Nitro Voodoo Scorches New Look Benaraby All Bike
Photo courtesy of Russell Minter www.unclerustysphotos.net

Australian Champions, Nitro Voodoo Top Fuel Motorcycle Team ventured north from their Brisbane base in Queensland to run the new 1/8 mile Benaraby All bike in Central Queensland.

The Benaraby All Bike is a hard core Motorcycle Drag Racers annual meeting, where all makes of motorcycles compete for the win.

Benaraby Raceway had recently held the popular Slam Fest for Top Doorslammers the weekend before for the first time on the recently completed concrete half track quarter mile raceway.

After a massive result the weekend prior with Doorslammers, it was the All Bike Meet that attracted Chris Matheson and his Championship winning Nitro Voodoo Team to Benaraby. Matheson was there to run exhibition passes for the crowd, which saw a massive 176 entries over the one day race meeting. Motorcycle enthusiasts travelled from all walks of life to either compete or enjoy the atmosphere. Many spectators and racers arriving Friday and camping over the weekend in an idyllic bush setting, only 15 minutes from nearby Tannum Sands and the Pacific Ocean.

Matheson said he had run the All Bike many many years ago, when the track was in its infancy on an old Honda 1100 RB street bike for a little fun. That was over the quarter and in those days, your biggest concern was a close encounter with a Kangaroo in the breaking area. The track was literally carved out of the bush, with thick scrub surrounding, however, was a whole lot of fun.

The track has now been transformed, with many new improvements including concrete surface to half track, which we understand will be extended to the quarter mile in the not too distant future. This will make it the first all concrete track in Australia and will attract some major events to the area, without question.

The Nitro Voodoo Team arrived Friday, setting up in anticipation of the Saturday event. Matheson said “we were programmed to run two passes in the morning and another two in the afternoon, which enabled local mine shift workers the opportunity to at least see the morning or afternoon passes”.

“We weren’t here to make a little noise and burn up a few rear tyres, we were chasing numbers and we were all in race mode”.

“We were chasing sub four second runs, aiming at 200mph, however, mindful we were starting with a blank sheet on data for the track, as it was a first time run on the Fuel Bike. We have run over 200 mph in under 4 seconds in the past and keen to replicate exactly that at Benaraby”.

The first run or shakedown run was simple that, we had not run the bike since winning the Winternationals and the Championship back in June, so it was a first hit out. The track was good with lots of rubber from the car meet the weekend prior and the bike took off. We took the first two runs easy, as we were still getting a handle on the setup and the breaking zone down the other end. Pass three resulted in a 4.07 at 188 mph, which was getting up there, but still not where we were hoping to get. The Doorslammers, a week prior, had hit a similar number with quickest ET’s around the 3.8 – 3.9 second zone (180- 190 mph) and we wanted to at least match them.

Despite all our efforts our best result was a 4.07 ET and 188 mph at the 1/8 beam. After the last pass around 5.30pm, we received a huge applause and decided to turn the bike around and show the crowd some night flames to finish off a great day.

On the last pass Matheson punched out a massive burnout, cracking the throttle at the hit with two further big stabs well past the 60 ft mark, much to the amusement of the appreciative crowd. The last pass didn’t result in a quicker time, however, left a big smile on fans and racers alike.

Matheson said “it was a great meeting and one we were proud to be involved in. We treated it as a race day final, running 5 passes, the first 4 within a 2 hour turn around and the last within an hour. Five passes in seven hours is a big deal, especially on one of these machines, where Nitro is involved, the Team excelled as they always do.

We had a ball, meeting new fans and racers alike, the track was great and the venue excellent. The hospitality was sensational and we look forward to racing there again soon. We have to say that the track, all the officials, volunteers, firey’s and emergency crews did an excellent job. Special thanks to Mark Watson from Benaraby Raceway, who was instrumental in organizing the meeting and his son Campbell, who crewed for us and did and excellent job.

As always, we would like to thank our Sponsors & Supporters:
WebCam, Red Line Oils, RB Performance, Rocket Industries, CRC Industries, PDS Graphics, Kitten Car Care Products, GT Radiators & Machining, Hi-Side Leathers, PR Factory Store Larry “Spiderman” McBride & Steve McBride.
Most of all, thanks to the fans and fellow racers that attended the Benaraby All Bike.,

Nitro Voodoo Website: www.nitrovoodoo.com.au