"VAN" (Sports Desk - 30.08.2025) :: The opening round of the 2025/2026 ANDRA Sportsman Series lit up the night in Darwin on Friday, with qualifying unfolding across the evening to decide who would claim the first Top Qualifier Medallions presented by New Gen Business Park of the season. With ANDRA Christmas Trees and valuable early championship points also on the line this weekend, racers were pushing hard from the very first pass ahead of race day.
Taking out the Top Qualifier Medallions presented by New Gen Business Park Friday night were Cooper Plummer (New Gen Business Park Junior Drag Bike), Angelina Kondilis (Junior Dragster), Jamie Irwin (Goodyear Racing Super Street), Ian Read (Ballistic Performance Parts Modified Bike), Troy David (The South Australian Drag Racers Association Super Sedan), Dan Hodgins (Gallagher Modified), Cheryl ‘MsVrod’ Beddoes (New Gen Business Park Competition Bike), Tommy Turic (Top Sportsman), and Peter Coles (New Gen Business Park Supercharged Outlaws).
Goodyear Racing Super Street’s Jamie Irwin is pleased to take home the top qualifier medallion this weekend, with his R35 GTR proving both quick and consistent across the evening.
“It has been a good day, it is really good to top qualify,” Irwin said.
“The car is running perfectly – I have pulled heaps of boost out of it. Normally, it runs way quicker, like eight-eighties, but I am just sticking at ten-fifties at the lowest boost levels and that is working for us.
“I have to work on my reaction times for tomorrow – hopefully I can get that down lower. But the car is very consistent,” he concluded, while sending “a big shout out” to his main sponsor, the Irwin Group.
In Ballistic Performance Parts Modified Bike, Ian Read overcame a hole in the radiator of his Hayabusa to claim the top qualifying honours, and with the help of his fellow racers, he’s looking forward to hitting the track again tomorrow.
“I didn’t land until 2pm this afternoon and headed straight to the track. I have a bit of a different set-up since I last raced at the end of the Perth season, so it was a little unknown, but we got from A to B and the bike seems to be going very well,” Read said.
“This is my fourth visit here to Darwin and the Territorian racers have been more than welcoming of this racer from Perth, especially as we now look for a radiator as I have put a hole in mine. If it wasn’t for the local Hayabusa racers I probably wouldn’t be swapping that out tomorrow ready for racing.
“I am feeling confident ahead of the racing, hopefully I can get a good night’s sleep and we can make a good start to our season tomorrow.
“I would really like to thank my fellow racer James Taylor, as without him this would not be happening – I wouldn’t even be up here. He has towed my trailer all the way from Perth and done a mountain of work to get me up here.
“We have come to get the chocolates here in Darwin, and then it will be on to Alice Springs for the Desert Nationals and Red CentreNATS. It is going to be a nice road trip and this is what it is all about – it is great having all these events close together and we are really looking forward to it. I am really happy to be here!
“Thanks also to Ballistic Performance Parts for their sponsorship of the Modified Bike bracket and also their support of the bracket through the new Racer Support Program.
There was plenty of on-track action for race fans taking in the sights and sounds at the Hidden Valley Drag Strip, with qualifying for the NDRC Top Doorslammers grand final, local Street Car and Street Bike track championships, a gravity-defying High Air FMX show, and Wheel Standers exhibition also keeping the crowd entertained.
Jamie Moreton and Mark Tattingham top qualified in the Street Car and Street Bike track championships respectively, while John Zappia took the top qualifying honours ahead of the NDRC Top Doorslammer grand final showdown.
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