Lisa Gregorini has continued her strong year in the Australian Top Doorslammer Championship following a runner-up result at the Nitro Champs.
The Scratch & Match Motorsport team battled through yet another rollercoaster event for the fantastic result, even though adversity seemed to be found in even the most unusual of places.
Qualifying at Sydney Dragway opened positively for Lisa with a 5.669 pass at her best ever speed of 253.80mph, a run that would stand for third position overall. Husband Daniel took an early shut off run. Behind the scenes, the racing gods seemed to be playing tricks on the team.
“On Saturday we woke up to find our laptop with all of our tune-up data had a blue screen!” Daniel said. “A huge thank you to Stuart Rowland and Damien Harris for getting it fixed so we could make the best of Q2. I thought we had found everything unusual to go wrong this season but that was a new one.”
Daniel chased a solid number for the second qualifying session and produced the result the team wanted with a 5.68 pass to move into fourth position. Lisa was on track for even better figures until her motor broke an inlet valve skirt and banged the supercharger.
“The car was two hundredths quicker to 330 feet than our first run, so we were tracking for a 5.63 or a 5.64,” she said. “But with a damaged engine and just two and a half hours until the first round of racing the thrash was on.”
All hands were on deck to repair the motor and with literally seconds to spare, Lisa was able to make it out for the first round against Jack Danaher.
“The team did an incredible job to get us back into the staging lanes,” Lisa said. “We turned on the win light with a 5.72 but you can only imagine the team’s reaction as we banged the supercharger again near the finish line. This time it was because of a loose fuel line.”
Daniel’s first round appearance was also dramatic as his Camaro went into a massive wheelstand and then shook the tyres.
“Unfortunately as the car was rattling the tires it broke the output shaft from the gearbox,” Daniel explained. “That took the tailshaft out and the motor also dropped a valve because it was free-revving.”
With two hurt race cars, the team’s efforts went into Lisa’s ride, given its high position in the championship. Fortunately, the second round of racing would not be held until Sunday, giving the team more time to make repairs.
The car was brought back to life at 3.30am.
A match with strong Sydney racer Geoff Gradden was waiting for the team but Lisa delivered with a stunning 5.665 run for the victory and a place in the A Final against championship leader Russell Taylor.
“We knew it would be a tough match up,” Lisa said. “When I came into stage I was a little too far to one side of the lane and so I couldn’t see the lights, resulting in a terrible reaction time. As the car left the line it then drove straight out towards the wall and I had no choice but to lift. Congratulations to Russell and his team; they really are the benchmark once again this season.”
While Russell stretched his points lead, Lisa’s second position was certainly shored up as she looks to become the highest-finishing woman in Australian Top Doorslammer history.
“We are feeling good about how we are currently positioned,” she said. “Hopefully we can continue with our current consistency and continue to hold onto second place with just two races left for this season.”
Major sponsors :
Scratch & Match Autocolour, Consolidated Group, Oil & Energy Pty Ltd, Kerb Doctor, Westcoast Siteworks, S&S Industries, Dalisa Estate Winery
Supporting sponsors :
Applied Automotive Performance Engines, Signbiz WA, FuelTech Australia, FuelTech USA, Harness-Tech, RACIN, G-Force Race Cars, Resolution Racing Services Inc, Dirty Detailing, Final Drive Engineering, DMPE INC, Kinetic Engineering
