fastlane
of the season , however had not laid claim to an event win before the Westernats despite two previous final appearances this season .
On his way to the final against the redlighting Grieve , the Victorian dragster racer took wins against Damien Le-Cocq , a red-lighting Erin Healy and Nicholas Wroe ( round one ), while Grieve of Milbridge ( WA ) booked his ticket to the final by winning against John Althuizen – who had earlier reset the national A / MA record in his Ford Boss Hemi to 7.555s – a breaking-out Jeff Acton , and Sergio Bonetti ( round one ) in his T-Bucket Altered .
“ I am ecstatic . We had came close the last couple of times but we went into the finals a little bit more confident this time ; I said to myself ‘ we are going to win it ’, and we did !” Czerny said , while thanking Robinvale Estate Dressing , ETS Race Fuels , Paul Turner , Race Comp Motorsports , Castlemaine Rod Shop , Total Tools Epping and MSMAA for their support .
“ We cut a really good light , they had been okay during eliminations , but we pulled it all together for the final . I am just stoked for my crew guys , Ray and Dave – they are like brothers to me .
“ The car ran like clockwork all weekend ; it is consistent and we know what it is going to do every pass and ( the Westernationals weekend ) proved it . We were onto a good thing and we didn ’ t need to change anything , we just did the same thing every time and we got our first tree and it ’ s a gold one ! We can head to Adelaide ’ s Grand Final now and just look forward to having fun .
“ If anyone had of said to us at the start of the season that we would make three finals , I would have said they were kidding themselves . This joint is amazing , the staff are all so friendly , the pit layout is amazing , the weather was perfect – everything just turned it on for us ( in Perth ).”
Yet another racer grinning ear to ear was Ioannidis , who not only Top Qualified and took out the Super Stock victory , but also reset the national C / MSA ET record in the process ( 9.555s ).
Before facing off against defending champion Chaisty in the final , Ioannidis had earlier dispatched Tom Dimitropoulos and Allen Puglia ; while Chaisty took a hole-shot win over a PB-ing Todd Stacy in the semi-final after having earlier faced off against Brett Glover . While Chaisty couldn ’ t take the event honours , he also reset a national record , knocking down the H / MSA marker to 9.249s .
“ I am happy , I am content ; we came here and that is what we wanted to do – we planned on top qualifying and we wanted to win like everyone else . I am stoked with the car ’ s performance ,” grinned Ioannidis , who thanks Light Vehicle Solutions , Bullet Race Engineering and the whole team from SCM for their support .
“ We race together as a team and without them , I do nothing ; so , this is for all of us and I am absolutely stoked with what they do for me . In three weeks ’ time we will run at the Grand Final , and hopefully come home with the Gold .”
31