Reigning Pro Stock Motorcycle national champion Lachlan Ireland will have no better opportunity to turn his season around than Fuchs Nitro Thunder presented by Crow Cams this Saturday at Calder Park as he gets to race at his home track for the first time in an ANDRA championship round.
The 2012/13 season has not been as friendly to Ireland as the last one in which he took his first ever championship.
Arguably the biggest name in Australian Top Fuel racing has partnered with Australia's biggest name in hand tools, with the Victorian-based Lamattina Top Fuel Racing cars now sporting Sidchrome signage for the remainder of the 2013 season as well as 2014.
The partnership will see the crew for both LTFR cars using Sidchrome tools as the Top Fuel team continues to expand its operation.
Victorian Top Bike rider Graeme Morell is looking forward to the opportunity to show off his skills in front of a home town audience for the first time when he tackles Fuchs Nitro Thunder presented by Crow Cams at Calder Park this Saturday.
Morell is currently second placed in the ANDRA Top Bike championship and this season has carved out a reputation as a giant killer, demonstrating that consistency is just as important as outright pace when it comes to racing on nitro.
Lamattina Top Fuel Racing will be ready to show Victorian fans just how far the sport of drag racing has progressed in recent years as the team takes two of the most technically advanced Top Fuel cars in the country to the Fuchs Nitro Thunder presented by Crow Cams event at Calder Park.
It will be the first time Calder Park has seen ANDRA championship drag racing since 2001, once the country's premier drag racing venue, Calder Park hosted the Australian Nationals were held at the venue from 1992 through to 2001.
Steve Read will come into Fuchs Nitro Thunder presented by Crow Cams on October 19 as the only Top Fuel driver with previous experience on Melbourne's Calder Park drag strip and the two times ANDRA national champion is confident that will give him the edge he needs over the competition.
Read's last appearance at Calder Park was at the 2001 K&N Nationals where he won the event and set the quickest time of 4.96 seconds and a top speed of 472kmh, all of which proved vital in helping him go on to earn his first Top Fuel title, driving for team owner Santo Rapisarda.
Read says Calder Park holds many good memories for him as a driver.
When ANDRA championship Top Fuel drag racing returns to Melbourne on October 19 for Fuchs Nitro Thunder presented by Crow Cams it will see a first time driver making his competition debut when John Lamattina rolls on to the track.
John, brother of 2009 ANDRA Top Fuel champion Phil Lamattina, has spent recent months earning his Top Fuel licence, already clocking an impressive personal best time of 4.67 seconds at a top speed of 505kph.
The Wemen, Victoria-based carrot farming family is now feeling the excitement of fielding two state-of-the-art dragsters with a little bit of sibling rivalry thrown in for good measure.
In what can only be described as a game changing moment, Darwin Pro Stock Motorcycle rider Scott White scored one of his biggest drag racing career wins at the recent Lady Daly Hotel Springnationals.
The Springnationals featured the fifth round of the ANDRA Pro Stock Motorcycle Championship, and as such all the heavy hitters were in the Adelaide International Raceway pits.
White qualified second and then went on to defeat Glenn Wooster, Maurice Allen and Phil Howard in eliminations to earn his second ANDRA Pro Stock Motorcycle victory and 107 valuable points.
“I’m very, very pleased with the results,” said White. I knew a win was coming and felt confident that this could be the weekend.