CALENDAR

The Pro Drag Racing Championship (PDRC) delivered everything that it promised and more as part of the Gulf Western Oil Nitro Champs in Sydney.

Daniel Reed (Pro Alcohol), Zoran Gajic (Pro Mod), Rob Dekert (Pro Stock) and Jason Lee (Pro Bike) took the victories at the third round of the championship series, with new national records set in multiple classes.

Reed was victorious in the final round over first time PDRC Finalist Cheyne Phillips with a fine 5.43 besting a tyre shaking and smoking 6.11 from Phillips.

They were the two quickest cars in the category, the # 1 & 2 Qualifiers and the only two to dip into the 5.3 second zone over the weekend – Reed in qualifying with a 5.37 and Phillips in round 1 with a 5.38.

Reed and Phillips also traded the national speed record backwards and forwards, re-setting the mark that Reed set at the last round of the championship at the Bend. Ultimately it would finish in the hands of Phillips with a 272.56 mph blast.

Chris Hargrave continued his run of consistent Personal bests to finish with a win in the B final over Cameron Ambesi, while Britney Olive and Brett white took solo passes with their opponents unable to front for the final session.

With the win, Reed inherits an unlikely championship lead after skipping round one of the series due to family commitments. Chris Hargrave is the only racer within striking distance, with crashes befalling Russell Mills and Jake Donnelly over the last two rounds of the series. Wayne Price rounds out the top 5 with a narrow 6-point lead over Phillips.  

Gajic once again took victory in Pro Mod, his second victory of the season after the season opener (also in Sydney). This time, Gajic simply had to stage and accept the green light to take victory after the #1 qualifier Steve Carlsen’s fairytale finish came to an end in a pool of transmission fluid after his burnout in the final round.

Gajic’s path to the final was far from simple, with a complicated recovery and repair effort required after he blew both front tires with only one parachute deploying  in his round two win over Queensland’s Neil Murphy.

Gajic was consistently closest to the 5.85 index throughout the event, and has converted this into a huge championship lead with only 2 rounds of the series left to run.

Craig Hewitt took the win in the B Final, coming within .04s of his first 5 second run with a 6.03. In the other lane Craig Burns was swinging for the fences but ultimately going way under the 5.85 index with a 5.71, resulting in an instant DQ.

Pro Stock was arguably the most competitive category throughout the duration of the event, with Tyronne Tremayne re-setting both ends of the National Record to 6.855s and 199.85mph as he gunned for a 5^th consecutive event win (this was his first event for the 2024-25 season).

Ultimately, it was reigning champion and current points leader Rob Dekert who would take an emotional holeshot victory, dedicating the win to longtime crew member Hayley Turns who is battling serious health issues.

The final was one of the best races of the last 5 years, with Dekert taking a small .033 to .069 reaction time advantage at the green light, with his slower 6.887 enough to hold off Tremayne’s 6.876 at the finish line stripe.

Other final round winners were Aaron Tremayne in the B-Final over Mario Polito (who’s strong run of recent form continued into the Nitro Champs), Christ Soldatos narrowly defeating John Barbagallo in the C Final and Omar Sedmak defeating Rick Chilton in the D Final after Chilton was DQ’d for reversing out of the staging beams after accidentally “double bulbing” Sedmak while staging.

Dekert now takes a healthy lead in the points into the Gulf Western Oil Winternationals, with a 105-point lead over Barbagallo. Polito moves up to third, while Soldatos drops to fourth and Tony Polito moves into the top 5.

The Championship fight in Pro Bike has tightened up, with Jason Lee bouncing back from a tough home race in Adelaide to qualify #1 and win the Nitro Champs to drive him back into contention.

Lee bested Adelaide winner Luke Crowley in the final round, with his 7.17 enough to account for Crowley’s somewhat troubled 7.49.

Lee took a solo in round 1 courtesy of being the top qualifier and beat Paul Andrews in round 2 with his quickest-for-the-event 7.14.

Conversely, Crowley took down former Champion Ryan Learmonth in round 1 and Tony Frost in round two with the quickest run of the overall event – a 7.09.

Frost took the win in the B-Final with a 7.29 over Learmonth’s troubled 19 second pass, and Paul Andrews a solo in the C-final with a 7.376.

There is now only 53 points between Crowley and Lee with two rounds of the championship left to run, with Crowley leading on 395 and lee on 342. Tony Frost sits a distant third, with Paul Andrews and Scott White rounding out the field.

The PDRC now moves to Willowbank Raceway for the historic Gulf Western Oil Winternationals, which will be the Final round of the Series for Pro Alcohol and the penultimate round of the series for Pro Mod, Pro Stock and Pro Bike ahead of the Grand Final at the Springnationals in Adelaide in October.