RACE REPORT: SUMMIT RACING QLD CHAMPS ROUND TWO
HEAT
RACERS TURN ON
IN BENARABY
Round two of the Summit Racing Queensland
Championship – held at Benaraby Raceway on
September 2 – may have started out with chilly
temperatures on the morning of the event,
but it soon heated up thanks to some great
performances from the field of 88 racers.
A big effort from the Central Queensland Drag Racing
Association (CQDRA) ensured a successful event and happy
racers, along with a vocal crowd who clearly enjoyed the
display of high horsepower vehicles and bikes.
While all of the competitors enjoyed a friendly relaxed
atmosphere in the pits, by all reports it was tense on the race
track. Several of the finals participants had to be decided via a
countback, sometimes with little more than hundredths of a
second being the difference.
Drawing the attention of the fans in particular during
qualifying was the black Vauxhall of Raymond Voois with
some wild antics. If the car wasn’t trying to knock over start
line officials during a burnout, it was carrying on like a brat
during qualifying for the Supercharged Outlaws bracket.
Unfortunately, Voois was not able to return for eliminations
after coming down hard from a wheelie.
Speaking of spectacular, Mark Eves was back in the popular
bracket, and hopeful that car owner Phil Wheatly had tamed
his Corvette after his wild spin at Palmyra. His first run resulted
in a 5.09 ET over the eighth. His second run was the quickest of
the session with a 4.671s pass at 164 mph. In the third round of
qualifying, Eves improved again with a 4.592s effort at 166.67
mph. When it was time for the finals however, it was the
World’s Fastest FJ Holden of Randall Mohr who found himself
the winner, defeating Anthony Spataro who broke out a bunch
with a 5.08s ET on his 5.42s dial-in. Mohr took the trophy and
the points with a 4.87s ET on his 4.83s dial-in.
The Hogan’s Heavy Haulage Modified Eliminator bracket
started out with seven entries, however, that dropped to
five when Ken Smith and Savos Pandelakis retired. Katie
Cunningham would pick up the top qualifier points. For the
all-Altered final, Roma racer Paul Winkle took the win with a
0.086s reaction on the tree and a 5.77s ET on his 5.73s dial-in,
while Geoff Everett from Palmyra was runner-up with a 0.178s
reacted 5.06s ET on a 5.00s dial-in.
Super Sedan had 15 entries with Gavin List as top qualifier
before three rounds of eliminations saw the final came
down to Zack Grimshaw and Richard Tyson. Unfortunately for
Grimshaw, his small block TG Holden Gemini was not staged
straight. After cutting a 0.020s reaction time, Grimshaw had a
pedal and then had to back off after the Gemini was moving