Justin Walshe (Cackling Pipes)
Race fans have delighted in all that the National Drag Racing Championship (NDRC) has to offer today with epic performances from Nitro Funny Cars, Top Doorslammers, Top Fuel Motorcycles and the Aeroflow National Sportsman Series ensuring the 20,000+ strong crowd on-track and the many watching live on 7plus were captivated from start to finish.
With Nitro Funny Car making its debut at the recently opened venue, Justin Walshe took home the bragging rights and the NDRC Christmas Tree for the flame-throwing bracket with a hole-shot win (better reaction time) over championship leader, Morice McMillin.
His win with a 5.012 second pass at 494.78kph over McMillin’s 4.989/478.87kph effort in what was a side-by-side full flames pass had the crowd on their feet and will tighten up the championship points significantly as the Nitro Funny Car championship surpasses its mid-point.
“I had a real crack at the tree, I knew that Morice was having problems, and we knew we had the quicker car, but we have also had some tricky conditions across the class today. I kind of flirted with it (a red light) a bit but we got it done and that is what matters,” said Walshe, who had a brilliant 0.002 reaction time.
“This is all about the team, this isn’t me, this is the team, I can’t do this without every single person on our crew, my wife Karen, everyone that helps. There are so many guys and girls, and kids and husbands and wives, and we can’t do it without any of them, even the people at home. And my staff at Harts Paint Supplies, without them this can’t happen.
“When we come back to South Australia we will be turning it on again and it should be a good show for everyone.”
It wasn’t the first time today that Walshe and McMillin had faced off against each other, with the pair putting on a tremendous side-by-side pass in the first round in the crystal clear summer afternoon conditions, with McMillin that time pulling away to take the win with a 4.998 second pass at 444.65kph to Walshe’s 5.315 effort with a thrown blower belt, despite having a cylinder go out at 300ft.
McMillin was happy for his Nitro Funny Car comrade, but also devastated.
“It has been awesome. I am so stocked for Walshey but at the same time gutted to lose it, and it tightens the championship battle right up. Bring on Willowbank!” McMillin said.
“I have had a shocker of a day, but what do you do. We are fighting for a championship, but it is all about these people on the hill and what is better than Nitro Funny Cars hey, not much else beats it!”
The B Final came down to McMillin’s team-mate Brandon Gosbell in the Rocket Industries Nitro Funny Car on a solo, with a 5.269 second pass at 240.83mph seeing him take home third place for the event despite the second half of his run being exceptionally smokey due to a suspected torched piston.
Earlier in the day, Gosbell – the top qualifier for the third time – had temporarily celebrated what was mistakenly thought to be a world record time in round two after another round one push back due to issues after the burnout where he couldn’t select reverse. However, it was soon discovered that the time recorded was actually incorrect due to a fault with the timing system’s guard beam. Even so, it was an exceptionally staunch pass from the ‘One Bad Kiwi’ and still saw him take a win over McMillin to clinch his B-Final spot.
Anthony Begley had another difficult weekend at the track, forced to thrash overnight to bring his Chemical Warfare Nitro Funny Car up to speed for round one, where he ran a half track pass on a solo when Gosbell was unable to run, before going into the sand at the end of his round two run when the throttle once again stuck open following a great drive job down the track – something that had happened during qualifying the day before. He was therefore unable to front of the B-Final.
National Drag Racing Championship (NDRC)
