SWAN HILL

AFTER a 400km trek through the night (including smashing millions of bugs), the weather conditions at Swan Hill for Day Two were beaut. Warm daytime temperatures with overcast skies kept the track surface from heating up too quickly, although it seemed like every fly in Australia had descended on Swan Hill Dragway!

The Haltech Radial Blown class was on it from the outset. Mark Drew nailed a 7.85@177mph, Lorenzo Gullotto ran a 7.72@180mph for a new PB in his completely rebuilt VL Calais, Adam Rogash laid down a 7.88@168mph, and Frank Marchese pushed a 7.79@152mph despite having the ’chutes out at 330m!

It took John Ricca a few runs to get his BT1 VL dialled, but he wound up laying down an 8.08@171mph to sit second in Turbosmart Outlaw Blown, and sixth Outright.

Bubba Medlyn’s Swan Hill curse continued as he trashed another gearbox and had to withdraw from competition, while Brendan Cherry’s turbo big-block VL buckled a head gasket after running 8.30@160mph.

Harry Haig had the Shonky HQ set on kill, going 7.69@182mph to retain the lead in Turbosmart Outlaw Blown and Outright.

Tuff Mounts Outlaw Aspirated was down to 10 competitors on Day Two, with Bushy Busscher’s Tonner the quickest with a 9.93@133mph. That wasn’t enough to overhaul Daniel Cassar’s ’32 coupe in the class standings thanks to a 10.01@130mph. Paul Wood and his 355ci stroker LJ Torana locked down third with a 10.13@132mph.

Al Vella extended his Pacemaker Radial Aspirated class lead

ABOVE: Keith Hards’s big-block Camaro was a quick throw-together package for DC after an 11-year hiatus from racing. Keith and his son drove effortlessly on the road and ran consistent low 10s all week, until Keith rammed it into the 9sec club with a PB of 9.98@135mph on the final day at Calder Frank Marchese made three passes on Day Two, none of which returned the numbers he was hoping for, but a 7.79 pulling the ’chutes early as he headed for the centre line was enough to keep front-runner Harry Haig honest. Harry kept his lead until we returned to Swan Hill on Day Four.