Trooper’s Semi-Final spectacular

Trooper Tears powered his way into the 2023 Launching Pad Final in breathtaking fashion on Thursday night.

Lining up in the last Semi-Final with plenty of big names already through to the main event, the pressure was on Trooper Tears to deliver a perfect run from Box 8 and secure his spot. That he did.

Rob Britton’s young gun carved across from the wide draw and led by six lengths along the back straight before stopping the clock at a spine-tingling 29.012s.

Handler Peter Riley was left shocked.

“I didn’t think he could break 29s,” Riley said.

“I thought he could get down to around 29.20s with the way that dogs have been racing tonight. To see that was just amazing.

“He likes it out wide. He’s not a mad crasher and likes that clean run early.”

After 11 starts, Trooper Tears has yet to miss the top two in a race – six wins and five second-place finishes.

Trooper Tears (8) wins Launching Pad Semi-Final 4 in a blistering 29.012

Starline Express was a class above in the opening Semi-Final for Reg Gardoll.

The interstate speedster set another lightning 5.00s first split and cruised to a 29.35s win.

He is quickly making a name for himself as one of the most reliable beginners in the sport, pinging the lids at number of tracks around the country so early in his career.

Starline Express has drawn Box 5 in next week’s final.

Starline Express (4) leads with ease again as he cruises through to the Launching Pad Final

Dundee Rebel and Meteor Monelli both continued their flawless Launching Pad campaigns with comfortable wins in Semi-Finals 2 and 3, respectively.

After making the most of a congested race last week, Dundee Rebel took matters into his own hands this time around. He set the equal-fastest ‘Jump’ split of all Semi-Finalists (2.10s) which allowed him to lead the race easily.

Earlier in the night, Extreme Force returned to the winners’ list with a ridiculous 29.03s run in a Heat of the Runway consolation series.

It was his first win since September last year and the first time he’s shown glimpses of that magical 28.93s win back in August.

A huge future ahead.

Extreme Force returns to the winners’ list with a 29.03s romping

Click here for last night’s results

The Launching Pad Final will run on Thursday April 6. Enjoy the evening with a Robbie Williams and Ed Sheeran tribute show. There will be a punters club on the evening, as well as a new pool table and FIFA on the PS5 – both free to play.