HANGIN’ TUFFST
WHEN it comes to burnout comps, nothing compares to the intensity of Street Machine Summernats. It draws the toughest cars and ballsiest drivers from around Australia, and, since only 10 can make it into the Burnout Masters finals, shedloads of quality combos spill over into the main Burnout Championship, which means the competition is always fierce.
David Serone’s red supercharged smallblock Chev-powered one-tonner opened the show with big revs and chunky plumes. A near-perfect start culminated in David banging the rear tyres off while jammed against the fence in front of the crowd.
With another 80 cars in the queue behind him, Greg Burkinshaw from the NSW Central Coast glued the tacho of his supercharged 383ci Clevo in the red. The 6/71 blower and alcohol carbs were a new addition to the ZJ Fairlane, but unfortunately it ran out of steam mid-show.
It was weird to see Mick Brasher lined up in the regular burnout competition, as he is usually a strong Masters contender. Having rebuilt the ULEGAL Corolla mid-year due to a rollover, Mick’s fortunes failed to improve when the car didn’t respond on the approach to the pad and understeered towards the fence, putting him out of contention.
Former Summernats burnout winner Warren Eustace made his intentions clear from the outset in the mega-tough HQ WAZ308. The Supercar engine builder had his tune-up perfect and the 377ci supercharged, alcohol-injected, dry-sump small-block was singing its little heart out as Wazza drove the Holden’s wheels off. What a performance!
Phil Kerjean had declined a free Wildcard entry to the Masters, preferring to do it the hard way and skid back through the ranks. His qualifying burnout was probably one of his best, and he backed it up for the main event with a sold tip-in, clean rpm from the blown small-block Chev, and great use of the pad. It was the skid to measure all others by.
It was great to see the XC Cobra ute of Steve Edsall make a comeback with the new Bnr-built small-block Ford combination. With the tacho in the mid-7000rpm band, Steve ripped off one of his trademark insane burnouts, extra crispy. The screaming Windsor was deafening from go to whoa and the seasoned veteran could not have driven the car harder or smarter, keeping it out of the massive plume of smoke that jetted from the rear of the car. As good as it was, he was relegated to third place after Chris Orchard from Western Australia let rip in his ballistic VL Commodore. Talk about no mercy! The induction howl of the big Roots-style supercharger filled the burnout arena as the wild man from Geraldton wrote his name all over the pad.
When the scores were tallied Chris Orchard found himself in second place, squeezed between two hardened campaigners in Steve Edsall and the new Summernats 31 Burnout Champion, Phil Kerjean.