Perth driver Lisa Gregorini created history over the weekend in The Aeroflow Spring Nationals at Dragway at The Bend by winning the A-Final and becoming the first all-female team to win a blue-ribbon Top Doorslammer event in this country.
Gregorini took the Scratch and Match Motorsport / Consolidated Group Camaro to an historic victory in front of a large and vocal crowd of South Aussies to win her first ever Gold Christmas Tree.
It’s an historic moment also for the NDRC.
“Lisa and her team’s win at The Bend on the weekend is something that every drag racing fan should cherish as it’s a special and significant moment for the sport,” said NDRC chief Andy Lopez, “it’s a credit to all of the girls and the Scratch and Match Motorsport team that they have pulled off a win in just over a year of racing Doorslammer. It’s a dream come true not only for Lisa Gregorini but for the hardworking all-girl crew who have become extremely popular with fans of all ages at every venue they compete at.”
It was an all too familiar A-Final match-up at The Bend and conjured up mixed emotions for both combatants Ronnie Palumbo and Lisa – the duo faced each other last year at the same event and history will show that neither could take the green light and the race had to be re-run in Western Australia the next month.
History will also show that Ronnie would win that SA event in WA on Lisa’s home turf.
Not this time around though.
“I wasn’t too nervous,” Lisa explained after the historic victory for her this time around on Sunday, “Ronnie and I have raced each other many times since we started a year ago and when he gave me the right-hand lane this time and I felt like any hoodoo from last time was gone. I just tried to focus on what I had to do.”
“I’ve told the girls that if Ronnie shuts down in the burnout or there’s any trouble that Lisa has to drive through the green lights even if her car is on fire,” Daniel joked before the A-Final, “we’re not going to lose this one on doubt.”
Disappointingly for Ronnie Palumbo his scorching 5.70 over Lisa’s 5.71 was negated by his red light start, handing the win to his West Aussie adversary. Palumbo’s 0.008s red light was the only thing that prevented him from going back to back victor at The Bend Spring Nationals.
“I didn’t realise I’d won until Daniel (husband) told me Ronnie had red lit,” Lisa explains, “then it was all a bit surreal.”
Palumbo had sizzling speed and also mechanical mountains to overcome in the AC Delco Monaro (on one particular run he punched a Coke can hole in the motor which almost ended the weekend) but the Sydneysider showed again that he and Maurice Fabietti are a force to be reckoned with.
Crow Cams Qualifying went like this:
- Daniel Gregorini 5.60
- Russell Taylor 5.66
- John Zappia 5.71
- Lisa Gregorini 5.75
- Pat Carbone 6.05
- Adam Tassone 6.09
- Ronnie Palumbo 6.19
- Matt Abel 6.25
- Andrew Sutton 9.75
- Mick Mahoney 10.605
- Peter Kapiris 10.865
Round One Battles saw:
Ronnie Palumbo 5.81 defeat Adam Tassone’s 17.56.
Pat Carbone 6.02 defeat Matt Abel with a 6.82.
Lisa Gregorini 5.72 on a solo after Andrew Sutton could not start in the wild looking 53’ Corvette.
John Zappia 5.69 defeated Mick Mahoney 6.69 (encouraging signs for the South Aussie).
Russell Taylor 5.60 defeated Peter Kapiris 5.95 (welcome back Peter).
Daniel Gregorini on a solo with shake and shift issues 6.57.
Round Two:
Daniel Gregorini 5.66 defeat Pat Carbone 6.04 (again solid).
Peter Kapiris on a solo 5.915 (still looking for 5.80’s and 70’s).
Ronnie Palumbo 5.67 defeat Mick Mahoney 10.116.
Lisa Gregorini 5.71 defeat Matt Abel 5.887.
John Zappia’s 5.70 red light handing Adam Tassone a 6.20 win.
Andrew Sutton’s 6.11 was later a post race weight disqualification though Russell Taylor had a start line issue with the trans brake and shockingly did not register a result in the SS Camaro.
Going into the finals this is how the points had shaken out:
- Ronnie Palumbo 72
- Lisa Gregorini 71
- Daniel Gregorini 70
- John Zappia 53
- Russell Taylor 48
- Peter Kapiris 47
- Pat Carbone 45
- Adam Tassone 40
The B-Final saw Daniel Gregorini face John Zappia with the eleven times National Champion Zappia saving his best for last in the Dananni Haulage Monaro and rocking home to a 5.65 victory over Gregorini’s 5.73.
Gregorini cemented his start to the Championship with a consistent weekend that also included the Crow Cams Australia #1 qualifier position with a 5.66 in the Scratch and Match Camaro however.
The C-Final saw the return of likeable Victorian veteran Peter Kapiris facing defending Australian Doorslammer Champion Russell Taylor with Taylor giving Kapiris a head start and not quite recovering to get the win but laying down a smoking 5.599 at 257.9mph to be the quickest and fastest car all weekend in the Royal Precision Lubricants SS Camaro.
For Kapiris though there were encouraging signs on battle day after a struggle for most of Saturday’s testing and qualifying – the Kapiris Bros Batmobile recovering to run consistently into the 5.90’s and 5.80’s on the Sunday however.
“I feel like we should be easily running 5.70’s but we’ve had a few issues we need to work through and then hopefully I can take this thing on a decent number,” Kapiris later admitted.
The D-Final saw Adam Tassone take on Matt Abel (Pat Carbone was originally supposed to face his nephew in Tassone but withdrew which allowed Matt Abel some additional track time) with the South Aussie bricklayer Tassone running a 6.39 on the way to defeat Abel’s 6.86.
Carbone had been a vast improver on the weekend and went into Race Day as the #5 qualifier in the gorgeous Powerplay entry and ran a stout 6.02 to defeat Matt Abel in Round One and a 6.04 in Round Two to lose to Daniel Gregorini.
South Aussie Mick Mahoney showed improvement at times in the stunning Read’s Transport Shelby GT500 and it was great to see Matt Abel back for the first time since his brutal shunt at the Nitro Champs in May – and having rebuilt the car from the front end to make his return to the NDRC.
ACT racer Jeremy Callaghan made the transition from Pro Mod to Doorslammer after an impressive debut at the Nitro Champs in Sydney in May but unfortunately hurt the motor on his second qualifying pass at The Bend in the stunning SS and went home early.
It was an epic first round of the NDRC Top Doorslammer Championship and with twelve cars showing up to the wonderful Dragway at The Bend it was a cracking way to kick off the 2024/2025 Championship.
This year could be one of the most remarkable on record – even after the spectacular drama of last season!
