Sticky track results in personal best times at CQDRA champs

Competitors travelled from Brisbane and around the state for the final round of the CQDRA 2020 championship.

Benaraby dragway legend Trevor Ballinger was presented with a trophy from the Australian National Drag Racing Association for his tireless efforts in looking after the track and facilities. Picture: Rodney Stevens

A STICKY track provided good traction for some racers to set personal best times on Saturday at the final found of the Central Queensland Drag Racing Association championship.

Competitors travelled from Brisbane and around the state to enjoy some full throttle action in cars, motorcycles and junior dragsters.

Legendary Australian dragracers Ben Bray and Terry Seng made the journey to the Benaraby strip so their children could compete in the highly competitive junior dragster class.

Seng told The Observer he chose not to compete in this weekends’s Street Machine’s Drag Challenge Weekend at Willowbank and Warwick, as his son Caleb was ‘in the points’.

His decision paid off as Caleb took the win in the junior dragster class over Kilarney Back.

John Bayliss made the trip to CQ from Goodna with his impressive ‘Cranky N Broke’ funny car.

After hurting an engine during Friday night’s demonstration pass, Bayliss and his team worked overtime, rebuilding the supercharged Hemi engine in 24 hours, to wow the crowd again on Saturday.

CQDRA president Mike Gawley said 75 racers hit the track, of which 44 were motorcycles and 10 were junior dragsters.

Mr Gawley said hard work on track preparation by Ian Wex, Trevor Ballinger and Jordan Wex made for what racers described as the best track all year.

“They all got together and spent the past few days rubbing it to prep the track and they set up the spray nozzle on the traction compound, so I believe it was the best traction we had all year,” he said.

“Everybody was pleased with the result, the bike guys were happy, the car guys were happy, and there was a pile of personal best times.”

There was plenty of close racing to keep spectators happy, with commentator Shannon ‘Shagga’ Matheson calling several races that came down to hundredths of a second.

Todd Marshall and Jordon Wex were the fastest competitors in the Outlaw class, running a side by side eight second pass, both cars crossing the line at more than 150 mph.

Both racers cut their personal best times on the night, Todd with an 8.70 second pass at 156mph and Jordan with an 8.85 second time at 151 mph.

The battle of the junior dragsters was the most competitive it had been all season.

“Those are very powerful racing teams, they are really professional teams with a lot of experience to run those junior drag cars,” Mr Gawley said.

“The competition is starting to spread like a virus.

“People are hearing that we’ve got a good thing going.

“The people have got good attitudes and we’ve got a very happy group of racers.

“It’s good strong competition and it’s just building and building.

“And we never anticipated it building like that.

“It can be an expensive sport, and they are just kids, but the teams take it very seriously.”

The last event at Benaraby dragway for 2020 will be the come and try day, followed by the Christmas party on December 12.

To keep updated with all the drag racing action at Benaraby Dragway, visit the Central Queensland Drag Racing Association Facebook page.

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