Darren Morgan equal leader after Extreme 3
Darren Morgan equal leader after Extreme 3 (Photo courtesy Fred Dwyer)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.
Saturday night was a similar story, a stout 4.77 in qualifying put Darren in position number 3. When Damien Harris couldn't make the elimination round Darren took the solo. From the hit the car moved to the right, out of the groove and into tyre smoke. Darren peddled the car to record a 5.96, enough to make the A Final.
Once again Darren was up against Steve Read who had run a string of 4 second passes. "In the final we missed the tune-up a little and went into weak tyre shake early, " said Ben Patterson. Steve Read took the win with a 4.766 to Darren's slowing 7.07.
"Congratulations to Steve Read and his team. They had a great weekend and a fantastically consistent race car," said Darren. "It was also wonderful to see a big crowd in the stands at this unique event. The light show, the big screen, live interviews from the pits and a heap of other attractions really had the fans excited."
On the same weekend, Mildura was playing host to the annual Power Fest, with Nostalgia Nitro headlining the drags at Mildura's Sunset Strip. "When we got home the place was buzzing about drag racing, everyone was really excited. It was great to see the enthusiasm from the fans and we can't wait to get to Sydney for the Nitro Champs, " said Darren.
Round 7 of the ANDRA Top Fuel Championship will be at Sydney Dragway for the Nitro Champs from the 3rd to the 5th of May, where Darren Morgan Racing will look to pull away from the pack and cement the number 1 position.
DMR would like to thank their sponsors, K Trans WA, Shannons Insurance and Victorian American Imports along with their many associate partners.
Current ANDRA Top Fuel Championship Points
- Darren Morgan 487
- Phil Lamattina 487
- Steve Read 287
- Mark Sheehan 184
- Allan Dobson 182
- Damien Harris 171
- Luke Shepherd 87
- Larry Dixon 72
- Martin Stamatis 63
- Terry Sainty 44
