BEN BRAY WORLD’S YOUNGEST CHAMP IN CASTROL TEAM 1-2
09/06/2003
Castrol Racing’s nineteen year old Ben Bray has become the youngest winner of a professional category drag racing championship in the world after defeating defending champion Peter Kapiris in the opening round of the season ending Willowbank Winternationals on Sunday night. Over 35,000 people attended the Willowbank Winternationals making it again the largest event of the season. Competing in the Ipswich’s Own Magazine backed Top Doorslammer category Ben defeated Gary Phillips in the semi final before meeting his father and team mate, Victor Bray in the first father and son professional final in the sport’s Australian history.
In a race that had the huge crowd screaming for more, Victor was able to end Ben’s 11 race winning streak by just one hundredth of a second across the finish line to claim his second Winternationals event win. He also secured the one – two championship finish for the Castrol team, just 32 points adrift of Ben and 62 ahead of third placed Peter Kapiris. Despite the increasingly competitive field in the Top Doorslammer category, the Bray-Castrol Team were clearly the dominant force over the season with either Victor or Ben appearing in every final and winning four out of the six events with three runner up finishes between them.
“It would be hard to ask for a better season for our Castrol Team and all our sponsors,” commented Victor. “We started strongly with my car in the first two finals over in Perth then Ben won three events in a row despite the fact there are so many very fast cars in the field these days. A number of guys ran as quick or quicker than Ben and I at various times during the season but the consistency of our Castrol Chevy’s was the most satisfying thing for me. Obviously I want to win a seventh title, hopefully followed by an eighth, but having Ben win this one in his second season will do just fine. I’m glad I got to clip his wings in the final though. From the time he got ahead of me in the points he’s been reminding me of it almost daily in the workshop. Now I’ve got a comeback for him.”
Ben Bray’s victory at the iTEL Community Telco Australian Nationals in January started a three event, eleven race winning streak that took in the Westernationals in Perth and Australian Tin Top Titles at Willowbank and first two rounds of the Winternationals that was only broken by a mere hundredth of a second by his father in the final.
Ben was far from disappointed though. “It would have been good to get the four events in a row but it’s also good to see Dad back in the winner’s circle. Let’s face it without he and Mum there wouldn’t be a team so my championship is as much theirs as mine. What we wanted since the start was to finish one – two either way and after the first round on Sunday we had that wrapped up so the rest was bonus. Once we were both through to the final we were in a can’t lose situation for the team which was a really good feeling. The crowd was huge and the fans were four and five deep all the way around our pits all night. Before the final they were geeing us up about who was going to win and it was good fun. We both knew we were racing for bragging rights in the workshop so we were both very serious about that but the pressure was off. I thought I had Dad beat at half track but some how he got me by a bumper over the line. I guess I’ll hear about it from him for a while.”
2003 Australian Top Doorslammer Championship Final Top Ten Points
The 2003-2004 Australian Top Doorslammer Championship will commence at Willowbank Raceway in Queensland with the Australian Nationals on November 21st to 23rd.
