Jet Dragster in action at the Perth Motorplex (Photo courtesy the Gardner Broz)

Race report by Lucas Gardner.

The USA Jet Dragsters made their 2013 debut at the latest Perth round, The Night of Fire. The predicted weather of 40 degrees wasn't looked happily upon during the week. But on the day the weather missed the mark and 'only' 34 degrees was reached, making for a slightly cooler day but still making a scorching hot 50 degree track temperature.

Our kerosene burning feature consisted of a "best out of 3" race format with Curt White taking out all three of the races with sub 6 second passes, as Chuck Haynes was still learning the in and outs of his brand new car.

While Curt won 3 zip, he did have some bad luck when his parachute failed on the final pass, sending him rocketing (or should that be jetting) into the sand traps at somewhere close to 250mph, coming to a stop at the 2nd safety net.

After the event, the crowd of the Motorplex was dazzled by a Fireworks display to finish the night.

Videos courtesy Gardner Broz

• Top Comp was scorched by Al McClure winning the A Final, running a 6.57 @ 213mph over the "Italian Stallion" Daniel Gregorini, whose run was slowed by engine trouble.
• It was an Altered vs Altered final for Modified as Trent Morrison took his 2nd meeting win in a row over Sam Treasure running an 8.044 on his 8.02 dial with 0.008 light.
• The Junior Dragster final was close to heads up racing with George Blacklock versus Jake Djuric, with George taking the win running an 8.051.
• Super Comp was a hot topic this meeting and we saw Andrew Katavatis match-up against Kyle Putland. Both these boys were the talk of the meeting, with Andrew nearing in on his first 6 and whether or not Kyle's clutch issues would be solved. Although Andrew took out the win running a 7.16 it was smiles all round in the opposite lane after Kyle ran a 6.86 on a 6.872 A/A record. At this point the question is not "Will Kyle get the record?" but "How much is he going to beat the previous record by?"
• Supercharged Outlaws was a take 2 of the previous event's A Final with Craig Alison matching up against Don Freind. Almost as if they were taking winning in turns, Craig Alison was the victor running a 7.30.
• The Super Street final saw Richard Stevens up against Bernie Ellerby with Richard leaving the line a little before the Green, handing the win straight to Ellerby who went on to run a 11.21.
• In Mod Bike it was David Waters taking the win over Paul McNamara after he left the dreaed red cherry on the tree.
• Super Sedan's final was a match-up between Kevin Hort and Troy Gasperi with Troy taking the win over Kevin, running a 8.63.

Now, Lucas's Save of The Day had an outright winner but there were few others worth a mention. The first one would have to go to Lindsay Wood who was aggressively thrown off his Modified Bike right after the burnout. Now that looked like it hurt, but Lindsay got straight back up and laughed it off with no major damage; kudos to him.

Second, the proud return of Clive Hudson's Big Red Truck. I always remember sitting up in the stands a few years back watching Clive doing his signature huge burnouts and having a big smile on his face. So it was good to see him back, hopefully the burnouts will return to their former glory.

And now, Lucas's Save of The Day goes to Sean McDonald. After running a PB of 6.96, his parachutes picked up the rear end of the dragster and almost rolled, but Sean saved his bacon with some quick thinking. The video and on-board footage really has to be seen to believed. All highlights can be seen on The Gardner Broz's Youtube Channel.

Photos courtesy Gardner Broz