BALLISTIC DRAG RACING 2022-2023

Ballistic Drag Racing Looking for Another 6-Second Run

Coming to a close – heading up North for the Championship decider!

The 2022-2023 ADRC season has so far seen us travel from one end of Australia to the other. Both to the North and West with 16 thousand miles traveled over the year!

There has certainly been some ups and downs with the loss of two engines at the Goldenstates in November and some tricky trailer malfunctions. The highlights are several PBs, the most recent the 6!

We are looking forward to the last round of the ADRC Top Fuel Bike Championship which will be the championship decider at the Triple Crown in Darwin.

With a lead of 47 points, Benny Stevens is hot on my tail with his 287 points to my 334. I am just going to go to Darwin doing what I have been doing– being consistent and cutting good lights. I will be trying for some more 6-second passes and if everything goes to plan it should all fall into place.

That time I ran a 6!

A goal that I set myself a long time ago was to be the first Australian to run a 6 second pass on a Nitrous bike. Last month in Sydney at the Nitro Champs ADRC round I finally achieved that goal.

I was taking my morning walk on the track and talking to our good friend, Bruce Sauer. We were bouncing around some ideas and speaking about how we have run quick at some of the 1/8 mile tracks like Portland and Mildura, but just couldn’t get it together on the quarter mile. Bruce asked what had I changed and I said nothing other than ramping the NOS in quicker. ‘Right’ he said ‘then let’s bring it in slower like you do at the 1/8 mile tracks and see what happens’. Back at the pits I put a call into Katie at home and we agreed it was worth a try.

Round 1 we had John Zarra. I had run 7.03 in qualifying and John was testing out a new cylinder head– if he got things together I would have been toast! We were third pairing and Chris Matheson was in front of us. I was trying to focus on my own race but was keen to see what Chris was going to do chasing that elusive 5. I had no idea he was about to change history for Australian Drag Bike racing and as I sat there I got to witness Chris run his first 5-second pass. I was so happy for him and whilst I was trying to get ready for my run found myself more emotional about Chris. I told my crew to start the bike as I felt like I might cry joyfully.

With my emotion under control, we fired the bike, and I did a burnout and headed into stage with no idea about what was about to happen for me. I think I rushed and the tree came down and off I went!

With an 0.44 light, the bike felt so smooth and straight. I knew I had laid down a good pass I didn’t realise how good it was. 6.94 at 187mph– woohoo!

As the season draws to a close, I would like to say special thanks to my wife Katie for being there for the last 23 years of my racing and thanks to all my crew; my nephew Shaun, the Sobolewskis in Sydney, and our cousins in South Australia.

To all our sponsors who have supported us this season; POWERPLUS Race Fuels, Denso Auto Parts Australia, Force Wear Group, Ballistic Performance Parts, Shinko Tyres Australia, Lucas Oil Nolan X-Lite, EK Race Chains, Lectron Carbs Australia, Firecore50, Andrews Automotives, ABS Moorabin, Cabworx, and Nitrous Express I can’t thank you enough for your continued support.

I was thrilled with my achievement. Now I want to back it up at the next opportunity.

#StayTuned

Next event Info:

• Nitro Up North https://www.topfuelchampionship.com.au/
• June 16-17, 2023
• Hidden Valley Drag Strip