As the Top Fuel teams head into this weekend’s Gulf Western Oil Nitro Champs at Sydney Dragway, the Burson Auto Parts Australian Top Fuel Championship sits delicately poised at the midway point of the series. Such is the evenness of the competition, all three rounds to date have resulted in three different winners.
It was a rough outing mechanically for Phil Lamattina and the Fuchs Lubricants team at the previous event in Perth, the Mildura event winner from round two though still gathered enough points to lead the field with 270. But Sydney Dragway has been a good hunting ground in the past for the now Sydney based Lamattina Top Fuel Racing team, and they finished third at the venue for the inaugural round of the championship back in January.
Coincidentally, all event winners this season have been locals, and Peter Xiberras who sits second in the championship on 255 points hopes to keep that streak going with a win in Sydney. Even though the PremiAir Racing team is winless this season, podium consistency have kept them in the hunt for the championship.
“We are only 15 points behind Phil Lamattina in the championship standings and we have our eyes on the prize when it comes to defending our Australian title,” Xiberras said.
“We are yet to claim our first victory this season, but we have always been in the hunt at every event, and I am full of confidence that we can walk away with the big trophy this weekend.”
Coming off a perfect start to the brand new Australian Top Fuel Championship with a win at the opening round, Phil Read driving the Hydraulink Jim Read Racing machine, and after qualifying at Mildura were looking like the ones to beat, but since then have struggled for win lights. A gremlin in Perth saw the team battle to get down the track, only to scratch up one ugly win in the C-Final. As a result Read now sits in third on 230 points and will certainly be looking for a repeat performance of their round one effort.
Even missing the first round of the championship due to border restrictions, Atlantic Oils/Rapisarda Autosport International’s Damien Harris has been climbing up the championship standings, sitting with 210 points in fourth, despite the leg up the rest of the field had on the West Aussie. A win in his hometown of Perth, despite having a decimated team due to COVID, backed up his podium from Mildura, and a win in Sydney could see Harris challenge for the title that seemed unlikely from the start of the season.
RAI team mate Wayne Newby dropped behind Harris in the points with 185 as the team struggled to find their mojo early in the season. The canopy car started to show its potential with a runner up in Mildura, and a third in Perth after top qualifying, as they close in on that back to back consistency they need as team to make a championship move. Newby can easily keep streak of hometown event winners alive at the Nitro Champs.
“Perth was a challenge. We were down on crew numbers and the boys and girls who made the trip really stepped up to fill the gaps,” said team Principal Santo Rapisarda.
“To come away with a win from Damien and third from Wayne has given the team a real boost in confidence and provides a strong foundation for this weekend’s meeting.”
“This weekend we plan to have Wayne join that select group (hometown winner) or for Damien to become the season’s first two-time winner.”
Rounding out the active championship contenders is rookie Shane Olive on 120 points, the Burson Auto Parts team are still finding their feet as they blood not only a new driver, but rookie Crew Chief Luke Marsden. The former Alcohol tuner and racer – following in the footsteps of Lamattina’s Crew Chief Aaron Hambridge – is on the steep Top Fuel learning curve, with the team seeing only win light for the season, but with the capabilities of dropping a number at any point, look out for an upset in Sydney.
Top Fuel Bike will continue their championship with Chris Matheson who has the title seemingly all but locked up, next year though we should see a lot more bikes join the fight.
After rectifying some engine woes John Zahra is back to keep Matheson on edge for the chase into the five second zone. Matheson ran a string of 6.0s in Perth, while none were full throttle quarter-mile laps, and Sydney’s cool weather could be just the ticket to witnessing Top Fuel Bike history.
Pro Slammer, Pro Alcohol, Pro Stock and Pro Mod all join the Nitro Champs show as exhibition classes along with the sportsman racers competing for the Speed Adict Clothing NSW Championship Series.
Gulf Western Oil Nitro Champs qualifying kicks off Friday at 11.30am with Top Fuel from 4.55pm and the Saturday program starts 9.30am with the Opening Ceremony at 2pm.
