Winternationals shifting gears

The National Drag Racing Championship (NDRC) intensity heated up at Willowbank Raceway on day two of the Gulf Western Oil Winternationals. 

In perfect conditions, Friday’s on-track action included a Top Fuel test plus Group One qualifying – who are all pursuing the final round of their 2023/2024 NDRC title chase this weekend – alongside the conclusion of qualifying and the beginning of eliminations for the Aeroflow National Sportsman Championship.

The Top Fuel test saw the 11,000hp dragsters of Wayne Newby, Peter Xiberras, Steve Read, and defending champion and current leader Damien Harris take to the track for the first time this weekend to get a feel for the newly resurfaced track.

It was a strong start to the weekend for Newby, who is currently second in the title chase behind his Rapisarda Autosport International teammate, Damien Harris.

With no team orders in play, Newby threw down the gauntlet with an early shut-off 3.821 second pass at 492kph, giving every indication that he won’t make it easy for Harris to keep his points lead this weekend.

“It was a good pass, I clicked it a bit early,” Newby said.

“I am feeling good heading into the rest of the weekend, the car is running well, and hopefully we can go ahead and win this thing – that is the plan!”

The Top Fuel racers will line up today for two rounds of qualifying ahead of Sunday’s three rounds of racing utilising the all-run format to determine the first-ever NDRC Top Fuel champion.

Wayne Newby started his Top Fuel Winternationals campaign on the front foot. Image: Cackling Pipes Photography

The XPRO Nitro Funny Cars, Top Doorslammers, Top Fuel Motorcycles, Pro Alcohol, Pro Stock, Pro Stock Motorcycle, and FuelTech Pro Mod brackets each also made their first appearance of the event on Friday. 

These racers laid down their first qualifying runs, signalling their intentions for the weekend ahead of the highly anticipated inaugural NDRC final championship showdown on Sunday.

In XPRO Nitro Funny car, defending champ Morice McMillian led the way and is looking forward to putting on a good show for race fans across the weekend. McMillian sits second in points, with only a tiny margin between him and points leader Justin Walshe.

“Going into Q1 having never been down this track before it was a bit of a case of throwing a dart and seeing where it lands, and we weren’t far off where we were trying to run,” McMillin said.

In Top Doorslammer 11-time champ John Zappia was in fine form, topping the timing sheets at the end of Q1 today. The multi-time champ is currently second in the points behind newcomer Russell Taylor.

Zappia lined up for his Q1 run alongside Ronnie Palumbo. When Palumbo’s throttle stuck on during his burnout, the rookie – currently third in the points – had everyone on the edge of their seat as he put in an incredible drive job to avoid major damage to his Monaro, even though he was unable to escape tagging the wall.

“Going out for that run we did the burnout and I was backing it up and Palumbo’s throttle jammed and he was in my lane on two wheels and then got back into his lane, and then I saw him flying by with smoke coming off his tyres, so I thought ‘he isn’t coming back, we are on for a solo here!’Zappia explained.

“Then we got shut down as he scraped the wall, they asked if we wanted to push back and go to the back of the field, and we decided to see how long it would take. Then he was cleared off, so we said let’s start it, the tyres are dry and warm and we will run from here.

“The Dananni Hot Shots Fuchs Lubricants Monaro left well, it spun the wheels a little, so the 60 foot time was a little slow as the tyres had cooled down a bit and they were a brand new set of Hoosiers on their run, and it ran 5.70 to put us number one for now, so I am pretty happy with that result.

Ronnie Palumbo has a moment in the Monaro. Image: Cackling Pipes Photography

“It was nice and straight, the smoothest pass I have ever had at Willowbank. It felt fast, we lost a bit of time off the line spinning the wheels, but it definitely laid me back in the seat through the middle and top end.”

In Pro Alcohol, Jake Donnelly has enjoyed a strong return to Willowbank Raceway today, topping Q1 in style with his bracket-leading pass in the DBS Motorsport Pro Alcohol Funny Car this afternoon. Donnelly had won the 400 Thunder Super Thunder event last April before a chute failure sent his funny car careering into the Willowbank sand trap, causing major damage. The team have spent the last 12+ months rebuilding what is now a truly stunning race car.

In Pro Stock Motorcycle, Q1 leader Luke Crowley was pleased with the performance of his Suzuki, with plenty of changes made since the last round of the championship.

Earlier in the day the Aeroflow National Sportsman Championship competitors across 12 brackets kicked off the on-track action with the remaining rounds of their qualifying sessions and the first Junior Dragster and Super Sedan elimination rounds.

Racing for all of the sportsman brackets will continue tomorrow and with not only the event but also Eastern Conference glory on the line as well, there’s no doubt the next two days of racing will be epic for these competitors.

Taking home the Aeroflow National Sportsman Championship Top Qualifiers honours for their respective brackets today were Alan Annis Jr (Modified Bike), Paul Neilson (Real Street), Shavaun Harvey (Junior Dragster), Lillian Hagan (Junior Drag Bike), Ray Ross (Super Street), Neil Maxwell (Top Sportsman), Luke Rosadi (Super Sedan), Kellie Kidd (Modified), Nathan Neilson (Extreme Bike), Edge Mallis (Performance Bike), Matthew McKnight (Supercharged Outlaws), and Jai Schulter (SuperComp).

“We are super excited about the racing coming up, the car is super consistent, the track is so smooth, and we are running PBs for the car – it was our first time running 200mph today and also our first time in the six-sixes, so we are super excited for what’s ahead.”

The Gulf Western Oil Winternationals continue Saturday with more Aeroflow National Sportsman Championship elimination rounds and Top Fuel, XPRO Nitro Funny Car, Top Doorslammer, Top Fuel Motorcycle, as well as Pro Alcohol, Pro Stock, Pro Stock Motorcycle and FuelTech Pro Mod qualifying – including the delayed Gulf Western Oil Nitro Champs finals for Pro Stock and FuelTech Pro Mod in Q3 – ahead of the final races for the 2023/2024 NDRC championship season, beginning on Sunday.

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