When the FUCHS Winternationals kick-off at Willowbank Raceway next weekend (June 5-8), Chris Porter (Top Fuel Motorcycle) and Luke Crowley (Pro Stock Motorcycle) will be looking to make a mark in their respective title defences, and they say Willowbank Raceway is the best place to do it.
For 2012 event winner, Pro Stock Motorcycle defending champion and current points leader Crowley, the FUCHS Winternationals – held at the Raceway he deems as the best place in Australia to ‘attack’ – also marks a significant milestone for the Ipswich racer.
“The 2014 FUCHS Winternationals will mark the 20th anniversary of the start of my drag racing career, as one of the few in the very early days of the Junior Dragster class,” said Crowley, who will celebrate his 34th birthday on the Friday of the event and is supported on-track by his own business Ipswich Tint Werx as well as LAT Racing Oils and Tremaniac Racing.
“As the biggest event of the year and one at which I have enjoyed success, the Winternationals is always a significant event, but this year it will have a little extra importance for me so to come away with a win would be very special while also allowing me to keep a perfect score so far this season and see my title defence in the best shape possible.
“The biggest thing for me really in thinking about this event is that Willowbank Raceway is – in my opinion – the only race track that we run at all year where you can really ‘attack’ the track and try and achieve those amazing and record-breaking results.
“We are in the process of trying various things to make the bike go even faster to keep ahead of our rivals after last year’s season focused on consistency, and I think we are pretty close to the mark currently. This means that during qualifying the fans can expect to see us throwing absolutely everything at the race track, before we switch our focus to winning on race day – it should make for some great on-track action!”
For 49 year old Porter of Horsley Park in New South Wales, unfinished business at the FUCHS Winternationals will propel him forward on what he calls ‘the best start line in Australia’, as he seeks to advance up the title points board from his current third position.
“While we have had a bit of an up and down season with some really good results and some mechanical failures, all in all we are still in the hunt and the progress is there – we are on top of it as best as you can be when it comes to dealing with nitro, it is all just about making it work on the day,” said Porter, who is supported by Fraser Motorcycles, Dunrite Pro-formance, Custom Transmissions, Royal Wolf Containers and thanks Wayne Newby of Newby Engineering for recent help with urgent machining a new cam cover.
“The tune-up is certainly there in the bike and Willowbank Raceway has the best start line in the country – so we should be able to throw a lot of horsepower at it and see how we go.”
“I top qualified at the 2013 FUCHS Winternationals before we were unfortunately forced to abandon the event due to the weather, it was great to get that medal last year and obviously we will be hoping to repeat that performance and take it through to race day this year.”
The FUCHS Winternationals will be held across the Queen’s Birthday long weekend (Thursday 5 June to Sunday 8 June 2014), with 430 racers from all across the country and New Zealand to compete in front of approximately 30,000 spectators across the four days.
For full information, please visit www.willowbankraceway.com.au or click here.
Images courtesy: Dragphotos.com.au