Competing in the coveted Top Doorslammer class Gregorini had his work cut out for himself and his talented Scratch and Match Motorsports team to qualify in the field.
Being the only roots supercharger powered Doorslammer attempting to qualify amongst a slew of screw blown cars Gregorini stepped up to the plate and swung his bat with authority. During the first round of qualifying Daniel’s 6.05 @ 234 mph was good enough for the second spot in the star studded field led by Aussie Doorslammer kingpin John Zappia.
Round two of qualifying brought an interesting twist on things as Gregorini snuffed the burnout and struck the tyre’s, consequently heating the clutch therefore not being able to properly reverse the car and the team lost the run.
This put added pressure on the Scratch and Match team heading into the final qualifying session. With conditions as stellar as a tuner could want, the team could only muster a 6.09 @ 234 mph in the final session.
“I just wasn’t aggressive enough. I under estimated this surface and it bit me a little. The car was unsettled through low gear but all in all was still a decent run. This race track is as well prepped as anything we have in the USA. You can bet on that,” Tuner Jon Salemi, owner of Resolution Racing Services in New York stated.
Gregorini ended up in the 7th spot in the tough eight car field and would face Maurice Fabietti in the first round of competition.
As the burnout was completed Gregorini’s G-Force Race Cars Inc. built 1968 Camaro would lose fire and sit stagnant on the track, a broken crank trigger would be the downfall of yet another strong effort put in by the Scratch and Match team.
“It’s been electronic gremlins in both doorslammer rounds that have bitten us. I guess that’s part of racing. You have to find all the ways to lose before you can win,” Said Gregorini.
The team decided to make another test run once the trigger problem was discovered and subsequently improved on their personal best with a 6.03 @ 235 mph, just one hundredth from the roots Doorslammer record in Australia.
“We went out to see what the tune up for first round would prove to do. I was happy that it ran a couple of hundredths better. It’s just really hard to make large jumps in ET when you lose runs for silly situations and parts failure but that’s all part of it,” Salemi stated.
The Scratch and Match team will compete locally in Perth a couple more times this season before making the trek across the country for the ANDRA Pro Series events in Sydney and Brisbane.
Scratch and Match Motorsports team thanks its loyal sponsors and supporters including Scratch & Match Autocolour, Kerb Doctor, Metalux Paints, Maxus Constructions Westcoast Site Works, Vinsan Contracting, Sikpac Performance, G-Force Race Cars, Resolution Racing Services and MSR Performance.
