West Australian Chris Orchard is your 2026 Pro Burnout series champion, his BALLISTIC VL Holden taking out the top honours and $50,000 prize money in the top 10 final here in Canberra on Saturday afternoon.

“It feels like a long time coming, and after finishing second, coming second sucks! I put a lot of work into this, like we all do,” says Chris.

It wasn’t a win that came easy, Chris hamstrung at 9000rpm from the blown small-block Chevy during his qualifying run yesterday. The car survived, and he put on one belter of a run in the finals to seal his long awaited top spot.

Second place went to Justin McKinnis in the MRCHOW VS Commodore ute, nearly completing a golden run from the Last Chance Wildcard Shootout on Thursday afternoon to the top spot in the pro class.

Third place was Chris Smallmon in BLWNVY, a car that’s made a big impression in the burnout scene in the last 12 or so months capping over another belter of a season.

There was plenty to talk about from the top 10 runners, including Tim Brown in the CEMBLO VK Commodore. He tagged the whole with the rear end, also choosing to restart his run but leaving the pad with a decent whack of damage and a small fire after finishing his burnout.

Mick Pratten’s SPASTIC VX SS Commodore also found the wall hard during the top 10, coming in hot from the exit shoot of the pad to tag the passenger side of the car on the wall.

Rob Cottrell in the 4DH8ERS XD Falcon seemed to get lost in smoke, hitting reverse during his run. He backed back up to the startline, restarting his run to send the tyres off the proper way.

If there was a hard luck award, it would have to go to Bryan Smilie’s TIPITIN VK Commodore. He only got moments into his burnout before the car started spluttering, forcing him to leave the pad still on two full tread tyres.

Whilst this year’s champion has been crowned, it’s not the end of the Pro Burnout series action for Summernats 38. The Last Chance Redemption Round will hit the pad at 10.30am tomorrow, and then the Open Class burnouts see out the weekends tyre frying action from 12pm.