SYDNEY JAMBOREE 2016 RECAP

Ozzy Moya owner of Orlando Speed World, who is currently here visiting us from the USA, shared his expertise giving invaluable advice where needed with his track in Orlando also running the same system. 

With the long delay, the organisers had no choice but to reduce the qualifying rounds to only one pass, this then led straight into the elimination rounds. 
The Pac Performance team  had 14 cars in attendance, racing across 5 different classes. In Street and Pro 289 classes we had Dom Perri, Damien Mckern, Jay Sadek, Hady El Bacha, Grant Henderson, Michael Battaglia and Chris Fakinos. In Modified Compact, Simon Sadek. Pro Compact we had Mario Rehayem, Andrew 'The Dentist' Maratos, Steven Barnett and Alex Hayward. In Pro Turbo, Sam Sadek and finally Factory Extreme our Mazda 6 SP. 

Grant Henderson's beautifully presented RX3 Coupe, competing in Pro 289 qualified with a 9.109 @145 which would see this being his fastest pass of the day. Grant unfortunately bowed out in the semi-finals.

Travelling all the way from sunny Queensland with his entourage in toe, Damien Mckern did not have the perfect race day, but this little sedan is still a favourite with the fans.

 Returning to the race track for the first time since last year’s Sydney Jamboree, Dom Perri was looking to pick up where he left off in his 'GODRX2' coupe. This time however he had ditched his race slicks for a set of radials hoping to gain a place on our #PACSTREETKINGS Leaderboard. It wasn't to be Dom's day though as his car had other ideas. Dom has vowed to be back out at the track very soon to make his mark on our leaderboard. 

Hoping for a repeat of last year’s Sydney Jamboree where he had run an 8.97 @150, Hady was ready to take his 'Backyard Bandit' RX3 all the way. After qualifying with an impressive 9.438  @143, Hady was unfortunately taken out in the first round of eliminations, ending his day early.

Having only started racing less than a year ago, Jay Sadek has already raced in quite a number of big events with this already being his third Jamboree. We think its safe to say that Jay has definitely caught the racing bug and he is looking to follow in his father's footsteps. 

Chris Fakinos debuted his freshly built 'SIK300' RX3 Sedan running a couple of low 8 second passes. Still early days for this 13B powerhouse but Chris managed an impressive 8.142 @166. 

Also debuting his brand new car at the event was Michael Battaglia in his 13B powered RX3. First pass out on the track for the qualifier he ran a 9.677 @131. In the eliminations, Mick won his first 2 rounds but lost in the 3rd round semi-final taking 3rd place overall for the day. A great result for his first meet back in the car. 

Still on a high from running his new pb the week before Simon Sadek was hoping for a good showing in the Modified Compact class. After qualifying with a 8.982 Simon set his dial-in to 8.300, this would later be his undoing as he passes the finish line in the first round of eliminations with a 8.155 @150. 

Another racer still reeling from his last time in the car was Alex Hayward in his GRUMBLZ Datsun ute. After finally breaking into the 7 second zone at his last meet Alex was looking to get even faster.  First round of Chicago shootout in Pro Compact and the stage was set, Alex was racing his good friend Ben Palmer and his RX3 sedan. Ben got the holeshot on Alex and he looked to take it all the way until the RX3 got out of shape at half track and Alex drove around him for the win,and a new pb 7.858 @168. 

Mario's 'El Sniper' Toyota Starlet is proving to be a fan favourite with its fiery burnouts and wheels up launches. Having only had a few race meetings there has been alot of buzz around what numbers this little beast will run. While it’s still early days Mario has shown that he has what it takes to steer this pocket rocket down the track. In qualifying for Pro Compact Mario raced down the track to a 8.23 @160, this would be his fastest pass of the day as he struggled to get a full pass down in the heats. He still put on a show for the crowd though with plenty of flames on the start line.  

Our smiling assassin, Steven Barnett started his day strong with a pass of 7.20 @189 earning him the top qualifier trophy in Pro Compact. Steve was a man on a mission only losing 1 race all day by a hole shot. The little yellow coupe ran consistently in the low 7's, with his fastest pass of the day a 7.123 @189. As well as earning Top qualifier Steve was also runner up of Pro Compact. Congratulations Steve on this great achievement. 

Veteran racer Andrew 'The Dentist' Maratos showed his experience behind the wheel and never give up attitude during the Sydney Jamboree which would later earn him the Winner’s Trophy in Pro Compact. Qualifying just behind Barnett with a 7.21 @185 it was obvious The Dentist was not here to play. In round 2 disaster struck with the bonnet flying off of Andrew's RX3 coupe at the end of the track after running a blazing 7.139 @189. Back in the pits his crew set about taping and strapping the front end back together for the final round. With the car patched up, Andrew was back at the start line ready to race. Launching hard from the line the car looked like it was on a great run passing the finish line in spectacular fashion with his bonnet disintegrating into a thousand pieces as the time board lit up showing a 7.153 @183. Congratulations Andrew, what a way to take the win!

The aftermath of Andrews last pass. Time for a new look....

Always keen to put on a show for the fan's and drive his RX3 coupe the way it should be driven, Sam 'The Godfather' Sadek gave it his all on the day. Qualifying with a 7.321 @183, Sam won the Top Qualifier Trophy for Pro Turbo. With a class full of heavy hitters it was going to be no easy task for Sam to take it all the way to the finals. Round 1 he was matched up against Anthony Maatouk's VLGOD Commodore, even though Anthony ran a faster pass of 7.240 to Sam's 7.368 Sam had the hole shot and took the win. Round 2 would see Sam red light handing the win to Nikki Hepburn. In the final round Sam was matched up with Alex Cirtoski in the Birrong R33. Leaving on a .084 RT, Sam was out in front and stayed on it to the end running a 7.165 @190 and taking 1st place in Pro Turbo. Congratulations to Sam and the whole Sadek team. Well done!! 

In Factory Extreme we were looking to run some consistent numbers and obtain some valuable data for our Mazda 6 SP. After a round 1 win against Mouhamed's Queen St Monaro with a pass of 6.443 @213 the team were feeling confident. Back in the pits however, the boys came across an issue and they had no choice but to cut their day short. 

Check out our event video here featuring some of the highlights

Overall it was a successful day of racing with some great results, we would like to thank Ray Box, Collin Willshire and the Jamboree team for putting on such an amazing event. A big thanks also goes out to the crew at Sydney Dragway for putting on a great track. 
Most importantly we would like to thank our amazing sponsor's Turbo by Garrett, Microtech, Turbosmart, Mainline Dynalog Dynamometers, Custom Bodyworks and Castrol.
We would also like to thank all the PACsters that came along to show their support as well as all of our fan's from all around the world. 
We are gearing up for a huge year of racing, testing the car every chance we get to make sure we are ready to take on the world when we head over to the United States at the end of the year. #PACUSATOUR2016