Another Dash of “Down Under” « DragRaceCanada.com

Another Dash of “Down Under”

by editor on Nov.08, 2025, under International Dateline

Australia’s NDRC concludes wrap around season with “Show For The Ages” event…

In what was billed as a one-day NDRC spectacular full of nitro mayhem — the Nitro Nationals presented by PW Brakes and Racer Industries at Sydney Dragway – well and truly delivered.

In hot and sultry conditions, the final rounds of the 2024/2025 NDRC Top Fuel and XPRO Nitro Funny Car Championships took to the track alongside the Aeroflow Allstars as they duked it out for $25k in cash and an iconic rocket trophy, as well as the Aeroflow National Sportsman Championship Super Gas competitors who were also enjoying their season finale at this event.

In Top Fuel, Wayne Newby had an absolutely blazing day to top qualify and win three from three races to clinch not only the championship (over team-mate Damien Harris), but also the event win, as well as the low ET and top speed bonus points along the way.

The intensity was high from the get-go for the Rapisarda Autosport International team in particular, with both Wayne Newby and Damien Harris in contention for the title, with Newby holding a slim margin over team-mate and defending champ, Harris.

Both needed to keep winning to keep their hopes alive, and in round one, they were each successful, with Newby taking the win over Phil Lamattina (3.999/498.07kph v 4.095/399.58kph) and Harris bettering Phil Read (5.514/230.39kph v 6.690/146.77kph).

In round two, it was make or break for Harris who did all he could to secure another race win, with a 4.182 second pass at 347.55kph over Lamattina’s 7.635 at 126.82kph effort. However, at this juncture he needed Newby to lose his round two race if he was to remain in the hunt, and Newby wasn’t having it – taking the round two victory with a 3.820 at 522.76kph pass over Steve Read’s 4.423/315.81kph pass to claim the title and book his place in the A-Final against Olive – who had so far snagged wins over Steve Read (3.906/503.02kph v 4.599/306.00kph) in round one and Phil Read (4.201/376.52kph v 4.578/294.97kph) in round two.

The NDRC’s Top Fuel season has crowned Wayne Newby as champion — following his impressive undefeated weekend at Sydney Dragway for RAI.

The A-Final was held amid a sea of colourful Hawaiian shirts bearing Wayne Newby’s face and delivered crowd-pleasing side-by-side three-eighties, with Newby taking the win (3.812/524.28kph) over Olive (3.886/445.19kph), who was on a storming run before a supercharger belt was thrown off the third RAI entry.

In the B-Final, Harris and Steve Read faced off with the Queenslander pulling off a firey win over the West Australian with a 4.383 second pass at 347.14kph with a side order of flame across the finish line, while Harris threw 4.926/235.20kph up on the time boards. Making this performance for the 72-year-old Steve Read was the fact they were fighting issues in the pits before the final and didn’t even have time to fire up before towing out to greet the starter.

In the C-Final, the win went the way of Phil Read (4.085/358.03kph with an early shut off) over Lamattina (4.903/237.12kph) who after a solid start buzzed the tyres and was forced to get off it.

In XPRO Nitro Funny Car, Morice McMillin locked down the title early in the day, but it was his young Aeroflow Racing team-mates Josh Leahy and Damon Paton who went all the way to the A-Final, with Paton top qualifying and winning two races before running into trouble in the final (7.773138.51kph), while Leahy book-ended his season with the victory after a super clean pass (4.018/482.48kph), also claiming the runner-up honours in the title chase.

Racing the Rocket Industries Mustang – Josh Leahy won the the FC division A-Final.

On their way to the final, Leahy had faced off against Walshe (4.376/336.62kph v 4.962/258.50kph) in round one and his boss McMillin (4.055/501.37kph v 5.095/239.00kph) in round two, while Paton – who before this event had only one race win to his name and had never been to a final – was on a charge from the get go, top qualifying before bettering McMillin in round one (4.201/487.13kph v 4.280/384.05kph) and Walshe (4.448/371.50kph v 4.535/383.78kph) in round two.

Racing this super special edition “Aussie Bandit” Firebird — a tribute to team owners Graeme & Wendy Cowin – Morice McMillin clinched the NDRC’s XPRO Funny Car season title at Sydney Dragway last weekend.

McMillin and Walshe faced off in the B-Final, with McMillin (4.441/320.82kph) taking the win while Walshe (4.677/283.21kph) had a cylinder cut out after a strong start to the run and then slapped the wall halfway down the track. While his racing machine bore witness marks to the contact, Walshe himself was unharmed.

In the Sportsman ranks the Aeroflow Allstars were doing battle for $25k in cash prizes and the iconic Rocket trophies which had never been awarded to sportsman racers before. At the same time, the Aeroflow National Sportsman Championship Super Gas racers were out to decide their runner-up, with champion Colin Griffin unable to be caught in the points.

When all was said and done, it was Joe Catanzariti who won the event for Super Gas and took the title runner-up as a result, with a final win over event runner-up, Anthony Panetta.

In the other classes, the wins went to Mitchell Oxley (Super Comp, over runner-up Kit Hunter), Wally Hosta (Performance Bike, from runner-up Ken Collin), Michael Vlasakakis (Super Sedan, from runner-up Sean Maher), Tex Griffiths (Super Street, from runner-up Richard Matosevic), Sean Rickets (Modified Bike, from runner-up Mitchell Woodford), Nixon Cannuli (Junior Dragster, from runner-up Riley Eato), Cory Dyson (Modified, from runner-up Jess Turner), Neveah McDougall (Junior Drag Bike, from runner-up Antastazia Luckie), Tony Whyatt (Top Sportsman, from runner-up Paul Partridge), and Peter Leahy (Supercharged Outlaws, from runner-up Jeff Sargent).

The event’s Supercharged Outlaws winner was Peter Leahy.

Defending Australia Class Champ Tex Griffiths won in Super Street with his vintage Mopar.

Attention will now turn to Season Three for the National Drag Racing Championship — which kicks off on January 24-25, 2026, at Willowbank Raceway in Queensland.