The race came in the final round of a fantastic Top Doorslammer bracket with Ben Bray running a 6.06sec. time for victory in his Super Cheap Auto 1957 Chev while Brett Stevens lost with a 6.09sec. run from the Jack Daniel’s 1953 Studebaker.

In an event of big numbers it was Gary Phillips and the Lucas Oils Studebaker setting tongues wagging in qualifying after a 6.03sec. shot.

Bray was concerned about the form Phillips was showing.

“To sit there and watch Gary run 6.03, a tenth quicker than anyone else, you couldn’t think of a worse position to be in,” said Bray, who also had one eye on the championship which he could mathematically wrap up with three rounds remaining.

“I was really starting to mess the driving up, I had to defeat myself.”

Stevens wasn’t exactly free of distraction either, the multi-talented racer had Top Bike to worry about too. He managed to take a win in the eight-bike field, some reward after the disappointment of a Top Doorslammer runner up.

Stevens was glad to be back to old form after a difficult season including several non-qualifiers.

“We’re back,” he said, “We were trying to run a lock up clutch and just couldn’t get it to work so we went back to our normal set up.”

Stevens is also confident in the ability of his nitro bikes.

“We’re working on a new ignition, hopefully once we get that we’ll go a lot faster.”

Bray has a substantial lead in the Top Doorslammer championship and now only needs to qualify at the next round to clinch the title.

Stevens will extend his margin on team mate Troy McLean in the Top Bike series.

Standring all smiles

Syd Standring had a very good day out in Top Bike with a runner up trophy going his way.

Standring was aboard a new bike and returning to competition after a year’s break.

He managed to get past tough West Australian runner Kim Stevens in the first round after Stevens’ bike began to run on only one cylinder shortly after leaving the start line. He then faced another local in Mark Drew but it became a one horse race when Drew shut off after the burnout with problems.

The final was too much of an ask with Brett Stevens taking the win but Standring left with a smile on his face nonetheless.

Tough days

Two West Australian Top Doorslammer racers had tough Sundays after very different but equally as unique incidents.

Robin Judd was the first victim, he experienced severe tyre shake in round one of competition that broke the rear end in the car and sent it on a crab crawl down the track.

John Zappia lost in the first round after a 6.14sec. to 6.10sec. race with eventual runner up Brett Stevens so he came out later in the night to do a test run. It almost proved disastrous when at over 340km/h his car drifted across the centreline. Zappia wrenched it back into his own lane but just tagged the wall, scarring his new Rentco sponsorship on the side of the car.

Who said drag racers always go in straight lines?

Heartfelt records

Sentimental favourites to win Competition at the Westernationals were the McSweeney racing team.

The week leading up to the event was very tough when crew member Shane had a motorcycle accident putting him on life support and team owner Brendan McSweeney experienced a real scare when he found out he was allergic to penicillin…the hard way.

So with Shane’s family watching on the team pulled out all stops and demolished the BB/Altered Production national record with a 6.68sec. compared to the old record of 7.03sec. They also took out the speed mark but unfortunately lost in the second round to Wayne Keys.

The 34^th Westernationals held on the weekend climaxed with the quickest ever side-by-side Top Doorslammer race.

The race came in the final round of a fantastic Top Doorslammer bracket with Ben Bray running a 6.06sec. time for victory in his Super Cheap Auto 1957 Chev while Brett Stevens lost with a 6.09sec. run from the Jack Daniel’s 1953 Studebaker.

In an event of big numbers it was Gary Phillips and the Lucas Oils Studebaker setting tongues wagging in qualifying after a 6.03sec. shot.

Bray was concerned about the form Phillips was showing.

“To sit there and watch Gary run 6.03, a tenth quicker than anyone else, you couldn’t think of a worse position to be in,” said Bray, who also had one eye on the championship which he could mathematically wrap up with three rounds remaining.

“I was really starting to mess the driving up, I had to defeat myself.”

Stevens wasn’t exactly free of distraction either, the multi-talented racer had Top Bike to worry about too. He managed to take a win in the eight-bike field, some reward after the disappointment of a Top Doorslammer runner up.

Stevens was glad to be back to old form after a difficult season including several non-qualifiers.

“We’re back,” he said, “We were trying to run a lock up clutch and just couldn’t get it to work so we went back to our normal set up.”

Stevens is also confident in the ability of his nitro bikes.

“We’re working on a new ignition, hopefully once we get that we’ll go a lot faster.”

Bray has a substantial lead in the Top Doorslammer championship and now only needs to qualify at the next round to clinch the title.

Stevens will extend his margin on team mate Troy McLean in the Top Bike series.

Standring all smiles

Syd Standring had a very good day out in Top Bike with a runner up trophy going his way.

Standring was aboard a new bike and returning to competition after a year’s break.

He managed to get past tough West Australian runner Kim Stevens in the first round after Stevens’ bike began to run on only one cylinder shortly after leaving the start line. He then faced another local in Mark Drew but it became a one horse race when Drew shut off after the burnout with problems.

The final was too much of an ask with Brett Stevens taking the win but Standring left with a smile on his face nonetheless.

Tough days

Two West Australian Top Doorslammer racers had tough Sundays after very different but equally as unique incidents.

Robin Judd was the first victim, he experienced severe tyre shake in round one of competition that broke the rear end in the car and sent it on a crab crawl down the track.

John Zappia lost in the first round after a 6.14sec. to 6.10sec. race with eventual runner up Brett Stevens so he came out later in the night to do a test run. It almost proved disastrous when at over 340km/h his car drifted across the centreline. Zappia wrenched it back into his own lane but just tagged the wall, scarring his new Rentco sponsorship on the side of the car.

Who said drag racers always go in straight lines?

Heartfelt records

Sentimental favourites to win Competition at the Westernationals were the McSweeney racing team.

The week leading up to the event was very tough when crew member Shane had a motorcycle accident putting him on life support and team owner Brendan McSweeney experienced a real scare when he found out he was allergic to penicillin…the hard way.

So with Shane’s family watching on the team pulled out all stops and demolished the BB/Altered Production national record with a 6.68sec. compared to the old record of 7.03sec. They also took out the speed mark but unfortunately lost in the second round to Wayne Keys.

CC/CB clash

What happens when you have two racers who both desperately want a national record for their class? Instant entertainment.

Glen Higgins and Greg Durack traded blows all weekend aboard their CC/Competition Bikes.

Durack seemed to have it wrapped up after a top qualifying 7.73sec. aboard his turbo Kawasaki, but when he got into eliminations he couldn’t back it up, though the 8.23sec. run he made was still under the record. This left Higgins to run a 7.88sec. and a 7.96sec., the latter becoming the record because of the one per cent back up rule.

As if someone was conducting Comp Bike to a script the two met in the semi finals, Higgins took bragging rights with a win but couldn’t defeat Ray Easson in the final after a red light and a nitrous backfire all in the same run.

What happens when you have two racers who both desperately want a national record for their class? Instant entertainment.

Glen Higgins and Greg Durack traded blows all weekend aboard their CC/Competition Bikes.

Durack seemed to have it wrapped up after a top qualifying 7.73sec. aboard his turbo Kawasaki, but when he got into eliminations he couldn’t back it up, though the 8.23sec. run he made was still under the record. This left Higgins to run a 7.88sec. and a 7.96sec., the latter becoming the record because of the one per cent back up rule.

As if someone was conducting Comp Bike to a script the two met in the semi finals, Higgins took bragging rights with a win but couldn’t defeat Ray Easson in the final after a red light and a nitrous backfire all in the same run.