More than 160 racers well and truly delivered a super sportsman show at South Coast Raceway at the weekend, for the South Coast Nationals.
Fighting it out for Aeroflow National Sportsman Championship Western Conference and ANDRA Series points were racers across 10 brackets, with beautiful weather and exciting performances highlighting the two-day event.
In Super Sedan, it was a particularly emotional victory for Gary Vogelsang (pictured above thanks to BrightDesign.com.au), who took out the victory over runner-up Alex Gkroidis in his Taboo 1968 Camaro.
“I am over the moon. I have never won a Christmas Tree before, and my old man who used to follow me around everywhere sadly passed about three weeks ago,” Vogelsang explained.
“He didn’t quite make it here, and he had seen me win a couple of nostalgia rounds and I got runner-up once, but he would have absolutely loved to have been here today. I think he was riding shot gun with me today, so we won it for him, and this is certainly really great and a really important one for me.”
In Top Sportsman, Glenn Henley followed up his South Coast 660 victory earlier this year with another Christmas Tree, taking the win over Vlado Turic aboard his Datsun 1200 Ute.
“It was a fantastic result, and a great weekend. Weather-wise it worked out perfectly, and as always the local club and volunteers did an exceptional job. I was really keen to try and get this win, and it fits perfect on the mantel piece – I think I have nine of them now, Tracey has informed me I need to make a new shelf! It was definitely a good weekend,” Henley said.
In Junior Dragster, Sarah Osborne was pleased to take out her third Christmas Tree in what is her last season in the bracket with her Drag’n Fly Junior Dragster. Osborne took the win over runner-up Alex Rottenbury.
“Another win is always great, it is a really good feeling. We had some troubles with the car on Saturday where we couldn’t really figure out what numbers it was running, but today it was on fire, so we are very happy with that and how the day went overall,” Osborne said.
In Supercharged Outlaws, Dale Tucker and his HQ GTS emerged victorious over Tim Stewart to claim the Christmas Tree trophy.
“This was my first time racing at South Coast Raceway. It is fantastic to get the win. We set out to gain some more points, so mission accomplished! We are very happy with that, and everything went well for us,” Tucker said.
In Super Gas, Rob Bergamin was a very happy camper, with the reigning champ taking the win over Jason Wilson. Bergamin in his ‘ANGRY’ VF Valiant Hardtop.
In SuperComp, reigning Super Stock champion Adrian Vella took out the victory over Top Qualifier, Matt Forbes, while in Super Street, Michael Jennings lifted the Christmas Tree trophy after defeating Tex Griffiths in the final in his 1970 Nova.
In Modified Bike, Lucas Neagoe took the win over South Coast 660 winner Sean Ricketts in his Suzuki GSXR1000. In Modified Eliminator, Kenny Stewart took the win over David Willis in his dragster, while in Competition Bike, Joe Khoury took the win over David Willis with his Harley Davidson Destroyer.
The NDRC Western Conference will return to South Coast Raceway for the South Coast Raceway across January 6-7 before heading to Dragway at The Bend across January 13-14 as part of the Festival State Nationals, while the Eastern Conference will next be on-track at the Australia Day Nationals at Sydney Dragway on January 26-27. For info, go to ndrc.tv
