| Special Event Reports (all special
race reports by Chad Raven) 2004 Western Drag Nationals - Full race results | Final Class Results | Race Report 2006 WA Invitationals - Site News Report | Records | Race Report |
11/8/2006 - Hunters are gatherers of multiple finals appearances Another quiet winter's evening was once again disturbed
by some of Western Australia's brutal electric motors vying for the weekly
win. And it proved once again to be a winning combination for all involved
with even closer racing and competitiveness amongst everyone. 4/8/2006 - Jason drags it to the line After last week's rain-induced stoppage, it was time to
set things back on the road, and having 20 cars qualify and race was the best
way to do it. 21/7/2006 - Texan justice served 16 cars turned out for the chilly winter night to face
off for the weekly round win. Before racing began the dramas were already
unfolding in the McIlwraith camp, with the G12-motored General Lee II smoking
for the second week in a row. Then the Australian Pro Diesel "Indonesian
Express" died in more spectacular circumstances. With the bus dead, 'Eleanor'
on ill-fitting tyres and the AA/FC confined to the box, Shane was left to
represent Craig Britten's C/Gas while Calum took charge of the US Army Top
Fueller. 14/7/2006 - US Army immobilises field 18 of the hard charging drag cars turned up to fight for
this week's top honours. Among the field was David and Cameron, a father and
son pairing who regularly turned up in junior circuit racing last year and the
Taylor family, with father Frank and sons Sean and Michael giving it their all
in their respective rides. 7/7/2006 - Week 18 - Jason Hunter is back A cool night had the crew chiefs scratching their chins
over glue setup, but has to be one of the closest races this year. Everyone
was level pegging, up to the point of Jason and Dave Hunter running side by
side on one run, with only the green win light indicating who won. Another run
saw two drivers lock horns with 0.906 apiece with only 6 thousandths in the
reaction time difference. Race action included Jason Hunter's X/Mod Hot Rod making
a dramatic rollover similar to Mark's Pontiac run last week. Again, all
survived.
30/6/2006 - Week 17 - Battle of the Gas class rumbles 26 made it to qualifying this week, with new rides for Mark John with his new Pontiac Firebird and Calum giving the McDonald's Top Fueller a proper debut race this week. Action was the understated word for the qualifying sessions with Mark losing a tyre on the Pontiac's first run, tipping it over onto its roof just after the start line. No damage was done and another run was set, this time the wheelie bars not in place. Another violent thrash at the wheel was just in time to save it from another rough and tumble moment, but times were slow to start with. First round saw it in the one second range, a creditable performance for a new car. Calum also suffered in round one with a car breakage. The rain-delayed final was finally on and this week Craig Britten's C/Gasser was up against the imported B/Gas Mustang of Dave Hunter for this week's spoils. With the weather setting in, the cars dial-ins of 0.810 for the Britten Gasser and 0.900 for the Hunter car. With reaction times coming into play, the Mustang took the win with a greenlit 0.922 whilst Craig's car got the red light for the loss. As the weather had turned sour right at the end, no other events took place. 16/6/2006 - Week 15 - Super 14 smallest field yet Racing this week was a relatively small affair with 14 sportsman and pro class entries entering, making it the smallest entry list this year. With work on new components and cars for the future means that the entrants will have more firepower very soon. Semi Finals time in the Main Event included Mark's C/Gas and his C/FC up against Dave Hunter's C/Gas HQ Monaro. The gassers met up, guaranteeing Mark a Finals appearance spot with his Funny Car. Dial-ins for the gas cars were 0.949 for the HQ and 1.029 for the T-Bucket. Mark's gasser got the better reaction and ET with a 1.047 second pass taking out the HQ with a slower reaction and a 0.964. With the rules stating a driver can only have one car in the final meant the race was a formality with the HQ going through. Mark confirmed the C/FC was to get the nod to go to the final round. C/FC dialled in at 0.889 with the HQ Monaro for a 0.949 expected. Mark had the funny car pedal down for a 0.919 but an 0.009 reaction and a 0.950 virtually made a near perfect finish for the HQ, only a hundredth of a second off the ultimate pace set. AA/FCs made a match race pass with the Britten Funny Car and the 'Greene Machine' struggling for all-out pace with times of mid 0.5s. Burnouts made for a fitting finale with Chris Wilkinson's Funny Car and Dave Hunter's Supercharged Outlaw Ford truck smoking them up in style side-by-side with Chris winning with a massive flame-out of his motor. 9/6/2006 - Week 14 - Mark gets the business done With the 1:1 scale Winternationals at Willowbank in the Eastern States plus some local race action robbing us of a few racers, 23 cars were entered for the usual Main Event dial-in race. No AA/FC match racing or other sideshows turned out afterwards, all agreeing to have an early finish to proceedings. The final was yet again a Mark John and Chad Raven affair, this time in different circumstances. The John Hot Rod was consistent and very fast in the top end of the track. Chad made it to the finals with the John Player Special Pontiac B/Gas, but had a few red lights along the way. Dial-ins for the car were 0.900 for the Hot Rod and 0.915 for the Gasser, both drivers reckoning on a super close finish at the line. But Chad reacted too fast to the light and took a red light with him. Mark decided it was still a good time to test the much faster dial-in and performed well with a 0.940. If Chad reacted on cue though, his 0.920 could have been unbeatable. Highlight of the night was Dean O'Hara arriving for the first time since October. Although no cars had accompanied him on the trip, he guest-drove a few cars and got back into the swing of things quickly. Hopefully we will see him once more in proper race action very soon. 2/6/2006 - Week 13 - Chad has the Riviera touch, takes win from Yahoo! 24 drag cars turned out for one of the quieter race nights seen so far, but the action was no less exciting to watch. With glue conditions perfectly set for record times, the B/Gas of Chad Raven was to pair wit "Yahoo!" in his X/Mod Ferrari. With Italian passion versus American brawn, it was going down to the wire. Dial-in times were 1.050 for "Yahoo!" and 0.930 for Team Zero. "Yahoo!" left the line first, but his 1.114 time was not going to stop Chad's 0.955 this time around. The Main Event was on it's own this time with no major grudge matches or sideshows afterwards. "Miyagi" got some testing under his belt for his AA/FC, TA/FC and the "Miyaglia". With Jonno claiming the F/Gas record in his Beetle, there was no backup needed. 26/5/2006 - Week 12 - Mark's Mercury second final, first win By Dave Hunter Week 12 of drag racing and an exciting array of cars arrived to claim bragging rights for the week. 28 cars were to be found in pitlane, making up another healthy grid for the race. Finals time produced a quality couple of cars with Mark's mercurial Mercury making it's second finals appearance in as many races. Chad's JPS Pontiac is a veteran of the drag scene, but still pulled plenty of punch to get to the end round. Mark took a dial-in of 1.100 for his custom car and Chad plumped for an 0.890 for the big Pontiac. The race was close to the end, with Chad redlighting and the Mercury breaking out with a 1.080, but the Mercury wins on the infamous 'first to worst' rule, which classes redlights as more of a bigger felony than going too fast. Mark was pleased with the result and thoughts now go to the Mercury on which official class to go in after starting its career in Experimental mode. AA/FCs proved to be a winner on the night also, with a three-way match race between Craig, Shane and "Miyagi". Shane beat "Miyagi" 2-1 on his best form ever, while the Britten FC took in some testing before it's motor service. You can tell winter is around the corner when the lighter fluid comes out, and this week's targets couldn't have come any larger. Shane's "Indonesian Express" bus was the first one off the rank, as it's Group 12 was in it's dying throes with smoke billowing under it. Then the sideshow took on a twist with the Davidson Wrecker being pointed at with many fingers. Strapped on to Dave's SC/O chassis with tape, the car was set on fire twice and driven to the end of the track. Amazingly, the popstick truck (believe it) not only survived it both times, but will be set on fire again in the next week. It shows how strongly built it was for the Destruction Derby of 2004. 19/5/2006 - Week 11 - Little Jase on top of the podium By Dave Hunter Another dry night proved to be a welcome boost to the event with an entry list of 33 to qualify and race. With the "Miyagi" cars a no show this week, traction was at it's best for the usual medium pace entrants and no serious problems with launching reported. The racing was close as ever, with the new rules for the "only one car in the final round per person" taking effect for the first time since it's introduction a few weeks ago. Jason Hunter made both cars into the final, but elected the Hot Rod up for finals duty this time round. With Mark John with the '49 and Dave Hunter with the Red Baron BMW losing to Jason's cars in the semi round, they 'faced off' for the open berth. Mark John won through with the custom car so it was game on to see the winner of Week 11. Jason and the Hot Rod were electing for a 0.960 dial-in and the black Mercury a 1.100 expected result. It came unstuck for the '49 as a red light lost it the round so it's time of 1.015 was not going to take anything away from Jason, who upon seeing the light eased off at the line as a 1.1 time lit up the timing monitor. As the AA/FC show featured together during the race, no match race was held afterwards. The cars were very close in elapsed time, showing the Greene Machine and the Britten Funny Car to be close rivals. Other race moments included the match of Taylor John with the '55 Bel Air and the Craig Britten AA/Fuel Top Fueller during the first round. Taylor shook the tyres on launching sending the '55 out of it's lane and heading over towards a momentarily distracted Craig starting after the Bel Air. The Top Fueller somehow found extra millimetres to avoid the still-traveling Bel Air and carried on like nothing had happened. The Bel Air came to rest next to the lane 1 wall, lucky to emerge unscathed from what could have been a certain hit. No records were broken and apart from the photos on the News page, no update to the photo page has been made. Site contributions by Dave Hunter, Chad Raven, Craig and Tina Britten, Jason Hunter and Jason Farrell.
A DHV Web Productions site (c)2006 Information updated daily where possible.
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