Matt Forbes is sparing no expense to take a shot at the Super Gas title (Photo courtesy Fred Dwyer)Ballarat drag racer Matt Forbes is sparing no expense to take a shot at the Super Gas title come the Aeroflow Sportsman Drag Racing Championship at Fuchs South Coast Raceway in Portland on January 5 and 6.

Forbes said the car suffered from a mysterious lack of horsepower at the Australian Nationals recently in Sydney and the team has been going over his Lucas Oil Products hot rod one piece at a time to find the gremlin.

"We stripped the car, had the motor back on the dynamometer, rebuilt the transmission, refitted the fuel system - you name it, we did it," he said. "We have also had a new configuration torque converter built for it and this seems to have cured our issues. We feel very confident that now we have these issues out of the way our season will really take off from here."

The return of championship drag racing to Victoria is imminent with the running of the Aeroflow Sportsman Drag Racing Championship at Fuchs South Coast Raceway, Portland on January 5-6.

It will be a highlight of the season for Victorian Competition driver Craig Geddes as he gets to showcase his drag racing skills again to many of his local family and friends. He will be one of many top level drivers heading to the southern Victoria venue.

3 finals from 3 rounds for Phil Lamattina and LTFRFUCHS Top Fuel dragster pilot Phil Lamattina has made his third finals appearance in row after the first three rounds of the current ANDRA Championship season.

After qualifying in the number three position, Lamattina and Crew Chief Aaron Hambridge made some dramatic changes to the tune-up for the first round of eliminations.

Lamattina explained, "We found the conditions tricky early but once we got our head around what was required, we knew we could go quick and fast."

"The racetrack got better and better as the race meeting went on and to be honest, it was as good as anything we have ever raced on."

Championship leader - Darren Morgan (Photo courtesy Fred Dwyer)Darren Morgan Racing heads west this weekend for a Top Fuel showdown at the Perth Motorplex.

Currently sitting number 1 in the ANDRA Top Fuel Championship after winning the first 2 rounds of the season, Darren Morgan knows that the team will need to bring their A game to fend off the challenges of Phil Lamattina, Allan Dobson and Mark Sheehan (who won this event last season).

“We love coming to the Perth Motorplex,” said Darren Morgan. “It’s a fantastic facility and the West Aussie crowd really love their Top Fuel drag racing. As a team we’ve had a lot of success in Perth and we’ll be looking to stretch our legs at the front of the field and maintain our championship lead.”

Allan Dobson and the Rapisarda Racing team will be shooting for the national record come round four of the ANDRA Top Fuel championship at Perth Motorplex on February 1 and 2.

It is part of a renewed philosophy among the Rapisarda Racing team and its Western Australian driver. Realising that they will not be able to make it to every round due to commitments racing in the USA they are looking for a new way to leave their impression.

Dobson said the Santo's Cranes team is hell bent on running in the 4.5 second zone and claiming the record, which was set by Phil Read at 4.56 seconds way back in 2008.

According to some of their incremental times from the last Top Fuel championship round in Perth, the team was right on track.

Morgan retains championship lead (Photo courtesy Phil Luyer)Darren Morgan Racing went into last weekend at the Perth Motorplex with high expectations having won the first 2 rounds of the ANDRA Top Fuel Championship.

Qualifying got underway on Friday evening and the V8 Nights / K Trans WA backed dragster shot straight to the number 1 position with an off-the-trailer 4.750 at 306.12 MPH.

Looking back at the data, tuner Ben Patterson could tell the track was very tight and the conditions perfect for Top Fuel drag racing. "The track was nice and cool and the air was excellent. While the track is always good in Perth you don't always get a cool track and that's what makes for really quick times."

Mark Sheehan wins Top Fuel in PerthMark Sheehan put a stop to Darren Morgan's winning streak on Saturday night at Perth Motorplex, taking victory in spectacular fashion in the third round of the ANDRA Top Fuel championship.

Sheehan defeated Morgan in the opening round and then went on to eliminate Phil Lamattina, who remains winless this season despite three straight finals appearances in the Fuchs dragster.

The final was a dramatic nitro pedal-fest, with both drivers on and off the throttle as they attempted to get 8000 horsepower to hook up to a cooling race track. Sheehan's 5.40 just nudged over the finish line ahead of a 5.55 from Lamattina.

Sheehan was just able to survive a big top end charge from Lamattina, giving him his second event win in a row at Perth Motorplex out of his three events total in the category.

The tough, USA-experienced Rapisarda Racing outfit will be out to stop Darren Morgan's championship charge come this weekend's third round of the ANDRA Top Fuel championship at Perth Motorplex.

The team again has gun driver Allan Dobson at the wheel, expecting to repeat the 4.6 second form that carried them to a win at the Fuchs Winternationals in June.

With Morgan looking to rack up a nitro hat trick, Rapisarda team manager Santo Rapisarda Jnr said there has been little rest since returning from the USA to prepare to take on the reigning national champion as well as the potent Phil Lamattina and winner of the last event in Perth, Mark Sheehan.