38 fastlane
SOUTH
COAST
NATS
DELIVERS EMOTION-PACKED RESULTS
When Zara Board took victory in the Summit Racing Equipment Junior Dragster bracket at
South Coast Raceway’s South Coast Nationals, there was not a dry eye in the house.
The hugely popular victory for 13-year-old
Zara provided a perfect highlight to what was
an action-packed weekend of racing at the
Portland venue. To read more about Zara’s
victory, click here.
Joining Zara in the winners’ circle in Portland
for what was round four of the 18/19 Summit
Racing Equipment Sportsman Series were
Adrian McGrotty (Super Gas), Jake Hamilton
(Modified Bike), Michael Bridges (Super
Street), Chris Lioulios (Super Sedan), Kenny
Stewart (Modified), Jason Keily (Supercharged
Outlaws), Andrew Thompson (Top Sportsman),
David Willis (Competition Bike) and Alex
Panagiotidis (SuperComp).
Runners-up were Jason Wilson (Super Gas),
Tommy Turic (Summit Racing Equipment Junior
Dragster), David McGinn (Modified Bike), Paul
Jennings (Super Street), George Tipoukidis
(Super Sedan), Jess Voigt (Modified), Mark
Hunt (Supercharged Outlaws), Jason Arbery
(Top Sportsman), Rob Cassar (Competition
Bike) and Rob Dekert (SuperComp).
Like it was for Zara, it was a break-through
victory for Michael Bridges in the Super Street
bracket.
On his way to facing Paul Jennings in the
final, he had faced off against Matthew
Smart in the semi-final after enjoying a
bye to that match-up and having earlier
defeated Des Jeffree (round two) and TileTo-
TheShowerPeople and KC Tools Top Qualifier
Medallion recipient Leigh Batchelor. Jennings
meanwhile had taken on and defeated Simon
Lazzaro (semi-final), Craig Ferguson, Scott
Cleary and Nikolas Karanovic.
“This is monkey off my back for sure, it is
awesome. We have been trying to do this
for around five years,” Bridges said, while
thanking his crew, Smart Auto Wreckers and
Towing and DragsSA.com for their support.
“The day went fairly smoothly for us and it
was a well-run event. We will be back in
January for the South Coast 660 of course to
give going back to back (in Portland) a go!”
In the Top Sportsman ranks, Andrew Thompson
took on and defeated defending champion
Jason Arbery, stopping him from taking six
straight wins in the process. The Port Lincoln
(SA) racer had earlier defeated Glenn Henley
(semi-final), Matt Forbes and Vlado Turic
while Arbery had taken victories from Chris
Theo (semi) and Top Qualifier Darren Saliba
(round one) while enjoying a bye to his semi.
“It was awesome to get our first win and to
do so against Jason Arbery who has obviously
been to so many finals lately,” Thompson
said, while thanking his sponsors Slape
Crash Repairs, Custom Kitchen Company, Rick
Daniels Recycling and EP Windscreens as well
as his crew.
“We have been the runner-up quite a few
times so it is a bit of a monkey off the back, it
feels really good, especially when you travel
so far.
“We had transmission problems most of the
weekend and we had to dial it back to try and
run to the qualifying number, but we were