Changes confirmed to Sportsman Championship confirmed

Following last weekend’s Nitro Champs, a change has been announced to the 2023/24 Aeroflow National Sportsman Championship season.

At Sydney on Sunday, a total of 11 brackets had taken to the track for their second round of the weekend.

At the conclusion of qualifying for Top Sportsman, Performance Bike, and SuperComp with Steve Fowler, Edge Mallis and Jai Schluter taking those honours respectively.

However, the remainder of the racing was not able to be staged due to a delay caused by an unfortunate crash for Joe Gauci in Pro Mod.

On the Monday morning following the Nitro Champs, the NDRC brokered a deal with the Winternationals to complete all Nitro Champs Aeroflow National Sportsman rounds that reached the semi-final stages in the second round of this weekend’s event on June 6-9.

This will see Supercharged Outlaws and Junior Dragsters complete from their semi-finals on at the June event, while Junior Drag Bike, Modified, SuperComp and Top Sportsman will run their finals there.

Some Aeroflow Sportsman Championship classes didn’t get far enough through competition to be able to complete racing at the Winternationals. The NDRC and Sydney Dragway have worked together and have agreed to complete those rounds at the Track Championship in July.

As this occurs after the Eastern Conference final, this round will be excluded from the Eastern Conference points for affected categories, but trophies will still be awarded.

“The NDRC is committed to awarding Christmas Tree trophies and championship points,” NDRC promoter, Andy Lopez, said.

“Despite our best efforts Sunday night, a major on track incident combined with plummeting track temperatures meant we were unable to finish the second Sportsman round of the weeknd.

“We spoke with Willowbank Raceway organisers right away, and we are happy to announce that for those categories that made it to semi-final level, we can offer a chance to secure a result and win a Nitro Champs Christmas tree at the Winters. This racing will occur as part of these brackets’ qualifying sessions on the Thursday of that event.

“This matches the commitment and opportunity the NDRC gives to Group One racers to complete championship rounds at subsequent events.

“Further, I’m pleased to confirm that if the racers in those semis and finals haven’t registered for the Winters, but now want to attend given this situation, Willowbank Raceway has agreed they can secure registration even though registrations have closed given these special circumstances. We will be reaching out to those racers in the next 48 hours.

“At the NDRC we are all about finding ways to deliver meaningful results and reward racers for their achievements, and while we weren’t able to complete racing last night, hopefully this will allow us to do as much as we can to recognise the efforts of our racers who were with us on-track.

“Speaking of the Winters, Willowbank Chairman Tony Wedlock told me that the new track surface is shaping up to be absolutely mint. 

“Track work is going well, and the Willowbank team are working really hard to present a great racing track for the last round of the NDRC season.”

The NDRC title chase now heads to Willowbank Raceway across 6 to 9 June for the Gulf Western Oil Winternationals for the final round of their 2023/2024 season.

Image: Cackling Pipes Photography

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