WITH racing well and truly back and alive in Victoria, it was no surprise that the 2021 running of Tuff Mounts Holden Nationals was action packed, with PBs, close racing and carnage aplenty at Heathcote Park Raceway.

Photos: Chris Thorogood & Michelle Porobic

Testing on Friday saw racers hit the ground with some ripping pace, before qualifying and racing on Saturday. Six classes duked it out for the top honours, five of those being dial-in quarter-mile and the 235 Radial class running a heads-up eighth-mile format.

Brad Young’s HR Holden won the unofficial award for biggest wheelstand of the weekend. The nitrous-fed 396ci small-block Chev put the HR on its rear bumper before slamming down hard, but somehow the HR was undamaged and Brad came back to run a 9.4@146mph, which saw him break out of his dial-in during the eliminations.

Drag Challenge regular Luke Foley’s pace was staggering during the event. He pushed his VH Commodore to a new PB of 7.63 on Friday, then beat it with a 7.61@181mph during qualifying on Saturday to win the Fastest Pass of the Event award.

Sadly, not everyone was having the same luck. Hernan Tosti’s HB Torana went up in flames during a delayed start in qualifying, but thankfully the HPR officials had the fire out quickly.

Misfortune also hit DC regular Matt Lampard, who went home with the Hard Luck award after his HZ Kingswood stepped out in the left-hand lane shortly after launching and slapped the wall side on, leaving bruising all down the left side of LUMPER.

Blake Evans came runner-up in the Boosted LS class in his turbo-LS VL Commodore, PB’ing in the process with an 8.62@164mph.

Mark Drew also smashed out a PB in his wife’s HR Holden, leaving the weekend with an 8.41@162mph in full street trim.

Andrew Pappadimitrio’s big HQ Statesman won the Promoters Choice Award. The twin-turbo big-block Chevy beast really made an impression in the paddock, rolling around on a super meaty pair of rear treads.

Below is the full list of winners from the event, and we’ll have a whole bunch of Holden Nats content to come, including the full event write-up in the magazine, so stay tuned!

Holden Nationals 2021 Results

GJ Drivelines Holden NA class

1st Chris Tatchel – LH Torana

2nd Luke Cartledge – LH Torana

Big Wheels Outlaw Class

1st Travis Miller – HZ Premier

2nd Ben Threlfall – UC Torana

Total Workz NA SBC class

1st Kelvin Baker – Camaro

2nd Scott McKenzie – Holden FE

DTM Automotive Boosted Holden class

1st Paul Surkitt – LJ Torana

2nd Josh O’Brien – VP Commodore ute

Hurricane Automotive Boosted LS class

1st Jamie Watson – HQ sedan

2nd Blake Evans – VL Commodore

Enemies Racing Australia Heads-Up 235 Radial class

1st Tom Wright – HG sedan

2nd Shaun Coles – VL Commodore

Race Parts Melbourne Fastest Pass of the Event

Luke Foley – VH Commodore – 7.61@181mph

Race Parts Melbourne Best Burnout

Ben Threlfall – UC Torana sedan

Race Parts Melbourne Hard Luck Award

Matt Lampard – HZ Kingswood

Race Parts Melbourne Promoters Choice

Andrew Pappadimitrio – HQ Statesman

Fastest NA Holden V8

Jason Hilles – LC Torana – 9.2