NEWS

Rain out at Willowbank halts point chase ... January 15, 2000

Willowbank Raceway, Queensland: Dragracing is a dry weather only sport so occasionally events are disrupted by rain. Round 3 of Top Doorslammer in QLD was no exception.

The Studebaker Racing Co made the long haul from the West Coast to the East Coast of Australia. The diagonal trip across Australia from Perth to Brisbane takes 6 days by rail (car container) and 5 ½ hours by air. The team had the Moonshine Bandit ready to race but Robin, Lee and Eric had the frustration of having to sit around in the hot balmy conditions and wait.

"One or two down pours fell after setting up on Friday but the weather was expected to clear for racing the next day" Judd said. " Rain during the night kept the track wet until morning. Then it seemed like the rain abated for a while but as soon as the track dried and was ready for racing, rain fell again".

The first qualifying session at 12.45pm was cancelled, as were the second and third qualifiers set for 2.25pm and 4.05pm.

" At around 4.00pm the track officials told us that we would be running only two qualifiers, the first at 5.00pm and the second at 6.00pm. They also told the competitors that if it rained again the meeting would be called off as they were having trouble removing water from the braking area. The eliminations were to be run at 7.00pm, 8.00pm and 9.00pm. With less than an hour between runs meant that if anything broke you were out. Sure enough, we were waiting in the staging lanes with all the other Doorslammers around 4.30pm when a big dark cloud loomed up and dumped rain on us. I'm glad in some ways we didn't have to race, given the tight schedule".

After the car arrives back in Perth, Robin and the crew will put a few final touches to the car and the 20' container and then send it on to Adelaide for Round 4 (February 12) and Melbourne (Calder Nationals Round 5, February 17-19) double header.

Stay tuned ....