WEST Australian Chris Orchard is your 2026 Pro Burnout Series champion! His BALLISTIC VL Calais took top honours and $50,000 in prize money in the Top 10 final on Saturday afternoon at Summernats 38.

“It feels like a long time coming, especially after finishing second [at ’Nats 36] – coming second sucks! I put a lot of work into this, like we all do,” a jubilant Chris said.

It wasn’t a win that came easy, with Chris hamstrung at 9000rpm from the blown small-block Chevy during his qualifying run on Thursday. The car survived, and he put on one belter of a run in the finals to seal his long-awaited victory.

Second place went to Justin McKinnis in the MRCHOW VS Commodore ute, who came oh-so-close to completing a golden run all the way from the Last Chance Wildcard Shootout on Thursday afternoon to the top spot in the Pro Series.

Chris Smallmon in BLWNVY capped another belter of a season to finish third at ’Nats 38.

There was plenty to talk about from the finals efforts of the rest of the Top 10, too. Tim Brown in the CEMBLO VK Commodore tagged the wall with the rear end and chose to restart his run, but he left the pad with a decent whack of damage and a small fire after finishing his burnout.

Mick Pratten’s SPASTIC VX SS Commodore also found the wall hard, coming in hot from the exit chute of the pad to tag the car’s passenger side.

Rob Cottrell in the 4DH8RS XD Falcon seemed to get lost in smoke, hitting reverse during his run. He backed back up to the startline and restarted his run to send the tyres off the proper way.

If there was a hard luck award, it would have to go to Bryan Smilie. He was only moment’s into his burnout before his TIPNIN VK Commodore started spluttering, forcing him to leave the pad still on two full-tread rear tyres.

While this year’s champion has been crowned, it’s not the end of the Pro Burnout series action for Summernats 38. The Last Chance Redemption Round will hit the pad at 10:30am tomorrow, and then the Open Class burnouts see out the weekend’s tyre-frying action from 12pm.