Australia’s penultimate NDRC season event is condensed and impactful “one day wonder”!!….. 
The Haltech East Coast Nationals exploded into life at Sydney Dragway last weekend with nitro-burning BLAHST Top Fuel and XPRO Nitro Funny Car beasts spearheaded a thunderous day of National Drag Racing Championship (NDRC) action.
With rain forecasted for Sunday (27 September), a huge two-day program was condensed into a single non-stop day (26 September) to give racing the best chance of being completed – and critical points awarded ahead of next month’s season finale – for not only the BLAHST Top Fuel and XPRO Nitro Funny Car machines, but also Top Doorslammer, Pro Stock, Pro Mod and the Aeroflow Sportsman Championship racers.
All five Group 1 brackets dove straight into racing, with the fields for round one seeded according to the championship standings.
The BLAHST Top Fuel racers well and truly put on a show across the day, going side-by-side with full candles time and time again, with 11 of the day’s 15 passes run in three seconds and nine at more than 500kph.
In the A-Final, Damien Harris took the win with a crowd-pleasing 3.817-second, 525.66kph pass over Shane Olive (3.847/516.05kph), dashing his Rapisarda Autosport International (RAI) team-mate’s hopes of a maiden event win with the team.
Harris’s event victory followed two previous race wins, the first in round one over Steve Read (3.916/508.32kph v 5.112/346.28kph), with ‘The Pom’ never really opening the throttle all the way, before he faced off against current championship leader Phil Lamattina, with his 3.893/522.24kph pass bettering the 4.141/466.21kph of the Carrot King, who had to pedal his way down the track. Olive had earlier turned the win light on over Wayne Newby in round one (3.860/517.77kph v 3.917/507.84kph) and Read in round two (3.880/515.44kph v 4.089/468.83kph).
BLAHST Top Fuel winner – Damien Harris – led a 1-2-3 placing assault for Rapisarda Autosport International at Sydney Dragway last weekend.
“I saw Shane, then he disappeared, and I just prayed that I got the win because I need the points. I want to thank all the Rapisarda family and Atlantic Oils. This result is going to make the Bend interesting,” Harris said.
Newby secured a RAI 1-2-3 for the event in the B-Final with a best-of-the-event pass, with candles blazing in a 3.720-second, 532.76kph side-by-side showdown that saw him take the win over Lamattina (3.925/464.92kph) while narrowly edging out Harris for the low ET and top speed of the day.
While Lamattina (74 points) retains the lead into next month’s SPRY Spring Nationals at Dragway at The Bend, the job is far from done with both Harris (64) and Newby (60) well in touch. Olive’s runner-up finish lifts him to fourth on 56, ahead of Kyle Putland (46) and Steve Read (44) – who ran the C-Final solo with a 4.037-second pass at 292.84mph, marking his best pass of the day.
Despite losing out in the TF B-Final – Phil Lamattina is still the NDRC points leader heading into the season finale racing weekend later this month.
“I’ve still got the points lead, but that doesn’t mean anything at the moment. Put it this way, the punters should get down to Dragway at The Bend, it’s going to be an interesting race meeting. The target is definitely on my back, and they are going to be coming after me,” Lamattina said. “We are still in the lead, and everyone still has to chase us, so bring on Tailem Bend!”
For XPRO Nitro Funny Car championship leader Josh Leahy, a victory this evening for the Haltech East Coast Nationals victory is another big step toward what could be his maiden title.
His third win of the season extended his points lead and turned the tables on Justin Walshe as the pair flew down the track side-by-side in one of the standout XPRO Nitro Funny Car runs of the day.
Josh Leahy won for the 3X this season for XPRO Funny Car — to step to the edge of a NDRC national championship!
For complete XPRO Nitro Funny Car class coverage from this event – link over to the LMLC Media co-production all FC site: HERE
Top Doorslammer and Pro Modified classes were also well attended and were ferocious in nature.
In Top Doorslammer — the event’s running has thrown the title race wide open. Following a second straight win Emilio Spinozzi has vaulted into the Top Doorslammer points lead for the first time — now sitting two points ahead of 11-time champion, John Zappia – with one event remaining.
Emilio Spinozzi (from Sydney) was popular winner for the Top Doorslammer category.
For Pro Mod – that A-Final saw defending series champion Zoran Gajic defeat first time finalist Eddy Hawach to further extend his points lead – also with only one event remaining.
Zoran Gajic collected in the event’s (5.85 index) Pro Mod eliminator with his twin-turbo Mustang.
*More in-depth coverage for TD and PM — will be posted to our Pro Mod Portal subsection: HERE (Coming soon!)
Pro Stock racing concluded with only the A-Final being run off (due to high winds moving in) for which Robert Dekert and Omar Sedmak took to the track. It was Sedmak who took the win with a 7.340-second pass over Dekert, who rolled the beams.
Sedmak had earned his place in the final with wins over Gina Bullians (6.982/316.11kph v 7.071/312.82kph) and John Barbagallo (6.930/317.39kph v 8.321/193.25kph) in the opening two rounds, while Dekert had also turned the win light on twice – first in a round one solo (7.007/198.47mph) and then in a round two match-up with Clint George (6.920/320.43kph v 7.420/311.16kph).
Saturday’s A-Final match-up was a repeat of the last time Pro Stock raced at Sydney Dragway, for the Nitro Champs in May this year, where Dekert claimed the event win – this time, however, the results were flipped.
Omar Sedmak won in the NDRC’s (400 CID) Pro Stock category with his Mopar.
It also follows Dekert reversing a two-point deficit to Sedmak into a two-point advantage at the Pro Stock Nationals, with Sedmak’s win today meaning the pair now head to the season finale tied for the points lead on 62 points.
Sydney Dragway brought the Haltech East Coast Nationals to a close with an exciting program of Aeroflow Sportsman Championship racing, delivering both NDRC Christmas Trees and critical results ahead of the racers’ upcoming penultimate rounds (All Bike Nationals and Southern Sportsman Slam on October 10).
Bruno Matijasevic won in Supercharged Outlaws with his fan favourite supercharged Holden.
The winners for their respective brackets were: Jake McNamara (Aeroflow Junior Dragster, from runner-up Alexis Attard), Kobe Ashelford (Aeroflow Junior Drag Bike – from r-up Vanz Peirano), Craig Warren (Super Street, from r-up Aidan Stutchbury), Luke Cartledge (Super Comp, from r-up Adrian Vella), Michael Cristoforo (Modified Bike, from r-up Jimmy-Jock Stewart), Edge Mallis (Performance Bike, from r-up Samuel Fry), Bruno Matijasevic (Supercharged Outlaws, from r-up Toby Austin), Victor Tsatlogianis (Super Sedan, from Leo Georgis), Matt Clarke (Top Sportsman, from r-up John Rigatos) and Jess Turner (Modified, from r-up Matt Forbes).
Luke Cartledge collected a win in the Aeroflow Sportsman Super Comp class (an equivalent to NHRA Comp class racing in North America).
Matt Clarke took Top Sportsman with this cool GXP car.
Going forward — every NDRC bracket will descend on Dragway at The Bend across October 22-25 for the 2026 season finale, with BLAHST Top Fuel, XPRO Nitro Funny Car, Top Doorslammer, Top Fuel Motorcycle, Pro Alcohol, Pro Stock, Pro Stock Motorcycle, Pro Mod and all 10 Aeroflow Sportsman Championship brackets deciding their champions in a four-day blockbuster.
Posted with files by Amanda Salmon & Bruce Biegler
Photos by Bruce Biegler
Link to the LMLC Media Haltech East Coast Nationals event photo gallery : HERE
