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What a weekend the top fuel championships at Willowbank was this 25th & 26th March. It has been a while since the team have had the opportunity to get the altered onto the, track but we have used the off time to get some maintenance work completed and some extra upgrades done on the altered. Friday saw the Supercharged Outlaws on track for 2 qualifying sessions. The first qualifying session blew all the nerves and cobwebs out for the car and for the team. Matty put down a solid elapsed time (ET) of a 7.09, well and truly putting him in the top half of the qualifying field. The good running conditions continued into the evening for the 2nd of 3 qualifying sessions. A 7.07 ET backed up Matty’s previous qualifying run and proved the car was running very consistently. Saturday was race day, but before eliminations could begin there was the last qualifying session. In the heat of the day it was going to be a good test for the car and tuning. Again the run was spot on with another 7.07 ET @ 190 MPH (306 KPH), putting Matty in qualifying position 9 out of 20 outlaw cars. A great way to head into eliminations with a very consistent race car and driver who was on the ball with reaction times. First round kicked off at 3pm and paired Matty up against John Ward’s dragster. Matty dialled in with a 7.06 ET and would be made to wait on the line against Ward’s 7.55 dial in. A get out of jail free card went to Matty when Ward ran a 7.53 on a 7.55 breaking out and giving the win to Matty, the altered was off beat slowing to a 7.51. The team couldn’t find a reason for the slow run but made some changes as a precaution. Unsure of the problem, the team fronted up for round 2 against Steve Swinsco, and luck was riding with the team when the altered was back on track running a 7.09 ET on his 7.06 dial in with a .069 reaction time. Turning around quickly for the 3rd round of eliminations, we then lined up against Christine Steffens. A red light left on the tree by Steffens automatically gave the win to Matty who left the tree with a .054 reaction time. Only 3 cars remained in supercharged outlaws at this stage. In the semis, Matty paired up against Peter Leahy’s front engine dragster. Another almost flawless run, with a 7.08 ET and an on the ball reaction time of .014 with the win putting Matty and the team into the finals against sister in-law Fiona Keating’s dragster. ‘All Star Batteries’, owned by Steven and Debbie Reed, were the bracket sponsors for Supercharged Outlaws and this was just one of the talking points with both their son in law and daughter in law to compete in the finals, not only this, but brother and sister Daniel Reed and Sally Watts were battling it out for crew chief top honours. Keating had the better reaction with a .062 to Matty’s .084, however the altered was hard to beat running a 7.062 ET on his 7.06 dial in. Matty’s first win this 2010/2011 championship season puts him in a great position on the points ladder, with only 1 more championship race before the Winternationals. Next race is at Sydney Dragway on April 29th, 30th & May 1st. |
