"VAN" (Sports Desk - 03.05.2025) :: Day one of what is shaping up as an epic three-day Gulf Western Oil Nitro Champs roared to life at Sydney Dragway today, delivering non-stop action across Group One, the Pro Drag Racing Championship, and Aeroflow National Sportsman Championship qualifying.
Leading the charge on Friday were Top Doorslammer and Top Fuel Motorcycle, launching into their first qualifying runs of the weekend. They were joined by an impressive line-up of Pro Drag Racing Championship contenders, including Pro Alcohol, Pro Stock, FuelTech Pro Mod, and Pro Stock Motorcycle, alongside more than 200 Aeroflow National Sportsman Championship racers.
While today was big, Saturday and Sunday are set to be massive with the 11,000hp, 500kph+ Top Fuel dragsters and XPRO Nitro Funny Cars firing up to join the fun and take Sydney’s biggest nitro party to the next level. Fans are encouraged to purchase their tickets early at www.ndrc.tv to secure their spot trackside.
In Top Doorslammer, Russell Taylor is currently leading the way (5.640s/415.40 kph), with one more qualifying session to go tomorrow. Taylor lined up alongside John Zappia, who was out of the groove with a peddler from the word go, recording a 5.828s/352.63 kph, dropping the 11-time Top Doorslammer champion into 7th.
Lisa Gregorini lined up alongside Ronnie Palumbo in a West versus East qualifying showdown, with the former’s very tidy run putting the Scratch & Match Autocolour Camaro in the second qualifier position ahead of Saturday’s Q2. Meanwhile, Palumbo’s effort sees the ACDelco Monaro currently in the third-qualifier position.
Top Doorslammer has an incredible 15-strong line-up this weekend, with Emilio Spinozzi setting a PB 5.75 to be fourth quickest ahead of Geoff Gradden, Nasser Matta, John Zappia and last-event winner Jeremy Callaghan - with these eight racers all covered by just 0.22 of a second. Nigel Dixon also set a PB (5.967) to be 9th quickest ahead of Matt Abel, Brodie Zappia, Peter Lovering, Peter Kapiris and last year’s Nitro Champs winner Daniel Gregorini. Jack Danaher meanwhile had no time recorded after tossing a belt in the burnout, with all racers full of vigour to improve in tomorrow’s final qualifier for this bracket
After making some changes to the Royal Precision Lubricants Camaro after the last round at the Riverbend Nationals, Taylor is hopeful of hanging onto the top spot, with eyes on going quicker if he can.
“It was a good day. The converter change we did after The Bend worked. We went the opposite way of what we did at The Bend, to eliminate some of the shake. It still shook a bit off the line, but tomorrow should be good,” Taylor explained.
“Hopefully, we can maintain where we are, if not, go a little bit quicker. I always want to go fast, so yeah, happy days.”
In Top Fuel Motorcycle, Damian Muscat has so far continued his dominant form of the category with a top qualifying performance under lights after the running of the bracket was delayed due to clean-up when Pro Alcohol contestant Jake Donnelly went into the nets - thankfully Donnelly is okay.
Ian Ashelford (8.454) and Corey Buttigieg (10.039) took to the track first, with Ashelford on a decent run until mid-track before getting off it. Muscat then undertook a solo pass with the ‘five second man’ losing an idler pulley at half track on what to that point had been a strong 6.386 run at 295.45kph. John Zahra then also had a solo after that pulley was retrieved from the racing surface, but struck difficulty first requiring multiple attempts at approaching the water box and having to get off it after heading to the centre line (14.225).
“We went good out there – we went 6.836 and it was a little bit shakey out of the hole but otherwise we got away okay,” Muscat explains.
“Our blower idler pulley came off about half track so we had no blower then and that was all she wrote as we didn’t keep accelerating after that.
“But other than that, we are happy to get that first run off the trailer down with a 6.38, it is pretty good really and we will see now if we can improve from there tomorrow.
“We are feeling confident, we have no major issues and will just do our maintenance and turn it around ready to get back out there tomorrow and give it another whirl.”
Joining Top Doorslammer and Top Fuel Motorcycle in providing group one thrills across today’s running were the popular Pro Alcohol, Pro Stock, FuelTech Pro Mod and Pro Stock Motorcycle categories of the Pro Drag Racing Championship (PDRC).
With one qualifier completed for each of these brackets and one more to come tomorrow ahead of the beginning of their racing, Daniel Reed (Pro Alcohol), Rob Dekert (Pro Stock), Steve Carlsen (FuelTech Pro Mod) and Jason Lee (Pro Stock Motorcycle) currently top the time sheets for their respective brackets. NDRC is also pleased to report that PSB competitor Lachlan Ireland is fine after walking away from a spill in his qualifier. Stay tuned for further reporting on these brackets from the PDRC.
Also providing entertainment for those watching trackside and online was the Aeroflow National Sportsman Championship with the beginning of qualifying for the line-up of more than 200 sportsman racers. At the end of tonight’s running, Georgia Liefting (Junior Dragster), Lillian Hagan (Junior Drag Bike), Adam Bowers (Super Street), Bailey McClure (Super Comp), Geoffrey Marshall (Modified Bike), Davydd Estcourt (Supercharged Outlaws), Dale Hartill-Law (Super Sedan), Aaveen Autar (Performance Bike), Steve Fowler (Top Sportsman), Roy Romeo (Super Gas), and Simon Barlow (Modified) were leading the way for their brackets with more qualifying and racing ahead for them today.
The Gulf Western Oil Nitro Champs continues Saturday, May 3, with more Top Doorslammer, Top Fuel Motorcycle, Pro Alcohol, FuelTech Pro Mod, Pro Stock, Pro Stock Motorcycle and NDRC Aeroflow Sportsman Championship qualifying from 8.00am, ahead of the first racing runs for these fan-favourite brackets later in the day. Top Fuel and XPRO Nitro Funny Car also hit the drag strip for the first time this weekend, with qualifying for these 11,000 horsepower beasts scheduled from 1:30pm.
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