Mildura's Sunset Strip will close soon for some much needed repairs after the 2011 flood dumped 300mm of water on the track and damaged the racing surface. The project is going to tender this Friday with the expectation that work will begin in a few weeks time.

According to Jenni Gledhill, Infrastructure Support Officer at the Mildura Rural City Council, "Water under the track has caused a deviation in the racing surface, a 30 to 40 millimetre drop off to the finish line from around the 380 foot mark. While not noticeable to many slower vehicles, higher horsepower vehicles have felt the effects".

"Core samples have been taken and it's still very wet underneath. For the track to move forward and comply with current standards it's necessary that these repairs be made."

Milwaukee Tools Pro Stock Motorcycle rider Maurice Allen says the pace of all competitors is going to have to increase with many tough teams converging on Sydney Dragway for the Nitro Champs on May 3-5.

Allen took what could be classified as a fortunate win over Luke Crowley at the last round of the championship in Sydney, when Crowley left with a below average reaction time and could not use his overwhelming performance advantage to pass Allen before the finish line.

Allen said there was no doubting Crowley's performance, but picked some other names from the group who could show their hand in Australia's biggest city.

At the conclusion of the scheduled final round at Portland for the Southern Super Gas Series, the series remains tied with Kym Oberauer and Matt Forbes on 220 points. Rather than split the DJ chute from Motorsport Connections and the Lucas Oil Products from Fast Time Design, Kym and Matt have agreed that the winner of the 2012/2013 Southern Super Gas Series will be decided in early May at the Sydney Dragway Nitro Champs.

With the on-going co-operation of Ray Treasure from Sydney Dragway they will be paired in the final qualifying session for Super Gas.

Check out this in-car footage as Simon "GONZO" Travaglini's engine lets go at 220mph through the traps at the Perth Motorplex. There's a cuss word or two in the audio so you've been warned :-)

According to Simon, "The BA is the quickest standard dimension all steel sedan in the world and has run as quick as 6.09 @ 231mph; this is our first season and the car is home built and is still as I built it back in 2001."

"I didn't get a chance to race it until this season because of marriage, family deaths and divorce; we have only had about 20 hits at the start line are are really happy with our results so far, none of the crew have ever run a blown door car or any blown car for that matter."

After making the final on both nights of the Santos Cranes Extreme 3, Darren Morgan Racing is back in the number 1 position on the Top Fuel Championship ladder, equal with fellow Victorian Phil Lamattina on 487 points.

"We set our sights on clawing back points on Phil and we managed to pull back two rounds," said a very happy Darren Morgan. "Although we did have a few technical gremlins during the event, to make both finals was an awesome effort from the team and we're certainly heading in the right direction with our program."

For the 1st qualifier on the Friday night the car went up into tyre smoke after overpowering the track. Crew chief Ben Patterson backed the car down a little for the 1st elimination round and ran a 4.87 at 285mph to move into the A Final over Damien Harris. A technical glitch in the final saw Steve Read take the win.

It was as bumper start to the 2013 Beat the Heat Off Street Series at Hidden Valley Drag Strip on Friday night with over 90 teams hitting the track for the first time thanks to Hidden Valley Ford.

Brad Baker's Mazda RX3 was the fastest car of the night with a 9.858 second pass at 139.7mph (225km/hr), albeit with a set of wheelie bars strapped on to make sure the front wheels didn't reach too far to the sky. His night wasn't without dramas though, damaging the turbo later in the night.

Unfortunately the Beat the Heat Commodore also had to retire early after damaging a rear axle.