A MIXED BAG FOR PAC AT THE WINTERNATIONALS

June....Queensland....Willowbank....WINTERNATIONALS !!!!!

The biggest Drag Race Meet outside North America always promises, and never fails to deliver, and so it would be in 2009,although not without surprises. Neither a nearby Tornado and Thunderstorm on the Friday, nor a short, sharp Thunderstorm on the Sunday morning,(both of which dumped large quantities of rain) would stop the show from progressing and concluding !!

PAC PERFORMANCE would be represented in Super Compact by the No.1 and No.2 points leaders of the Championship, going into the final round, Damien McKern,GRUMP2 RX2,AA/OM and Rodney Rehayem,RX3 Sedan, CC/SM. With a handy gap to their nearest competitors, it seemed 2 Gold Christmas trees were in easy reach for either competitor, should they go several rounds of racing, and on past form, this was looking entirely likely. However, fate and circumstance would dictate otherwise, but more of that later !!

Also representing the PAC team were Ivan Skaramuca in the gorgeous cerise RX3 Sedan, running in the BB/SC class and Rocky Rehayem debuting,(outside NSW) the new state of the art Rotary weapon, the Mazda 6,also in the BB/SC class, and it's first outing in Queensland !! This was the perfect opportunity for the team to run the car on a first class surface, gather more important data, perhaps spring some surprises, but most important of all, show off the professionalism of the team before a world-wide audience !! Situated as Rodney and Rocky's cars were in the Team Bray Castrol tent, there was a constant flow of visitors and admirers over the 4 days, and Karen's merchandise trailer was well and truly patronised !! An enduring memory for me will be on the Friday afternoon when the storm hit and people were looking for shelter, so, with many crammed in the Castrol Tent just as the Mazda 6 was being started and put through it's paces, with the revs building and the wastegates 'banging' on the two-step, the looks on the spectators faces were priceless and I have never heard the cheers, clapping and wolf-whistles for a car at the Winternationals before !! Simply astounding and indelible memories etched in many minds, I'm sure. Be in no doubt, Super Compact has well and truly arrived and leaving it's mark every time !!

GRUMP2 and Ivan were situated directly behind the Corporate boxes and Ivan's decision to pit the car up on the asphalted public thoroughfare proved to be a masterstroke, with a human sea of spectators and competitors stopping to admire, photograph and ask questions while the crew toiled tirelessly. Being out of the mud was good too !!

And so to qualifying, with only 13 entries in the class, and only 12 actually appearing, it may have been thought that the performances may not have delivered, but this was far from the truth. Three qualifiers over the first three days would prove a godsend to those experiencing difficulties like GRUMP2,whose gearbox failure required a hurried trip to the Gold Coast for repairs, after the first qualifier, only returning at the 11th hour on the Friday to make the 2nd qualifier and a very competitive time of 8.25 and a whopping 174.01mph !! Rodney goes .24 under the index on his first qualifier, while Rocky is still getting a handle on the Mazda 6's launch characteristics and Ivan is struggling with the start-line grip and his clutch. So after three qualifiers, the best for the four PAC cars are:

Rocky Rehayem, 7.49@180.50mph
Rodney Rehayem,7.52@179.21mph
Ivan Skaramuca, 7.63@183.45mph
Damien McKern, 8.25@174.01mph

Sunday, eliminations and finals day !! An early storm put the programme back by a couple of hours, but sunshine was to follow and Super Compact hit the track for the first round of eliminations, just after 2.00pm.Rodney is first up against the tough little Datsun ute of Collin Willshire and a great light from Rodney will never be headed by Collin, Rodney taking the first round win with a 7.81@140.76mph pass and saving his index for round two. Rocky is pitted against the Celica of Joe Signorelli but despite a better light from Rocky, in this instance he has to yield to Joe and is eliminated. Ivan and Damien face off and an uncharacteristic 8/1000ths red light by the Gold Coast Accountant hands Ivan the win and probably dashed Damien's grip on the championship !! The upshot is though, an awesome 8.08@175.03mph pass by Damien, resetting the National speed record for AA/OM to 175.03mph !!

Round two sees Rodney lined up against Joe Signorelli and on a day of upsets, Rodney red-lights and puts his grip on the championship out of reach !! Ivan and Rod Harvey face off and after a staging duel Rod red lights and hands the win to Ivan.

Round three sees Joe on a bye into the final and building points towards taking the championship, such that a win in the final will leap-frog Joe past Damien and victory, and the possibility of winning two Gold Christmas Trees !! Tim Kreis in the 'Bushpig' 13BT powered Cortina, faces off against Ivan in the semi-final, but the clutch problems that have haunted Ivan all meet, resurface, and Tim takes the win !!

It is now 9.26pm and the final of Super Compact. This will be a classic Piston versus Rotor final and certainly a David versus Goliath battle between Joe's 2JZ powered Celica and Tim's 13BT powered Cortina. There is much riding on this race with the possibility of two Gold Christmas Trees for Joe !! Poor reaction times on both sides of the track, but Tim's.631 beats Joe's .704 and although Tim's fuel pump drive fails at 1,000ft,he holds the momentum to beat Joe across the line by 2/100ths of a second !!! This means Rotors win both the Championship for 2008/2009,(Damien) and Tim the Gold Christmas Tree for the event !!!! Congratulations to both !!!

So,in summing up,a great result for PAC PERFORMANCE not only in having a customer win the inaugural Super Compact Championship for 2008/2009,(Damien McKern),but also Damien resetting the mph record for AA/OM to 175.03,and Rodney for taking out both ends of the CC/SM with 7.47 and 174.08,as well as finishing third in the Championship !!!!! It is also worthy of noting that Super Compact left a huge impression on both spectator and competitor alike and that half of the fourteen national records set at the Winternationals were by Super Compact !!!

PAC PERFORMANCE would once again like to thank and acknowledge their steadfast sponsors in Castrol Edge, Turbosmart and Garrett, also the myriad fans and enthusiasts who make all this so very worthwhile. Thank you all, and we'll see you at the Jamboree !!!!!!!