Of the 300 competitors entered across all ANDRA brackets for the event, no less than 20 will be part of the Top Doorslammer field ensuring the competition for the eight race day spots will be extremely fierce.
Before they head to Sydney Dragway however, father and son Victor and Ben Bray will be stopping off in Sydney for a Sidchrome trade show.
“We are heading to Sydney a little early this week, as we will be taking part in a trade show for valued sponsor Sidchrome on Wednesday,” said Victor Bray.
“As part of that appearance we will be doing our best to invite people along to the X-Champs – this event is going to be massive with 20 Doorslammer and 300 total competitors.
“With such a big field of ‘Slammers I can guarantee you that the Saturday qualifying action is going to be fierce with just eight race day spots available on Sunday – everyone is going to be pulling out all the stops.”
Recently introducing new converter set-ups to their Sidchrome ’57 Chevy (Victor) and Sidchrome Monaro (Ben), the TBR team will have to work especially hard to secure their spots this weekend.
“We have been making some really good progress with the new set-up thanks to some extra runs at our local Willowbank Raceway events,” said Ben Bray.
“As a result, both cars are now running consistent ‘6.0s’, but we are well aware that in today’s competitive arena sixes just aren’t going to win races most of the time.
“As such we still have some work ahead of us to make the cars really ‘go fast’, but all in all it is short term pain for long term gain so we are pretty happy with the progress so far.”
For TBR, Sydney Dragway has been a somewhat tricky venue at times, however their last outing there for the 2013 Nationals saw Victor come away with a runner-up result.
“Sydney hasn’t always been kind to us, but hopefully our last event there is a sign of better results to come!” said Victor Bray.
“We will just go out there and do our best as always. Our fellow Queenslander Stuart Bishop is certainly one of the drivers to beat at the moment as is Grant O’Rourke who is placed third in the title.
“For us it is all about focusing on our own race and just doing the best we can – anything can happen in this great sport of ours!”
As part of the X-Champs festivities, Team Bray Racing is inviting fans to capture creative photos from the event and upload them to Instagram using the hashtag #xchamps for the chance to win great prizes. For more information on the hashtag project, please click here.
The X-Champs at Sydney Dragway will kick off on Friday 3 May and run through to Sunday 5 May 2014, with the on-track action getting underway from 9.00 am each day. Team Bray Racing and the rest of the Top Doorslammer field will hit the track for the first time on Saturday for three rounds of qualifying, ahead of racing on Sunday. For more event information please click here.
Image courtesy: dragphotos.com.au