Australia’s NDRC opens 2025 calendar portion at fabled Perth Motorplex….

The first NDRC racing of the New Year saw a field of 12 Top Doorslammers light up the night for the first time in 2025 at Perth Motorplex’s Nitro Slam event on Saturday (January 4).

The Kwinana Beach venue came alive with a blisteringly quick action-packed one-day event, delighting fans and ringing in the New Year in style with the 3rd Top Doorslammer round of the 2024/2025 NDRC championship chase.

In a night that delivered plenty of 5-second / 400kph+ passes to the delight of more than 4,000 drag racing fans, it was Russell Taylor who claimed the A-Final victory over runner-up Matt Abel.

The win saw Russell Taylor add another victory to his tally after also winning the 50th annual Goldenstates last November – he did so with a 5.678 second 410.13kph run over runner-up Abel’s 5.910 second 358.03kph effort Saturday night.

Coming into the finals, Taylor was the only driver in the field to claim two wins during the first two rounds, winning over Maurice Brennan in round one (5.698s/407.54kph over 6.210s/263.01kph) and Frank Taylor in round two (5.679s/410.94kph over 7.126s/234.69kph) to lock himself into the A-Final.

Defending Australian Top Doorslammer class Champion Russell Taylor won at Perth Motorplex’s first event of 2025.

As the day’s Top Qualifier, Taylor had earlier more than made up for missing the first qualifying session when he was unable to get the Royal Precision Lubricants Camaro back into gear after the burnout before setting the quickest and fastest qualifying run with a 5.763 second 410.08 kph pass to jump straight to the top of the timing sheet during the second outing.

It was an equally impressive showing for Abel, who took home his first NDRC Christmas tree as the A-final runner-up this weekend. While Steve Aldridge got the better of Abel in round one, Abel bounced back to take the win in round two over Mark Chapman to earn his place in the A-Final.

Going back-to-back in front of his home crowd is a special moment for Taylor as the Taylor Motorsports outfit looks to build on its current consistency for the remainder of the season.

“It was a good weekend, and doing it while we’re home is good. We’re just trying to repeat and build consistency. This is drag racing, which can change at the next run, so anything can happen, and you’ve got to have a bit of luck to a degree. We’re just trying to keep our maintenance program the same every time, and it seems to be working, so we’ll stick to it.” Taylor said.

“In the final, we just wanted to go A to B, we could have thrown more at it, but the car is consistently quick, and we’re in the right realm of our tune at the moment.”

In the B-Final, Daniel Gregorini overcame niggling gremlins to take the win with a 5.727 second 403.48kph effort over Goldenstates runner-up Brodie Zappia who had been on song all weekend before start line issues during the final run meant he didn’t make it off the line.

The Top Doorslammer B-Final went to Daniel Gregorini. 

After a shutoff in the first qualifying session, Daniel Gregorini stormed through to the second qualifying position with a 5.783 second 401.42kph effort before trouble struck again during his first round of racing against Mark Chapman. Round two then saw a return to form for the Scratch & Match Auto Colour racer, with a 5.738 second 403.54kph win over Aldridge’s 8.616 second 168.33kph effort.

There were twice the reasons to celebrate in the Gregorini camp, with Lisa Gregorini also claiming the C-Final victory (6.903s/235.43kph) over 11-time champ John Zappia – her second victory of the evening against the veteran, who red-lit on the tree in the final run.

In the D-Final, the hard work Maurice Brennan has put into the Just Flooring Holden over several seasons is paying off, seeing him take the D-Final win with a 5.814 second 377.56kph holeshot pass over Aldridge’s 5.768 second 397.19kph effort. The pair went side-by-side down the lane, with Brennan also clinching a new personal best to sweeten the deal.

Maurice Brennan ran a personal best while winning the event’s D-Final.

Top Doorslammer will next be on track as part of the NDRC at the 52nd annual Westernationals at the Perth Motorplex across March 1-2, alongside Top Fuel, Top Fuel Motorcycle and the Aeroflow National Sportsman Championship.

Before then, however, the NDRC will provide no end of entertainment at events at Willowbank Raceway (New Year Nitro, January 25/26 – Top Fuel, XPRO Nitro Funny Car and Aeroflow National Sportsman Championship), before then heading to Dragway at The Bend, where the NDRC Pro Drag Racing Championship will offer Pro Alcohol, Pro Mod, Pro Stock, and Pro Stock Bike February 8-9).

Posted by Jigsaw Communications  
Photos courtesy of Phil Luyer (High Octane Photography)