending with Colac boy Justin “SPUD” Russell picking up the gold tree with a win over local boy Ryan Van Dyk. Russell posted a 5.860 on a 5.78 dial in @ 169.76mph to Van Dyk’s 5.920 on a 5.58 dial in. Russell who has been trying for years to win an ANDRA tree was at the Nationals protecting his series lead. Russell openly admits that his focus is squarely on the championship series and the weekend’s appearance was to simply protect his lead in the championship. Picking up the Gold Xmas tree was a pleasant surprise. Sportingscribe.com caught up with Justin after presentations to record an interview with the Outlaw which will be used to promote the Grand Finals in April. Keep an eye out for this. For Van Dyk is was a solid hit out with wins against Doina Day, a solo and current Australian champion in Adam Murrihy in the semi.

Top Sportsman was once again a fantastic bracket with all the regulars going toe to toe in the 14-car field. After numerous top qualifier awards over the past couple of years Darren Saliba finally turned a top qualifier win into a round win with the biggest of them all the Australian Nationals. Saliba posted a 7.348 pass on a 7.29 dial in to take the win over a slowing Darren Nichele who posted a 9.788 on a 7.45 dial in. For Nichele it was a welcome return to the track after an altercation with an emergency vehicle on the cars debut late last year. Saliba had wins over Stu McBain, Matt Forbes and Glen Henley. Talk about a tough line up. 3 of the best!  Nichele’s task was just as tough with wins over Carafa, Romeo and Braggs.

Modified Eliminator had another good news win with all round good guy Craig Baker picking up the win over Derek Wills with an 8.656 ET @ 153.96mph on an 8.65 dial in to Wills red lighting 8.057 on an 8.00 dial in. This is Baker’s second win of the 2016/17 series and puts him at the top of the Modified tree and in a good position to pick up another National Series win. Baker had a huge win against Jess Turner in round 1 and followed that up with big wins over Shane Wynd and Kenny Stewart. A solo in the semi sent Baker directly to the final. Wills opened his Nationals with a win against Bonetti and followed that up with 3 massive wins against Cory Dyson, Simon Barlow and Matthew Stone in the semi.

Super Sedan had 39 drivers rolling out for eliminations with all the regulars going for gold. This was a tough bracket that had some heavy hitters dropping early. 4-time champ Johnny Kapiris was out courtesy of top qualifier Scotty Cohen. Other heavies to join him were Steve Hunt courtesy Ashley Smith, Peter Tokas courtesy Alex Groldis, George Tipouikidis courtesy Andrew Johnstone and Vlado Turic courtesy Nick Presti. Turic, like Darren Saliba in Top Sportsman has numerous Top Qualifier marks on his car but is yet to turn that into a win. Maybe he needs to have a chat to Darren to find out the secret. Not often you see the champ Kapiris rolling out of the venue at midday all packed up and on the way home. After some monumental efforts, the final come down to Victorian Pat Caruso up against the well-travelled Ned Karanovic in his immaculate 57 Chevy. Karanovic cherried the start handing the win over to Caruso who cruised in at 10.730 on a 9.20 dial in. Caruso had wins against Dominik Diviak, Pasquale Micelotta, Joe Martino, Michael Jennings and a solo run in the semi. Karanovic had wins against Rocco Molluso, Stephen Griffin, Michael Vlasakakis, Tony Miskelly and also a solo pass in the semi. The hard luck line has to go to Danny Buccella who red lit a solo pass in round 4 to miss out on a semi-final run.

Modified Bike as mentioned previously was taken out by West Aussie Gordon Crawford beating home local boy Brendan Sanders. Crawford posted a 9.903 @ 130.85 on a 9.95 dial in which in the end didn’t matter as Sanders cherried the start with a 0.020 foul. Crawford who is a strong ANDRA supporter has travelled over the Nullarbor more than 120 times in his life with 95% of the journeys to go racing. Fantastic effort and a well-deserved Gold Xmas tree. Crawford picked up wins over Top Qualifier Rob Cassar in round 1, a solo in 2 and Gavin Dohnt in the semi. Sanders had wins against Colin Sainsbury in round 1, Shane Walker in 2 and Danny Rickard in the semi. Current Aussie champ Bryan Finn was out in 1 losing to Shane Walker. Nathan Stone looked strong in round 1 getting past a red lighting Lochy Ireland but failed to put in a pass for round 2. Tony Frost picked up a win in round 1 against Edge Mallis but was bundled out by Rickard in 2.

Super Street had 24 racers lining up for a shot at Gold and when the dust finally settled it was the veteran “Brickie” Graeme Cooper in the Bricklayer EH Holden Station Wagon getting the win over Chris Naughton driving a 78 Cortina. Cooper posted a 10.511 on a 10.50 dial in @ 122.36mph to Naughton’s 11.017 on a 10.99 dial in. Cooper had wins against John Kerr, Brian Symes, Chris King and Lisa Sherry in the semi. Naughton got past Andrew Francis, a solo pass, Samuel Franze and Anton Krajina in the semi.

Super Gas had National Champion Darryl Stephen getting the win over Adrian McGrotty with a 9.915 to McGrotty’s 9.938 on the 9.90 capped index. In a bracket that has seen increased numbers in recent times Stephen had wins against Michael Derose, a big win against Matt Forbes and followed that up with a win against Frank Fontanelli in the semi. McGrotty had wins against Jeff Romeo, Warren Bull and a solo in the semi. The bracket is gaining some momentum and hopefully is a sign of more to come for the bracket.

Junior Dragster was well represented as it usually is with 26 cars having a shot at gold. Jasmine Slamar won the bracket with a win over Jake Berias in the final. Slamar posted an 8.18 pass on an 8.12 dial in to Berias red lighting 8.089 on an 8.11 dial in. Slamar had wins over Allirah Kardum, Jordan Spencer, James Sarkis and a fellow West Aussie in Mikey Naylor in the semi-final. Berias had a solo in round 1 with wins over Joel Burns, Baillie Ponton and Kelly Donnelly in the semi.

Well that’s a wrap on what was an awesome 51st Australian Nationals. Next stop is the Goldenstates at the Perth Motorplex next weekend. Already packed and ready to go. To say I’m looking forward to this round is an understatement.

For more info on the round go to:http://www.motorplex.com.au/

For more info on the ANDRA Series go to:http://andra.com.au/series/calendar/2016-17-calendar.html