Rapisarda Autosport International star, Wayne Newby, will be chasing his first win at Willowbank Raceway in Top Fuel at the New Year Thunder meeting on Saturday January 7.
Since making his debut in late 2014 Sydney based Newby has finished runner-up at the Willowbank Winternationals twice. In 2015, he lost to team-mate and NHRA star Cory McClenathan, then, last season came up short against team-mate and 3-time NHRA champ Larry Dixon.
Newby will go into the meeting warm favourite on the strength of a strong win over rising star Peter Xiberras in the final of the East Coast Nationals at Sydney Dragway in November and slew strong performances over the latter half of the 2016 NHRA Mello Yello Series.
“I’ve won at Willowbank when I raced in Top Alcohol. After coming close a couple of times in the past, one of my goals this year is to score a win at Willowbank for Santo and the Rapisarda family,” said Newby. “Fuel cars have not raced at Willowbank over the Christmas New Year period in over a decade so it should be a level playing field for all the teams in regards to car set-up. The one day race format allows little room for error and means to win we will need to be on message straight off the trailer.”
Newby, along with team-mate Damien Harris, winner of the inaugural 400 Thunder series, Victorian Darren Morgan and emerging star Peter Xiberras, will race three times. Winners will be decided by a points system based on race wins and elapsed time rankings with the overall event winner to be determined by the final race pairing of the night.
