38 fastlane
TWILIGHT NATIONALS
DELIVERS PLENTY OF SMILES
There were smiles all round at
Mildura’s Twilight Nationals
with the first Summit Racing
Equipment Sportsman Series
Australian Champion for the
18/19 season crowned and
plenty of great racing action
across all of the brackets.
In the Summit Racing Equipment Junior
Dragster bracket, Jake Berias was
celebrated as the Australian Champion
ahead of Runner-Up Zara Board after a
fantastic season which included four
event wins.
To hear what the 15-year-old Year 10
student from Werribee (Victoria) had to
say about it all, please go to our special
feature interview with Jake (click here)
While Jake and Zara took out the
championship honours, it was Amber
Young who would claim the Twilight
Nationals event trophy after taking out
her first ever event win over runner-up
Jordan Spencer, who was completing
his last ever race in the Junior
Dragster bracket. Also awarded at the
presentations for the Junior Dragster was
Baillie Ponton, who claimed her first ever
Top Qualifier Medallion – thanks to TileCo-
TheShowerPeople and KC Tools – and a
Summit Racing Equipment pack.
Joining Jake, Zara and Amber in hoisting
ANDRA Christmas Tree trophies at the
end of the Twilight Nationals were
event winners Colin Griffin (Super Gas),
Shane Walker (Modified Bike), Brian
Symes (Super Street), Martin Mirco
(Super Sedan), Wade Kisyma (Modified),
Wayne Talbot (Supercharged Outlaws),
Andrew Thompson (Top Sportsman),
David Willis (Competition Bike) and
Robert Dekert (SuperComp). Runners-
up were Adrian McGrotty (Super Gas),
Edge Mallis (Modified Bike), Andrew
Shirley (Super Street), Jeff Maslin (Super
Sedan), Peter O’Connell (Modified), Mike
Evans (Supercharged Outlaws), Darren
Saliba (Top Sportsman), Danny Rickard
(Competition Bike) and Jake Chaisty
(SuperComp). The champions for these
brackets will be decided at the ANDRA
Grand Final event at the Perth Motorplex,
to be held across April 6-7.
Like Jake, Brian Symes was emotional
about his victory over Andrew Shirley in
the Super Street bracket which followed
earlier races against Peter Jephson (semi),
Greg Holland (round three) and Ken Borg
(round one) as well as a bye-run in the
second round. Shirley meanwhile booked
his spot in the final with wins over Mark
Sienczewski, Nathaniel Goudswaard and
Matthew Smart ahead of a bye in the
semis. Earlier in the day, Robyn Phillis
claimed the Top Qualifier honours.
“I still can’t take the smile off my face,
it is very surreal to win something I have
dreamed about since I was a kid. My
dad got me into drag racing when I was
young and ever since then this has been
a dream; to actually do it is amazing,”
grinned Symes after accepting his trophy.
“We had a few dramas – when we were
driving up to Mildura from Melbourne I
actually noticed I had a leak in my rear
brakes. Thankfully I was able to get
those fixed by a local mechanic, SRP
Performance, who were able to help me
out on Friday. On Saturday I was on my
lights all day and the car ran well.
“I want to thank the staff at the Mildura
track for all the work they put in, and also
ANDRA and Summit Racing Equipment
for putting on the event. This is just an