Video: Insane Pro Burnout Series qualifying

Tyres meet a violent demise at the hands of the country’s best burnout drivers, competing for $50K.

Friday’s Pro Burnout qualifying lit up the Castlemaine Rod Shop burnout pad in textbook conditions – a blue, blazing Canberra sky and still air that allowed plumes of smoke to linger over the EPIC complex and engulf the crowds lining the fence.

As you’d expect from the country’s most fiercely competitive burnout showdown, the field was stacked with talent all vying for their spot in the big dance, and a one-in-ten shot at $50,000.

Brad and Britt Kilby double-entered their 403 cube fourby HAMMERTIME, and after a freshen up the car was looking the best it ever has, but even one of their strongest recent performances still wasn’t enough to earn them one of the ten top spots.

WA’s Chris Orchard has a garage that’d be the envy of most burnout fans, with his insanely tough blown injected VF GTS and GAMEOVER and 408 cube VL BALLISTIC doing their best to dazzle the Summernats judges. Unfortunately both cars succumbed to the brutality of the Castlemaine Rod Shop burnout pad – the country’s great equaliser – and neither car got the nod.

Fellow WA burnout fiend Justin Pitsakis was another double entry, with his blown injected BMW REFINED joined in the lineup by a carby-fed, supercharged VY Commodore ute STIFFY. The blown Bimmer is a well decorated competitor but it was his Commodore ute that got the gong from the judges, taking one of ten spots after showering the crowd with plumes of blue and yellow smoke.

Mick Hamon’s XY GT Falcon contributed to the West Aussies’ mixed bag of luck, making contact with the wall in his XY GT WIDEOPEN, dashing his hopes.

Jake Myers put on a burnout clinic in S1CKO, sporting a white vinyl wrap fresh from his recent nuptials, reminding punters why the Myers’ family name is etched in to Australian burnout lore, and fellow hall-of-famer Mick Brasher who’s done more miles on the Summernats burnout pad than most joined Jake in collecting a ticket to the $50K showdown.

Elsewhere in the field, the Canberra heat contributed to more than a few stoppages due to fire, including top contender Rick Fuller in LSONE who joined more than a few toasted quarter panels and rear bars, sidelined on the exit road of the pad and relegated to the grandstands for the weekend.