THE anticipation heading into the final day of DCW ’22 couldn’t have been higher, with just 0.005sec separating Adam Rogash and Mark Whitla on the overall leaderboard after two days of white-knuckle racing and nearly 1000km of backbreaking road torture.
Speed Pro’s Marcus Cripps was nipping at their heels in third spot in his XD Falcon, with Luke Foley just behind in fourth and also challenging Adam Rogash for the Haltech Radial Blown class crown.
Racing kicked off at 10am Sunday back at Heathcote, with a bumper crowd packed in and around the reinvigorated HPR track to get a glimpse of their DC heroes. The cooler morning air took the edge out of the sun and gave us some stonking pace right out of the blocks.
Luke Foley’s VH Commodore threw down the gauntlet early with the quickest pass of the entire weekend – 7.68@183mph – as he threw everything he could at the track to try and grab the overall win.
Marcus Cripps was similarly keen to get a balls-outs pass in before the track suffered heat soak, declaring that he was going to go all-in on his first run to slam-dunk the Speed Pro Six-cylinder class win. He did just that, running an 8.03@173mph, and second-placed six-pot combatant Ben Neal couldn’t match it.
The battle for the outright win between Adam Rogash and Mark Whitla got off to a blinder as well, with Mark’s nitrous big-block Chev-powered Capri laying down a 7.97@169mph – his first seven of the weekend. Adam responded with a pair of 7.87s in his MPW Performance-built VK Commodore to keep his edge, while Luke Foley was looming in the background, with everyone very much aware that a pass in the 7.40s could leapfrog him to the top.
The lanes were chock-a-block right up until the 4pm cut-off, including all the front-runners as they put it all on the line for Drag Challenge glory.
RIGHT UP UNTIL THE 4PM CUT-OFF, THE FRONT-RUNNERS PUT IT ALL ON THE LINE FOR DRAG CHALLENGE GLORY
In the end, Adam and his ALLSHOW VK secured the overall win, as well as the top gong in Haltech Radial Blown and the Quickest Ls-powered award. “It was a hard weekend; there were awesome competitors and everyone gave it their all,” said Adam. “Like anything, you don’t think it’s as hard as what it is until you do it, so I don’t think it’s really going to sink in until later in the week.”
While Mark Whitla was pipped at the post for the overall title, the Tasmanian still had a bunch of cabinet-stuffers to keep his second overall trophy company. He scored top spot in Turbosmart Outlaw Blown and also picked up the Quickest Without A Trailer and Quickest Chev-powered awards – not to mention a Seven-seven Club hat.
Luke Foley had to settle for third overall and second in the Haltech Radial Blown ranks, but his blistering 7.68@183mph also gave him the Quickest Pass and Fastest MPH awards. “It was really soft in the front half of the track, and it should have done that kind of time on Friday,” the DC veteran said. “I reckon it had a 7.4 in it if I could get it moving in the front half of the track and it didn’t get too greasy.”
The full-fat, five-day Drag Challenge will be back later in the year, and is already sold out, with 300 entrants set to do battle. Keep an eye on streetmachine.com.au for details on tracks and dates.
IN THE END, ADAM ROGASH AND HIS ALLSHOW VK SECURED THE OVERALL WIN AND THE TOP GONG IN HALTECH RADIAL BLOWN