LATEST NEWS
2/6/2002 - New site takes over
WA DRAG RACING has now moved to a new server and a new look. Please update your links to either http://www.andrawa.com/wadragracing/index.htm or simply http://www.wadragracing.cjb.net. Thankyou, and goodnight.
29/5/2002 - APPELBEE HEADS TO USA
Justin Appelbee, "bottom end" crew man on John Buchanan's Top Fuel Dragster will be heading to the United States to gain some valuable tuning experience on Bob Bode's NHRA Nitro Funny Car. Hopefully this will give the team just the boost they need to run some good times! Best of luck to Justin on his trip.
24/5/2002 - WA Racers at the Winternationals
Many West Australian racers will be competing at the Castrol Winternationals to be held at Willowbank, Queensland. This is the biggest race event in Australia, attracting 450 entries this year! Racers that will be going are Robin Judd and Grant O'Rourke in the 12 car Top Doorslammer field, Ian Ashelford, Mark Ashelford, Brett Jonas and Jay Upton in the 10 bike Top Bike field, Mal Bulley, Ian Johns, Wayne Keys and Rob Pannizza in Competition, Debbie O'Rourke in Wilowbank's exhibition class called Supercharged Outlaws, Shane Wynd in the 80 (!) car Super Sedan field, Reece Shelley and Dale Prior in the Mod Bike competition and Matt Johnson in Junior Dragster. Best of luck to all! I will be making the long trip over, so keep an eye out for photos and a report from the Winters on this site!
16/5/2002 - ANDRA WA has changed address...
The ANDRA WA site can now be found at www.andrawa.com, hopefully this site wil be updated more in the future as a team included myself, Juliet Hawkins and George Bailey sets about making it happen!
10/5/2002 - WA Drag Racing needs news!
wadragracing.cjb.net is desperate for some news stories. So this is a call to all racers out there, tell us anything! Maybe you are giving your race vehicle a new coat of paint, changing classes, or getting a bigger engine. Or if you aren't making any changes why not send a report on how you did last season? So pleeeeeease email me (funnycarsummer@hotmail.com) and I will give you some valuable cyber ink for sponsors etc!
21/4/2002 - COLLIE MEET REPORT
The new semi-permanent eighth mile track at Collie held its second meeting yesterday. A few regular racers from Kwinana made the trip down to support the track in its beginnings. The complex is located on mining land just outside the town of Collie, and has a lot of the old Ravenswood gear, including the tower and concrete barriers. The braking area is a notable feature of the track, given it has about a 45 degree angle to slow up racers! How do you like that Kwinana?! Traction was notably absent, though once racers begin to put more passes down and a groove is built up it should improve. For the first time in donkeys years racers were seen putting some VHT on to the track, Shane Catalano's efforts the most impressive, pull up to the line, put some VHT in front of the tyres, then smoke it up for the full eighth! Headliner for the day was Clive Hudson's blown C-10 truck, out making some noise. After a burnout extending halfway up the braking area, Clive reversed back up, then launched nostalgia fashion - a full track tyre smoker taking some of the older racers back to the good times of old. A 7.44 ET was the result. On his second pass, two burnouts were performed in order to gain traction! It seemed to work, with a lot less smoke, and the truck hauled through the traps, but unfortunately no time was recorded. A blower belt also came off, damaging a few components, and putting Clive out for the day. Quickest ET for the day went to Paul Nieuwhof (yeehaa), running a 6.41 on the "little" 1170cc Kawasaki spare bike. Steve McGrath's Fiat Topolino altered was second quickest with a 6.62, whilst the wild blown altered of Matt Treasure, which was making way too much power for the track to handle, smoked and shook its way to a 6.78. Four junior dragsters made the trip down, Jordan Scott the quickest of those with his "Viper" entry recording a 10.13. Other cars were organised into groups based on engine type. Jason Fost's 383 Chev equipped VK Commodore was the quickest of the V8's with an 8.29, Mark Kent's RX7 was the best of the Rotaries and turboed fours with an impressive 8.15, Ryan Doe's Skyline took out the six cylinder category with an 8.97, whilst Brad Harkup won the four cylinder group with an 8.84 from the Subaru WRX. Overall, it was a fun day, and WA DRAG RACING urges racers to get down to a meet when they can and support this growing group.
17/4/2002 - COLLIE MEET THIS WEEKEND
Collie, a new 1/8th mile regional strip, will be holding one of it's first major meetings this weekend. Roughly two and a half hours south of Perth, the track has much of the old Ravenswood gear, so those wanting a bit of a nostalgia trip should go down! Headlining the event will be Clive Hudson's blown C-10 truck, one of the most popular vehicles at the Motorplex. A lot of other racers are making plans to go down, already wanting more racing depsite the Kwinana season having finished only two weeks ago! WA DRAG RACING will be going down to check out what goes on, not sure if there will be any photos, but there will be a report at least.
12/4/2002 - WA DRAG RACING congratulates the CHAMPIONS!
Congratulations to all the championship winners, place getters, and in fact every racer down at the Quit Motorplex for making it a great season. So without further ado...drumroll please...
In Top Comp, the awesome Blown Beemer of Wayne Keys takes the gold...
Super Stock sees Geoff Chaisty taking out the championship in the gorgrous G/G Commodore...
In Comp Bike, the consistent B/CB of Sean Arthur (sponsored by Sara Marie from Big Brother, no less) takes it's first...
Modified winner is Steve Raven, continuing his total domination of the bracket for the last few seasons, but he's adding a blower next season...
Australian Champion Shane Wynd is the winner of Super Sedan, he went into the final race with an unbeatable lead...
In Modified Bike, Neil Anderson's Kawasaki has the championship, fending off Adam Ewing and Julie Nieuwhof for the money...
Tim Hudson wins out in Super Street, perhaps the closest bracket of all with ten runners with a mathematical chance of winning going into the final race...
And finally in Junior Dragster, Matt Johnson won the championship, taking it out in the very last race over Krystal Ecclestone...
So again, congratulations to all, and to all racers, have a happy off season!
10/4/2002 - KEYS RUNS PB 6.34, WINS DRIVER OF THE YEAR
All the hard work of the season came down to this last day with the number one position for Top Comp still up for grabs between Wayne Keys in the Tectaloy BMW and Trevor Morrison. We previously mentioned in the newsletter that we had a 30 point lead over Morrison but the true figure was only 20 points. At the last meeting with a smaller field the allocation of points is different. We had to do as many rounds as Morrison or better to retain number one position on the pointscore.
Our first run of the day, against Grant O’Rourke was a 6.89, the slower time caused by a blown burst panel. We were not deterred by this, back in the pit area the crew did a thorough check of the car. Everything was great and the crew picked what they thought was going to be a good tune-up. Keeping in mind that the old clutch plates were back in the car and the crew were still coming to terms with what the Burner Injector hat could do.
At 6.30, the compulsory qualifier matched us against David Simpson’s Top Doorslammer. We were pleased to be given the opening pairing for this first round. The lights came down and the Beemer came out nice and strong and straight. The run looked great and we were extremely excited to see 6.35 et appear on the read out boards. Our personal best, a new Quit Motorplex track record and under the 6.40 record for AA/AP. Well done to the guys for the tuneup and to Wayne for the great driving. Back in the pit area we were also excited to see the time card show our personal best 60’ time of .995. This run put us in 4th qualifier position.
The work now was to check everything and try and come out to repeat that run at 8.30pm for the elimination round. We came into the staging lanes to race Murray Orme in his AA/AP Monaro. We watched several of our opponents race in front of us with excellent times, well under their indexes, including Morrison. To be able to get into the final we needed to win and to run a 6.36 or better. We needed to do this to stay in the running for number one spot.
The boys tune-up and Wayne’s driving of the now popular Tectaloy BMW, was excellent. Another personal best on the night with a 6.34. Enough to make it into the B final against Morrison, and enough to stay number one.
Back in to the pits to check the car and again to tune the car to run another 6.35 or better to have a chance of beating Morrison.
At 10.30pm we were there to race Morrison. Wayne had a better reaction time and was out hard and fast to take the BMW over the line first, to win the B final. The time this pass was another 6.35 with a good 60’ .995.
An exciting time for all the crew and supporters of the Tectaloy Blown Beemer. The crowd were really appreciative of our runs as they cheered us on every time we returned from a race. The number of well wishes back in the pits after the finals was amazing and the crew took it all in their stride as their 7 months of racing paid off. Well done crew.
For a more detailed account check out the website later this week at www.peel.ecommunity.com.au/racingkeys or specific times etc view details at www.motorplex.com.au.
This is now the end of our local season. We head next to Adelaide for the Tectaloy Custom Auto expo Car show in May and then to Queensland to contend the ADRS at Willowbank raceway. Thanks to all, more news again soon.
Web site updates...
Steve McGuiness' site has been updated with latest news from the April 6 meeting.
7/4/2002 - HAYNES GOES 513 km/h!
Last night at the Quit Motorplex, Chuck Haynes in the "Volcano" jet dragster took out the 500 km/h barrier, with a booming 5.02 @ 511 km/h (318 mph). Later in the night he returned to run a 5.03 @ 513 km/h (319mph) to claim the record. The other driver for the night was Quit Motorplex Managing Director Gary Miocevich driving the "Gravity Storm" dragster. He made a personal best pass of 5.78 during the night and was thouroughly impressed with the speed of the dragster. As an addition to the feature act, the "Greene Machine" of Allan and Cheryl Greene returned to say thankyou to the fans for their support through the difficulty of regaining the tune up after bulk power was produced last meeting. After a shorter than normal burnout for Allan Dobson, driver of the aweosme machine, the car launched hard, going into a wheelstand before Dobbo got off the noise, then back on it only to have the car's front go a couple of feet into the sky. Checkout a picture here. Thanks to Grant Stephens for the web space. In Top Comp, Peter Nowak won the fnal with a 6.81 over Rob Pannizza who had to shut down after sand went on to the track, following his excursion off the end on his previous run. Runner up for the night was Trevor Morrison who was running consistent sixes. In Super Comp, Geoff Chaisty took a win over Ian Johns, who had a wild run as the car slipped all around the lane, crossing the centreline and nearly hitting the wall. In Comp Bike, Ray Easson won with a 7.72 over Sean Arthur's 8.01. Modified saw Steve McGrath take his first ever win over Steve Raven, Neil Anderson won Modified Bike, and Matt Johnson won Junior Dragster. Super Sedan and Super Street results coming when I remember them!
2/4/2002 - WAYNE KEYS RUNS 6.40, HOLDS POINTS LEAD
The second last meeting saw 13 cars entered in the program for Top Comp. During the course of the day with vehicles not licensed or broken it came down to only 8 cars for the first round of competition. Our nearest rivals on the pointscore table, Morrison and Panizza, again doing their personal best times. Thanks to Grant O’Rourke and Geoff Baker for repairs to the front clip after the last meeting when the broken belt had done some damage. The car was back to looking good and now on the track for the first qualifier against Lindsay Murray. As per our usual start to race day. The Blown Beemer clocked a 6.55 et at 217 mph. This was pleasing to see as we had installed a Jeff Burnett injector hat for this meeting. It all looked good for performing well. The Compulsory qualifier saw us matched against Murray Orme’s Monaro for the first pass at 6.30pm. Some changes by the crew to the tune-up, the clutch doing it’s stuff combined with the new hat the Blown Beemer produced a nice strong 6.42 e.t. This placed us in to top part of the field ready to race Clive Hudson in his Chev Pickup for the first elimination round at 8.20pm. The Beemer left well and straight and produced a solid 6.47 to win this race. The result was only 3rd fastest. We missed out on the A final by .02 of a second. This is close racing. In the B Final the Beemer drove out hard and straight to produce a win at 6.405 seconds. So close to the 6.30’s we are chasing. The great weather conditions, the new hat, and the crew choosing the right tune-up with the clutch and we were producing the goods. The crowd were very appreciative of the solid performances of the Beemer. The cheers and support are great and the visits to the pit area are increasing all the time. Wayne seemed to be constantly signing posters and T-shirts for children and adults alike. Thanks to Perry for the Startline Shirts for the Final, they looked stunning, with favourable comments all round. We have received this week acknowledgement from the Quit Motorplex with a new track record for AA/AP at 6.405. We are now preparing for the grandfinal event on the 6th April. The feature will be the jet dragsters from USA and the many racers competing for first place in their bracket. Most brackets are still undecided with many brackets having very close points between 1st, 2nd and 3rd.
25/3/2002 - WEB SITE UPDATES
Steve McGuiness' site has been updated with latest news from the last few meetings.
If you want your site to appear on this page when it is updated and receive truckloads of hits email me.
24/3/2002 - GREENE MACHINE SMOKES AND STANDS, BAILEYS TROUBLED
Last night at the Quit Motorplex, the Funny Cars returned to put on one of their trademark shows. The Greene Machine came into battle equipped with new magnetos and new tyres. The first pass of the night saw Dobbo smoke the tyres at the hit, as Ashley Bailey in the Bailey Bros Probe rocketed to half track where he shut off, still running a 6.43! The half track time was their best ever, and with a 60 foot time of .952 showed 5.3/5.2 second potential. However for the next round, the Baileys could not make it, leaving Dobbo to go it alone. After a 330' burnout, Dobbo wheelstood from the line, crossing the centreline and shutting off. In the third and final round, both cars returned. This time Dobbo turned the tyres to half track, leaving Bailey in his tyre smoke. On the start line however as both cars prepared to race, Bailey's chute popped out, meaning he could not run. Dobbo had to go it alone again, wheelstanding the same as the previous run before smoking the tyres, pedalling and then smoking again to roll through for a ten second time. However the action wasn't over yet. The Bailey Bros were determined to make more than one run, so they repacked the chute, gve it some more fuel and restarted on the line. The car left well, but he was off it before half track, recording only a 9.6. Other bracket results coming soon.
19/3/2002 - GREENE MACHINE RETURNS TO BATTLE BAILEY BROS
The ultimate Drag Racing experience has to be the sight, sound and smell of a Supercharged nitro methane burning engine and your last chance to experience this at the Quit Motorplex this season is on Saturday night March 23. The WA team of Allan and Cheryl Greene will front with their 'Greenemachine' Nitro Funny Car to take on the Bailey Brothers from Walloon Queensland. This will be the Greenemachines first appearance since the horrific tyre explosion driver Allan Dobson encountered at over 440kmh (275mph) destroying the body. Again the John Buchanan Top Fuel Dragster will be on hand as a reserve in the event that either of the Nitro Funny Car teams are unable to make one of the three rounds. The first Nitro Funny Car pass will be at 6pm with the second and third rounds at 8:10pm and 10:20pm.
7/3/2002 - Keys Update...
The entry list for Competition eliminator at the Westernationals started at 22 but three vehicles did not front. There were 19 vehicles trying for 16 places. Our first qualifier at 4.45 was against Debbie O’Rourke in her Monaro. Wayne had agood leave and the Beemer looked like it was on a good number. A small problem from last meeting of heading left was now fixed. As Wayne crossed the finish line and pulled the chutes clocking a nice solid 6.51 e.t there was a backfire, shattering the bottom blower pulley, breaking the blower belt and the burst panel popping. This run had placed us as 5th qualifier. We returned to the pits for further inspection and realized an intake valve was also damaged. The crew worked solidly for four hours to get to the 9.30 third qualifier. (The second qualifier was run at 6.45 when we were still working solidly on replacing parts and doing a minor rebuild of the motor..) Many thanks to Robin Judd for the replacement bottom pulley. We matched up against Peter Nowak in his dragster for the final qualifier. Again the car looked to leave well and we ran a 6.57. Back into the pits to check on things. After a long, hot day the crew headed home for some well deserved rest ready for some early morning maintenance on Sunday. Sunday’s preparation involved checking the bearings and service the clutch on top of the standard checks. We fired the “beemer” before first round to discover a cracked and leaking barrel valve. Thanks to O’Rourke’s for the replacement valve. Our efficient crew had that replaced within what seemed like only minutes. It is good for Wayne to know that our crew are always giving 100%. He can hit the throttle on the “Beemer” knowing that it’s going to perform. Our first round of eliminations was against another AA/AP vehicle in the Hudson Family’s Chev C Truck. There was no handicap in this race and both sets of lights came down together. Wayne cut a good light and the car left well. At about ¾ track there was another pop of the burst panel and belt. There was enough power on board the “Beemer” to still take the win with a 7.16 e.t. We returned to the pits for more serious work to be done. A check of the car indicated that a blocked nozzle had caused the backfire. Checking the engine we realized the head had to come off, indicating a burnt piston. The call was made to change a piston with only 40 minutes until the next round. Many thanks to the O’Rourke crew working alongside our own crew to get us in to the staging lanes on time. Our crew had now been working all day without a break but were fired up ready to race the ever improving Mal Bulley in his Altered. Due the indexes, Mal left first, Wayne cut a good light to be gaining on him quickly. Wayne was with him on the finish line but the 6.52 e.t. was not good enough. Even the guys on the finish line said it was a hard race to see the winner. Well done to Mal Bulley who went on to win the event. Though we didn’t come away with a win, we have come away from the event in a positive frame of mind. With the broken parts we encountered the Beemer could have quite easily have been packed away after the first run on Saturday or even before the first or second run on Sunday. The support from our magnificent crew and other race teams had us out there on the line. This is where the motorsport of Drag racing is a great sport to be in. The spectators are also encouraging, we have so many people coming into the pits after each run we make to check on progress and offer encouragement.
Blown Beemer Appearances...
March 16th 2002 appearance at AutoPro, Rockingham, Car Park Sale.
March 23rd 2002 race meeting at Quit Motorplex.
March 24th 2002 appearance at the Serpentine Fair.
April 6th 2002 race meeting Quit Motorplex.
May 17-20 2002 Appearance at Tectaloy Performance Coolants Custom Auto
Expo 2002 Royal Adelaide Showground, Adelaide, S.A.
June 2002 Winternationals, Willowbank, Queensland.
Thanks to the Keys for their great updates on the action
4/3/2002 - WESTERNATIONALS, DOORSLAMMERS FLY, MEETING ROCKS
The Marlows Westernationals went off without a hitch, producing some of the best damn racing this state has ever seen. Over the weekend, 11 new nationals records were set:
Peter Nowak CC/D - 190.27 mph
Rob Pannizza CC/G - 7.57, 185.95 mph
Paul Hayes SS/A - 8.11, 166.97 mph
Trevor Morrison CC/A - 6.89, 192.30 mph
Ian Johns A/AP - 7.20, 189.87 mph
Victor Bray T/D - 6.10, 236.22 mph
In Top Doorslammer, the action was thick and fast. Saturday qualifying sawVictor Bray lead the field with a 6.105, Kapiris right behind with a ridiculously close 6.106. Gary Phillips was third with a 6.30, then Brett Stevens with a 6.31. Dave Simpson rounded out the field with a 6.623, narrowly ahead of Grant O'Rourke's 6.624! Ben Bray was another to not qualify. In the first round of racing, Dave Koop's Delphi Automotive 55 Chev took out a tyre shaking Gary Phillips, Peter Hamilton grabbed an upset win over Brett Stevens who had a backfire at three quarter track, Peter Kapiris went 6.20 to beat Robin Judd, and Victor Bray used a national record setting 6.16 to defeat Dave Simpson. In the semis, Bray got all four wheels off the ground as he got out of shape against Hamilton, but he recovered with a 6.47 to defeat Hamilton's valiant 6.5. In the other match up, Kapiris upped the ante with a 6.18 defeat of Koop. The finals held much expectation, and there were high hopes that we would see the quickest side by side doorslammer pass in the world. It didn't disappoint. Kapiris left on Bray by three hundredths, the streched that at the other end, a 6.15 defeating Bray's fast closing 6.18, a world record race!
Top Bike only had a small field of seven, and qualifying would have been a fairly lacklustre show if it weren't for Jay Upton and Ian Ashelford. These two combined on two occassions to give the crowd side by side six second action. Their first match up saw Ashelford take the honours with a 6.96 over Upton's on again off again 6.97. The second time around, it was Upton who dominated, both running PB's, Upton's 6.78 taking pole position, whilst Ashelford improved to a 6.85. The rest of the field was close to a second behind. The first round saw no really spectacular numbers, with Upton shutting off, and Ashelford hitting a 7.001. McPhee and Jonas were the other winners. The semis saw Ashelford go on a solo 7.001 again, whilst Upton smoked the tyre, then got back on it to go 7.88. However it was not over there, as the bike hit the wall in the braking area and Jay came off. Injuries were not too bad, though he was taken to hospital later on at night. Ashelford was left to go it alone in the final, flying to half track before shutting off early after dropping a cylinder, to still run 7.35.
In Competition eliminator, Malcolm Bulley took a win over a C/A eastern stater (whos name evades me at the moment). Super Stock saw Rob Demaniel win over Graeme Simms, after Ian Brown became a shock round one loser. Rhett Lougheed took a win over Ray Easson in Comp Bike, Justin Applebee won Modified, Shane Wynd won Super Sedan, Julie Nieuwhof won Mod Bike, Jason Gill won Super Stret and Matt Johnson won Junior Dragster.
