Living three hours west of Rockhampton in Emerald, QLD, opportunities to compete at this level and across so many disciplines in one place don’t come around often, which is something local entrants like Mat Stachurski have come to appreciate over the event’s six-year history. Whether it’s pushing the pace down Quay Street’s 1/8th mile drag strip or smoking up the tyres down Skid Row, if it’s on the program, Mat’s in.

“I’m booked to do it all,” he says of his stacked Rockynats 06 schedule, which also includes the Open Burnouts and today’s record-breaking street parade. “I just try to make the most of it each year.” 

It’s a mindset that reflects both his enthusiasm for the event and the path that got him here. Growing up around cars on the New South Wales south coast, Mat was completely immersed in the car scene from an early age, influenced by his dad and brother before starting a mechanical apprenticeship at 16. Between his career and regularly attending local car meets and national events like Street Machine Summernats, his passion naturally progressed from working on other people’s cars to building and competing with them himself. 

His first proper taste of burnout competitions came back in 2008, where he competed at South Coast Nationals in his 1990 Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R, in Moruya, NSW. Mat says it was the intensity of the crowd and the thrill of the moment that instantly had him hooked, and has kept him returning to the pad ever since.  

“It’s the rush of it,” he says. “You go out there and give it everything you’ve got in front of the crowd. It’s just awesome!” 

Wanting to push the limits further, Mat needed a car that would allow him to level up, which led to him building JUICE together with a few mates. Originally pulled from a paddock and pieced together using whatever second-hand parts they had on hand, including a V8 engine out of a ski boat, it wasn’t built to be the perfect burnout machine. It was built with the sole purpose of getting Mat onto the pad. 

“We didn’t hand-pick the car at all. It was just a car that one of my mates happened to have lying around, so we went  with what we had. It was convenient and it did the job,” he reflects.  

Over the years, JUICE has been rebuilt and reworked multiple times, evolving from its early small block Chev setup into a more refined LS-powered package. Along the way, Mat has continued to push the car across different formats, including drag racing, where it recently clocked a 10.50-second quarter mile personal best.

That ability to perform under pressure has already paid off on the Rockynats stage. A strong performance at  Rockynats 04 earned Mat a coveted Wild Card entry to Summernats 37, where he made the most of the opportunity, securing three runs on the pad and progressing through to the Top 40 finals in the Open class.

He returned this year for Street Machine Summernats 38, competing in the Open class and gaining further experience against some of the country’s best, an opportunity he credits to having the chance to compete at such a high level close to home.  

“As a CQ local, there’s not a lot of big events like this around,” he says. “Rockynats gives you the chance to compete and actually go somewhere with it.” 

Since moving to Queensland, he’s been a regular at local grassroots events across the region, supporting the scene wherever he can. However, Rockynats continues to remain a favourite, not just for the competition, but for the scale and the variety of opportunities it offers.  

For Mat, this was evident at Rockynats 05 last year, when a few last-minute openings enabled him to step up into the Pro Burnout class and compete under lights against some of the event’s top competitors; an experience he says has easily been one the best memories from his burnout career to date. 

“The atmosphere was unreal,” he says. “Running at night, under all the big lights, with the crowd right there egging you on was something else.” 

As the weekend hits full stride and the burnout finals loom, another strong performance could put him back in contention for a return to Street Machine Summernats. But for now, the focus is simple. 

“I’ll just go out in qualifying and do the best I can,” he says. “This year’s line-up is stacked, and I know the competition’s going to be tough, so we’ll just see how we go.” 

His advice for those experiencing Rockynats for the first ‘me? In true Mat style, he recommends that people make the most of the weekend by checking out as many events as they can. 

“The variety of the whole event is what makes it, whether you’re an entrant or a spectator. It offers a lot that you can’t do or see anywhere else – like drag racing down the main street with people cheering on from the local pub or the atmosphere of Pro Burnouts at night,” he advises. 

“But be sure to check out the drags, the driving and the JDM showcase too, and you can’t miss the Elite Showcase and everything happening over at the Showgrounds either. When you get out and about across all the precincts, that’s when you really see what the event’s about.” 

For those in the crowd at the burnout pad today, it’s worth paying attention. Between the smoke, the noise and the pressure of the moment, Mat Stachurski is exactly the kind of competitor Rockynats was built for — local, committed,  and ready to lay it all on the line when it counts. The event line-up at Buddy’s Fire Burnout Precinct is stacked all weekend long with qualifying for all competition classes and Skid Row taking place until 9:30pm tonight and the finals starting from 10:30am tomorrow. For the full program and exact times, visit the Rockynats website: rockynats.com.au/program