Drag-racing meeting a huge success

A "bloody good" entry of 140 cars, brilliant weather and a big crowd who came from as far away as Switzerland and Germany combined to make last weekend's Masterton Motorplex drag-racing meeting a great success, event organiser Bob Wilton, of Carterton, said this week.
The overseas visitors were surprise results of a survey done by the MMP Girls to discover where crowd support is coming from. Apart from the tourists, fans came from Auckland, Manawatu, Palmerston North, Lower Hutt and Wellington, with very few from Hawke's Bay. The information will be used in the promotion of future meetings. Bob said the hot weather actually slowed the cars down. The track was nice and sticky but engines were happier in the cool of the morning, times falling off as temperatures reached toward 30C.
"We were hoping for times around 6 seconds, but the best we saw was 7.1s from Paul Davison in wife Michelle's Top Alcohol dragster, a personal best, and local man Scott Miller's 7.4s," he said.
I spoke to Scott before the meeting and he said his best hope of beating his rival was in reaction time, the millisecond between the lights going green and the wheels turning. That's how it happened on the very first run, with the Masterton man's reaction time being .1s, against Davison's .6s. Half a second is a lifetime in these beasts, and Bob said later that if this was a points meet, Scott would have eliminated Davison on those times. On his final run Davison blew his gearbox to pieces, showering bits of machinery "all over the place".
A New Zealand record was set at the meeting, Scott Landsborough, from Stratford, piloting his Modified dragster to a run of 8 seconds at 172mph.
Another milestone at the meet was a Best Appearance, car and crew, for Rex Duckett, on debut in his 1988 Corvette. Duckett hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons a year or two back when he attacked the armco in his red and white Viva, destroying the car. The Corvette had just been completed and Duckett drove it for the first time at this meeting, with a best time of 9.5s at 150mph.
The six bikes of the Quarry Inn Drag Racing Team took out the Best Appearance for motorcycles prize. Another notable entrant was Gavin Green, of Pirinoa, in his Monaro. His first time out in the car was at the recent test and tune day, and last weekend, with nitrous oxide added, he did a 10.2s run, "good for a big car", Bob Wilton said. Saturday night saw the popular burnout competition, for the first time divided into four, six and eight-cylinder cars. This is always a crowd-pleaser, but once again produced some interesting statistics. At the end of the day, 230 free passes to the burnouts were issued. Only 158 of those were redeemed, although there was a very big spectator turnout, indicating the event has wide spectator support.
RESULTS OF THE BURNOUTS:
Four cylinders: "Brock", 1; Travis Edwards, 2; Kenny Ford, 3.
Six cylinders: "Carlos", 1; Martin Fisher, 2; Brent Kenny, 3.
Eight cylinders: Daran Kilmartin, 1; Dennis Beaver, 2; Tony Briggs, 3. Beaver won the tyres prize for best performance.
Another trophy, for non-V8 cars and dedicated to the young man who died in a police chase, was won by Hayden Kirkwood.
RESULTS:
Top Alcohol: Paul Davison, Upper Hutt, 7.524s, 149.81mph, 1; Scott Miller, Masterton, DNS, 2.
Modified: Andy Chapman, Taupo, 8.838s, 139mph, 1; Cameron Drew, Wellington, 9.841, 13438mph, 2.
Sport Compact: M.Locke, 10.229s, 135.29s, 1; N.Dunlop, Wellington, 10.705s, 102.76mph, 2.
Super Street: A.Thomas, Wainuiomata, 11.322s, 120.01mph, 1; P.Priebee, Wainuiomata, 11.963s, 114.41mph, 2.
Comp Bike: I.Wilkins, 8,402s, 145.46mph, 1; G.Kidd, 11.196s, 114.32mph, 2.
Super Sedan: G.Green, 10.265s, 133.51mph, 1; R.Eastham, 10.744s, 117.97mph, 2.
Modified Bike: D.Derby, 10,745s, 131.2mph, 1; J.Davis, 11.496s, 116.15mph, 2.
Junior Dragster: D.Rowan, 14.22s, NT, 1; J.Hartley, 11.517s, 54.95mph, 2.
Import: A.Glascow, 11.073s, 127.58mph, 1; B.Moorcock, 11.370s, 121.71mph, 2.
Fastest speed of meeting: Paul Davison, 191.89mph.
Lowest elapsed time of meeting: Paul Davison, 7.105s.