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The Gulf Western Oil Winternationals came to a dramatic conclusion with National Record-setting runs across the board, upsets aplenty, and the 400 Thunder Top Fuel Funny Car Championship decided on the final run of the season.
The largest drag race outside of the United States of America lived up to the hype with more than a dozen National Records reset.
In Top Fuel Funny Car, it was a two-horse race between team-mates Morice McMillin and Brandon Gosbell for the Championship. Ultimately, it would be a singe race shootout that would decide the title, but not before the best single day of nitro funny car racing in living memory.
Round 1 began with a bang, with McMillin laying down the quickest pass in Australian history with a 4.74s run over the quarter-mile.
That lasted precisely two runs until Brandon Gosbell put down a jaw-dropping 4.69s pass to be the first Funny Car outside North America to dip into the 4.6s zone.
“This thing is one hell of a hot rod, one hell of a team,” Gosbell said.
“I Watched Murrihy go 4.91 and I thought that we could be in with a shot here for a good run, but a 4.69 is incredible.”
He was referring to Adam Murrihy, who recorded his first four-second pass in the session, with Justin Walshe going sub-five seconds as well.
The slowest car of the session was Anthony Begley, who recorded a sensational 5.06s alongside Gosbell, meaning that every competitor in the session made the quickest runs of their careers.
After two rounds of racing, the final would ultimately come down to Gosbell and McMillin in a race that would decide the Championship.
At the green light, Gosbell would get the start line advantage, but it soon went to waste with the car overpowering the race track.
Gosbell had the best seat in the house to watch McMillin reset the National Record to 4.70s on the run, which was backed up within the required one percent by his earlier 4.71s from Round 2.
McMillin said after the win, “Honestly, I don’t know what to say. What a weekend.
“This Championship is down to the team. Brandon even built the engine in the car, I’m just so proud to drive these cars. It means a lot. Thank you to GC and Wendy [Graeme and Wendy Cowin, his team owner], I’m so happy to represent the brands”.
Pro Alcohol was full of upsets, with the New Pro Alcohol Champion and defending event winner Steve Reed bowing out in Round 1 to category newcomer Andrew Searle.
Searle would go on to defeat Tim Clifton in the semi-final on a holeshot, with Clifton re-setting the Pro Alcohol Dragster National Record to 5.39s with the loss.
On the other side of the ladder, Greg Clayton was quietly going about his business, logging consistent 5.5s runs.
He beat Caan Childs in Round 1 and defeated a resurgent Cheyne Phillips, who had found some form in his Pro Alcohol Dragster this weekend.
The final was again a race that was decided on the start line, with a huge start line advantage to Clayton. Searle would go on to record the quickest pass of his career with a 5.51s but it was not enough to drive around Clayton, who streaked to a 5.65 for the win.
“My little brother has been tuning this car this weekend, and he has just done an amazing job,” he said.
“We had to borrow parts to make this run, thanks to Jamie Noonan, Caan Childs, Tim Clifton, Mark Brew and the guy that we raced in the final, Andrew Searle.
“Winner Winner! This is family deal. I have to thank the team owners Mark Rowland and Rod Holdsworth, this isn’t my car I just get to drive it.”
Pro Mod saw a dramatic finish with Rod Harvey crashing heavily around half track after getting out near the wall. The car rolled onto its roof and slid across the track into the opposite wall before sliding on its roof for nearly 300 metres.
“It was pretty disappointing to have that happen, but we will be back,” Harvey said at the trophy presentations after the race.
Zoran Gajic, unaware of Harvey’s crash behind him, completed the Winternationals/Championship Grand Slam with victory in both, along with the #1 qualifying spot and the quickest run of the event in a dominating performance.
Paul Cannuli went back-to-back in Pro Slammer with victory over Ben Bray, backing up his win from the 2022 edition of the event.
Cannuli was dominant, taking the #1 qualifier and setting the quickest elapsed time in every round, besting with a 5.68s quickest elapsed time and a 5.74s in the final round.
Luke Crowley capped off a dominant performance in Pro Stock Bike, completing the first undefeated season for a champion in recent memory. Crowley battled niggling dramas throughout the event with a string of minor parts failures but pulled it together in the final round to take our Andrew Badcock.
Badcock’s journey to the finals was a story, having originally entered Top Fuel Motorcycle. When it became clear that competitor numbers were down for that category, Badcock hastily threw together his Pro Stock Bike in a matter of days and performed admirably in the runner up performance.
Pro Stock was all Tremayne, with brothers Aaron and Tyronne Facing off in the final round. Aaron had put down the quickest run of the event in the first-round bye with a 6.92s, and a 6.93s in the semi final was enough to dispose of Omar Sedmak, who made his first semi final appearance in Pro Stock.
On the opposite side of the ladder, Tyronne took out a resurgent Mario Polito in Round 1 and a threatening John Barbagallo in the semi-final, who ran a best-of-the-weekend 6.96 in the loss.
Tyronne Tremayne drilled the now nine-time Champion Aaron Tremayne on the green light, with almost a .05s reaction time advantage.
The holeshot was the deciding factor in the race, with a 6.94s enough to hold off a quicker but losing 6.92s for Aaron.
“It’s nice to finally beat my brother at the Winternationals,” said Tyronne Tremayne in his post-race interview.
“He has been so damn good over the years, any time you can beat him you know you’ve done your job.
“This will lock down second in the championship, which isn’t bad considering I missed a round when I broke my shoulder. It’s been a great weekend for me, and for the team.”
The Gulf Western Oil Winternationals was the Final event for the COVID-affected, 2021/22/23 Super Season for the 400 Thunder Aeroflow Drag Racing Series.
