"VAN" (Sports Desk - 01.04.2026) :: Kyle Putland broke through for his first ever A-Final appearance at the weekend’s Riverbend Nationals at Dragway at The Bend – round two of the 2026 NDRC BLAHST Top Fuel Australia Championship.
When receiving his NDRC Christmas Tree trophy in the deep end after the final against former champ and current championship leader, Phil Lamattina, the emotion for the up-and-coming WA racer was clear.
“To have this trophy that says, ‘Top Fuel,’ even being a runner-up trophy, I still don’t know how to put words to how that feels, even a couple of days later,” Putland said.
“It is out of this world.
“When I started Top Fuel, I never ever wanted to just make up the numbers, but getting to an A-Final is just…the closest thing I can think to describe it is ‘surreal.’
“For us it was a pretty average race, we did the burnout and then as soon as I put my foot on the throttle cable, it failed, so we were a sitting duck. So that was disappointing, but to just make it to the A-Final, we were so happy with that.
“We have worked through lots and lots of problems across the last couple of races, and we were still having problems – the team had a huge job to get us back on track – but heading into the final I was feeling really confident that it would be a good lap, so it is a case of conflicting emotions, I guess.
“Hopefully, this can be the first of more A-Finals to come.”
That work Putland refers to was a complete engine replacement between the second round of racing and the final – an enormous turnaround under pressure.
“In the first round of racing, we were up against Damien Harris, and we knew that was going to be really tough. Luckily, we got a bit further out, and were able to win that race,” Putland explains.
“In the second round though, again against Harris, we blew the engine to smithereens.
“Thankfully I had the low ET points at that time, so that secured our A-Final berth together with our round one win, but we had a lot of work to do to get back out there and I can’t thank my whole crew enough – their efforts were just extraordinary and they did an amazing job; they are an amazing group of people.”
Now, Putland has Sydney in his sights for next month’s Nitro Champs (May 1-3).
“This definitely does help with our confidence heading to Sydney,” he said.
“The Nitro Champs will be tough, the track will be good, and we can’t wait to get back out there.
“In the meantime, I want to thank the track crew and volunteers at Dragway at The Bend for all of their hard work at the Riverbend Nationals, especially on Saturday as we tried to get racing going – we were strapped in under the tunnel ready to go, but it just wasn’t to be, and I was gutted for the fans and the track crew who were all working so hard to make it happen.
“Thank you again to my crew, and to our supporting partners, Oil and Energy, Hydraulic Technical Solutions, Grease Systems WA, and High Speed Engineering.”
The NDRC’s Gulf Western Oil Nitro Champs across May 1-3 at Sydney Dragway will feature a stacked Group One lineup featuring BLAHST Top Fuel, XPRO Nitro Funny Car, Top Doorslammer, Top Fuel Motorcycle, Pro Mod, Pro Alcohol, Pro Stock, and Pro Stock Bike, as well as the Aeroflow Sportsman Championship. Tickets and entries are available now, so make sure you do not miss out on this epic nitro party.
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