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QLD CHAMPS
OFF TO STRONG
More than 100 racers headed to
Roma’s Ironbark Raceway for round
one of the 2018 Summit Racing
Queensland Championships.
Taking out victories were Warren Dun (Street Bike), Liam Holt
(Junior Dragster), Michelle Roydhouse (Street), Craig Shelswell
(Super Street), Dallas Everett (Modifi ed Bike), Dan Morton
(Super Sedan), Katie Cunningham (Modifi ed) and Russell Grulke
(Outlaws).
Runners-up were Matt Halpin (Street Bike), Tayla Kelly (Junior
Dragster), Sonya Wagensveld (Street), Craig Williams (Super
Street), Top Qualifi er Phil Halpin (Modifi ed Bike), Lorenzo Bonato
(Super Sedan), Geoff Everett (Modifi ed) and Rodney Hansen
(Outlaws); with Peter Johnson (Street Bike), Harrison Thwaite
(Junior Dragster), Roydhouse (Street), Phil Halpin (Super Street),
Matt Halpin (Modifi ed Bike), Col Gould (Super Sedan), Cunningham
(Modifi ed) and Hansen (Outlaws) taking out the Top Qualifying
honours for their respective brackets.
For local racer and Outlaws winner Grulke, it was a very rewarding
weekend indeed.
“I am a born and bred Roma boy and have been tied up in the drag
club here for 20 years or very close to it,” Grulke said.
“We are running an Outlaw car now – you start off in an old bush
banger and work your way through as you can aff ord to do it!
We put a new set-up into the car at the weekend with what was
pretty much a whole new motor and electronics, so we could stop
blowing it up!” he laughed.
“It was a six-car fi eld and we were able to go the three rounds of
qualifying with three wins and were the third top qualifi er, and
then we lined up against Rodney Hansen and managed to get the
win over him for a change!
“He is a pretty tough competitor as they all are, and it was really
good to win at our home track – now we look forward to doing the
other two rounds in the series and see how we go with them!”
For Mackay’s Cunningham, some issues early in the event could
not derail what would become a winning eff ort in the Modifi ed
bracket.
“The fi rst couple of rounds of qualifying went well and then we
had a couple of issues with the oil pressure, we didn’t know if we
were going to be able to even run, but we managed to keep going
for the rest of the day and ended up winning it!” Cunningham
explained.