MOUNT Gambier drag racer Jason Arbery has returned from the first two rounds of the 2017-18 Top Sportsman class in second place on the overall standings.
The result came on the back of a round-one victory, after toughing out three eliminations at Hidden Valley in Darwin.
In the first elimination run Arbery faced last year’s grand finalist Amanda Martin from Western Australia.
Arbery and Martin fought out the final last year in Adelaide, which Arbery won.
Two further eliminations saw the Mount Gambier racer finish top of the pile.
While Arbery said last year’s grand final victory was a highlight of his career, Darwin was a special event to open the season and return with a first-round win.
“The facilities at Darwin are first class,” he said.
“They do a good job in the Northern Territory.
“To go and compete was amazing, but to come home with the win was unbelievable.”
He said the first elimination victory over Martin was an interesting scenario.
“That was basically a re-run of the grand final last year in Adelaide,”Arbery said.
“It was always going to be the toughest elimination.
“I had traveled 3500km and Amanda had traveled 4000km from Perth.
“One of us was going home after round one, but I was lucky enough to beat her to the stripe by .0018 of a second.
“As happy as I was, I could feel their disappointment, but that is how tough this sport is.”
For his efforts Arbery won not just the mandatory “Christmas Tree”, but also a genuine crocodile skull trophy, only presented at the Top End event.
Arbery then headed to the Red Centre the following week to the Alice Springs Inland Dragway for the Desert Nationals.
Unfortunately, he was a bit keen with his reaction time and red-lighted by .002 of a second in the first round.
“You have to have very good reaction times to compete and I was a bit too eager,” he said.
“That is how easy it is in this sport to lose.
“You get one thing wrong and you go home.”
The competition is kept tight with a handicap system.
Drivers must “dial in” their car before heading to the line and cannot go faster than the nominated time.
Add the reaction time off the line that comes into play and it is a competitive class of racing.
Arbery has owned his Ford Capri for six years, which runs an aluminium Chevrolet engine, producing 850 horsepower in the old scale.
Other competitors run faster and more powerful machinery, but it all means nothing if they cannot run to their nominated time.
With changeable weather and track conditions, it is all about being in touch with the car to produce the winning formula.
“I dialed my car in at Darwin at 8.39 seconds in the final,” Arbery said.
“It went 8.397.”
Arbery now sits in second place in the series, with seven rounds of the competition still to run.
He will compete in five of those, all except for two rounds in Perth.
Arbery said he was pleased with the overall effort, which could not have been achieved without the help of those who crewed for him over the two weekends of competition.
“I’d like to thank my family and sponsors for helping me compete,” he said.
“Glenn and Tracey Henley, Brett Henley, Michael Pfitzner, Ben Phillips and Michael Arbery all helped make it happen.
“Most of them made the trek up with me and without them it would not have been possible.”
