URBAN WARFARE
MARK ARBLASTER
SPORT OF KINGS
IT MIGHT HAVE BEEN POSTPONED A COUPLE OF WEEKS, BUT GRUDGE KINGS 2019 WAS ALL KILLER,
NO FILLER
T
HE decision to postpone the Sydney
Grudge Kings meeting due to bad
weather was not well received by
certain keyboard warriors. We get it;people take time off work, make travel plans,
organise crew and a hundred other things. But
postponing an event is a decision no promoter
ever wants to make, as Grudge Kings organiser
Po Tung could no doubt tell you.
In the end, nothing could take the shine off
Grudge Kings 2019 when it ran two weeks
later at Sydney Dragway. The weather was
spectacular, the track was mint and the crowds
rolled in to take a peek at what was certainly one
of the best meets of the year.
There was the noticeable absence of a few big
hitters due to the changed date, particularly last
year’s champion and Radial Drag Racer of the
Year, Jet Martin, who had us all hugging the flag
after his efforts at No Mercy #9 in the US when
he chopped drag racing maestro Mark Micke
in the semis. Family commitments will have him
sidelined for some time and we hope to see him
at this meet next year.
Nonetheless, there was still a bunch of killer
cars in the mix, including the new blown Brad
Anderson-powered LJ Torana from Western
Australia’s Taylor Motorsport, driven by Russell
Taylor, which ran a 6.13@236mph with an
early lift in the days leading up to the event.Unfortunately, come race day the car was shut
down on the startline due to an oil leak from the
Lenco transmission, and they were in the pits for
most of the day.
Everyone was keen to see Australia’s quickest
blower car take on the country’s quickest turbo
car, with the Moits Racing supercharged
Mustang up against Greg Tsakiridis’s twin-turbo
Mustang. They didn’t have to wait long, with
the two big hitters meeting in the first round.
Both teams were in blistering form with a pair of
5.50 passes, making it the quickest side-by-side
door car race in Australian history, with Greg
smashing out another record of 272mph over
the quarter-mile!M