DAY 3 CLASS LEADERS
Haltech Radial Blown: Frank Marchese – 19.488 Turbosmart Outlaw Blown: Harry Haig – 19.377 Pacemaker Radial Aspirated: Alon Vella – 23.376 Tuff Mounts Outlaw Aspirated: Daniel Cassar – 26.239 K&N DYO: Alysha Teale – -0.00708
AFTER another 300km trip through rural Victoria at the end of Day Three, everyone was frothing to be back at Swan Hill as the crew there had spent all Wednesday prepping the track, and it looked awesome. Cool temperatures and a bit of a breeze kept the flies to a minimum in the morning and the expectations were that we’d see some big numbers.
Al Vella extended his lead in Pacemaker Radial Aspirated with the quickest naturally aspirated pass ever recorded in Drag Challenge history – a ridiculous 8.69@152mph – pushing him almost four seconds clear of Dylan Mcgavigan’s Cortina in second place.
Dylan, third-placed Peter Haravitsidis and fourth-placed Nathan Ghosn were split by just 0.141 seconds. Peter had a scary moment after a jammed throttle nearly threw his immaculate XY Falcon into the wall after the finish line. He managed to turn in a 9.87@136mph timeslip to retain third spot in the class, ahead of Nathan.
While there were only seven entrants remaining in Tuff Mounts Outlaw Aspirated by Day Four, they all made it from Mildura back to Swan Hill. Daniel Cassar’s ’32 three-window coupe struggled with grip but banked a 9.86@130mph timeslip to hold the class lead, ahead of Bushy Busscher’s HQ Tonner.
Bushy threw down a 9.94@131mph but battled fuel pump issues, while Jon Mitchell’s epic big-inch purple Dodge Challenger sat in third thanks to a 10.64@124mph.
K&N Dial Your Own had seen three class leaders in
AL VELLA EXTENDED HIS LEAD IN PACEMAKER RADIAL ASPIRATED WITH THE QUICKEST NATURALLY ASPIRATED PASS EVER RECORDED IN DRAG CHALLENGE HISTORY – A RIDICULOUS 8.69@152MPH
three days. By stumps on Day Four it was Darren Parker and his 11.7-second VF SS Sportwagon topping the class on -0.007315, leading Paul Topping by just 0.00469 coming into the last day. The stage was set for an epic DYO finale.
The small-tyre, big-power crew in Haltech Radial Blown saw three cars running seven-second passes, with Lorenzo Gullotto running a new PB for his charcoal VL Calais, stopping the clocks at 7.65@180mph.
Not to be outdone, Adam Rogash pulled two high-seven-second passes, turning in a 7.78@179mph, but the ALLSHOW VK broke a converter after leaving Swan Hill. They managed to get it fixed and made it back to Calder Park.
In Turbosmart Outlaw Blown, John Ricca’s VL BT1 cracked a seven; the first time a six pot-powered car has managed to do so at Drag Challenge. The Rb-powered VL busted out a 7.9@171mph early in the day, with John holding at least 15psi worth of boost up his sleeve for Calder.
Harry Haig had everyone on their feet, running a 7.50@174mph with the front wheels of POP666 off the deck. While he cemented his lead of Turbosmart Outlaw Blown, it wasn’t quite enough to hang onto the Outright lead.
In the end, the day belonged to Frank Marchese and FAIRXW. Frank stopped everyone in their tracks late in the day with the quickest and fastest pass we’ve seen at Drag Challenge, ever.
Having struggled with overpowering the track in his first few passes of the day, the Dandy Engines legend returned as the clock wound down to 3pm and belted out a wild 7.36@192mph to take the Outright lead by 0.02 seconds heading into the final day.