Racers have come from around the nation to be at Sydney Dragway for this weekend’s Nitro Champs – here’s what they’re telling us about this weekend!

In Top Fuel, Darren Morgan and Phil Lamattina are locked in equal first position on 487 points.

Returning to the traditional eliminations format after two events using the new three round format, six Top Fuel Dragsters will begin qualifying this Saturday with eliminations on Sunday.

Of special interest is USA Racer Tommy Johnson Jr, who will be racing the Rapisarda Autosport International dragster campaigned by Larry Dixon at last month’s event at Willowbank Raceway.

For Darren Morgan though it’s business as usual as the team looks to gap the field and put some points between himself and Phil Lamattina.

“We won the last event in Sydney and after two runner-ups at the Super 3 event we’re busting to get to the track and lay down some stout numbers,” he said.

Like Darren, tuner Ben Patterson is keen to see what the team can do on Saturday’s qualifying.

“With the championship battle so close it could be the little points that make the difference; the points you get for top speed, quickest ET and qualifying position,” he said. “At the Super 3 meeting we had a couple of technical issues and these have been sorted out. The team has had a lot of success at Sydney Dragway and we aim to keep it that way.”

ANDRA Top Doorslammer pilot Murray O’Connor meanwhile heads to the Nitro Champs in Sydney this weekend with one thing on his mind – to beat the best.

“The team is really happy with our package, we want to win but as most people know, it’s hard enough to qualify for an event, let alone win one in (Top) Doorslammer. But winning is what it’s all about, so we have to have that as the goal,” explained O’Connor.

O’Connor recently ran an awesome 5.875-second pass, a PB for the team and driver.

“That reinforces once again that we are now in a serious position to take it up to the front runners in the toughest Doorslammer category in the world,” he said.

“I want to beat the best in the business, we want to go well based on performance and we are starting to make in-roads.

“We have a strong combination and I reckon we can go quicker and faster in Sydney and that’s exactly what we will be trying to do.”

Reigning five times ANDRA Top Doorslammer champion John Zappia says he is hotting up his Monaro in readiness for the competition.

“We will have the Fuchs / Striker Crushing Monaro cranked up for this weekend,” he said. “The competition has caught up to us with several racers capable of five sevens, and five eights – so we need to put our recent race time experiences in Perth to good use, where we have been trying to get the extra power to the track and reduce the amount of tyre shake.

“We may see some upsets this weekend, as quite a few teams have run the odd five eight. It was unfortunate Garry Phillips was unable to compete in his new Camaro, but he will be back for sure. This is one of the most wide open fields we have raced this year with Kapiris, Fabietti, Sutton, Bishop, Belleri, O’Connor and the Brays who have found form. There is also Mike Janis racing Mifsud’s Duster who could be a surprise packet – but it’s still a new combo for them to sort out.”

Top Alcohol’s Wayne Newby has had a chance to put a few laps under their belt after the double header at Willowbank in March, and are confident they are on the improve as they get to make some runs on their home track.

“Every successive run the car is getting faster and the set up even more fine tuned. Testing between rounds has provided some really valuable data and I am looking forward to putting it to the test,” he said.

“The car is going really well and we are getting more and more competitive which each additional pass. There is always a buzz before a championship round, and even more so when it is your home track.”

For most racers, the week leading up to a big race is usually spent in garages and sheds making last minute adjustments, fine tuning and looking for any performance advantage they can gain over their opposition.

In the case of Pro Stock Motorcycle racer Scott White he will spend three days on the road and will have plenty of time to think about the changes he has made.

His journey began at his home in Darwin, NT on Monday and some 4000km later his trip will end in Blacktown, NSW.

During the three days White will encounter good roads, bad roads, shower stops at roadhouses, kangaroos at night that slow his speed down to 80ks and plenty of other kinds of wildlife such as wild pigs that have the potential to do a lot of damage in the advent of a collision.

“Let me tell you that if someone told me that drag racing is easy, I’d say show me,” laughed White.

“Living in the Top End of Australia is certainly not the best location especially if you are a pro racer chasing championship points and calendar dates that are on the eastern side, but this is what I do and it’s my choice. I’m what you would call a budget pro racer and this is how we do it.

“The plan prior to the Adelaide championship round in February was to leave the bike there at the end of the race, then fly home. However because we had hurt the engine in Adelaide I needed to go home and make repairs.

“The engine has two new pistons in it and we took it out to Hidden Valley for some testing and all went to plan. We have been chasing a gremlin and it looks like we are getting on top of it.”

The Nitro Champs runs from May 3 to 5 at Sydney Dragway, with pro qualifying kicking off from 11:40am Saturday.