FIRE STARTERS
Speed demons light up Hidden Valley
RACE day at Nitro Up North delivered action aplenty in front of a thousands-strong crowd at Hidden Valley Drag Strip last night.
As the opening round of the 400 Thunder Professional Drag Racing Series and the Summit Sportsman Series, Nitro Up North saw Darwin become a focal point for revheads from across the nation.
The first round of Top Fuel saw Mark Sheehan narrowly avoid the wall, and opponent Terry Sainty, when he spun the tyres part way through his run. Sheehan crossed into Sainty’s lane, but fortunately after Sainty was already well ahead. In the same round, Peter Xiberras tore past Kelly Bettes just before the finish line with a top end charge of 498kmh, as both drivers recorded times in the four second zone.
Before racing, Bettes was hopeful of a track record speed of over 530kmh. The record is held by the team she now drives for, Lamattina Top Fuel Racing.
“We are looking to do that and better, looking at resetting the track record is something we will all be aiming for,” she said.
The Darwin track didn’t disappoint, though she was unable to clinch the record early.
“The speed is mind blowing, it’s so fast it takes your mind a little while to catch up to yourself in the run,” she said. “It really threw me back into the seat when I launched.”
Darwin’s Scott MacLean advanced through the first round of Pro Slammer, taking out Sydney’s Sam Fenech, while new track record holder, Perth’s John Zappia, also moved into the semi finals by knocking out fellow sandgroper Mark Chapman. Pro Slammer rookie Paul Mahouyet t belted out a new personal best 5.75 sec. as last year’s winner Gary Phillips also found form, defeating Pino Priolo.