SA Tri-Series Finals Scorcher
Photos by TAD Photography (Tracy) Report by TAD Photography (David)
The Max Crane and Equipment Hire Tri-Series finals was a scorcher in more ways than one. The on track battles in the brackets and good old Mother Nature with high 40 deg C temperatures that did not drop from sunrise to sunset making things very uncomfortable for the racers and track staff. The South Australian heat wave kept a lot of spectator’s home in air-conditioned comfort, but the spectators that braved the heat saw some of the best racing seen at the Steel City Track.
The Tri Series is held over the racing season with three SA Division tracks each running a single round with Mildura running the first round and Coonawarra running the second round with Whyalla the third and final round. With all group 3 brackets on offer and bonus points for entrants that attended all three rounds and the highly prized ANDRA SA Division trophies'. For the spectators making this the nearest thing to seeing ANDRA Championship group 3 racing in the South Australian Division apart what’s on TV.
During time trials Robert Datson’s Super Sedan Torana had the throttle stuck wide open through the finish line making the car unstable under brakes with the car veering off the racing surface and getting airborne before nosediving into the ground. The popular racer sustained a broken wrist; the Torana’s front end also sustained major damage.
A number of cars braved the heat to put on some demonstration runs; Colin Will had his supercharged Single Spinner Ford Ute out for the first time with Colin doing the tuning duties on the small block Ford with Mick Oehms in the drivers seat, Oehms had problems coming to terms with the cars power to the tracks traction and his best for the day was a 6.791 at 105 mph. Graham Shiell had his 500ci Hemi powered Dodge Challenger to a best of 5.585 at 126 mph. Michael Vidau in the small block Chevrolet Holden Rodeo Ute best was a 5.635 at 127 mph. Rod Burton got behind the wheel of the Outlaw Altered after a long absence to have a go at resetting the track record. The track conditions was not favourable to record setting with a best of 5.531 at 111 mph. Robert Page had the ex Pro Stock Oldsmobile Cutlass of Rob Tucker and a best of 6.143 at only 86 mph. All of these cars had far better potential but the high temperature made it very hard to get all the available power down to the track.
Graham Shiell
Leading the points in the Modified Bracket coming into the finals it was Simon Barlow with 220 points over Alex Van Leuven and Greg Cowie both on 140 points. Barlow with such a lead the series was un-winnable by anyone else. With 7 entries and Alex Van Leuven in the top qualifiers’ position in the Walkom Dragster on a 5.273, it was WISD Summer Nationals winner Simon Barlow in second spot with a 5.314 and the bump held by David Murray with a 6.342.
Round one it was Alex Van Leuven with a bye run and a 0.010 reaction time and a safe breakout 5.243 on a 5.273 DI at 137 mph. Paul Utting in the Hot Rod red lighted himself out with a -0.010 RT to Greg Cowie 0.152 RT and Cowie running a backing off 6.034 on a 5.75 DI for the win. Next pair it was the Altered of David Murray against the Dragster of Richard Vergelius and a 0.156 RT from Murray to Vergelius’s better 0.128 RT but Murray taking the win with a closer 6.423 run on a 6.3 DI to Vergelius’s 5.836 on a 5.68 DI and only a 0.005 win margin to Murray. Next pair was the Altered of Matthew Voigt and the Dragster of Simon Barlow and Voigt with the better 0.050 RT to Barlow’s 0.077 RT and Barlow running a bit too quick 5.215 on a 5.310 DI for a breakout to Voigt’s safe 5.856 on a 5.850 DI. Second round it was David Murray against Matthew Voigt and Murray with the better 0.043 RT to Voigt’s 0.114 but Murray with a 0.19 breakout running a 6.031 on a 6.25 DI to Voigt’s safe close 5.834 on a 5.830 DI for the win. Greg Cowie ran it to trouble on the line giving Van Leuven an easy win to advance him to the finals. The finals had Van Leuven with the better 0.025 RT to Matthew Voigt’s 0.037 RT but a 5.225 breakout on a 5.240 DI from Van Leuven giving Matthew Voigt the win with a 5.827 on a 5.820 DI safe run for the win.
Final point’s standings (Modified top 3 of 10)
1. Simon Barlow 290 points
2. Alex Van Leuven 250 points
3. Matthew Voigt 230 points
3. Greg Cowie 230 points
Matthew Voigt
Leading the points in Super Sedan coming into the finals it was Mick Yfantidis with 220 points over the Tri-Series sponsor Mark Kuhn and Joe Carbone on 100 points each. Yfantidis had a large lead in the points and was un-beatable. Super Sedan also had only 7 entries with Trampas Carmen in his LC Torana in the top qualifiers position with a 6.326 with the big block Holden Gemini of Anne Jones second with a 6.642. The point’s leader Mick Yfantidis on the bump spot of 7.057 seconds.
Round one it was Trampas Carmen with the bye run with a 6.353 on a 6.300 DI testing out his dial in. Joe Carbone had a better reaction time of 0.161 over Barry Jackson’s 0.250 RT, but a 0.039 under 6.661 time slip giving Carbone the win with a safe 6.912 on a 6.850 DI. Angelo Sissis made short work of Anne Jones with a 0.061 RT and a 6.970 on a 6.95 DI to Jones 0.136 RT and a 6.724 on a 6.500 DI. Angelo Efthimiou had problems after the start line giving Mick Yfantidis the win. Round 2 it was Joe Carbone getting a hole shot on top qualifier Trampas Carmen 0.115 to 0.405 RT pushing Carmen to a losing 6.281 breakout. Mick Yfantidis got hole shot over Angelo Sissis 0.39 to 0.122 but a 7.032 on a 6.85 DI did not hold Sissis 6.807 on a 6.75 DI to advance Sissis to the finals. Joe Carbone and Angelo Sissis both dialled in at 6.7 and it was Carbone to get the hole shot of a good 0.024 to a 0.327 and Carbone running a 0.020 over 6.720 run and Sissis a 6.766 run.
Final point’s standings (Super Sedan top 3 of 20)
1. Mick Yfantidis 310 points
2. Joe Carbone 230 points
3. Anne Jones 150 points
Joe Carbone
Leading the points in Super Street the ex Australian Super Street Champion Darren Kellaway, Tony Diwell and Rodger Weste all tied on 120 points. With 28 entries and 110 points on offer and only 10 points for first rounds lose the series was wide open, with eight racers in a good position to win it. The Dodge Dart of Joe Jurkovic was in the top qualifiers position with a 7.065, the Toyota of Darren Mallison on a 7.184 for second spot with Phil Yfantidis holding the 28 bump spot on 9.49 seconds.
The first round high light was a lucky escape for Darren Kellaway, with his 0.111 reaction time from Darren almost lost him the race when Leigh Donaldson cut a 0.004 reaction time but Donaldson got off the power a bit too to run a 0.009 second breakout. The 14 winners from first round was Darren Kellaway, Kylie Wagener, Nenad Stolic, Barry Brooks, Darren Mallison, Hernan Tosti, Jeremy Matters, Terry Hoskins, Sam Azzopardi, Anthony Diwell, Brendan Lynch, Kevin Fuss, Bruce Pain and Joe Jurkovic. Darren Kellaway’s luck disappeared in the second round when a -0.058 red light put an end to his night, with Kylie Wagener going through to the next round. Anthony Diwell’s 0.004 RT with an 8.53 on a 8.378 DI end to Barry Brooks. Next it was a dual break out from Darren Mallison and Nenad Stolic with Stolic’s -0.11 under the greater to allow Mallison through (-0.045). Kevin Fuss won with a red light from Terry Hoskins. Hernan Tosti won with a 0.267 RT with a 7.781 on a 7.70 DI to Sam Azzopardi with a 0.439 RT and a 7.318 on a 7.2 DI. Brendan Lynch was not going to catch Jeremy Matters with a 0.433 RT to Matters 0.255RT. Joe Jurkovic survived a dual break out with Bruce Pain. Round 3 Joe Jurkovic with a solo but still ran just under the Super Street 7.0 with a 6.994. Darren Mallison pulled the red light allowing Kylie Wagener to the semi’s. Anthony Diwell was next to pull a red light allowing Kevin Fuss to the semi’s. Hernan Tosti made the semis by defeating Jeremy Matters. Kylie Wagener showed the boys how to win in the semis with a 0.027 RT, running 7.953 on a 7.950 DI for a total 0.050 over, to Hernan Tosti 0.172, running 7.619 on a 7.6 DI. Kevin Fuss showed he was going to be no walk over in the finals with a 0.006 RT, running a 9.703 on a 9.613 DI (0.096 over total) to Joe Jurkovic’s breaking out 6.966 on a 7.0 DI. It was Kevin Fuss to get a 1.7 second head start and a 0.060 RT only helped him stay in front of Kylie Wagener to ¾ track, Fuss’s 10.121 on a 9.613 DI was not going to hold out Wagener’s backing off 8.017 on a 7.9 DI giving Kylie Wagener’s first ever win.
Final point’s standings (Super Street top 3 of 54)
1. Tony Diwell 190 Points
2. Kylie Wagener 170 Points
2. Darren Kellaway 170 Points
Leading the points in Modified bike was Tony Fishwick on 140 points over the little two stroke of Toni Keating on 120 points. Tony Fishwick top Qualified with a 6.337 on the GSXR Suzuki with the Kawasaki of Robert Knox in second spot with a 6.831 second run. Iwo Belamarie held down the 12th bump spot with a 8.585.
First round it was the top qualifier Tony Fishwick with an easy win over Mark Habel as Habel was 0.639 off his 7.3 DI. Kieren Belamarie had an easy win over Lee Munro when Munro had a sleepy 0.665 RT. Brenton Hoffmann and Robert Knox both pulled RT in the 0.06 zone but a closer .117 over from Knox was better than the .290 over from Hoffmann. Derrick Hughes tried too hard to make up for a 0.232 RT to Toni Keating’s 0.107 and a -0.105 from Hughes allowed Keating through to the next round. Isaac Golding had a lucky escape when a 0.87 over on a 7.970 DI got through to the break out of Alex Wicks with an 8.348 on an 8.405 DI. David McLeod got a very easy win when Iwo Belamarie had problems getting off the line. Round two it was Tony Fishwick over Kieren Belamarie, Isaac Golding over Robert Knox, and David McLeod over Toni Keating. The Semi Finals it was Tony Fishwick with the bye run. David McLeod got a good 0.058 RT to Isaac Golding’s 0.155 RT but McLeod slowed down to run a 0.246 over 7.386 run to Golding’s 0.148 over 7.348 run, for a 0.001 win margin for Isaac Golding (that was real close). Tony Fishwick experience showed through in the finals with a 0.092 RT and a .067 over 6.367 run for the win to Golding’s 0.113 RT and 0.156 over 7.356 run.
Final point’s standings (Modified Bike top 3 of 19)
1 .Tony Fishwick 270 points
2. Toni Keating 190 points
3. Mark Tattingham 110 points
3. Malcolm Luff 110 points
With only 3 Junior Dragsters making the trip to Whyalla and the numbers of competitors low in the bracket for the series should not take things away from this dedicated bunch of racers. Only two racers of the 5 from Mildura competed at Coonawarra so it was Michelle Donnelly 200 points ahead of Bodni Black on 180 points. Joining them for the first time was Maddison Provis in the Chrome Masters Dragster.
Qualifying it was Maddison Provis on a 12.793 ahead of Michelle Donnelly on a 14.094 and Bodni Black with a 16.072. Provis going straight to the finals with a solo semi final, with a safe red light -0.035 RT and a 17.593 on a 12.65 DI. Bodni Black got the better reaction time 0.164 over Michelle Donnelly’s 0.227 but Bodni fell away from the dial in to allow Donnelly through to the finals. Michelle tried to hard to improve her reaction times and pulled a red light with a -0.092 RT to Provis sleeping 0.749 RT but would still not mattered as she still went too quick anyway going 0.044 under her index to Provis safe 12.889 on a 12.6 DI.
Final point’s standings (Junior Dragster top 3 of 6)
Michelle Donnelly 310 points
Bodni Black 270 points
Maddison Provis 110 points
Maddison Provis
Michelle Donnelly
Bodni Black
Steel City’s next meeting is the final round of the Charlie Dennis point’s series on May the 10th. Joining them will be the Commodore Club from Adelaide. With a Commodore only bracket that’s open to any Commodore’s that must have - DOT tyres full exhaust and full current rego. The other brackets are a Mixed Modified and Super Sedan, Super Street, Bike and Junior Dragster with a Whyalla’s Street Challenge Bracket. Steel City Drag Club would like to thank all the competitors, track officials, and ANDRA staff that have made this the premiere racing series in South Australia
L to R –Back - Lia Kahn representing the series sponsor Max Cranes, Tony Diwell (Super Street) Tony Fishwick (Modified bike) Simon Barlow (Modified) SA Divisional Director Harry White. Front – Michelle Donnelly (Junior Dragster) Mick Yfantidis (Super Sedan)