SOUTH Coast Raceway (SCR) officials are confident they will retain a round of the Australian National Drag Racing Association’s sportsmen series.
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Video courtesy of Jesse Kelly, DragPix.
Rain condemned the opening round of the popular series at the weekend, leaving 135 racers and 1500 fans frustrated at the unseasonal weather.
There were six rain delays during qualifying on Saturday, to go with four stoppages to clean oil on the track and three for crashes.
Less than an hour of racing was possible on Sunday.
Only junior dragsters, super street and super sedan classes took to the 200-metre strip.
SCR publicity officer Greg Holland said ANDRA had indicated the Portland track would again host a round in 2015.
“At this stage the meeting is secure,” he said.
‘‘Everyone knows you can’t help the weather.
“Last year when we had the ANDRA round it was beautiful, 25 degrees and we didn’t have an incident.
“We’ve gone from perfect to nowhere near perfect in a year.
‘‘That’s racing.”
Holland said the club had lost money as a result of the wash out, although he was unsure how severe the financial hit was.
“On a year we need some cash to pay for some bills we’re not getting any.
‘‘It’ll take a few weeks to work out the bottom-line figure,” he said.
Round two of the series is at Perth Motorplex but the racing year is all but over for Adelaide super charged outlaws driver Mick Mahoney.
Mahoney was involved in the most spectacular crash of the meeting on Saturday, his Ford Capri flipping at speed across a lane and into the concrete wall.
He remarkably walked away from the crash with only minor injuries but later spent four hours in hospital for observation.
“He had a sore neck, back and hip,’’ Holland said.
‘‘He’s come out of hospital, he’s walking around and talking.
“He’s a bit down, as you would be when half your car is demolished.
‘‘But the roll cage did its job perfectly and he was able to walk away.
“He’ll have a fairly big rebuild, it’s about $130,000 worth of car and he’s smashed the front half.”
Victorian Shane Baxter, in a small block Chevrolet altered, was involved in the other major crash on Saturday.
His parachute failed to open and he sped into the emergency braking area, causing “cosmetic” damage.
The next meeting at South Coast Raceway is its Nitro For Wishes showcase on January 31 and February 1.