Greg Leahy only needed one qualifying run to occupy top spot in Competition Eliminator going into day three and potentially smash the BB/FCA National record in the Aeroflow Sportsman Drag Racing Championship at the Fuchs Winternationals.
Leahy ran a 6.294 on a 6.95 index to go 0.16 under the record.
“We’ve had a plan over the last 12 months to build this car and approach the meetings that we’ve gone to with an intention of top qualifying, try not to hurt our index too much but being reasonably dominant in Comp,” he said.
Leahy won’t be taking the track in the final qualifier tomorrow but when asked about his expectations forSunday his answer was simple; “Win.”
Daryn Schuster went under the National D/AB record in Competition Bike with his 8.414 on a 9.10 index good enough to occupy first with one qualifier remaining.
He leads from Westernationals winner Ross Smith in second, Peter Puznik, George Vella and Andy Jones in fifth.
Rounding out Group 2, Kelly Bettes in the Jett Racing Datsun Ute currently lies first in Super Compact after putting down a 7.325 on a 7.35 index. Chris Hall is second going into day three from Ben Graham, Reece McGregor and Brett Morgan.
And finally Shane Moran leads the Super Stock field going into final qualifiers with a 7.092 on a 7.53 index. Marion Barbon, Clint George, Kevin Magner and Jodanna Pullen complete the top five.
Meanwhile in Group Three Christine Steffens put down an impressive 6.517 to lead the Supercharged Outlaws field after two qualifiers. Steve Easton is second from defending Australian Champion Luke Marsden, Paul Anderson and Andrew Loy.
The remaining Group Three categories all completed qualifying today with eliminations set to begin earlySaturday morning.
The scariest moment of the weekend so far came when Danny Tuelstrup barrel rolled his dragster after deploying the chutes and locking up the rears sending the car left and spectacularly rolling over along the wall. Tuelstrup climbed out of the car immediately and was deemed okay after being looked over by medical staff.
In other Modified action Greg Wardle went even further under the B/HR record than his 8.771 on Thursdaypushing his ET to 8.757.
Amazingly that was only good enough to keep Wardle in 34th place but it was Andrew Musgrave who held onto the number one position with a 6.399 at 218.94 mph. He leads Shane Seawright, Rob Harrington, John Smith and Dallas Everett in fifth.
Neil Maxwell goes into eliminations as number one qualifier in Super Sedan thanks to a 7.333 at 187.36 mph from Darren Saliba, Gay Brett, Tony Agius and Harry Somer rounding out the top five.
Modified Bike sees Denis Ryan lead the field into eliminations with an 8.573 at 147.10 mph. Joining him in the top five are Reegan Ward, Daniel Selki, Kevin Cleeve and Anthony Duncan.
And finally, David Gauldie held onto top spot in Super Gas on a 9.911 second pass from Jake Culmore, Loughlin Boyde, Gary Clarke and Simon Isherwood.
The Fuchs Winternationals continues tomorrow (Saturday 7 June) with early eliminations for Super Street from8am followed by Junior Dragster, Super Sedan and Modified before final qualifiers for Groups One, Two and Three.
