Multiple Australian Top Alcohol Championship winner; Wayne Newby has recently completed a hectic Christmas / New Year schedule after he contested the latest two rounds of the 2008/09 season Australian Top Alcohol Championship at Western Sydney International Dragway (WSID) and Queensland’s Willowbank Raceway with two weeks of one another. Although not making the final at either of those events Newby has been able to draw plenty of positives that he can carry with him for the remainder of the season.

Currently equal third with Debbie Reed in the Australian Top Alcohol Championship point standings, Newby made the semi final at WISD on December 26 – 27 only to be defeated by Reed and then again on January 2 – 3 at Willowbank Raceway this time at the hands of 12 times Australian Top Alcohol Champion Gary Phillips. On both occasions both Reed and Phillips have went on to take out the final.

Although disappointed not make an appearance in the final for a chance to open up his 2008/09 season winning account, Newby has been able to make a number of improvements to his JBS Tools / Blackwoods supported Dragster that he is hoping will get him into victory lane this season, sooner rather than later.

“At WSID we were forced to swap engines after qualifying and then we had a good run in the opening round to defeat Aaron Hambridge and in the semi final up against Debbie Reed we missed the tune up, lost a super charger belt and then had to peddle the car down the track,” Newby said. “During the engine swap we found out that there was a misalignment with the bell housing and that was what has contributed to our problems.”

With the problems now behind them Newby and the team had a quick turnaround between rounds and headed up to Willowbank Raceway and the confidence of Newby’s was quite high.

Newby at Willowbank Raceway qualified fourth, defeated Steven Ham in the opening round of eliminations by posting his quickest pass of the weekend at 5.702 seconds at 251.54 MPH. Newby then faced Gary Phillips in the semi final only to be defeated after shaking the tyres mid track which in the end cost him victory.

“I went into Willowbank with plenty of confidence and it was a pretty good weekend overall. In the semi final I got away to a good start off the line and then at the 60 foot mark got tyre shake and that ruined my chances of winning,” explained Newby. “Hopefully now with my problems behind me I can now work towards to posting some wins before the season is out. Our performance at Willowbank showed that we are on the right track and our first win of the season shouldn’t be too far away.”

The next appearance for Newby will be at Western Sydney International Dragway on February 13 and 14 for the running of the Summernationals.

Newby is proudly sponsored in the 2008/09 season by the following organisations:

JBS Tools www.blackwoods.com.au

Fabre Australia www.fabre.com.au

Wayne exclusively uses Manley valves, valve springs, retainers, locks and MGP alloy rods.

Coldy’s Tow and Bullbars www.coldys.com.au

Redline Oils www.redlineoil.com.au

VP Racing Fuels www.vpracing.com.au

Mick’s Metal Craft www.micksmetalcraft.com.au

Newby Engineering www.newby.com.au