YESTERYEAR MACHINES SET TO DESCEND ON WILLOWBANK THIS WEEKEND
16 February 2015
This weekend the first of two Nostalgia Drag Racing events for the year will descend on Willowbank Raceway, with a wide variety of cars, bikes and dragsters set to take to Queensland’s premier drag racing facility this Sunday the 22nd of February.
The hotly anticipated event follows on the heels of the opening round of the Queensland Drag Racing Championships, held at the Raceway on Saturday 14 February. For full results from that event, see further in this story or please click here.
On-track this weekend as part of the Nostalgia show will be 62 year old Ipswich racer John Kreis, fielding his ‘Clockwork Orange’ 1971 Kawasaki 750 street bike which he has owned since new and which is fairly rare thanks to it being a three cylinder, two stroke combination.
An accomplished racer with more than 20 years and 100 awards under his belt, the Ipswich State High School employee is looking forward to giving it all on-track this weekend.
“I always want to be competitive, I absolutely hate losing, so my aim is simply to try and win everything,” said Kreis, who thanks Gary of Ipswich Muffler and Mechanical and Rick of Atlas Batteries for their support of his on-track activities.
“To that end, I will be concentrating on my reaction times. As my bike is older, it is not that consistent as the more modern bikes, so I have to try and find an advantage when it comes to the reaction off the start line.
“The Nostalgia events seem to be quite popular with the spectators, unfortunately I don’t get to see too much while I am racing myself but I think they enjoy the variety that these events provide – there are plenty of different cars and bikes and more to see which they wouldn’t see very often.”
While winning is a key consideration for Kreis as he prepares for this weekend’s activities, the Retro Bikes racer also has family in mind.
“My wife Margaret has been a bracket official at the Raceway for decades, and I would really like to find success for her this weekend – her health hasn’t been the best of late but she will still be out there officiating while I am racing and it would be really nice to win the event for her,” said Kreis.
“I also want to thank my children Hayley and Josh and my four year old granddaughter Lily, to be honest as much as I love my racing a lot of the time I do it for Margaret and the kids as I know how much they enjoy me taking part.”
Joining Kreis and his Retro Bike compatriots on track this Sunday will be a wide variety of racers across the Top Eliminator, Quick Eliminator, Gas, Hot Rod, Vintage Gas, US Muscle and Aussie Muscle categories, with all the action set to kick off with qualifying from 9.00am and racing from 1.00pm. Spectator tickets are available at the gate for $25 for adults and $20 for students with ID, while children aged 13 and under gain free entry. For full event information, please visit www.willowbankraceway.com.au. A judged Show & Shine will also be part of the festivities, with enthusiasts able to take part at no extra cost to the admission fee in a range of categories including Best Australian Vehicle, Best USA Vehicle, Best Hot Rod, Best Ford, Best GM and Best Mopar, with judging from 11.00am and entry forms available on the day at the Show & Shine area.
This weekend’s nostalgia action is following hot on the heels of the opening round of the Queensland Drag Racing Championship held at the Raceway on Saturday 14 February. During that event racers across a range of strongly contested brackets battled it out for QDRC points, with Rob Nunn (QDRC SuperComp), Peter Everett (QDRC Comp Bike), Josh Fletcher (Donnelly Blasting Services QDRC Outlaws), Bob Frawley (Knijff Earthmoving Modified), Tony Whyatt (Powercruise Super Sedan), Lucas Holz (Prime Signs/Speed Elec Super Street), Ken Collin (Modified Bike), Caleb Oberg (Junior Dragster) and Simon Isherwood (Super Gas) taking victory. For full event results, please click here.
Willowbank Raceway is Queensland’s premier drag racing facility, located 45 minutes from Brisbane or just a short drive from Ipswich, offering a year-round program of events for the entire family. For more information including a full event calendar, please visit www.willowbankraceway.com.au