Season 2015 finished on a high for Rob Cassar and the Ballistic Performance Parts Nitrous Kawasaki.

Following an accident at the Nitro Champs in Sydney in May 2014 and sitting out the 2014 Fuchs Winternationals, Cassar, with bike and body repaired, finished off his 2014 season with an appearance on his Z900 Modified Bike at the Fuchs Springnationals in Adelaide.

Determined to make amends in 2015, January saw the Ballistic Performance Parts team compete with the Z900 at the Summit Racing Equipment Sportsman Series round at Portland – qualifying with a 5.89 ET over the eighth mile, and eventually tasting defeat in the quarter finals to Tony Frost.

Back in Adelaide, the Pro Series 1000 would be the first time Cassar would ride the nitrous Comp Bike, albeit in Modified Bike, top qualifying and breaking out in Round 1 but the weekend was a success in terms of getting back on the horse.

The June long weekend saw the team head to Willowbank for the Fuchs Winternationals, Cassar’s favourite meeting of the year.

“With our first qualifier late Thursday afternoon there were some nerves for both rider and crew,” said Cassar. “Surprisingly the bike ran a 7.56 second pass straight off the trailer placing us 2nd in the qualifying order of 19.

“With an index of 7.90, the pressure was off. Missing every gearshift in the second qualifier on Friday the bike ran a 7.78 and I progressed further down the qualifying order. Trying a slightly different combination for the third and final qualifier on Saturday, we ran a 7.76 finishing us in 6th qualifying place.

“Preparing for Race day we returned the tune up to what we knew would work – the old trusty. We had Todd Johnson from WA in first round of eliminations. After helping him repair his bike in the staging lanes we had a win running 7.53, well under our index.

“With our index refactored to 7.71 for 2nd round eliminations we were feeling a bit nervous taking on the number two qualifier. With a small change to the tune up we hit the track without lane choice. The bike ran like a dream and I made it to the end first with another 7.53. I had to pinch myself, I was going to the semi finals at the Winternationals and better still had preserved the 7.71 index.”

The semi finals saw Cassar take on fourth qualifier Peter Puznik in the closest race of the meeting. Both racers cut good lights and Cassar was in chase all of the way until he pipped Puznik at the post winning by 0.017 seconds.

“It was all a bit surreal- we weren’t sure how we were supposed to be feeling. The final wouldn’t be easy – we would take on the number one qualifier, but the bike was running like a bracket bike. I had marginally refactored the index to 7.70. The temperature had dropped significantly and I was concerned that the track could be slippery so took a small amount of power out.
“With some confusion about indexes as we headed into stage, I disarmed the nitrous whilst it was sorted out. With the pressure of the final I moved into full stage without rearming the nitrous. I realised the mistake as the bike launched without power but it was too late I was unable to catch up – running a 10 second pass. I was disappointed by my error, but was soon overjoyed as I realised I had come runner up at the Winternationals.

“With an amazing finish to the season, Ican’t wait to compete at the Springnationals in October. We would like to thank all of our sponsors; Powerplus Race Fuels, Lucas Oils Australia, Denso Australia, Shinko Tyres and Ballistic Performance Parts and of course our family.”

Image: dragphotos.com.au