Video: Drag Challenge Weekend Victoria 2022 Day Three results

The anticipation heading into the final day of DCW ’22 couldn’t have been higher, with just 0.005sec separating Adam Rogash and Mark Whitla on the overall leaderboard after two days of white-knuckle racing and nearly 1000km of back-breaking road torture.

Speed Pro’s Marcus Cripps was nipping at their heels in third spot in his XD Falcon, with Luke Foley just behind in fourth and also challenging Adam Rogash for the Haltech Radial Blown class crown.

Racing kicked off at 10am Sunday back at Heathcote, with a bumper crowd packed in and around the reinvigorated HPR track to get a glimpse of their DC heroes. The cooler morning air took the edge out of the sun and gave us some stonking pace right out of the blocks.

Luke Foley’s VH Commodore threw down the gauntlet early with the quickest pass of the entire weekend – 7.68@183mph – as he threw everything he could at the track to try and grab the overall win.

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Marcus Cripps was similarly keen to get a balls-outs pass in before the track suffered heat soak, declaring that he was going to go all-in on his first run to slam-dunk the Speed Pro Six-Cylinder class win. He did just that, running an 8.03@173mph, and second-placed six-pot combatant Ben Neal couldn’t match it.

The battle for the outright win between Adam Rogash and Mark Whitla got off to a blinder as well, with Mark’s nitrous big-block Chev-powered Capri laying down a 7.97@169mph – his first seven of the weekend. Adam responded with a pair of 7.87s in his MPW Performance-built VK Commodore to keep his edge, while Luke Foley was looming in the background, with everyone very much aware that a pass in the 7.40s could leapfrog him to the top.

The lanes were chock-a-block right up until the 4pm cut-off, including all the front-runners as they put it all on the line for Drag Challenge glory.

In the end, Adam and his ALLSHOW VK secured the overall win, as well as the top gong in Haltech Radial Blown and the Quickest LS-Powered award. “It was a hard weekend; there were awesome competitors and everyone gave it their all,” said Adam. “Like anything, you don’t think it’s as hard as what it is until you do it, so I don’t think it’s really going to sink in until later in the week.”

While Mark Whitla was pipped at the post for the overall title, the Tasmanian still had a bunch of cabinet-stuffers to keep his second overall trophy company. He scored top spot in Turbosmart Outlaw Blown and also picked up the Quickest Without A Trailer and Quickest Chev-Powered awards – not to mention a Seven-Seven Club hat.

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Luke Foley had to settle for third overall and second in the Haltech Radial Blown ranks, but his blistering 7.68@183mph also gave him the Quickest Pass and Fastest MPH awards. “It was really soft in the front half of the track, and it should have done that kind of time on Friday,” the DC veteran said. “I reckon it had a 7.4 in it if I could get it moving in the front half of the track and it didn’t get too greasy.”

The full-fat, five-day Drag Challenge will be back later in the year, and is already sold out, with 300 entrants set to do battle.

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HIGHLIGHTS:

1. Tasmanian David Best had a strong Drag Challenge Weekend in his Commodore, running high eights and finishing fifth in Haltech Radial Blown.

2. “I’ve done a pair of 11.8s before lunch and now I don’t know what to do with myself,” laughed DC 2019 champion Harry Haig midway through Day Three. Running an LS-powered HG Kingswood wagon in Kool Wrap 235 Aspirated, Harry wasn’t used to the relaxed pace away from the big-dawg competition: “We spent two hours parked by the side of the road route yesterday playing footy and waiting for someone to come past!”

3. Donnie Zurcas fought issues with his Mk1 Capri throughout the event, but managed to get it to play ball long enough to keep the Kool Wrap 235 Aspirated lead all weekend and secure the class title over Tim Kohn’s HK Monaro. “I’m stoked to get the win, but I’m disappointed I didn’t get to run against Nathan Ghosn,” he said of his good mate, who had to pull out at the last minute.

4. Burnout legend Matt Watts had a great weekend in his stunning LX hatch. After doing some bush panel beating to squeeze in a set of 275s, his LSA-blown, LS2-powered hatch ran a best of 9.79 to finish in the Haltech Radial Blown Top 10 – and he did it all while sleeping each night in the back of the Torry’s iconic Hatch Hutch!

5. Alon Vella stomped home in the Pacemaker Radial Aspirated class to take out the category for the ninth straight time in his 8sec Mk1 Ford Capri. Damian Baker from BG Engines was with him for all nine of those victories, and was recognised for that effort, as well as for helping Mark Whitla’s crew this year, with the Spirit Of Drag Challenge award.

6. Daniel Cassar won the Outlaw Aspirated class at DC 2018 and has been a regular podium finisher in the category. He brought along an all-new ’33 Ford three-window for DCW ’22, and he put the fresh rig to good use by grabbing the top spot in the big-tyre class for the second time.

7. Jason Kenny and his stock-bottom-end, 6.0L LS-powered VN Commodore couldn’t be headed in Tuff Mounts 235 Blown, winning the class by a over a second. “I grenaded the engine a few weeks back, and we jammed this one in it with the S485 turbo, Boost Tee and stock LS computer,” Jason explained. “It is all slapped-together stuff, but I’d love to eventually see an 8.60 out of it.”

8. The Vibrant Performance DYO class can swing to anyone’s advantage in a blink, and that’s exactly what happened at DCW ’22. The class had a different leader at the end of each day, with Ayvon McLeod from MPW Performance jumping up seemingly out of nowhere in his striking ZL1 Camaro to claim the trophy and Vibrant Performance baseball bat!

9. Bryce Godfrey had a beaut weekend in his HJ GTS, its 600hp, 408ci Dart small-block Chev running like a dream at his first DC. “I had the Turbo 400 redone at Burko Transmissions just before the event, which is why it was leaving like that!” he said. The car has gone as good as 10.6, and he ran a best of 10.78@125mph on the final day to finish fifth in Pacemaker Radial Aspirated.

10. Tuff Mounts head honcho Jason Waye had a blinder of a Day Three in his FOXSAKE Mustang. “My ultimate goal for this iteration of the car was to run a 9.5, and we did a 9.4 today, which I couldn’t believe,” he said. “Now I have to figure out if I want to put a forged motor in it or keep pushing this combo.”

11. Ben Neal from Benny’s Custom Works had his Cresta turned up on Day Three, looking to cement second place in Speed Pro Six-Cylinder, while stablemate Ben Paganoni was chasing hard in his Barra Fox-body (above). Mr Neal’s 8.32@162mph was enough to give him the gap over Paga by the slimmest of margins, and they both also finished in the Top 10 overall.