8.50 Bike.
Martin Hallett 8.508 just edged Craig Wright 8.509 for number one spot in the thirteen bike field. Joe Elliott had a hard fight with Ian Chrichlow for third spot 8.5127 to Chrichlow 8.5129. Rounding the top five was Jay Roe 8.526. Reigning Champion Dan De’ath had trouble slowing the bike and kept breaking out and qualified in tenth spot. Round one saw Roe break out 8.434 against Ken Wright and Chrichlow lost on a holeshot to De’ath. Hallett, Elliott, C.Wright and De’ath advanced to the semi-finals Hallett led from start to finish against Elliott 8.546 to 8.622. In the other semi, Craig Wright left before the tree activate, handing the win to De’ath. In the final De’ath pulled a rt028 against Hallett who chased to the finish line and broke out 8.489 to De’ath winning 8.658.
9.50 Bike.
Reigning and multi-time 9.50 Bike Champion Richard Sawatzki is going to be the man to beat in 2023. Sawatzki was on top of the pile of the small field 9.507. Dave Hall was the nearest challenger 9.514. Third was Rob Stanley 9.531. Newcomer and making her drag racing debut was Zoe Hallett 9.570. Carl Thomas broke out in qualifying 9.489.
Sawatzki had a bye to the semis. Stanley red lit against Thomas who ran 9.375. Hall had a burnout problem, leaving Hallett a bye to the next round. Thomas broke out again against Sawatzki with a 9.452. Hallett had a bye to her first final. Sawatzki led all the way to finish line as Hallett broke out 9.284.
ET Bike.
Scott Collier led the nineteen bike field 9.552 (dial in 9.550) followed by Gary Hester 8.708 (8.70) Robbie Dobbie 9.921 (9.91) and Justin Malton 10.013 (10.00). Reigning Champion Phil Pratt has a MTC Gen 2 clutch for 2023 and just edged Jake Boden for fifth spot. Blade King has a new bike. Frank Bros racing chassis he bought from Richard Stubbins, powered by a Hayabusa motor with a lock up clutch (big learning curve) Matt Jones has built a new bike with some interesting ideas. There were some newcomers. Chris Venn on a late Dave Bartz V Twin and Ryan Davidson has bought Phil Crossley Funny Bike the ex moto-cross rider and car crew member to Jon Turner was on licence runs and ran 8.53.
Round one of the eliminations saw four of the top sixth go out in that round. Pratt red lit against Carl Hester. Boden red lit against John McGill and Dobbie also red lit against Dave Grundy. Malton rolled the beams when coming to stage against Casey Holgate. Into round two and Collier pulled a red light when racing McGill. Gary Hester also red lit against Peter Harrison. Round three Michael Gooding bogged off the start line and McGill took the win light. King sprocket failed at the 330ft mark, but Holgate had red lit. On returning to the pits other teams were there to help King back on track for the semi-final. Dad Ollie would like to say thanks for the help from the other teams that helped Blade. King had a bye to the final. Harrison had a better rt to beat McGill. It was King who had a better rt in a close final over Harrison 9.12 to 10.99.
Report by Steven Moxley