The Australians have drawn first blood in round one of the USA vs AUS Nitro Funny Car Challenge at Willowbank Raceway last night.

The challenge is part of the two-round International New Year Series at the Ipswich facility, with Aussies Damien Harris and Ricky Steffens taking on American Jack Wyatt.

The trio had the fans cheering as they thundered down the quarter mile with header flames high, with Harris the standout with a ‘four second’ pass of 4.968s at over 300mph on his first run of the evening, which was the first 300mph Nitro Funny Car pass by an Aussie racer at the track.

The Australians have drawn first blood in round one of the USA vs AUS Nitro Funny Car Challenge at Willowbank Raceway last night.

The challenge is part of the two-round International New Year Series at the Ipswich facility, with Aussies Damien Harris and Ricky Steffens taking on American Jack Wyatt.

The trio had the fans cheering as they thundered down the quarter mile with header flames high, with Harris the standout with a ‘four second’ pass of 4.968s at over 300mph on his first run of the evening, which was the first 300mph Nitro Funny Car pass by an Aussie racer at the track.

This was followed up by a 5.028s pass at 289.76mph to close out the Glenella racer’s evening. Steffens was also strong with two full passes with a five (5.768s at 186.59mph) and six second pass (6.520s at 148.87mph) for the Regency Downs racer.

“Tonight was good, Tim from our crew dialed in a great four second tune-up and we were able to follow up on what we did at the Winters here when we ran the exhibition pass and then in Perth last weekend when we ran a four at over 500kmh, which has been great,” said Harris.

“To take the American on and come out on top was very enjoyable, and hopefully we can go further for the next round on January 16.

“Densham’s elapsed time is definitely something we have in our sights, we beat his mile per hour record when we ran 311mph in Perth, but he ran 4.86seconds here at this event last year and that is something we are hunting for.”

Wyatt was determined to put on a good show, however struggled with set up, running a 7.150 at 155.74mph and a 7.049 at 126.67mph after having to lift off the pedal at intervals during both runs.

“We just kept smoking the tyres and also struggled a bit with the tune up, but we think we know what the issue is now and are confident we will be on the pace come January 16,” said Wyatt.

“The Aussies are just fantastic – the fans are brilliant, so many came up and spoke to us and thanked us for coming and you can tell they are just die-hard racing fans, they love this and I am so glad we could come out and put on a show and hopefully we can do better for them next round.

“The Aussie racers as well are just amazing, they put on a great show tonight.”

While Harris has Densham’s ET mark in his sights, the US veteran isn’t too upset.

“I am just so proud of the Aussies performance and of Harris, he ran over the 500kmh mark recently and then again over 300mph tonight, the Aussie racers here are just amazing,” said Denhsam.

“That is the thing about the Aussies, and this isn’t the first time this has happened when I have come over here – you give them a challenge and it never takes long for them to rise and take it, and that is just what has happened this time and I couldn’t be happier.”

While Densham was overseeing Wyatt’s campaign in the battle for national pride, he also took to the track in his Nostalgia Nitro Funny Car, taking on Australian Peter Leahy (son of the recently-passed racer Roly Leahy) in his front-engined nostalgia dragster.

The run is not only a nod to where this racing started, but also to the time when Densham ran against Roly back in the 1970s. Densham and Leahy entertained the fans with two runs, with the nitro-running Densham crossing the line ahead of the methanol-burning Leahy in both with a 6.304s at 202.36mph and 6.143s at 227.80mph to Leahy’s 7.432s at 178.57mph and 8.173s at 172.81mph in his front-engined dragster.

Also entertaining the fans were professional Top Alcohol competitors Steve Reed and Stephen Ham, who performed two Top Alcohol Funny Car Match Races. The pair were one a piece at the end of the night, with Reed taking the victory in the first run when Ham turned the tyres off the start line and Reed powered through for a 5.842s at 245.00mph, while Ham bettered Reed in the second with a 5.961s at 239.10mph to Reed’s 6.409s at 177.35mph.

Three runs of the Nitro Funny Cars, Nostalgia and Alcohol Funny Car match races were originally scheduled, however due to a delay earlier in the evening caused by a light shower only two were run.

For full event results please visit the results page of www.willowbankraceway.com.au - http://results.willowbankraceway.com.au/

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