2025 WADRA AWARDS NIGHT

With the 2024/2025 WA Drag Racing season completed it was time for the annual WADRA awards night, an evening to showcase the amazing successes of its members and celebrate the season that was.

Held at the Wandarrah Hall in Lynwood on Saturday June 28^th, the room was filled with drag racers from all levels, with their families and crews in tow. Hosted by Track Chaplain Chris Lock, the night was sure to be fun. The awards started with a blessing from long-time supporter of the club, Terry Dorrington, an always welcome part of any motorsport function.

To begin, Bracket Awards were presented to the two highest placing WADRA members from each bracket of racing throughout all groups of racing, from Group 3 to Group 1, WADRA has members in all categories. Within these awards were the inaugural Junior Drag Bike Champion, with only one member in this bracket this year the award went to Tyler James! A much loved and respected part of the drag racing community. Unfortunately Tyler had fallen ill and wasn’t able to receive his award in person, Mum Paige took on the duties and took the opportunity to thank all involved with the inception of this bracket, as well as those who supported it. WADRA also took this opportunity to present a recognition of contributions to Junior Drag Bike, to Ray Coleman. Ray led the way in pushing to have this bracket included in WA and his work did not go unnoticed.

Throughout the acceptance speeches echoed a similar message… Family! The family we bring to the track, the family that makes it happen and the family we make at the track. Many winners and runners up are second generation racers now bringing up the third. The room was filled with laughing kids and proud parents. It truly speaks to the community WADRA has created.

After the completion of the bracket awards comes the annual and perpetual awards. These all come with high regard and a lot of history. Firstly is the Quickest Female ET of the season, sponsored by Gonzo at Allfast Torque Converters. This award went to Lisa Gregorini who dusted off some gremlins to go super-quick at home. On the night Lisa was in New Zealand as a guest speaker at their annual awards night! Quickest male ET also sponsored by Allfast Torque Converters was won by John Zappia, it’s hard to discredit his ability to always pull out an incredible number when he needs to.

The best appearing awards carried a new sponsor this year! WADRA is excited to have Sam Treasure from Elite Rural Detailing on board, and we can’t thank Sam enough. The best appearing car and crew for 24/25 was won by Madison Brown with Boston Strangler II. The Brown family can always be seen in their striking yellow crew shirts, that match the insane wrap on Madison’s car. Their program is more than eye-catching and definitely a crowd favourite.

Best appearing bike and crew went to repeat winner Luke Seaton with the welcome addition of Son Luca to his team. Luke, his crew and his bike are always seen to be matching and so well presented.

Rookie of the Year is a long running award first awarded by Westside back in 1989. Since then past winners have become state and national champions with many other successes in between. This year Demi van Dongen took the honors. Her first year in Junior Dragster was stellar, with the support of Dad Glen and Mum Danni, Demi was able to achieve some great results.

Ryan Gosling was awarded the Best New Vehicle, his ex Bob Campbell Pro Stock car restored beautifully. His season saw him reaching goals and laying down a good foundation for his racing program to come.

The Best Engineered award is a recognition of hard work, attention to detail and good craftsmanship. This year there was a clear winner, McClure Motorsport. They meticulously documented the build of their new Corvette Pro Mod. The level of transparency of this build showed the pride the team shows in what they do, the performance of the car over the season and across the country just cements that. The award was accepted by the head of the family Al McClure, although a lot of what Al had to say cannot be repeated, he took this time to acknowledge that this has been a dream of his and a bucket list item.

Paul Garbellini took home the Top Points Scorer for the second year in a row. His ultra-consistent Modified dragster produced the goods all season long. After stepping up from Super Street, Paul and Wife Lisa have become a force to be reckoned with. Lisa taking home the Super Street bracket winner for WADRA this year also.

The final award of the night was the Mona Katavatis Club Member of the Year, a prestigious award within WA Drag Racing. It is given to someone who has made an impact on the club and the sport. This year it was awarded to Hannah Johns, although she spent all her life within the club, 2 years ago Hannah made the jump onto the committee as Treasurer, bringing with her a new wave of ideas and ways to do things. The award was presented by club President Budgie Jones and Vice President Natalie McClure and was met with a lot of emotion by all. Hannah is a second generation winner of this award and shows the importance it has in families.

The Western Australian Drag Racing Association would like to thank all those who attended this amazing event. A huge thank you to the sponsors that make this event happen. We appreciate all of our vendors for helping create this event to such a high quality. Our hall decorators and volunteers pulling together to make it all happen.

Thank you to our committee, volunteers and everyone that puts time into the club. Without ongoing support events can’t happen. We now look forward to our AGM in September. Information for this will be coming out soon and we strongly encourage prospective members to come along too and to see what we’re all about. Put the word out among your friend groups and lets make this club bigger and better than ever.