Jim Rowley was carrying the front wheels of his F/Gas HSV Commodore (basically a four door Pontiac GTO) all weekend. The veteran driver used a 316 Chev engine in this combination and in the first round a winning 9.54 cut deeply into his 9.91 index. Thus in the second round his 9.77 on a 9.72 index was easily passed by eventual winner, Les Heintz.
In addition to riding his Top Fuel bike Brett Stevens was also fielding his Kitten Polish Ford Funny car. This saw him easily being the most consistent car in qualifying with three passes in the 5.60s and top qualifying with a 5.671. In the first round all he had to do was beat Aaron Lynch to annex the Australian Top Alcohol crown, however Lynch not only beat Stevens with a holeshot but ended up winning the event. The Queenslander still carries a 70 point lead into the final event – the Winternationals.
The final of Top Bike was a pearler between Brett Stevens and his Jack Daniel’s-sponsored Harley and Leonard Azzopardi on the ex-Roel Kodim Puma/Yamaha flyer. It was all over by the time this pic was taken as Azzopardi left too early and red lighted. To add insult to injury Steven’s Hog lost a cylinder early and ran a very unrepresentative 7.51 winning time.