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THE grand finale of the 2013 Telecel Drag Racing Series held last Saturday at Donnybrook Raceway in Harare got off to a flying start with 55 competitors registering by lunch-time and a final overall figure of 65 participants. The official racing, from 11:30 am to 2:30pm, featured some of the best racing so far this year with a very good range of vehicles and some of the regular competitors posting their best times ever.
The winners in the bike classes were Andy Koumides on his Honda CBR600 with a time of 12.751 seconds, reigning overall motorcycle champion Phil Archenoul on his Suzuki GSXR1000 with a time of 10.437secs and Shannon Naested on his Kawasaki 1400 with a time of 10.653secs.
The winners in the eight-car classes came from a wide range of vehicles including a Datsun 140SX, BMW325, Toyota Starlet and Nissan Skyline amongst others.
The well-known V8 AC Cobra driven by Alan Cacace took first place in its class with a fine performance and top time of 11.755 seconds.
Raihaan Kerbelker, posted his personal best in his Subaru Forester, breaking into the 13-second bracket, although he took second place in his class after Chris Bird in his Subaru Impreza with a time of 13.475secs.
One of the few female drivers, Kelly-Anne Temple, won her first ever place with a time of 18.832 and Mebs Kerbelker posted an impressive time of 12.161 seconds in his Subaru Impreza before clutch problems ended his day’s racing.
A few new competitors joined the Dragpro Club family and put on worthy performances for their first drags.
The racing was fast moving and without break until around 2:30pm when the rains, which had been threatening for sometime, forced the closure of the track for safety reasons.
Spectators and competitors took cover in the pits or wherever they could find it and even the rain failed to dampen a great atmosphere.
The over 1 500 strong crowd waited with high expectations for the rain to pass in the hope that racing would resume, but unfortunately the weather had set in and any further racing was not possible.
All was not lost however, as the “H-Town Spinners” were on hand to thrill the crowd when a break in the weather came and in spite of the water logged track they provided some terrific entertainment in the form of two separate spinning demonstrations featuring four of their wild BMWs.
Although disappointing news was received just the day prior to drags that the V8 Buggy, in spite of the best efforts, would not in fact make it to the track.
New owner Steve Attwell pulled out all the stops to get the car running and by mid-afternoon it made its appearance at the track ready to fulfil expectations.
Regrettably the weather did not give the car an opportunity to thrill although fans did get to see and hear that the legend lives and will be back next year.
The Drag Racing scene will now take a break through the rainy season with the 2014 Series expected to get underway in March/April.
Anyone interested in taking up this sport are encouraged to get in touch with the Dragpro Club during its off season as the club is planning on holding a social event aimed at giving new competitors an opportunity to find out more about the sport and the opportunity to network with like-minded enthusiasts.
“Thank to everyone who made the day happen. Dragpro Club would like to offer a huge ‘thank you’ to its 2013 sponsors for their amazing support and generosity -Telecel, hp lubes/Castrol, Easyparts, RAM Petroleum, Financial Gazette, Autobusiness Magazine and DHL.
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