"VAN" (Sports Desk - 28.01.2025) :: In searing hot conditions at Queensland’s Willowbank Raceway, Hydraulink Jim Read Racing rang in 2025 and celebrated Australia Day with a B-Final victory at the weekend.
The New Year Nitro January 25/26 event marked round two of the 2024/2025 NDRC Top Fuel Championship, with the overall event victory going to Rapisarda Autosport International (RAI) racer Damien Harris, over runner-up, Wayne Newby – also of RAI.
Hydraulink Jim Read Racing’s Phil Read took the B-Final win over Peter Xiberras with a 3.932 second pass at 279.15mph in a race of redemption following problematic runs in round one (a pedalled 4.495/242.32mph loss to Steve Read) and round two (4.11/216.93mph solo win), to leave the South-East Queensland venue with smiles on their faces.
“We buttoned off early in the B-Final as we had a cylinder out towards the end, but it was a good way to end the weekend, taking out the win,” Hydraulink Jim Read Racing Driver, Phil Read, said.
“We had issues all day but changed engines ahead of the final and I think that cured it; it didn’t bang and it didn’t torch any heads there, so maybe we should have changed that earlier, hindsight is a wonderful thing!
“Thank you to the crowd for coming out in what have been atrociously hot conditions and sticking around to the very end, we hope you enjoyed the show.
“I want to make mention of my brother and our crew chief Bruce Read – Bruce unexpectedly had his appendix out on Wednesday and here he is on-track just days later working his butt off. We couldn’t do this without him.
“Thank you also to all of our sponsors, and all of the people who make these events happen. And finally, congratulations to the Rapisardas!”
This weekend’s event follows on the heels of the team’s success at the season opener, where they took the A-Final win and set a new national record, and precedes Perth’s upcoming Westernationals, where they have tasted victory at the last two events.
“It was an intense weekend and it was hot, hot, hot, that is for sure. It was trying conditions for everyone and we must say congratulations to the RAI team, they made the best of the conditions,” Hydraulink Jim Read Racing Crew Chief, Bruce Read, said.
“To have some redemption in the B-Final put a smile on our face to end our time here for New Year Nitro and we now turn our attention to Perth where we have had some considerable success in the past.
“Nothing in particular was wrong this weekend, it was just a matter of adapting to really tough conditions and we didn’t quite get it right.
“While that is frustrating, what it means is we aren’t scratching our heads about something not working or dealing with damage or broken parts, so we can regroup and head to Perth confident that we can make a good shake of that and hopefully bring home a third straight Westernats victory!”
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