After a disappointing — by his own standards — opening round of the Australian Top Doorslammer Championship at Dragway at The Bend in March, reigning back-to-back national champion Russell Taylor steadied the ship by claiming victory at the Gulf Western Oil Nitro Champs at Sydney Dragway yesterday.
Taylor took the A-Final victory over number one qualifier and all-round rocket ship Jeremy Callaghan by a miniscule 0.025s margin as the West Aussie and the Canberran went at it in front of an outstanding Sydney crowd.
The West Australian saved the best for last with his 5.60 against Callaghan’s 5.65 to score his first round win of the season in the OGL Australia Pty Ltd SS although Callaghan went into the final on paper as favourite after consistently lowering his PB in the Luci Civil Z28 from a previous 5.66 to a 5.62 to a smoking 5.607 (only 0.006 outside the national record owned by John Zappia) heading into the final.
Taylor lacked his usual spark during Crow Cams Australia qualifying and was forced into overnight thrashing ahead of race day. Qualifying honours ultimately went to Callaghan with a 5.62 over Daniel Gregorini’s 5.67 despite the Scratch and Match Camaro ending up on its roof in the sand trap at the top end.
Qualifying saw Zappia record a 5.68, Taylor a 5.71, Emilio Spinozzi a 5.73, Brodie Zappia a 5.75, Lisa Gregorini a 5.77, Ronnie Palumbo a 5.78, Frank Taylor a personal best 5.83, Rob Harrington a 5.84, Peter Lovering a 5.98, rookie Brody Davies a 6.06, Jack Danaher a 6.10, Salim Matta a 6.17, Shane Catalano a 6.30 and Tony DeFelice battling issues in both sessions.
The biggest talking point from qualifying was Daniel Gregorini’s dramatic rollover after banging the blower at the finish line while only one parachute deployed. The team faced a sleepless night repairing the Camaro before race day.
Fellow West Australian Frank Taylor also found himself in the sand trap during qualifying but still managed a PB 5.83 in the A-1 Drainage Chev, later improving to a 5.80 against Palumbo. Winternationals champ Rob Harrington took the Bad Influence Monaro to victory with a 5.89 whilst heartbreak for Lisa Gregorini in the left-hand lane saw the Scratch and Match Camaro spit the blower pulley off at the hit of the throttle. Brodie Zappia lowered his PB to a 5.72 in the AC Delco Monaro in defeating the struggling Pete Lovering who was battling all sorts of electronic and converter issues in the iconic Attcall Shoebox Chevy to still run a 5.97.
Emilio Spinozzi was on a mission and ran a PB 5.69 in the Terra Civil Chevelle to defeat the impressive rookie Brody Davies in the Davies Racing 67’ Mustang with a stout 5.99. Russell Taylor ran 5.65 to defeat a speedy Salim Matta’s 5.73 in the Aaron Hambridge tuned A Civil Shelby. John Zappia ran a 5.72 in the Fuchs Monaro to defeat Shane Catalano in the bright pink 71’ Valiant Charger who red lit to run 6.46.
Tony DeFelice avenged the disappointment of qualifying to run a stout 5.79 in the Murray Anderson 67’ Camaro and defeat a slowing Daniel Gregorini in the Camaro in what was fast becoming a tough weekend for the husband-and-wife team from the West. Daniel would suffer an ongoing mystery electrical gremlin in the Camaro robbing him of the potential of his stellar qualifying pass before the roll over. Lisa on the other hand was also dealing with broken spark plug issues that robbed her of any serious championship points haul from the disappointment of Dragway at The Bend in March.
Jeremy Callaghan used a solo pass to lock in a very tidy 5.62 and the 5.6 theme was becoming the norm rather than the exception for the Canberran.
Round two saw a solo pass for Ronnie Palumbo in the Bronson Dunne tuned ’37 Chev to run another consistent bracket car like 5.78 whilst A Civil team-mate Salim Matta used the very next run to best that mark by running a very respectful 5.72 on a solo and close in on his PB. Brodie Zappia became the third solo pass in a row to take the Maurice Fabietti Monaro to a consistent 5.76. It was very much all about the 5.7s at this point.
Rookie Brody Davies pulled off a monumental “Brody and Goliath” effort to defeat eleven times National Champ John Zappia with a 5.95 against the 6.22 – a run that saw the Zappia Monaro bang the blower and would see the first round Riverbend Nationals winner disappointingly run the D-Final against Salim Matta later in the day. Rob Harrington was like Depeche Mode locked in the 80s with a 5.85 but it was enough to get the job done over Tony DeFelice’s second impressive pass of a 5.79
Bondi Beach’s only Doorslammer racer Spinozzi rocked another PB in the Chevelle with another impressive 5.69 to get the job done over the improving West Aussie Shane Catalano with a 6.17. Russell Taylor showed what we’ve come to expect with a stirring 5.62 against Gregorini’s ailing 9.10 with more electrical gremlins as the defending champ booked himself an A-Final berth – who would be alongside him was going to be determined by Callaghan versus Lisa Gregorini. Lisa’s tough weekend ended – she was on the way to mid 5.60’s in testing earlier that week and ended up beaching it with a single chute blossom – with a 6.33 with another spark plug issue whilst Callaghan slammed home a big message by running a blistering 5.607 and locking into the final with Taylor.
The D-Final saw John Zappia do John Zappia things with his weekend best 5.69 to defeat the very consistent Sydneysider Salim Matta after Zap swapped motors after banging the blower in round two. Matta was lucky to escape injury when the uni joint in the tailshaft parted company as the Shelby crossed the finish line – putting a hole through the right side door in the process.
The C-Final saw Rob Harrington deliver yet another 5.80 – this time a 5.81 – to defeat Ronnie Palumbo ending a pretty successful weekend for the Queenslander in his first appearance at Sydney Dragway in slammer trim.
“Bronson told me we’d run a .60 or we wouldn’t, and we didn’t,” laughed Palumbo, admitting later of his Crew Chief’s words. “A little aggressive on the tune up but we had nothing to lose.”
Unfortunately Emilio Spinozzi’s personal best weekend ended with a whimper after the Terra Civil Chevelle refused to play the game and advance to the lights in the B-Final alongside Brodie Zappia.
“We found some aluminium in the lock up and as such we couldn’t fire the motor,” Spinozzi later explained. “It was a disappointing end but we had a very encouraging weekend all things considered.”
‘BZap’ took the opportunity and ran with it ripping home with yet another 5.70 – this time a 5.74 – and take the B-Final for Maurice Fabietti using good mate Jeff Cutajar on the tune in the absence of American tuner Lee White who was injured in a recent 4×4 accident in the USA.
“Our thoughts are with Lee and his family,” said Fabietti. “We’re all hoping he makes a complete recovery and I’m really grateful that my mate Jeff (Cutajar) can jump in and give me a hand this weekend.”
The A-Final saw a re-run of the Callagan v Taylor Tailem Bend battle from last season. That time Taylor hung a red light on the tree and Callaghan sped to his first ever NDRC Gold, but there was no such situation this time around at the Nitro Champs. Callaghan ripped an 0.039s reaction knowing he’d have to be on his game against Taylor’s .069 and the two ran side by side for a monumental 5.60 against a 5.65 with the nod going to Taylor by a narrow 0.0205 margin for the two time champion.
The third round of the NDRC Australian Top Doorslammer Championship heads to Willowbank Raceway for the Gulf Western Oil Winternationals on the King’s Birthday weekend in June. Championship Points after two rounds so far sees defending champion Russell Taylor leading from John Zappia, Jeremy Callaghan, Ronnie Palumbo, Peter Lovering, Emilio Spinozzi, Brodie Zappia, Salim Matta, Frank Taylor and Rob Harrington rounding out the top ten:
Russell Taylor 36
John Zappia 28
Jeremy Callaghan 24
Ronnie Palumbo 24
Peter Lovering 22
Emilio Spinozzi 22
Brodie Zappia 20
Salim Matta 18
Frank Taylor 14
Rob Harrington 12
Shane Catalano 8
Lisa Gregorini 8
Daniel Gregorini 8
Jack Danaher 6
Tony DeFelice 4
Brody Davies 4
Scott Ferguson 4
– Top Doorslammer Australia
