The Night of Fire at Perth Motorplex delivered up four toasty hot jet dragsters to warm up the crowd on what was a rather cold night out in Kwinana.
While the weather was certainly chilly, the action on the track was anything but as Americans Chuck Haynes and Curt White, South African Pieter De Wit (above) and Perth girl Rhiannon Allison set the quarter mile ablaze.
The night’s results went De Wit’s way with a 6.27 in the final clinching the victory from Curt White. It was an unusual race with the afterburners on both De Wit’s Iron Hore and White’s Iceman turning on and off at quarter track.
Allison might not have got the win she wanted, but rest assured this young lady is hungry for that breakthrough.
In Top Comp Craig Glassby took the win in the final against Wayne Keys. Somewhat unbelievably it was Glassby’s first ever win in Top Comp – despite his list of achievements including being the world’s quickest methanol-fuelled funny car.
Keys meanwhile was able to close the gap a little to points leader Daniel Gregorini, who was the B Final winner against Shannon Taylor’s wild altered.
When Kim Fardella entered the winner’s circle of Super Comp, some regular fans of Perth Motorplex could have been forgiven for thinking, who? In fact Fardella has been around the Super Comp scene for quite some time, even if his recent racing appearances have been few and far between. But with the rejuvenated Ford Falcon going under the national record several times during the day he was the man to beat.
He might not have taken the final round, but Jodi Racco was impressive in his Pro Stock Holden Monaro with a new personal best of 7.03 seconds.
Daniel Natalotto was quick on his BMW with a 9.14 in the Competition Bike final to defeat Ross Smith. Smith has all but wrapped up the championship though a faint mathematical glimmer still exists for Natalotto.
Greg James is the man to beat in Supercharged Outlaws at the moment, with the Lamborghini in a late season turn of form. He defeated championship rival Wayne Batson in the final.
Surprisingly there was not an Adamos, an Osborn or a Treasure to be seen in the final of Modified. With those championship aspirants falling in earlier rounds it was left to Matt George and Michelle Katavatis to duke it out. A break out from Katavatis saw George take the trophy.
Alby Bakranich took advantage of a red light from Mick Fenton in order to win Super Sedan, not bad for a season where he has not done a lot of racing.
Paul McNamara might have the quietest bike in Modified Bike but the well-muffled Kawasaki ZX12R is still a potent performer and he earned a win against Brett Allen.
Lee Watson repeated his Westernationals success with another win in Super Street, this time over former Junior Dragster competitor Phil Stewart.
And speaking of the Junior Dragsters, Luke Veersma got to taste victory after what has been a tough season results wise, defeating Connor McClure who was able to edge closer to Katrina Bowman and brother Bailey for the championship chase.
The track championship season closes out on April 11 for the Grand Final.