Held at Dragway Motueka and hosted by the Nelson Drag Racing Association

The day started hot and dry and got hotter as the meeting progressed.  After a week’s holiday for most of the comp bike riders they were rearing to go. There were once again a field of 6 comp bikes. Ian Wilkins bike was producing plenty of power even though they were not feeding it any nitrous. In fact it was overpower the track for most of the day. The Nelson team did everything that they could with the track but as they can only use it 4 times a year it was a big ask to find traction in those hot temperatures.

Ian Taylor had his “Stray Cat” running nice and straight for his first run of the day. It would have been quick run as well if he had remembered to shift gear before hitting the limiter. But I imagine things get real busy real fast on a comp bike. As the track got hotter, Ian Wilkins’ crew measured the track temp at 60 Celsius, the traction started to go away and his runs got a bit more wayward. In fact I think Phil Nunn got a quite a good look at Ian Taylor’s bike when it strayed to stray into Phil’s lane. Ian and Rachel had starter problems at Christchurch and after putting new brushes in it worked fine in the pits. But it died on the start line again. I’m sure that Ian and Rachel would like to thank all the teams that came to their rescue.

The rider of the Harley Destroyer, sorry I haven’t got the name for you yet, is progressing big time. Considering that Christchurch was his first time on the bike he has got it launching and running real straight. I hope he brings it North because I’m sure Ray Pratt would enjoy the competition.

Team Xtreme Force’s other bike is the Nitro Harley. They had it running nicely and had none of their start line problems of the last meeting. His first run looked good to me but on his second run the bike had a problem and they shut it off. It was taken back to the pits with some sort of leak I think. Unfortunately they were unable to fix the problem on the day.

Phil Nunn made it up from Christchurch at the very last minute due to some wheelie bar woes. A grass field is not the best place to try and align your wheelie bars. But Phil got on with it and ran some nice straight passes. But he also came close to cutting some grass at the side of the track during his last run.

Craig Wray was at his home track but even that advantage didn’t help him when he started to have some fueling problems with his Turboed GS1000 based bike. When it ran good it ran great but when it didn’t…. well it didn’t.

Once the qualifying runs were over we got into the Elimination runs. But due to a computer problem it was decided that all classes would run heads up and the points would be sorted out later by the NZDRA.

Craig Wray was up against Ian Wilkins for the first run. Craig got to the finish first when Ian had to get off the throttle and fight the bike to keep it off the grass. The traction was getting worst, as the conditions got even hotter.

Phil Nunn beat the Destroyer but Phil had some huge wobbles trying to stay on the track. As he runs a 5-speed auto box he couldn’t really back off the throttle. But he kept it off the grass and outran the Destroyer.

Ian Taylor had a single pass, as the Nitro Harley was unable to show. Ian’s bike popped and backfired all the way down the track. It was later found that even though the NOS gauge was reading full the bottle was actually empty.

Since everyone had faced the starter and the points were going to be sorted by the NZDRA. All the comp bike riders made the wise decision not to run the final round. The traction was not good enough to risk the riders and their bikes.

Modified Bike

Well yet another disappointing turnout for the Mod Bike class. I was there with my GS1200SS after riding it up from Christchurch the previous night. Tristan Scalmer was there on his GS1000 streeter.

To help fill up our class to the 4 bikes needed for full points, Tristan encouraged two of the local riders to step up from their normal street bike class. They were both call Shane and I thank them heaps for helping us make up our numbers. But it was always going to be a big ask for Tristan to race in, as well as run, the meeting. As Tristan is the president of the Nelson Drag racing Association he really had his hands full on the day. In the end it was one of the coils on his bike that decided the fate of our class. His coil died and so did our hopes of a full points meeting. But never mind we got our 60 points and then joined the street bikes for some runs.

Normally we would all race DYO but as the computer woes were still with us we had to run heads up. So I believe Shane Clements was the eventually winner of the street bike class.

Junior Drag Bike

Once again we were having problems with the junior drag bike. This time it just didn’t want to start. But after quite a few push starts the bike finally fired up just in time for the last exhibition run of the day. New Zealand’s first junior drag bike rider is Anton Foley from New Plymouth. Anton also runs in the Junior Dragster class. Due to clutch problems once Anton got the bike fired up he didn’t do a standing start but he ran the bike down the track to get a feel for it and try the gear shifter. This bike is a “work in progress” and it will get better ever time it comes out.

 The Prize giving was held later that night at the Bush Tavern in Nelson and it was a great evening. I would like to thank Tristan and all the members of the Nelson Drag Racing Association for host yet another brilliant meeting.

Richard Ramsay

Held at Masterton Motorplex

Yet another brilliantly fine day greeted all the Drag racers the arrived at Masterton. The points chase for those Number One NZDRA plates is well and truly on with a great turn out of Comp bikes. The Mod bike turn out was sad…only 2 of us on the first day But the weather was great and the track very very sticky.

Comp Bike

A field of eight bikes were together at the Masterton Motorplex. The biggest field so far this season. Kirk Jones on his GSX750 based C/DB from Newlands, Wellington was there along with Steve Green on his TT500 based D/DB. Steve has been supporting drag racing in

New Zealand for many years and it is great that he still turns up and runs his bike. Gary Beaumont with his 108 cubic inch S/S motored Harley is a A/PCD bike and Jeff Godden runs his Kawasaki ZZR1100 as an A/PRO bike.

Dean Piper was running a GS1000 based B/DB .It is sponsored by Quarry Inn and was once run by Ian Taylor.

Mike Patton was riding another of Ian’s older bikes. This was his supercharged Kawasaki KZ1000 based BB/DB. Chasing more points were Ian Taylor with “Stray Cat” and Ian Wilkins with “Afterburner”. The track was brilliant and most riders had great runs on the Saturday’s qualifying.

Unfortunately Mike broke the Supercharger belt on his bike and was unable to run on the Sunday. Ian Taylor was also a doubtful starter for Sunday’s Finals after a suspected head gasket leak. Ian and his team tried a few things and turned up to try just one more run on the Sunday…just in case they could nurse the bike thru the day. I bet they were glad they did.

On Sunday they raced the Elimination rounds and Steve Green got a bye into the next round. Ian Taylor beat Dean Piper for his ticket through. Kirk Jones got through after Ian Wilkins had a red light. Jeff Godden also got through against Gary Beaumont. Although Ian Wilkins was out he posted a PB in a later testing run of 8.409 sec’s @ 162.58 mph. His 60ft time was 1.187…so we are looking forward to even better times as the season progresses.

Although I can’t find it on my video I believe Kirk Jones beat Jeff Godden to get into the final and Ian Taylor beat Steve Green for his spot in the final.

So it was the end of the day with Ian and Kirk lined up for the comp bike final. It went to Ian Taylor. Ian’s first win on “Stray Cat” and more to come as he gets to grips with his Puma/Suzuki beast.

Modified Bike

Only Alan Thoresen and myself were there for Saturday’s qualifying runs. Alan had ridden his “Black Thunder” ZX1400 down from Hamilton to start his points chase. We each had about 4 runs and Allan had a few exciting moments as he tried to get to grips with his NOS system.

Later on the Sunday one more bike turned up but was unable to race us for the Central Nationals Title, as he had not entered on Saturday. Alan reset my old AA/MB National record with a pass of 10.777 @ 136.69mph.

The final went to myself with my best reaction time of the meeting at 0.0269.

Junior Drag Bike

Ian Taylor and team had worked on the junior drag bike since Nelson and Anton was able to make quite a few Exhibition runs. He is getting the hang of New Zealand’s first ever junior drag bike and let’s hope that he inspires a few more people to build and race such machines.

 So thanks to everyone at Masterton Motoplex for hosting yet another great event and preparing a great track that saw national records set.

Richard Ramsay