4 February 2011
Mildura's Darren Morgan has extended his lead at the top of the standings in the ANDRA Pro Series Top Fuel Championships following a thrilling victory at the Perth Motorplex last weekend. Morgan now sits on 372 points which is 74 points ahead of Andrew Cowin.
In an event labelled by many as one of the best Top Fuel events in a long time, Morgan powered his Hungry Jacks Mildura Darren Morgan Racing Top Fuel Dragster to be the third quickest during qualifying with a strong 4.862 second pass across the quarter-mile.
The 45 year-old lined up alongside last year’s champion Martin Stamatis in the first round of eliminations, which he duly won. As his main championship rival Andrew Cowin was defeated in round one, Morgan made the most of the opportunity by disposing of Terry Sainty in round two with a 4.818 second pass before lining up alongside Phil Lamattina in the final.
Morgan got a superb launch off the start line in the sudden death final to power his way to victory, his second of the four rounds held so far in the 2010/2011 series, with a 4.832 second/313.58 mph pass.
“With 50 percent more championship points on offer you can’t ask for much more than a win like we had on the weekend,” beamed Morgan.
“The Hungry Jacks Mildura DMR Top Fuel Dragster ran faultlessly all weekend long and I was able to punch out consistent 4.8 second passes on almost every run, which is great.
“Lining up against Phil in the final was pretty cool because we had two guys representing Mildura on the start line against each other. It was even better to get the win.
“We now head into the back end of the championship with a handy buffer in the standings but we won’t be taking our foot off the pedal, we’re on a roll and I’m confident that we’ll be able continue this form for the remaining rounds.”
Hungry Jacks Mildura boss Greg Stephens, who made the trip across to Perth with the team, was delighted with the performance of the Darren Morgan Racing outfit across the weekend.
“Any win is great but when you take a win so far from home and with bonus points on offer it makes it even better,” said Stephens.
“It was great to be able to join the team for the trip to Perth and see the way everything works behind the scenes to chase the championship.
“With another three rounds left in the championship there is still a long way to go but I’m really looking forward to the future and hopefully bringing the title back to Mildura in June.”
The next event for the Hungry Jacks Mildura-backed Darren Morgan Racing outfit is at Queensland’s Willowbank Raceway on March 25/26.