|
Once again the Top Alcohol category was the stand out show at the NZ Nationals.
There was plenty of 5 second action. First round had Dave Gauld run his personal best but was no match to number one qualifier Anthony Marsh, next pair was the Vincent Roots powered Dragster against the Shane Lodge PSI model, a very close race with Vincent taking the win with a one hundredth of a second margin. Chris Johnston took on Wayne Curry who in turn took on the wall in the burnout but Johnston’s Harcourt’s Hauler would not have been beaten by the Altered anyway with a record setting 5.741 from the dragster. The last pairing was John Neilans Digga entry and the LG funny car of Morice McMillan, with the LG car running it’s best pass in qualifying (6.059) the team could taste their first five, unfortunately for them it will have to wait till next season as the car rattled the tyres and shut off letting the Digga dragster progress to the next round. Next round saw Marsh v Vincent the latter shaking the tyres and with Marsh running another personal best and NZ’s outright quickest ET ever the Vincent team gave it a shot. The other pairing was between Johnston’s Harcourt’s Dragster and Neilan’s Digga entry, this is a prime example of vehicle performance is not everything when Johnston won on a hole shot, the Digga car running 5.683 to CJ’s winning 5.81! Antony Marsh had to be the favourite in the final, particularly with his previous round 5.40 but alas the cooling track could not hold the nitro injected dragsters power (hopped up to run a 30) and Johnston motored through to take the win with a 5.771 @ 241.45mph and runner up position in the NZ Championship.
Top Doorslammer has struggled this year as many racers have taken a year off to update and with the shortened championship season meant the competition would have limited opportunities to get ahead with development. This however did not detract from the attending racers to do their best and the NZ Doorslammer record looked sure to fall when Wayne Yearbury top qualified with a 6.437 pass on Saturday and then backed it up with a 6.440 on the first round bye on Sunday. Chad Tully’s Chev powered XE Falcon took out Trevor Smiths yellow Statesman burnout machine in round one as did the Century Batteries Camaro of Mark Bardsley did with Rod Benjes Chev Berretta which had little track time to test.
The next round had Bardsley with a number two qualifying position get the bye and Wayne Yearbury’s Wayco Studebaker fronted with Tully’s Falcon unfortunately for Yearbury he had mechanical problems stopping him from possibly lowering the record even farther Tully taking a bye win. The final was not a walk over as some may have thought as Tully cut a two tenths better light and the Century Camaro then started to drive over the clutch, Mark only just taking the win with a six hundredths margin over the XE Falcon.
Competition was a small field when points leader Robbie Ward broke in qualifying and could not return Sunday, this however did not stop some more records falling when Phil Hirst in his four cylinder FE dragster ran well under the C/Dragster index by over 2.6 seconds followed by the Century Batteries A/Altered of Stu Stanners with a .219 seconds under the record , this was followed by Jon Bates in the new 20B powered Reslone dragster who was .174 under his index and Grant Rivers AA/FC just over his index at .0141.
Phil Hirst had an easy first round when Rivers failed to show, Stu Stanners not only producing good E.T. numbers throughout the weekend also produced some great reaction times with a .047 against the losing Rotary powered dragster of Bates and a great .027 light against the well under Fontana Dragster of Hirst in the final.
Top Street also started the weekend off with three vehicles under their index but number one qualifier Matt Buttermore failed to show for his first round bye. In the other three pairings Grant Little took the win over Jeff Dobson in the Pirtek Camaro, Russell Christoffersen in his Camaro won over Barry Rensfords Chrysler and Reece Fish in the 56 Chev prevailed over Graham Carter in his Jaguar.
Grant Little received a bye into the final while Fish put Christoffersen on the trailer. The final was given to Fish when Little cut an early - .064 red light.
Sport Compact had a promising 12 entries after qualifying with none under their index but plenty very close but when first round eliminations started three were no shows, in the next round Brent Curran and the Castrol RX2 put out Steve Rossen in the FX RX7, Shane WcWatt red lit his chance when Stu Lawton had issues and idled down the track to take the win. In the last pairing of the round Mike Bradley in the STR Evo took out the RX2 of Daniel Warmedam. Lawton made up for his previous round when he ran a great 7.60 pass against Bradley while Curran received a bye into the final. Again Lawton had issues and the win was handed to Curran who ran an impressive 7.451 seconds to the finish line.
Competition Bike was once again dominated by Peter Morrison in his historic Triumph Bonneville, at .305 under his index he was closely followed by Spike Allen only .022 over his index. Morrison meet Allen in the semi finals where Allen red lit his chance at the Nationals title but still retained his Century Batteries NZ Champion lead, on the other side of the ladder Karl Fyn got a bye into the final where he too red lit any chance of the nationals title, Morrison running a record 11.568 for the B/PCB class.
Supercharged Outlaws has only ever been strong at the nationals and the 43rd event was no different with six competitors trying for the national title. This was reduced to 5 when Jan Kadlec in the blown Thunderbird could not make the first round giving a bye to Graham Christison. Other pairings where Bert King in the Goodyear Dragster and Craig Brown in the 55 Chev where both racers red lit, Brown with a - .230 light having the head start did it first giving the win to King, the other pairing was also with controversy when Dwayne Garrett also red lit but Karl Witterveen was disqualified when the starter reported his crewman had accidently put his foot in the beam during the staging process. This set up Garret against Christison who ran a 7.581 on a 7.50 dial and although Garret cut a 2 tenths better light was unable to run close enough to his dial to make up a 4 tenths deficit. King having the first official bye (6 car field) went on to face Christison in the final where another red light from Bert handed Graham the win wasting a great 6.317 run on a 6.30 dial.
Another great field of Modified racers fronted for the event with a welcome return of Andy Chapman in typical Chapman form he made his way through the field where Gerald Smith in his 23 T Altered took him out with a great 8.79 on a 8.70 dial and Andy braking out with an all so close 9.170 on a 9.20 dial. In the other pairing Kenny West had a bye after putting Paul Jacobs on the trailer, this set the final between Smith and West and it could have been a gun fight with the margin of victory .072 going to Gerald Smith.
Super Sedan was again a big field and one of the toughest categories in Championship competition and to win here you have to be not only good but luck must also be on your side. How tuff? In the second round Wayne Grimmer cut a .096 light ran 9.529 on a 9.55 dial and lost to Dion Crook who cut a .029 light and ran 9.970 on a 9.95 dial! And the finals where just as close with winner Lee Sherwin having a .082 light & running 9.523 on a 9.50 dial and Dion cutting a .052 light and running 10.053 on a 9.95 dial.
Junior Dragster with 29 entries was all about running on your dial and experience prevailed when Aaron Davison cut a better light over Nic Bogaart in the final to take the nationals title running 9.117 on a 9.05 dial while Bogaart broke out running 13.057 on a 13.10 dial.
Modified Bike was again an all Bill Hamilton affair yet winning again, not only taking the nationals title but the Championship with a wide margin with Ross Donaldson and finalist Richard Ramsay the only other riders giving chase. The final was very nearly a red light to Hamilton on his Hayabusa when he cut an all so close .003 against Ramsay and his Suzuki GS1200SS.
Super Street was another class that showed the best way to win is practice, practice, practice and eventual winner Paul Berridge has had plenty of that over many years of racing, firstly in his 58 Chev and more recently in his Camaro. How does a .093 light running a 11.267 on a 11.20 dial and losing! Kathryn Biggs lost to Berridge when he ran .047 light a 14.033 on a 14.00 dial in the semis. Berridge again ran a right on dial with a 14.050 when Andy Williams red lit his chance for the nationals win. Paul could not however catch the Championship leader Geoff Sadler with the shortened series in spite of Sadlers second round loss.
|
of the NZDRA looks forward to the season next year with enthusiasm, and will take with it the experience gained in this season to further improve the sport for racers and spectators enjoyment.
