The largest championship drag racing event outside of North America is well underway at Willowbank Raceway with day two of the four day NDRC Gulf Western Oil Winternationals completed today ahead of further action Saturday and Sunday.
Almost 100 Group One racers across Top Fuel, XPRO Nitro Funny Car, Top Doorslammer, Top Fuel Motorcycle, Pro Alcohol, Pro Stock, Pro Stock Motorcycle and FuelTech Pro Mod have joined with more than 350 Aeroflow National Sportsman Championship competitors to deliver a massive day of on-track action today, with plenty of intense battles for championship and Winternationals glory to come.
A massive crowd is expected to pack into what is Queensland’s premier drag racing facility across the weekend, so race fans are encouraged to head to bit.ly/WINTERNATS to purchase their tickets to secure their spot trackside and avoid queues at the gate.
Particularly turning heads at the Ipswich drag strip today were the 11,000hp/500kph+ Top Fuel Dragsters and XPRO Nitro Funny Cars, with both brackets having plenty to race for this weekend as they contest the penultimate rounds of their 2024/2025 NDRC title chases while also pursuing a coveted Winternationals win with the all-run format.
In Top Fuel Motorcycle, enjoying their season finale this weekend, champion elect Damian Muscat is leading the way thanks to a 6.345/288.33kph performance ahead of next quickest Michael Beland (7.134/326.31kph), Benny Stevens (8.362/180.83kph), John Zahra (9.086/142.14kph), and Corey Buttigieg (11.223/136.39kph).
Both Muscat and Zahra had the candles lit all the way during their runs, while Damain Martini crossed the centre line and so had no time recorded. Greg Durack had to push back from the startline after encountering issues, while Ian Ashelford did not run today.
“We were going super fast to half track where we dropped the blower belt and without the blower belt, we had no more go. It was still a reasonably quick pass and it was good off the trailer, but it would have been a lot better if we didn’t lose the belt – but hey, that’s racing!” an enthusiastic Muscat said at the end of the day.
“We’re really happy with the set up and as long as we can keep the blower belt on, you should see something pretty good from us.”
In Pro Stock Motorcycle, Callam Godeassi rode to the number one position with a 7.256 second effort at 301.62kph, putting him ahead of Daniel Rabnott (7.374/291.77kph), Paul Andrews (7.426/287.07kph) and Ryan Learmonth (7.549/287.11kph). Jason Lee (9.308), Andrew Badock (12.163) and Vanessa Rohdmann (12.472) completed the runners today in positions 5-7.
Also on-track today as they continue their season finale at the Winternationals was the Aeroflow National Sportsman Championship. Qualifying was completed today for more than 350 racers across 11 championship brackets, with Jake McNamara (Junior Dragster), Marcus Macdonald (Junior Drag Bike), Ray Ross (Super Street), Simon Barlow (Modified), Paul Doeblien (Super Sedan), Johnny Lewis (Modified Bike), Simon Isherwood (Top Sportsman), Matt Walker (Extreme Bike), Scott Hoffman (Super Comp), Stewart Prior (Supercharged Outlaws) and Chris Allen (Performance Bike) securing the top qualifying honours for the championship brackets to lead their fields into racing. Real Street was also on-track, with Garry Green topping the qualifying for this group of racers.
The first rounds of racing for the Aeroflow National Sportsman Championship commenced this afternoon for Junior Dragster, Super Street, Modified Bike, Modified and Super Sedan, with the rest of the brackets set to join in the eliminations fun Saturday.
The Gulf Western Oil Winternationals action continues tomorrow, Saturday June 7, with action on-track from 8.00am for the Aeroflow National Sportsman Championship, with Group One on-track from 11.00am
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