Territory drag racing fans got a sight they have never witnessed in the 26 year history of Hidden Valley Drag Strip, the first ever five second Top Doorslammer pass at the Macmahon Grand Re-Opening presented by 7mate.
The night started with most teams playing it safe as they tried out the new Hidden Valley surface for the first time.
NSW based Ivan Skaramuca was leading the Doorslammer qualifying field with a 6.781 second pass at 189.36mph, followed by Martyn Dack with a 7.464 at 137mph. Unfortunately the Territory teams of Matt Abel and Scott MacLean did not feature in the top half of the field. MacLean left early after damaging the rear end to ensure it would be prepared for Saturday night’s racing.
With temperatures dropping to 17 degrees the teams decided to give the Hidden Valley crowd a bit of excitement during the second qualifying session.
Six teams were to reset the quickest pass for the night in quick succession as Kapiris, Dack, Skaramuca, Melenewycz all ran sub 6.6 second passes, a number that was previously the quickest pass recorded at Hidden Valley until recent upgrades in 2010/2011.
But it was John Zappia that had their crowd on their feet with his first and only pass of the night. Running a solo pass Zappia smashed the quickest and fastest pass ever run at Hidden Valley, stopping with a 5.936 second pass at 238.72mph, 0.131 seconds off the current National Record.
“Now we know what the track can hold we’ll see what we can do on Saturday,” said Zappia briefly on Friday night.
With five of the teams in the Doorslammer field having run 5 second passes across Australia the racing is going to be increased on Saturday as everyone is going to be out chasing Zappia’s top qualifying position. Zappia will sure be out to back up his first attempt to secure the official track record.
In other brackets Bronte Henning top qualified in the Outlaw class with a 7.409 at 181mph, while Brad Baker top qualified in Super Sedan with a 8.942 at 148mph. Modified Bike saw Colin Sainsbury in teh top qualifying position with a 10.306 while Mike Lockhart holds the top speed with a 135mph. Super Street has Chris Surin in the top qualifying position after two other teams, including Chris Tsakrios ran under the class limit of 11.00 seconds. Bob Czerniawski leads the Street car class while South Australian Dave Tattingham is leading the Street Bike qualifying order.
One final qualifying round commences at 4pm Saturday with the official opening at 6pm.
Remember to follow the live updates right here on Drag News.
Picture courtesy Matthew Kemp, www.epicmoments.com.au
Macmahon Grand Re-Opening presented by 7mate
Saturday 14 May
Gates open 3pm
Qualifying 4pm
Official opening & Feature Racing 6pm
Adults Saturday Feature – $25
Family Saturday Feature – $50
Children under 13 free
