Some fans of DRO were not aware that Australia still runs true quarter mile drag racing and top qualifier in Top Fuel was three time Australian champ, Phil Read with a 4.571. This was half a tenth faster than his nearest rival and was also one thousandth quicker than Brit Andy Carter, who ran a 4.572 at Santa Pod in the UK on the same weekend. Unfortunately for Read he was taken out by his brother-in-law, Terry Sainty in the first frame when he smoked the tyres and threw a belt.

After a long absence from driving, Andrew Cowin appeared in one of the old David Powers Motorsports fuel cars after damaging another car in testing just before the event. Coming off an early shut off 4.59 there a 4.623 put him in second spot when Phil Read stepped up. In the first round Cowin actually switched lanes after watching Read go up in smoke however as can be seen here Cowin had instant tyre smoke off the line while Shepherd got to about half track before throwing a belt. Cowin seeing this got back on the throttle (some eight times) but never caught his coasting opponent in a 7.24/115.83 to 7.43/214.25 joust.