John Barbagallo’s consistency throughout the Pro Stock Nationals paid dividends at Willowbank Raceway, with the JB Automotive Ford Escort getting quicker as the weekend progressed before Barbagallo secured the event win.
Barbagallo opened qualifying with a 6.98-second pass before improving to a 6.94 in Q2, giving the team a strong platform heading into racing.
That consistency continued on Raceday. Barbagallo faced Omar Sedmak in the opening round of racing, with Sedmak producing the quicker elapsed time with a 6.910 to Barbagallo’s 6.939. Despite the difference on the time slip, Barbagallo’s reaction was enough to get him through by just 0.001 seconds.
The pair met again in round two, with Sedmak again producing the quicker elapsed time, running a 6.918 against Barbagallo’s 6.938.
This time, the margin was just 0.007 seconds, with Barbagallo doing enough on the starting line to take the win.
Barbagallo then lined up against Thomas Leake in the final, producing another 6.936-second pass to Leake’s 6.966 and securing the Pro Stock Nationals victory.
“The car was good all weekend and we just kept building on it,” Barbagallo said.
“We started with the 6.98 and then went 6.94 in the second qualifier, and from there we just kept chipping away at it. The car was really consistent and that gave us a lot of confidence going into racing.”
“The two races with Omar were obviously really close. He had the quicker car on the time slip both times, but we did what we needed to do at the start and got the wins. Then to run another 6.93 in the final was a great way to finish the weekend.”
The win gives Barbagallo and the JB Automotive team plenty of momentum heading into the East Coast Nationals at Sydney Dragway on September 26 and 27.
With only a week between the two events, the team will have little time to rest before turning its attention to Sydney.
“We’ve got a week to get everything ready for Sydney, so we’ll enjoy the win and then get straight back into it,” Barbagallo said.
“We know the car is working well and we’ve got a good baseline now. Hopefully we can keep building on what we’ve done at Willowbank and have another strong weekend at the East Coast Nationals.”
- By Pro Stock Australia
