The 40th annual Goldenstates at Perth Motorplex wasn’t quite as big an event as we have seen in previous years, though it did join Top Doorslammer and Top Alcohol for the first time at the Kwinana facility.
Crowds over both days were reasonable and the weather was near perfect for racing, though the cold of the nights got to a few people!
Anyway, read on for the report on all things golden…
Top Doorslammer
Peter Kapiris has found the Saratoga sweet spot. Kapiris top qualified, set low ET at 5.81 and won the event. It wasn’t all drama free though, with a first session 5.88 being disqualified for a chute pin infraction.
John Zappia experienced an expensive last few passes for the event, replacing a motor after his semi finals win and then experiencing a rather big pop in the final against Kapiris, check out the on board footage!
Robin Judd couldn’t quite get all the shakes out of his Aeroflow Studebaker and lost in the semis to Zappia despite qualifying second.
Marty Dack scored his first race win in Top Doorslammer with a 6.06 over Daniel Gregorini. Combined with a 6.07 in qualifying, maybe the four speed suits the Auto One Falcon?
Speaking of Gregorini, he had a hard lead up to the event, needing to replace a motor he put two rods out of in testing. It took him a while to break into the field too, and it took a half hearted launch to control the Camaro enough to run a 6.1.
Maurice Fabietti’s Top “Doorstopper” took a journo for a ride during the week but he couldn’t get started on the weekend.
Andrew Sutton ran a PB 6.06 but had to retire from the field after heading into the sand trap on his last qualifying pass.
Pino Priolo was a late entry into the field after Suttons’ withdrawal but could not take advantage with Kapiris dominating the round one encounter.
Top Alcohol
Rob Pilkington scored his first win ever in Top Alcohol but it involved a bit of luck. He ended up as top qualifier with a PB 5.55 due to the misfortune of Gary Phillips, then got a round one solo. In the semi finals Debbie O’Rourke rolled the beams against him and then in the final he survived something of a pedal fest against runner up Adam Marchant.
Adam Marchant got all the way to the final after a 5.63 in qualifying but didn’t quite have luck on his side with tyre shake and an aborted pass.
Wayne Newby managed to keep the shakes at bay throughout qualifying but in eliminations it got a little tougher and he lost in the semi finals. Some consistent 5.6 passes on the Motorplex gave him something to smile about at least as the JBS Dragster kept its championship chances alive.
Debbie O’Rourke achieved her first round win in Top Alcohol with the high revving O’Rourke Motorsport Funny Car.
A last ditch 5.90 qualified Shane Weston into his first Top Alcohol field but a broken blower belt in round one unfortunately lost him a winnable race against Marchant.
Rick Gauci put in some tough passes in the Aeroflow car but came up short against O’Rourke in round one.
Aaron Deery blew a motor in the second session of qualifying and would not return for the rest of the weekend. The team had high hopes after its April 5.4 pass.
Wayne Price ventured into WA for the first time with his Funny Car but couldn’t quite find the pace needed to defeat the tough Newby in round one.
Jeffrey Clarke in the world’s quickest Chev powered dragster had a hard weekend with major damage suffered in the second session of qualifying, ironically alongside Deery. Plenty of sparks and a small fire in the braking area indicated it was all over. Drag racing can be a cruel sport. If Clarke had have been able to make eliminations, he would have only had to run quicker than seven seconds or so on each pass and a win would have been his.
Gary Phillips had perhaps the hardest luck of all. After a superb 5.46/263 run, the quickest and fastest every in Australian Top Alcohol, Phillips had no chutes and went deep into the sand trap. The car barrel rolled over the safety net and came to a rest. Phillips later spent the night in hospital for observation and fingers crossed he returns soon.
Super Comp
Allen Puglia returned to his winning ways, with plenty of quick runs to boot from the Nuford Probe including a 7.12 in A/G trim in qualifying.
Rob Gaikhorst ran a sub record 8.35 in G/GA but an 8.39 in the final wasn’t quite enough to top Puglia.
Andrew Katavatis red lit and wasted a 7.12 against Michael Buckley.
Sandro Principe upset Colin Mortimore in round one but did not have the pace to take on Gaikhorst in round two.
Considering the amount of smoke his Mazda RX7 was pouring out, it was amazing Terry Stacy ran a .48 under 8.19 in RR/G in qualifying, but he couldn’t translate it into eliminations results.
Competition Bike
Kevin Gummow is playing the game smartest rather than quickest in Competition Bike. A 7.62 in CC/CB top qualified him and he managed to get through to the finals without damaging his index. This would greatly help him take the win over Greg Durack.
Speaking of Greg Durack, he is beginning to turn the wick up on his turbocharged CC/CB Kawasaki, hitting a scorching 7.35 in the final against Gummow, over three tenths under the national record. There’s still more left in this barrier breaking motorcycle.
Ryan Learmonth stayed in points contention with a second round appearance after his final at the last event.
Supercharged Outlaws
Kelvin Lyle top qualified in Outlaws with a 6.65 pass.
Wayne Batson took the win in Outlaws with a 6.71 on a 6.67 dial in for the final against Don Freind who red lit.
Greg Gibson won the B Final in his dragster as he finally finds some consistency.
Mark Mackay scored a B Final runner up.
Wayne Keys was one of a number of drivers testing in Outlaws with Top Comp not run at this event. With a new four link in the car he ran an AA/AP legal 6.01, the pass also giving him the quickest Rootes sedan in the nation.
Steve Aldridge is getting a handle on the big bad Chev with some quick and straight runs.
Modified
In just its second full meeting, Jim Duffy took his new US imported dragster to a win, with a .003 light and 7.52 on a 7.50 dial in for the final a very good package to end with.
Kyle Putland scored a runner up in his altered (he has a new one on the way by the way). A .014 light and 7.58 on a 7.54 dial in hardly left him disgraced.
Manda Appleyard continues to bring in some upsets with wins over tough drivers Shane Wynd and Laurence Adamos during the night.
A -.001 red light in the second round was a heartbreaker for Kim Nordahl’s FED.
Frank George had some trouble getting his altered started for the second round and a stutter off the line didn’t help either as he went on the trailer early.
Super Sedan
Paul Downe took the Black Market Commodore all the way for a win with a 9.16 on a 9.13 in the final.
Sam Gullotto had a lot of work to reach his runner up trophy. After breaking a gearbox the team pulled an all nighter to get a new one installed and were rewarded with consistent 7.8s. A slightly sleepy .098 light in the final would cost him the race.
Ethan Hort was able to knock out his father Kevin in round two.
Tyron Begg didn’t quite bring enough, losing to Downe in the quarters.
Token Kaine Weighell-stand shot.
Modified Bike
Daniel Natalotto’s BMW runs under B/MB classification and has been setting some very quick mid nine second times at over 150mph.
Paul McNamara shakes his head in disgust after a red light.
Troy Thompson set himself up well in the championship hunt with a runner up placing.
David Gajsek smokes in the start line in typical style, he also won the event!
Super Street
Believe it or not, this Ford Lightning of Jason Lippi was cutting low 11s! Certainly a popular entry with the crowd.
Runner up Darren Bakranich checks out what’s going on in the other lane. As you can see from the reflection, it was a red light from his opponent.
Blake Jeffreys was on the pace until the quarter finals but just lost to eventual winner…
Dean Burtoft had a .024 light and an 11.31 on an 11.30 dial in to win the final in his late model Commodore.
Here is some video from some of the sportsman finals courtesy of the Gardner Broz.
Junior Dragster
Connor McClure had a red light in his first final in the “big” Junior Dragsters, giving a win to George Blacklock.
Meantime in the rookie division, it was Beau Higgins claiming the win over Tyson Liddiard.
Click next below to see the photo gallery.
