BITTER SWEET SEASON END FOR REED RACING WITH A SECOND AND THIRD IN NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

A near capacity crowd crammed into Willowbank Raceway last week weekend (4^th-7^th June) to witness one of the most spectacular  Australian Drag Racing events in history at the 42^nd Winternationals and finale of the 2008/2009 ANDRA Championship Drag Racing series.

In the professional Top Alcohol category, a three way battle had emerged for the National Title with husband and wife Reed Racing team members Steven and Debbie Reed, and fellow Queenslander Gary Philips all vying for the honour.

Steven Reed became the first high profile casualty of the event when he smoked the tyres on the start line of in his quarter-final matchup leaving the door slightly ajar for Debbie and Phillips.

Debbie was the stand out of the bracket leading from the first run at the event before eventually Top Qualifying with a 5.601 second run, setting her up well for the Elimination Rounds and a shot at becoming the first female in history to win an Australian Drag Racing Group One Championship.

She cruised through her quarter-final match up before taking out fellow Championship contender Phillips in her semi-final in what was one of the quickest side by side passes ever in the Top Alcohol bracket.

Needing to win the event though to re-write the Australian Drag Racing record books, Debbie faced off against Aaron Hambridge in the much anticipated final.

She appeared to have it won when Hambridge jumped the start leaving a red light, however cheers turned tears as Debbie’s 3500 horsepower dragster stood up on its rear wheels at around the 330ft mark making contact with the wall and disqualifying her from the race. This handed the Winternationals win to Hambridge and the Championship to Phillips.

“I am absolutely heartbroken,” Debbie said.

“I would really love to come back next season and fight for it, to have it over again.”

“Unfortunately at the moment though, as much as I want to keep going with our current funding situation it just isn’t looking possible without a corporate partner, but you never know and I guess we will just have to wait and see.”

Entering the Winternationals on top of the table after leading the entire season, Steven Reed was equally disappointed at not being able to go on and take the title, however was able to see the huge accomplishments that the Reed Racing team had made throughout the year.

“The team really had the Championship on our mind this season so it is a bit hard to see past the disappointment of not winning at the moment, but to have both of cars inside the top 3 is a huge achievement that we should all be proud of,” Steven said.
 “We had dreams of a one-two in the Championship and two-three result isn’t too far off, especially when there was only 25 points separating the top three.”

“Overall it has been our best ever year for the team finishing with 6 Final Round appearances, including 3 wins and 3 runner-up results”

"I would like to thank Willowbank Raceway for providing and excellent race track and facility over the weekend, and to all of Reed Racing sponsors for their support of the team. I also want to give a big thank you to the fans and of course our crew for all of their hard work.”

The Reed Racing team’s Winternationals performance can be seen this Sunday 14^th June on One HD television, with a prime time repeat of the show at 8:30pm on Friday the 19^th June.

RELEASE ENDS

For further information please contact:

Debbie Reed

0413 807497

STEVEN REED FIRES TO TOP OF CHAMPIONSHIP TABLE DESPITE SPECTACULAR CRASH

Queensland based professional Drag Racer Steven Reed escaped major injury in a fiery crash at his home track of Willowbank Raceway during the Nightfire New Year Series event last night (Saturday 3^rd January).

Steven had been performing well in the Top Alcohol bracket making the Final and taking the National Championship series lead in the process in his 3500 horsepower Premier One backed Funny Car.

However not everything went his way when pushing for the event victory with a massive engine explosion at approximately 200mph (322kph) causing his entire vehicle to catch fire and hit the safety wall.

Steven was able to exit his car himself but was taken to Ipswich Hospital for treatment of minor burns and observation, and was released earlier this morning (Sunday 4^th January).

“It was definitely a wild ride in the Final, I was side by side with Gary Phillips and my engine just let go kicking a rod out,” Steven Reed said.

“The entire car just blew up in flames and when I went for my onboard fire extinguisher it veered sideways impacting the wall as I passed the finish line.”

“I managed to get away from it all relatively unharmed but at this stage the car doesn’t look too good with extensive fire and chassis damage. We will have to take it back to the workshop and see what we can salvage.”

“It has definitely taken the shine off taking the Championship lead and we will now have to re-evaluate our resources and funding for the rest of the season.”

Steven’s wife Debbie Reed was also on track in her Dragster as the sole female competitor in the Top Alcohol category and had another strong showing on the back of her win in Sydney last week.

Qualifying in third position, she was pitted against her hubby in her Quarter-Final eliminator for the second event in a row, however after getting the better of him last time out, Steven was able to exact some revenge by knocking her out of the competition.

“We are really on top of the tune ups in my Dragster at the moment and it is showing on track with good, consistent quick times,” Debbie Reed said.

“I had to relinquish my Championship lead to Steven with my quarter-final loss to him, but I guess now we are even after I knocked him out at the same stage at the last round.”

“I am still currently in third spot though, meaning we have the two Reed Racing entries in first and third positions in the National Series.”