After bringing home a pair of trophies from last year’s ‘northern swing’, South Australian Sergio Bonetti is hoping for more success at the 2018 instalments of the Nitro Up North and Desert Nationals events.

Nitro Up North will be held at the Hidden Valley Drag Strip this weekend (July 13/14), ahead of Alice Springs Inland Dragway’s Desert Nationals (July 21/22). The events mark rounds one and two of the 2018/2019 Summit Racing Equipment Sportsman Series respectively.

Bonetti certainly has form ‘up north’ after coming home as the runner-up in the Modified bracket at Nitro Up North in 2017 before going on to take the win at the Desert Nationals on his 63rd birthday.

“For our first trip up north it certainly went well, with a runner-up result in Darwin before we went one better and took out the win in Alice Springs, and on my birthday no less!” remembered Bonetti, who thanks BTS Transport, Zauch Transport and his crew and family for all of their support of the years.

“I was especially proud of the results when you take into account the fact that my car is 30 years old and doesn’t have any of the electronic devices, trans brakes or delay boxes and so on that a lot of my competitors have. For me it is how racing should be, the driver and the car are what bring it all together.

“The car has been pretty good to me, I have never had any issues with it and hopefully we can do as good this year if not better – maybe we can take home two wins up north this time around!

“The Darwin and Alice Springs tracks are both very well looked after and the reception we get from the organisers there is really great too, especially after travelling so far!”

While winning in the NT is definitely on Bonetti’s mind, the championship is too.

“Last year I missed out on the Modified Summit Racing Equipment Sportsman Series title by 10 points – we didn’t do the whole season and if we had, we just may have taken it out,” Bonetti explained.

“We will be looking to do as many events as possible this season and hopefully we can bring it home – the first step in that project is to do well at Nitro Up North and the Desert Nationals. Hopefully those two events go well for us and they can get our championship points chase off to a strong start.

“I have been hot rodding and racing all my life, starting out back in 1976. I will probably retire from racing in a few years, so I would really like to go out on a high and bring home a championship – a gold ANDRA Xmas Tree would be really special.”

Round one of the 2018/2019 Summit Racing Equipment Sportsman Series, Nitro Up North, will be hosted at the Hidden Valley Drag Strip across the 13th and 14th of July, 2018. Round one will be quickly followed by round two, the Desert Nationals, at Alice Springs Inland Dragway across July 21 and 22.

For full event information, visit www.andra.com.au or www.hiddenvalleydrags.com.au (Nitro Up North) and www.cadra.com.au (Desert Nationals).

IMAGE CREDIT: OUTLAW IMAGES