ANDRA Drag Racing - Aeroflow Summer Speedfest preview
The Clipsal 500 won't be the only major motorsports event in the City of Churches this month with the running of the Aeroflow Summer Speedfest at Adelaide International Raceway this weekend, February 23-24.
The Aeroflow Summer Speedfest features national ANDRA championship rounds for Top Alcohol, Top Bike, and Pro Stock Motorcycle plus the first running of the Aeroflow Sportsman Drag Racing Championship in Adelaide since 1999.
Over 170 team will be attending the event from all over the country, bringing an influx of racers and their pit crews into the region.
Fifteen times national Top Alcohol champion Gary Phillips comes into the event as points leader, narrowly holding off Steve Reed by eight points and John Cannuli by nine points, placing critical importance on the unique race, which is contested over a 1000 feet distance.
They will have to keep an eye on an experienced group of local racers who know the Adelaide track surface like the back of their hand including Gary Busch, Yak Probst and Frank Intini. With nine teams in total battling to get into an eight car race day field, qualifying will be intense.
Last time Top Alcohol came to Adelaide in April 2012, Cannuli took the win over Wayne Newby, who crashed his dragster in a wild final round. Cannuli also holds the track records for Top Alcohol at 4.898 seconds and 363kmh.
Three-times Top Bike champion Chris Matheson will be out to make a statement at this Adelaide round, following a poor Perth showing where supercharger issues prevented his bike from making a pass. He was the winner last time in Adelaide, where he defeated Chris Porter in the final and set the Top Bike track record to 5.300 seconds and 316kmh for 1000 feet.
Matheson will be joined by a number of big names including Mark "The Iceman" Drew from Western Australia making his debut appearance in Adelaide and local Dennis Grant returning after a two year break.
Pro Stock Motorcycle sees Australian Nationals champion Luke Crowley coming to Adelaide for the first ever time, joining reigning event winner Locky Ireland. The Pro Stock Motorcycles will be racing over the full quarter mile for the event.
The Aeroflow Sportsman Drag Racing Championship is where the bulk of the teams will be racing and will provide one of the best shows yet for Adelaide.
Twenty-two Supercharged Outlaws teams will be battling to make it to the winner's circle with Queensland's Luke Marsden aiming to extend his points lead.
Qualifying starts from 9am on Saturday with racing from 9am on Sunday.
