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.

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.

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.

Top Alcohol winner Russell Mills (Photo courtesy Grant Stephens)The 2013 Nitro Champs saw three first time professional winners in racing that ranged from the record breaking to the bizarre.

Lee Bektash in Pro Stock, Russell Mills in Top Alcohol and Graeme Morell in Top Bike all scored their first pro victories on a day where the saying "to finish first, first you must finish" was more important than ever.

Bektash defeated Scott Porter in the final of Pro Stock to finally break through for his first win in the category since he stepped up in 2008.

Ideal atmospheric conditions saw Bektash's pre-event prediction of many teams stepping into the six second zone come true and he himself clocked a personal best 6.99 time in the first round.

The Mopar team's achievements were all the more impressive given Bektash landed the new Dodge Avenger from the USA just weeks ago in what has proven to be a valuable move.

Darren Morgan managed to sway the Top Fuel points balance slightly in his favour during qualifying for the 2013 Nitro Champs at Sydney Dragway, taking top position ahead of race day.

Morgan's qualifying points broke the deadlock between himself and Phil Lamattina, edging the K-Trans team ever so slightly ahead.

A 4.77 second time did the job for Morgan on a day where a grippy track and cool air made it difficult to tame the nitro dragsters.

"We've got the best tuners in the world out here who we are trying to beat and even they struggle with the changing track today," Morgan said.