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, Damien Harris blazed out of the gate with a 3.751 second pass at 477.12kph to top the timesheets ahead of Phil Lamattina, who logged a 3.877 second pass at 515.44kph. Phil Read (7.150), Kyle Putland (7.624) and Wayne Newby (8.168) rounded out the field, with championship leader Newby rattling the tyres and going into tyre shake.
Harris – the defending champ who is currently second in the championship points 93 points adrift of his Atlantic Oils Rapisarda Autosport International team-mate Newby – has the track record in his sights as he gets ready for two more qualifying sessions on Saturday.
“A 3.75 – we will take that any day!” Harris said.
“The car came back in one piece with the only damage being to the number two piston. We will do our usual service overnight and I am confident we can go faster on Saturday and give the track record of 3.74 a real shake!”
In XPRO Nitro Funny Car, championship leader Morice McMillin leads the way at the end of Q1 as the only racer to run down into the threes (3.991s/471.89kph), despite being down on power, dropping a cylinder early in his run alongside Justin Walshe. Walshe also impressed, running a 4.065s at 482.80kph while battling tyre shake, placing the pair first and second in the session.
Josh Leahy’s 4.358s/331.03kph effort sees the ACT-based racer third on the ladder heading into Q2 tomorrow. Leahy’s chutes deployed early during the run alongside Damon Paton, who was disqualified after his 4.120 second run as a crew member touched the car while it was in full stage.
Overall, McMillin was happy with the day’s performance and is looking forward to a full house and good weather across the weekend.
“It was good to get a three-second pass in the first qualifying session because we actually dropped one cylinder from 2.5 seconds onwards, so it was down a bit on power, but it was a good way to kick the weekend off,” McMillin said.
“We’ll make a few little tweaks to the tune-up, and hopefully that will fix it up for tomorrow. It sounds like there’s going to be a pretty big crowd tomorrow and the weather is looking good, so we just want to put on a show in front of a lot of people.”
For the group one brackets outside of Top Fuel and XPRO Nitro Funny Car, an eliminations format is being utilised this weekend, upping the intensity even further.
Not only does this mean that a loss in racing means you are on the trailer immediately, but for those fields with more cars entered than there are spots in the racing ladder, you must qualify to even have a shot at race day. And of course, with the lowest qualified racer matched up with the quickest for round one of racing, a solid qualifying result is always important regardless of field numbers.
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.”
Top Doorslammer is boasting a 16-car field this weekend, with 16 racers taking to the track for qualifying today after John Cannuli and Mark Harris were last minute withdrawals, with Harris moving across to FuelTech Pro Mod.
11-time champ John Zappia ran it through to a 5.674 ET at 405.02kph to take the top spot ahead of Ronnie Palumbo (5.774/397.97kph), Peter Lovering (5.834/393.73kph), Brodie Zappia (5.841/395.59kph) and Rob Harrington (5.855/397.19kph).
Emilio Spinozzi (5.882), Nigel Dixon (5.951), Russ Pavey (5.960), Jeremy Callaghan (6.239), and Steven Carlsen (6.294) rounded out the rest of the top ten spots, ahead of Mick Mahoney (6.400), Lisa Gregorini (9.038), Salim Matta (10.142), Jack Danaher (16.634) and Russell Taylor (29.970) – with the defending champ and title leader sure to be full of enthusiasm to improve tomorrow. Daniel Gregorini was also on-track today but was pushed back from the starting line, failing to make a run.
Pro Alcohol is also hosting its season finale at the Gulf Western Oil Winternationals, with Cheyne Phillips coming out swinging with a 5.437/436.615kph effort to top the time sheets of Q1 ahead of tomorrow’s further two qualifiers. Brett White (5.705/371.26kph), Wayne Price (5.781/408.07kph) and championship leader Daniel Reed (5.793/426.33kph) completed the top half of the eight-car field, while Gary Phillips (6.470), Britney Olive (7.546), Andrew Searle (14.148) and Chris Hargrave (22.665) currently hold positions 5-8.
In Pro Stock, Aaron Tremayne (6.900/320.24kph) is leading the way after Q1 with a current advantage over championship leader Robert Dekert (6.903/318.89kph). It is an emotional weekend for Dekert and his Unique Racing team, with their crew member and much-loved face of the wider drag racing community, photographer Hayley Turns, passing away on May 30. A minute’s silence was held for Turns before the start of Pro Stock today, with her name adorning Dekert’s race car this weekend.
The order then continues with Tyronne Tremayne (6.919/319.21kph), Rick Chilton (6.955/317.12kph), Omar Sedmak (6.981/316.19kph), Thomas Leake (7.037/312.64kph), and Tony Polito (7.057/311.74kph). Mario Polito (7.058/311.07kph) is on the bump spot, with Ray Oxley (7.088/311.39kph) and John Kabboura (7.326/277.32kph) currently on the outside looking in, demonstrating just how close this bracket is.
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.
In FuelTech Pro Mod, Neil Murphy put in a stellar performance to go to the top spot today with a 5.859 run at 348.00kph. Murphy fell afoul of the set index of 5.85 for this bracket at the last round and is working hard at this event to keep it in the field, releasing his chutes and getting off the throttle early in his Q1 performance. Next quickest today for Pro Mod was Nasser Matta (5.906/362.22kph) ahead of championship leader Zoran Gajic – 5.928/398.34kph). Holding positions 4-8 heading into Saturday is Barry Plumpton (6.051), Mark Harris (6.211), Daniel Camilleri (6.457), Steve Smith (8.594) and Stew Walsh (10.700).
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. For the full event schedule, entry lists and other event information, visit https://www.willowbankraceway.com.au/event/gulf-western-oil-winternationals
To learn more about the National Drag Racing Championship, visit www.ndrc.tv
