It was a glorious day in the sun at Willowbank Raceway as final qualifying for Group Two and early eliminations for Group Three got underway in the Aeroflow Sportsman Drag Racing Championship at the Fuchs Winternationals today.
Group Two competitors have been on a mission all year to push the National records to the limit. Today was no different as Kevin Magner went under the National A/MP record in the Super Stock class with an 8.388 on the 8.89 index to take the number one spot ahead of Shane Moran.
Alistair McClure continued his X-Champs form in Competition Eliminator with another pass under the national BB/AA record on a 6.366 on the 6.88 index but Greg Leahy held top spot even after taking the day off to focus on eliminations tomorrow.
Ross Smith edged the C/AB record in the Competition Bike class even further by laying down an 8.32 on an 8.85 index to go 0.037 under the National record while simultaneously going 1.13 mph over the National speed record clocking 162.02 mph. That effort was good enough for second as Daryn Schuster held onto first position.
Kelly Bettes continued her dominance of Super Compact by holding down her top qualifying position on a 7.325 ET on a 7.35 index. Chris Hall qualified second followed by Stanley Kreis, Reece McGregor and Ben Graham in the top five.
The big story out of Supercharged Outlaws was the elimination of reigning Champion Luke Marsden at the hands of Reece Northfield running a 6.83 on a 6.83 dial in. Former NHRA Top Alcohol Dragster pilot Kate Harker also bowed out with a red light but familiar names Fiona Reed, Chris Van’t Hof and Les Rodgie all progressed to round two on Sunday.
In Modified current points leader Shane Wynd eliminated himself with a red light as did the record setting Greg Wardle but championship contenders Kenny Stewart, Jess Turner and current Champion Craig Baker all lived to fight another day.
Elsewhere in Group Three, Round One eliminations were completed for Junior Dragster, Super Street and Super Sedan where Daniel Morris defeated Australian Champion John Kapiris breaking out by 0.002 seconds.
The fourth and final day of the Fuchs Winternationals commences tomorrow from 8am with eliminations in each of the Aeroflow Sportsman Drag Racing Championship and ANDRA Drag Racing Series categories.
To follow the day’s action with ANDRA and Drag News Australia, please click here. For full results from day three, please click here.
Image credit: Fred Dwyer