It is with regret that the Australian National Drag Racing Association and Adelaide Drag Race Promotions announce that the decision has been made to cancel the remainder of the Rowe Memorial event.
The event was to be held today and tonight (Saturday 23 November) at Adelaide International Raceway, however multiple electrical issues occurred throughout yesterday’s testing and re-occurred today which has left event organisers with no confidence that the issues can be fixed sufficiently to allow for the event to resume tonight before being run to completion tomorrow as had been hoped.
Before a pause was brought to the on-track action, the first round of qualifying was successfully held for all participating Summit Racing Equipment Sportsman Series brackets and the following racers will be awarded as the DecoGlaze Glass Splashbacks Victoria Top Qualifiers: Daniel Carranza (Summit Racing Equipment Junior Dragster), Jake Hamilton-Moderate (Modified Bike), Robyn Phillis (Super Street), Lance Larcombe (Super Sedan), Adam Mundy (Modified), Darren Saliba (Top Sportsman), Phill Paton (Competition Bike), Daniel Camilleri (SuperComp), Christine Steffens (Supercharged Outlaws) and Jason Wilson (Super Gas).
“When track staff arrived at Adelaide International Raceway this morning they discovered that the UPS – which protects the sensitive timing equipment by providing an uninterrupted power supply – had for a reason that is currently unknown ‘blown up’,” ANDRA Chief Executive Officer, Brett Stevens, explained.
“Subsequent damage was discovered in the computer system and the track moved swiftly to swap in a new computer so that qualifying could be started, and the first round of qualifying was successfully held.
“During the second qualifiers, further faults were found to be occurring in the system and it was taken offline to be rectified and at that point, it was identified that the core issue was occurring in the cabling between the tower and the start line.
“The track team then began working in earnest to lay new cabling while working on related issues with the system in the hope that the event could resume this evening and then be completed on Sunday.
“However, as work has continued into the early evening it has become clear that cannot be confident enough of a fix being enacted that would allow the meeting to be successfully completed tomorrow.
“So as not to further inconvenience racers and spectators, we have made the decision to cancel the event.
“It is clear that what has transpired today has not been what any of us would have wished for the return of the Summit Racing Equipment Sportsman Series to Adelaide International Raceway and the track staff have done their best to enable us to have a different outcome. Please rest assured that ANDRA, Adelaide Drag Race Promotions and facility owners will be working together to ensure the electrical issues are repaired prior to the running of the ANDRA Grand Final in March, 2020.
“Ticket holders for today’s event can redeem their pass for entry at any event at Adelaide International Raceway throughout 2020 to the ticket value.
“ANDRA and Adelaide Drag Race Promotions express their sincere apologies for the inconvenience caused by these electrical issues and thanks all of the competitors and event goers for their understanding in what has been a difficult situation for all involved.”
The Summit Racing Equipment Sportsman Series will re-commence at Portland’s South Coast Raceway for the South Coast Nationals across December 14 and 15, 2019. For more information, visit www.southcoastraceway.com.au or www.andra.com.au