We’re entering the final day of Drag Challenge 2022/23, fresh off the back of a massive night racing session at Heathcote Park Raceway.

The good news for weary racers and spectators alike is that the road legs are finished. That means entrants can start swinging for the wall without the prospect of nursing a wounded racecar halfway across the state.

On the other hand, there’s still a full day of racing left, and margins are tight across just about every class. Leaderboard shakeups are still on the cards for everybody from Haltech Radial Blown sluggers to the exacting precision of Vibrant Performance DYO.

Another bonus of getting back to HPR is seeing some retired cars have a non-competition blast down the ’strip, including Alex Margaritis’s LSX-motivated LC coupe.

Patchy rain was all over the Mildura-Heathcote route as we headed back through Victoria, though a blast of afternoon sun meant the quarter-mile was pretty much dry by the time racing started at 4pm.

Harry Haig’s still on top overall thanks to a 7.92@166mph, with about half a second over Chris Kaarsberg. The Queenslander has jumped to second place with his epic LX Torana sedan after handing in an 8.05@175mph.

Luke Foley employed a spot of bush mechanics when his VH Commodore hurt its valvetrain on the road, yanking the manifold in the middle of nowhere for some emergency surgery. It rolled into Heathcote Park under its own power, albeit sounding short a couple of cylinders.

The boys got straight into pulling and replacing the cam with a mystery unit and other bits they had on hand, and finally staged the car around 9pm. A test of the cam yielded a stonking 5.53 at half track, but Luke backed off on his final run for an 8.68 and ended up in fourth outright.

Valvetrain woes also hit the BOLICS Monaro, which Frank Marchese put down an elderly set of valve springs. The 540-cube Brodix fat-block runs a cam that’s softer on springs than that of its previous 632 Chev, so Frank’s confident a fresh set of springs will nix the problem. His last run of the night yielded a 7.85, the quickest pass of the week so far.

Queenslander Shane Baker is flying the flag for the Holden faithful, the turbocharged iron lion V8 keeping the big boys honest with a smattering of PBs during the night, culminating in a best of 8.05@173mph. That places him fourth in the hotly contested Haltech Radial blown class and fifth overall, and he’ll be hoping to join the seven-second club by the end of tomorrow.

Donnie Zurcas’s trailer parted ways with his Capri on a big regional Victoria-special bump, so he left it on the side of the road and made for Echuca in search of welding help. It added a good chunk of time to his journey, but he eventually ran a 9.76@137mph to stay on top of Kool Wrap 235 Aspirated.

Our manual battlers from Day One had similarly bad luck. The punished third member in Anthony Burns’s Skyline was no longer salvageable, while Bruce Howie’s ute’s diff pinion sounded like an artillery explosion when it blew apart on the startline.

Ryan O’Donohue and his Barra-powered F100 have led the Speed Pro Six Cylinder class from Day One, and he continued that charge by handing in an 8.63@158mph. That is slightly slower than his pace at the start of the week, but Ryan said the gearbox isn’t happy. “It’s been getting worse all week, and it probably only has a few more passes in it,” he said. “So hopefully we can just do a one-and-done tomorrow.”

Brendon de Ruyter’s K24-powered Toyota Celica being driven by Daniel Smith had a much better outing than our first day at Heathcote, checking in with an 8.67 @162mph. The car has been into the 8.3s before, so they’ll keep chasing the set-up on the last day.

Six-time DC veteran Dominic Pelle has brought his son Luke along for the first time. He’s stoked to be sharing the experience, especially with the added excitement of leading his Tuff Mounts 235 Blown class in his turbo LS-powered Sigma. Little has changed with the turbo LS combo aside from switching from an S480 snail to a Garrett GT47, which Dom said has improved mid-range grunt.

“Hopefully we’ll turn it up tomorrow afternoon,” he said on Friday night. “I’ve got a trailer this time, so I can really give it a crack.” Aside from a dodgy TPS and broken radio, it’s been smooth sailing for the duo.

Rod Jones’s ’33 Ford has copped a few upgrades since its appearance at DC 2018, the most important of which is a nine-inch rear instead of the flimsy 8¾in unit of yore.

There’s also a 4L80E and lock-up converter behind the Dart-blocked 427 Chev to make road legs an absolute breeze. Rod managed three PBs over three days coming into Day Four, and continued the trend with a 10.87.

Our Drag Challenge 2022/23 champions will be crowned back at Heathcote later today, when racing kicks off at 10am. Check out the current standings below!

TOP 20 OVERALL

GJ DRIVELINES OUTLAW ASPIRATED

TURBOSMART OUTLAW BLOWN

PACEMAKER RADIAL ASPIRATED

HALTECH RADIAL BLOWN

KOOL WRAP 235 ASPIRATED

TUFF MOUNTS 235 BLOWN

SPEED PRO SIX CYLINDER

VIBRANT PERFORMANCE DYO