Jennifer Harrison - ANDRA Business Development managerAs part of the strategic plan for development of drag racing in Australia, ANDRA has appointed Jennifer Harrison as the new Business Development Manager.

Ms. Harrison has 14 years experience in the motorsports industry, primarily focusing on marketing, public relations and event management. Before taking on the role at ANDRA, Ms. Harrison served as the Events Operations Manager at Octane Events and Business Manager at Barbagallo Raceway.

"I'm really excited to be involved with the most powerful motorsport on the planet," said Ms. Harrison. "While I've only been in the role for few weeks now I've been absorbing a lot and I'm looking forward to developing a range of new business opportunities for corporate partners and growing our fan base."

Heading into the 2013 Nitro Champs the goals were simple for Darren Morgan Racing; be consistent, go rounds and regain the championship lead.

At the conclusion of racing the team put a big tick next to all 3 goals and Darren Morgan now leads the ANDRA Top Fuel Championship over nearest rival Phil Lamattina, 605 points to 551.

“Wow! What a great weekend of drag racing,” exclaimed Darren Morgan. “We went into the Nitro Champs with a plan and to see it come together like it did was just awesome. As a budget operation it’s really gratifying to perform so well against some of our more fancied rivals from both Australia and the US.”

Jason Grima may not have won Pro Stock at the 2013 Nitro Champs but he was able to keep his championship hopes alive by knocking out points leader Wayne Daley in the second round of eliminations and pick up an extra round of points to put his PC Group Ford Mustang back in the lead of the ANDRA Championship.

The Nitro Champs featured the fourth round of the Pro Stock Championship and Grima was hopeful of taking advantage of racing on his home track and doing well. It was back in November 2012 that the PC Group Ford Mustang reset both ends of the national Pro Stock records at the Australian Nationals with a 6.982 ET at 195.79 mph and go into the lead with 138 points.

For factory Mopar pilot Lee Bektash, the 2013 Nitro Champs was a standout event, as the long time drag racer converted the potential in his Chrysler-powered Pro Stock machine to ANDRA Gold.

"What an event!" exclaimed Bektash.

"We managed to top qualify, run our first 6-second pass and win the event. If you said to me at the start of the weekend that we would get all three, I would have told you that you were crazy."

A long-time racer in Super Gas before stepping up to Pro Stock, Bektash has had to wait five years before taking his first ANDRA Gold Christmas Tree in the professional class.

I'm sure we've all heard about that cheap part that stands in the way of what would have been an awesome run & this is exactly what happened to Steven Reed in his Allstar Batteries Top Alcohol Funny Car, last weekend for the Nitro Champs at Sydney Dragway.

The 1st run off the trailer for Q1 showed a great 5.59 E.T on the scoreboards but in the pits that run left a trail of destruction after a piston was torched. The team got in and did the hard yards to do a complete engine change. Motor change complete and after Q2 Reed still held position No 1 & so the decision was made that the 1st run would be their only qualifying pass. Qualifying complete & the 5.59 was good enough for the 2nd position.

The 2013 Nitro Champs was an event that gave Pro Stock Motorcycle rider Scott White something to smile about. He was able to qualify in the top half of the field and got past the first round of eliminations. In fact White was so happy to have gone into the semi-finals that for the Darwin racer it may as well have been the finals.

"We came to the Nitro Champs with some hesitation because we have had a possible ignition problem that was effecting the timing on the AMPAC Suzuki, but having found someone in Darwin who gave us some advice we came to Sydney with our fingers crossed," said White.

The 2012-13 Southern Super Gas Series was finalized at the Nitro Champs.

With the assistance of Ray Treasure the series final was decided in a paired run in the third qualifying session at the recently completed Nitro Championships. Going into the run Matt Forbes and Kym Oberauer were tied on points and it was decided that the series winner would be the one with the best package in that run. However a red light by Matt in his Fast Time Design Roadster handed the win and the DJ Sportsman Chute supplied by MSCN plus the Lucas Oil package supplied by Matt Forbes to Kym in his Just Drag Racing Camira.

The LTFR Top Fuel dragster had a mixed weekend at the Sydney Nitro Champs but a semi final appearance and more data, sees the team confident about their chances as the ANDRA Series heads to it's biggest event of the season, the Fuchs Winternationals.

After changing some of the clutch systems in the dragster during the week, qualifying was about finding the ideal tune-up resulting in a fifth place on the qualification list.

"It wasn't the best qualifying performance but we are pretty happy with what we have learned over the weekend, it's all about getting the car settled down, we are making more power than ever before but that brings some challenges," explained team driver Phil Lamattina.