Rapisarda Autosport International star Damien Harris retains the lead in the 2022-2023 Burson Auto Parts Top Fuel championship after defeating teammate Wayne Newby in the B-final at the Perth Motorplex, March 4-5.
Newby retains fourth place in the title chase behind race-winner Phil Read and runner-up Peter Xiberras.
Day one of the event the 52nd Westernationals but was plagued with multiple timing problems – for example, Newby Top Qualified with a pass of 3.822 at a speed of 24 mph. Top Fuel Australia officials and the team owners met and decided to continue racing over the 1000-foot distance.
A slow-motion camera was set up and a three-person judgement of fact team was appointed to declare winners with an official positioned on the side of the track with a flag to signal the result. Bonus points for ET and Top Speed, as well as seedings for each round would be decided on times recorded at the eighth-mile mark.
RAI went 1-2 in qualifying for the second time this season. Newby snatched the top spot with a 3.822 after an early shutdown and threw a belt ahead of Harris with a 3.827. Newby’s reward for topping the charts was a solo in the first round.
In round one, Harris defeated Phil Lamattina but at a significant cost. “We threw some rods, the blower was destroyed and that led to some major engine carnage,” Harris said. Newby reported that his car got a bit skatey at the top end on his solo.
After a titanic round two battle against Read, race officials were tested when Harris and Read flashed across the finish line locked together. After much deliberation, they decided that Read had won. Newby held out Victorian racer Phil Lamattina to take the victory. Within hours, the RAI squad faced a major rebuild for the second time after discovering substantial damage to the diff.
For the final round, Harris claimed victory over teammate Newby in a thrilling photo finish to the B-Final. The judges were forced to deliberate for several minutes before announcing their decision.
“We are still leading the championship and that’s a positive to come out of the weekend,” said Harris. “The meeting has been challenging. We had some dramas on our first pass. There were a lot of damaged parts which is not what you want to see happen. When we raced Wayne in the final, it was very close and it took the judges a long time to decide that we had won.
“Three wins on the day were good for Junior and the crew.”
After top qualifying, the Newby team felt they left something on the table in eliminations.
“We started super slow and then in Q2, we were super fast,” said Crew Chief Santino Rapisarda.
“We backed the car down on the solo on race day because of the warm conditions. The car ran well. Then in E1 and E2, we were just not fast enough. We should have pushed harder. We ran a 4.066 and a 4.062 very consistent, but not where we wanted to be.”
