Shannon’s Top Fuel Debut Rained Out After travelling across the Hay Plains on Wednesday night the Darren Morgan Racing (DMR) Top Fuel outfit were pumped and ready for a strong result in Sydney at the 2010 Summer Nationals but it wasn’t to be as the only winner last weekend was the rain. Following the announcement the week prior of the partnership between DMR and Shannon’s Insurance as the primary sponsor the Mildura based team were set to put on a strong showing for fans in Sydney but now they will have to wait until the next round of the ANDRA Pro Series on April 17/18 at Queensland’s Willowbank Raceway. Leading into last weekends Summer Nationals at the Western Sydney International Dragway the team were extremely excited about returning to Sydney with Car Tuner Ben Patterson possessing great optimism about the performance of the Shannon’s Insurance supported race car before the heavens opened after just one pass. “We had made a few changes to our clutch setup to find more constancy. We were very happy with the progress that was made in Perth as we ran the same engine throughout both Perth events. We have now settled on a very strong and consistent engine combination that should produce some great results” he commented following the event. “The DMR team were confident of a strong result in Sydney last weekend after strong performances at the two Perth rounds” commented Team Driver Darren Morgan. “The car has been performing well; we just need to find some more consistency on race day. We just need to go rounds”. Despite the fact that the event was rained out after only one qualifying session they were still happy with the data that was collected on their one and only pass. “We qualified third with a 5.021 @ 293 mph and we put down the only full top fuel pass for the session. The pleasing aspect was the fact that we were 30mph faster than any other car at the event. It was a fairly slow and steady pass to ensure that we made it into the field. Although the event was rained shortened the Team once again lived up to its “Bling Team” appearance in Sydney with DMR having a white H2 Hummer tow car courtesy of Victorian American Imports. Victorian American Imports are one of Australia’s leading importers of American vehicles. With a break in the racing schedule DMR will be on the promotional trail for the next couple of weeks starting with the “Motorvate Melbourne” Public Rally and Car Show this weekend. Along with raising awareness for a purpose built dragway in Melbourne they will also entertain the public with several ground pounding engine starts. The following weekend the team will be in South Australia at the Port Augusta Car where they will once again starting up the 7,000 horsepower plus Nitro powered Brad Anderson constructed aluminium V8. For further details on this weekend’s promotional event please visit www.darrenmorgan.com.au or www.motorvatemelbourne.com. Darren Morgan Racing (DMR) would like to thank the following corporate supporters for their assistance throughout the 2009/10 ANDRA Pro Series: • Shannon’s Insurance: www.shannons.com.au • Victorian American Imports • Ryobi • www.darrenmorgan.com.au