Harris takes maiden NDRC Top Fuel title
Wayne Newby may have won the Winternationals battle, but Damien Harris won the war, taking out the maiden National Drag Racing Championship Top Fuel title.
A historic 2023/24 season came to a close in a big way at Willowbank Raceway where Top Fuel, XPRO Nitro Funny Car, Top Doorslammer, Top Fuel Motorcycle, Pro Alcohol, Pro Stock, Pro Stock Motorcycle, FuelTech Pro Mod and 12 Aeroflow National Sportsman Championship brackets staged finals.
The fight for Top Fuel honours came down to Rapisarda Autosport International teammates Newby and Harris.
Fittingly they lifted the intensity in the finale and went head to head in the A Final.
Newby snatched Winternats honours with a blistering 3.779-second 520.75kph pass over Harris’ 3.778-second 521.62kph effort.
Damien Harris and Wayne Newby with their silverware. Image: Cackling Pipes Photography
However, Harris still did enough to take the first NDRC Top Fuel title and list the Stan Sainty Cup like he did in 2022/23.
“To go home with the Gold, the Silver, and the Stan Sainty Cup as a team is amazing and what we set out to do at the beginning of the year,” Harris said.
“We had the setback in Perth, but we bounced back and what a way to end the weekend for the team.”
Newby secured his path to the decider by besting Peter Xiberras by just 0.032s in a thrilling pair of side-by-side 3-second 500kph+ runs.
Phil Read would have meet Xiberras in the B Final, but a fireball erupted as Read left the line in round two.
This meant the PremiAir Racing driver enjoyed a solo run in the B Final.
Justin Walshe proved he was the class of the XPRO Nitro Funny Car field.
The leading FunnyCar was Justin Walshe once again. Image: Cackling Pipes Photography
He went head to head with Brandon Gosbell in the championship race where a holeshot with a 4.085-second 516.79kph run pushed Walshe to the Winternationals and NDRC double.
“When you are the older bloke in the class and coming up against these young guys, all you can do is get there and give it everything you have got on the tree,” Walshe said.
“I lost my old man a year and a half ago and he is there in the car talking to me on every run.
“This is all about the team, I have the easy job.”
In the B Final, Morice McMillin overcame Adam Murrihy with an impressive 3.945-second 511.32 kph pass.
In the C Final Begley beat Leahy after the latter was left at the tree before shutting down.
The Top Doorslammer NDRC title was decided in the semi-finals when Ronnie Palumbo knocked out 11-time champ John Zappia.
Justin Walshe and Ronnie Palumbo race side by side at Willowbank. Images: Cackling Pipes Photography
This paved the way for Russell Taylor to become Top Doorslammer champion in style.
He marked the occasion by setting his quickest ET of the season in the final, where he also claimed the Winternats event win with a 5.592-second 416.51kph run over Palumbo (5.728s/400.46kph).
“This is unbelievable, a dream come true, I am just speechless,” Taylor said.
Russell Mills entered the final round as the Pro Alcohol champion elect and celebrated by making the A Final.
Despite securing the title, he missed out on another gold Christmas Tree due to local racer Daniel Reed taking event honours.
Reed took the event win by laying down a new career-best run of 5.395-second 436.34kph over Mills (5.561s/401.80kph) after having earlier taken round victories over John Cannuli in round one and Luke Marsden in round two.
Luke Crowley once again showed he was lightning on two wheels by celebrating his Pro Stock Motorcycle NDRC title with a hat-trick of Winternats wins.
As the Top Qualifier, Crowley enjoyed a bye in round one, before a win over Tony Frost in round two. In the final, Crowley took the win with a 7.132-second 305.38kph run over Jason Lee’s 8.015-second 192.75kph effort. Lee earned his way to the final with victories over Paul Andrews and Daniel Rabnott.
Benny Stevens also wrapped up his Top Fuel Motorcycle NDRC crown, while his Dananni Hotshots teammate Aaron Deery took the event win on ‘The Gorilla’.
Aaron Deery riding ‘The Gorilla’.
Deery beat Corey Buttigieg with a a 7.182-second, 278.75kph pass as his rival took out some timing boxes.
In Pro Stock, Rob Dekert claimed his first NDRC championship win, decided in the nail-biting first elimination round of the weekend. With Rick Chilton knocked out in the first round by Omar Sedmak, all Dekert needed to do was claim victory over John Barbagallo to clinch the championship, which his 6.916-second 304.87kph round one pass more than enough to do.
Despite both races being red lit on the line, Top Qualifier Tyronne Tremayne won the A Final over Dekert.
Although Sunday did not go his way, top qualifier Craig Burns did enough to secure the FuelTech Pro Mod crown as Zoran Gajic would go on to claim the Winternats event honours.
Taking out the Aeroflow National Sportsman Championship Eastern Conference wins for their respective brackets were Dean Jamieson (Modified Bike, over Nick Thompson), Craig Collis (Real Street, over Kay Swenson), Zayne Condello (Junior Dragster, over Savanna Condello), Adam Jordan (Junior Drag Bike, over James Lowday), Luke ‘Tex’ Griffiths (Super Street, over Andrew Waight), Daniel Morris (Top Sportsman, over Tony Whyatt), Sean Maher (Super Sedan, over Daniel List), Cory Dyson (Modified, over Daniel Carranza), Leonard Azzopardi (Extreme Bike, over Brendan Miglionico), Edge Mallis (Performance Bike, over Ken Collin), Toby Austin (Supercharged Outlaws, over Davydd Estcourt), Mitchell Oxley (Competition, over Peter Pisalidis), and Darrin Gay (Super Stock, over Steve Norman).
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