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Collin Matiza Sports Editor
NOT even the cloudy skies and cold weather could dampen the kick off of the 2016 Telecel Drag Racing Series which soared into action on Saturday with 67 competitors and over 2 600 spectators.

Donnybrook Raceway in Harare was a hive of activity with the huge crowds cheering on the tyre shredding action from the 14 motorcycles and 50 plus motor vehicles taking part in the event.

The rescheduled event saw a super day’s racing for power hungry motor sports fans, with some competitors travelling from as far as Bulawayo and Kwekwe to take part in the speed frenzy.

Many two and four-wheel competitors repeatedly commented on the huge improvements in traction on the newly resurfaced main straight which aided many racers in achieving their best Elapsed Times ever.

Competition was fierce in all classes, but more so in the turbocharged car classes where a host of Subarus, Skylines and other modified vehicles fought it out for supremecy.

This event also saw many new first-time competitors, which, given the current economic situation, was a welcome surprise for event organisers Sables Dragpro Club and its partners.

Top times of the day in the motor vehicles section again came from 2015 champion Alan Cacace in his Nitrous powered V8 AC Cobra with Mano Zevgolis in the hp lubes/Castrol Toyota MR2 giving him some real competition in what many spectators called “the race of the day”.

The feuding competitors, although good friends, were less than one tenth of a second apart in their 11-second machines!

Nabil Ebrahim, in his stunning Audi RS4, ran in third place in the 12 second bracket, with two Skylines driven by Libor Jira and Tyron Ferreira respectively, hot on his tail.

The bikers also put on an awesome show with brothers Leslie and Darryl Carlsson fighting out a very tight 1st and 2nd place respectively closely followed by Angelo Pereira in a close third place.

Less than two tenths of a second separated the top three 10 second bracket riders!

Only female rider and crowd favourite, Tiffany Fisher, proved her metal in the smaller-engined 600cc class by coming first, beating fellow rider and long time legend Phil “Archie” Archenoul, as well as three other riders.

The event was described by many as “awesome” and social media is already alight talking about the next drag racing event which is calendered for July 3 at the same venue.