The Riverbend Nationals has delivered a powerhouse day of racing at Dragway at The Bend today, with an intensive schedule showcasing standout performances from more than 180 NDRC racers.
After Saturday’s running was shortened by inclement weather, fans were rewarded with a mega Sunday of racing from the 11,000hp BLAHST Top Fuelers and XPRO Nitro Funny Cars, 14 Top Doorslammers, Top Fuel Motorcycles, Pro Alcohols, and Pro Mods as well as a full field of Aeroflow Sportsman Championship competitors from all across the country; all chasing NDRC Gold Christmas Trees and early-season momentum.
In the professional ranks, the A-Final wins went to Phil Lamattina (BLAHST Top Fuel), Josh Leahy (XPRO Nitro Funny Car), John Zappia (Top Doorslammer), Danny Rickard (Top Fuel Motorcycle), Daniel Reed (Pro Alcohol), and Zoran Gajic (Pro Mod).
In Top Fuel, the ‘Carrot King’ Phil Lamattina took out the A-Final from WA’s Kyle Putland with an ugly yet successful 4.103 second pass at 409.69kph. While Putland struck trouble and rolled down the track, he was still all smiles, claiming his first NDRC Christmas Tree trophy as the A-Final runner-up.
It was a strong comeback for Lamattina after engine troubles in the second round of racing, and he now leaves The Bend as the BLAHST Top Fuel Championship leader. In the B-Final, it was RAI team-mates Damien Harris and Wayne Newby facing off, with Newby saving his best performance of the weekend until last, turning on the win light with a mammoth 3.824 second pass at 521.65kph over Harris’ 4.831 pass at 335.11kph.
Earlier in the day, Lamattina had taken two victories from Wayne Newby with a 5.289/225.32kph pass to Newby’s 5.476/205.30kph in round one, while in round two Newby (5.216/211.29kph) looked to be on for the win after clocking the better reaction time (0.044 vs 0.049) and beating the Victorian to the 60ft mark, until the defending champ slowed at half-track and Lamattina held it steady to drive around him for the win (5.070/331.57kph).
Harris and Putland likewise had drive jobs on their hands, with Putland securing an upset win over the current quickest and fastest Top Fuel record holder with a 5.217/254.71kph pass in round one despite snapping sideways twice, while Harris (9.369/146.98kph) was up on the tyres at mid-track after a small wobble. In round two, Harris smoked the tyres off the line before dropping cylinders on his way to a 5.520/193.07kph win over Putland (5.776/162.03kph), who threw a belt and lifted the blower during the pass.
“What a weekend, it had everything! The track came good, and you know we have been trying our best – we got a little bit lucky there, but at the end of the day, it has been fantastic for everyone to get the win,” Lamattina said.
“We haven’t won in a while, and it was great to have not only me (take the win in BLAHST Top Fuel), but also (his son) Luca have the win in Junior Dragsters as well – that is pretty cool!
“Thank you to FUCHS, R&J Batteries, Muirs, and Rocky Lamattina and Sons – Australia’s favourite carrots!” he grinned.
XPRO Nitro Funny Car delivered a re-match of the 2025 Riverbend Nationals A-Final, with Josh Leahy (4.144s/409.04kph) turning the tables to defeat his team boss and reigning champ, Morice McMillin (6.650/167.14kph), who had a huge drive job on his hands with his Funny Car snapping left, right, left. The B-Final went the way of Damon Paton courtesy of a new Personal Best ET of 4.043 at 516.33kph – earning him the low ET and top speed points – over Adam Murrihy (4.226/489.85kph) in a crowd-pleasing side-by-side battle down the track. Justin Walshe meanwhile ran down the track solo in the C-Final, with a problematic 6.566/161.96kph that saw his machine violently ‘chattering’ as he tried to pull it up.
In round one, Walshe had taken the win over Paton with a 4.587/325.38kph pass complete with a mid-track lift, after Paton shut off early on a 6.474/160.69kph; while Leahy took the win over Murrihy with a 4.133/413.47kph pass before the blower belt let go around the 900ft mark. Murrihy (5.485/210.37kph), meanwhile, looked promising early before getting off the throttle. McMillin closed out the round on a bye, taking three stabs at it before settling for a 7.953/128.715kph effort.
Round two delivered back-to-back side-by-side runs with Murrihy first running a strong 4.166/424.16kph solo with header flames ablaze, setting the scene before Leahy and Paton produced an absolute thriller with both cars lighting the candles and charging side-by-side to the finish line, separated by just .007 of a second, with Paton’s 4.078/452.99kph edging out Leahy’s 4.077/422.08kph on a hole shot. McMillin (4.532/313.08kph) and Walshe (4.601/297.13kph) then served up more of the same with another side-by-side drag race which brought the crowd to its feet for the second time in as many runs, with McMillin taking the win after Walshe cut it close to the centreline.
“This is pretty special. I tell you what, we were pretty down in the dumps and feeling pretty sorry for ourselves 24 hours ago. When you think about battling weather conditions yesterday and the fact that we didn’t even get to take the first qualifier properly, to now come out with the event win, we are all ecstatic and just buzzing,” Leahy said.
“I can’t believe it and I’m so grateful that we can come out here and do this. The weather was perfect today, and the team did an outstanding job; I just can’t thank everyone enough really.
“I really couldn’t do this without GC (Graeme Cowin), Wendy (Cowin), Maurice (McMillin), Rocket Industries and Aeroflow Performance, they are just the backbone behind all this racing, and Geezers Wholesale for supporting me personally. It is just an awesome opportunity to be able to come out and do this.”
In Top Doorslammer, a full-engine rebuild before the A-Final helped 11-time champion John Zappia (5.792/388.70kph) seal the event win over fellow Top Doorslammer veteran Pete Lovering (5.876/391.78kph), who was looking to claim his maiden NDRC Gold Christmas Tree in 24 years of racing.
Defending champion Russell Taylor (5.789/403.27kph) took home the B-Final win after lining up alongside Ronnie Palumbo (6.165/385.34kph). Taylor had earlier taken the win lights in both rounds one and two but had to pedal his way through.
A wild C-Final saw Salim Matta lay down the second quickest ET (5.770/405.10kph) of the day to clinch the win over Frank Taylor (8.705 /174.50kph), who narrowly missed kissing the wall. In the D-Final, last year’s Riverbend Nationals winner, Jeremy Callaghan, was forced to concede to winner Emilio Spinozzi despite running the quickest ET of the day for Top Doorslammer in his final pass of the weekend – with Spinozzi’s .016 RT seeing his 5.874 /396.16kph able to beat Callaghan’s 5.760/410.21kph at the line.
“We had no fifth gear in the burnout today. (In round one) I reached over and whacked it in second, did the burnout, in the second one we had no air, no gears, no trans brake, so I selected a gear that turned out to be second, went in and drove off with a foot brake, and it went 660,” Zappia said.
“I overrevved the motor on the top end and dropped a valve, but Jack (Danaher) red-lit and we got the win and here we are.
“We put another head on from the spare engine, and changed the piston, came back out, and it all felt good. When we went to do a burnout, again there was no fifth gear, so I’m thinking ‘Uh oh, there is a mechanical issue with the gearbox, not an air or electric issue like we thought the first time,’ but it went through and we got the win.
“Just as a pulled the chute I saw the blue 55 (Pete Lovering) poke its nose out. We had no fifth gear, so I went to fourth, hit the limiter, and only went 241mph, but for a 5.792s I think it was still a pretty good time.
“I am really happy with the FUCHS Summit Monaro, thank you to IHRA for coming on board and all the other sponsors who support me and all the crew who work their arses off all weekend. We will go home and get it all ready and off to Nitro Champs in Sydney, and then we possibly will have something special happening for the Winters!”
In Top Fuel Motorcycle, South Australian Danny Rickard (7.681/269.11kph) took an emotional win in the A-Final from Damian Martini (13.608s) with plenty of speed in a run which saw Martini burn himself up and shut off early. In the B-Final, Corey Buttigieg (7.985/198.97kph) ran a solo in which he chewed up his head gaskets but was still a clean run compared to his first two runs, running wide in round one and touching the wall in round two.
“Today was awesome, it has been a few years since we had a win. I couldn’t have done this without Adelaide Bike Works, Mark Hood, Wayno McGuinness for the tune – good work, man – and all the Faster Moto guys, and Blast Worx, and the cooks and chefs,” said Rickard, who was clearly emotional.
“A good mate of mine, one of my crew, passed away a few weeks ago. This is for him.”
In Pro Alcohol, it was reigning champion Daniel Reed (5.688/428.98kph) and Cheyne Phillips who did battle for the NDRC Gold, with a red light by two thousandths of a second for Phillips putting paid to what would have been low ET for the bracket this weekend (5.429/439.12kph). In the B-Final, Andrew Searle took the win over Steven Carpenter (10.201/89.65kph) with an impressive 5.472/422.67kph which saw his team elated on the start line. Searle had been elevated to the B-Final after John Cannuli was unable to continue, with the upset win marking the first time all day Searle had been able to keep the blower belt on his Superman machine.
“This is pretty cool. We knew Cheyne would step it up; he has proven to be able to do it time and time again. So, we had to try something and go after it a bit,” Reed said.
“We got through it. It was a bit of relief when they told me the result at the end. Sometimes it is better to be lucky than good, so we will take the win where we can!”
In Pro Mod, Zoran Gajic – the defending champion – added another NDRC Gold trophy to the mantle at Dragway at The Bend with the A-Final victory over Adam Tassone, which was heralded as the best Pro Mod run of the day, starting with a ‘burndown’ on the line before the pair delivered side-by-side fives to the delight of the crowd (5.5919/409.12kph to 5.953/388.83kph).
“I am definitely happy with that,” Gajic said after being handed the trophy in the deep end.
“I would just like to thank all the sponsors and my family. We got the job done.”
In the Aeroflow Sportsman Championship ranks, winners were found for not only the Riverbend Nationals, but also for Aeroflow Junior Drag Bike’s New Year Nitro campaign, with the final from the cut-short Willowbank Raceway event held during the bracket’s second qualifier, with Neveah McDougall taking the win over Lawrence Raschella in a double red-light run.
When it came to the Dragway at The Bend spoils, the wins went to the following 10 racers: Luca Lamattina (Aeroflow Junior Dragster, from runner-up Abigail Reed), Kobe Ashelford (Aeroflow Junior Drag Bike – from r-up Bailey Paul), Mark Rossow (Super Street, from r-up Craig Ferguson), Michael Caroscio (Super Comp, from r-up Peter Pisalidis), Matt Jones (Modified Bike, from r-up Dean Jamieson), Ken Collin (Performance Bike, from r-up Joe Khoury), Simon Madigan (Supercharged Outlaws, from r-up Bruno Matijasevic), Peter Furlanetto (Super Sedan, from Jack Moreau), Vlado Turic (Top Sportsman, from r-up Martin Mirco) and Adriana Cartledge (Modified, from r-up Daniel ‘BatDan’ Carranza) who hoisted the Gold Trees.
Zayne Condello (Aeroflow Junior Dragster), Bailey Paul (Aeroflow Junior Drag Bike), Sammy-Jo Johnson (Super Street), Rob Evans (Super Comp), Dean Jamieson (Modified Bike), Ken Collin (Performance Bike), Bruno Matijasevic (Supercharged Outlaws), Peter Furlanetto (Super Sedan), Darren Whitford (Top Sportsman) and Daniel ‘BatDan’ Carranza (Modified) were celebrated as the NDRC Top Qualifier Medallion getters.
While the Riverbend Nationals may now be over, fans do not have to wait long for another nitro-filled show, thanks to the NDRC’s Gulf Western Oil Nitro Champs across May 1-3 at Sydney Dragway, which will feature a stacked Group One lineup featuring BLAHST Top Fuel, XPRO Nitro Funny Car, Top Doorslammer, Top Fuel Motorcycle, Pro Mod, Pro Alcohol, Pro Stock, and Pro Stock Bike, as well as the Aeroflow Sportsman Championship. Tickets and entries are available now, so make sure you do not miss out on this epic nitro party.
For details of these and other upcoming NDRC events, please visit https://nationaldragracing.com.au/calendar/
