Terry Sainty has been an Australian journeyman top fuel driver who drives a rail that has an engine of the Sainty family’s own design. While this hybrid motor hasn’t seen neck snapping performances it has proved to be very consistent, especially in hot conditions and this saw him make it all the way to the final at this event. For Sainty his last win was in 1997 while he made runner up in 2008. This day though he was on the wrong end of a 4.835/309.84 from his opponent, Andrew Cowin as a 8.24 was just not going to cut it.

After losing in the first round of the season opening ANDRA Nationals reigning Australian Top Fuel Champion, Martin Stamatis was looking good in the following race as he top qualified with a 4.65/316. Despite this the scenario ended up being the same as Stamatis smoked the tyres against Terry Sainty in the opening round and a 6.46 was no match for a better 5.21.

Phil Read had a solid weekend, qualifying third with a 4.799, and unlike his experience at the ANDRA Nationals he actually made it past the first round. There he faced Phil Lamattina and 5.18 in a fire belching duel was too good for a second best 5.43. In the semis Read took on the yellow car of Andrew Cowin and after losing a few hundredths off the line he had to watch his opponent run low ET of eliminations with a 4.797 /318.17 that was too much for a second best 4.871.