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The heavens cleared and the engines roared for Drag racing on the 1st. Ironbark Raceway had another great turnout for round 5 in the Championship, with 43 racers and plenty of spectators. Several racers traveled out from Toowoomba for the weekends racing, and the crew from Barcaldine did the hard kilometers to Roma for the meet. There were a few grudge matches for the night and it was a pleasant surprise to see the girls being well represented. Both Sonya Johnson and Toni Cant, local girls, were the only bike riders for the night, (Have they scared the blokes off with their fierce racing?). The crowd cheered them on as they tore up the strip and pushed their bikes to the limit. Susan Walton of Barcaldine, and Lenice Casey from Roma, were the only girls in the Street class and managed to run against each other, giving the crowd a display of what they, and their cars are made of. Sue gave her Holden One Toner a thrashing in the racing, and managed to keep her husband, John, from stealing the car from under her, after having ignition problems with his XD Falcon.

Mark Stewart, the head of the Toowoomba Hillbillies brought his little Bantam Altered out for a run, after their meet in Warwick was cancelled, due to horse flu. Mark and Thos Mohr have always had a history of grudge matches between their cars. Mark driving his Bantam and Thos in his Ford T Bucket (back from the dead!). Mark put on an amazing display of driving skills. His Super charged Holden Straight Six running on Methanol (Alcohol), and loaded into a car no bigger than a Honda Civic is a sight to see. His 60ft wheel stand was the highlight for any onlooker as he roared up the track pulling in a 5.8 second pass. Mark is well known for his wheel stands and "bunny hops", at meets and always puts on a show for the crowd. Thos managed to keep the T Bucket in one piece and made the end of the track with amazing speed each pass.

Peter Wilson returned after a break with his Sandman Panel Van. Onlookers were left open mouthed as he flew down the track breaking the 7-second mark and leaving the question on everyone's lips, "Is this the fastest Panel Van in Australia?". Peter has been racing the "Panny" for a long time, and is the first to admit that it isn't the normal choice for a drag car. This meet attracted more first timers with nine more cars adding to the ranks of the Ironbark Raceway Track Championship. It is good to see more local drivers bringing racing to the track and keeping it off the streets.

The points table has also had a bit of a shuffle with Garth Fitzgerald being knocked down to third and Brian Drabsch taking the lead. The Grulke concreting drivers, Russell "Rubber" Grulke and Andrew Harvey, have both made it to the top ten, a bit of a surprise after Rubber chewed out second gear in his yellow RX7 last meet. Rubber, ever the racer, brought his stock Orange RX7 to make sure he got the points, and running consistent times gave him a few wins this meet. Owen Haywood of Chinchilla in his Corvette, and Peter Basmadjian of Roma in his Scorpion, contested the final of the Super Street class. Owen taking the win over Peter, a first time racer at Ironbark Raceway. Two local racers contested the final of Super Sedan, Brian Drabsch with his HQ sedan and Kenrick Marsh in his Holden One Toner, Brian taking the win this round. Chris Van'thof, of Roma, in his Camaro, raced Lionel Bowden from Toowoomba in his LJ Torana, in the modified class with Chris taking the win.

All drivers are welcome to come out and have a run down the strip, it is great fun and good experience. Even if you don't know what to do there are plenty of racers who will take the time to talk you through it and show you how it is done. The evening's racing was a crowd pleaser with lots of big burnouts and wheel stands. Another crowd pleaser was the sight of flames from the exhausts of some of the cars. This is one of the advantages of night racing from the spectators point of view. There is something unreal about a powerful car racing down the track with flames flying out of the exhaust.

The top ten positions on the championship table have been all but secured and it will take some pretty good driving or an act of God to topple the leaders.

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