Tonnes of wheels-up action took place during the IHRA Southern Nationals at Ruapuna on January 25 — and the track had seen a lot of effort to get it prepped for the event.
It was the first time many of the spectators had seen such a full field fighting it out to be the best in their class — even several North Island cars had made the trip to get in on the action. There were a couple of minor breakdowns and oil issues over the course of the day, but nothing that the Pegasus Bay Drag Racing Club crew couldn’t sort.
Amongst the impressive field, it was great to see Brendon Shearing hammering his ’71 Holden Monaro, as seen on the cover of Issue No. 115 of NZV8 magazine. The car runs into the low nine-second zone making it the current quickest street car in the South Island. Not bad for someone who lives an eight-hour drive from the track!
Another previous NZV8 feature car to also stretch its legs was SYCO 8, an ex Hamilton-based Holden Monaro now owned by Chris Daley, all the way from Te Anau.
After a full-on day, the results of the event were as follows. Don’t forget to check out the gallery below and let us know if you were there in the comments.
Supercharged Outlaws
Winner: Graham Christison
Runner-up: Minchington Brothers
Top Street
Winner: Roger Binnema
Runner-up: Gavin Green
Super Sedan
Winner: Jason Fleck
Runner-up: Warren Black
Modified
Winner: Ken King
Runner-up: Cameron Patterson
Competition Bike
Winner: Raymond Lelievere
Runner-up: Andy Urwin Wells
Modified Bike
Winner: Alan Thoresen
Runner-up: Bryn McCaw
Super Street
Winner: Dave Christian
Runner-up: Andy Vaughan
