SummerNats 17 2004

GO-TO-WHOA      FACE OFF

Go-to-Whoa Face off
Story by MICK MATHESON in the Street Machine Summernats 17 2004 edition.

This year's Go-to-Whoa went to an out-there shootout,
but we're still not sure who won the bloody thing!

WHAT WOULD SUMMERNATS BE WITHOUT
A CONTROVERSIAL RESULT OR TWO, EH?

 

MATE, talk about drama! The Go-to-Whoa went right down to the wire in a shootout between a scorching little Mazda rotary and - believe it or not - a big old '57 Chev two door wagon. And the winner got the second place trophy, while the loser was publicly awarded the top gong but ended up without an official placing at all. Go figure.

          Jake Sanderson (Mazda RX?002) and Michael Stephens (big block Chev) ran identical times in the finals and faced off in a win-or-lose duel. Jake ran first, clocking a very tidy 8.02sec. Michael stomped on the go pedal but left it too late on the whoa pedal and overshot. Then things got weird. Michael took home the winner's trophy, while a bewildered Jake got second. Yet the official results gave the win to Jake and poor old Michael got nothing, not even second place ? overshooting in the shootout knocked him right out of the results.
Bizarre, yes. But what would Summernats be without a controversial result or two, eh?

          The Go-to-Whoa is a bugger of an event, as unforgiving as they come. It's a leveller, too. Even if you've got a ton of power you need traction and brakes, and you've gotta know how to use 'em. The track changes anyway ? the burnout pad is right where you want to get on the brakes, so traction's affected by the amount and temperature of all the rubber laid there.

         Winning Go-to-Whoa requires a good car, skilled driving and a bit of luck, too. Sometimes you make your own luck, like the two blokes who backed onto the start line after their tyrewarming burnouts and were too excited to find a forward gear. How the crowd laughed when they tried to launch.

          Gary Myers, the epitome of consistency and concentration in 2003 when he topped qualifying as well as winning the event, reckoned the track was looser this time around. He didn't even make the top 10 this year.
          Rick Jones, winner two years ago, did his tyrewarming burnout then forgot to turn his switchable rear brakes back on. His supercharged XC needed all the help it could get to pull up, but couldn't get it, and Rick bowed out during the eliminations.

          Mark Yarclie is always spectacular in his monster blown ute, YUMMY He launched at full noise with the tyres tramping and the ute rattling as smoke poured off the fat rubber. He had a scary amount of speed up when he slammed on the brakes and the ute twisted and slewed towards ? or over ? the finish line. He hauled into the top 10, but the yellow ute let him down with mechanical trouble and he missed his chance to run.

          Michael Taranto roared off the line with his big block Mazda drag car going almost as far sideways as forwards. The spinning tyres billowed smoke at least halfway down the track and it looked for a moment like he was going to lose it into the Armco, but he knew what he was doing and wrestled the little powerhouse straight again. The time wasn't enough for the top 10 but the run was great to watch.

           For the semifinals, Jake Sanderson was in the queue right behind Gary Myers, but he wasn't intimidated. "Last year was my first time at Summernats and 1 was lined up behind him and some other tubbed thing," Jake said. "I was a bit scared then, but now I'm pretty used to it."

          To get there, he clocked a 7.80sec run. "That's unreal, and nearly a second faster than I did last year," he said. Jake had more power this time around, not to mention the advantage of a vehicle that had considerable effort put into its setup.

           No one ran in the sevens in the finals until Michael Stephens' Q-ship Chev screeched home with locked wheels to record a stunning 7.86 second time. The crowd erupted.

          "I was a bit worried," said Michael. "I thought I was gunna overshoot. She locked up and just kept sliding."
Two cars later, Jake Sanderson matched it for a dead heat, which prompted the final, controversial shootout.
After Michael no-scored on the last run and was dropped from the results, Scott Barber's time of 8.18 in his Capri earned second place, and Kel Blackett's 8.38 in his M Ford was third.

But we're buggered if we know who's got what trophy on the mantelpiece at home.