History was made at Sydney Dragway on Saturday night with the first all five second Top Doorslammer field in the history of the ANDRA Pro Series.
Robin Judd led the way in the Aeroflow Studebaker with a 5.83sec while Maurice Fabietti used a last gasp 5.98sec to break into eighth spot and take the last place in the race day group.
Amazingly Gary Phillips and John Cannuli, who both clocked 5.99sec runs, were not quick enough to made it into Sunday’s eliminations at Sydney Dragway.
Judd, whose top qualifying performance came in the final session, said there might still be something more up his sleeve come eliminations.
“We had a smidge more clutch but it was all pretty much the same session to session,” he said. “There’s more in the car, I’m still short shifting in first to second.”
Judd said he was honoured to be at the top of the first all five second field.
“It’s great, a bit of history is being made, the guys are all on their game,” he said. “I’d hate to be Gary Phillips; if you run a 5.99 you would think you could park it and be in.”
Dave Newcombe headed a quality Pro Stock field, with a sub-national record 7.02sec pass coming in the final qualifying session.
Newcombe remained cagey about what he was doing with the tune up to produce the stout numbers.
“We’ve been working hard all season, going backwards and forwards, and on the third qualifier we found what we needed to do,” he said. “It’s all good to run fast at one track but to do it at all of them is the trick.
“I hope I can keep my head on my shoulders tomorrow and do what I have to do to win the meeting.”
The field remains extraordinarily close with a 7.17sec run from Bill Kotsias sitting in the bump spot, meaning a spread of just 0.15sec over 16 teams.
In Pro Stock Motorcycle Ross Lemberg stunned the field with the quickest run of the season so far, a 7.27sec pass taking top spot by a long margin.
The Suzuki rider said given that the bike remains overweight he was impressed with the major step up in performance.
“We had a good day, we surprised ourselves on that first pass and then we started playing around with it because we were in a good position to do that,” he said.
“Before today a 7.45sec was the personal best.”
Race day for the ANDRA Pro Series begins at 12pm today (Sunday) at Sydney Dragway.
Top Doorslammer standings (speeds in MPH)
1 1693 T/D ROBIN JUDD APPLECROSS WA 1959 STUDEBAKER TFX 521 5.836 251.02
2 4 T/D PETER KAPIRIS MELTON VIC DODGE SARATOGA BAE 521 5.897 250.55
3 2639 T/D BEN BRAY KALLANGUR QLD HOLD MONARO COUPE BAE 511 5.907 246.44
4 846 T/D JOHN ZAPPIA BIBRA LAKE WA 71 HQ MONARO HEMI 514 5.915 245.94
5 167 T/D STUART BISHOP NEWSTEAD QLD 67 CAMARO HEMI 520 5.916 240.89
6 67 T/D MARK BELLERI SYDNEY NSW CHEV CAMARO TFX 522 5.962 240.98
7 1291 T/D SEAN MIFSUD SYLVANNIA WATERS NSW 68 CHEV CAMARO JAN 521 5.978 243.94
8 590 T/D MAURICE FABIETTI VINEYARD NSW 2006 HOLD MONARO BAE 521 5.987 242.32
Pro Stock standings
1 3982 PRO DAVE NEWCOMBE ROCKSBERG QLD FORD MUSTANG FORD 398 7.020 193.90
2 3370 PRO CHRIS SOLDATOS CAMPBELLS CREEK VIC 08 PONITAC GTO CHEV 400 7.062 193.38
3 1 PRO AARON TREMAYNE QLD CHEV COBALT CHEV 398 7.063 192.96
4 3295 PRO TYRONNE TREMAYNE BUNDABERG QLD PONTIAC GXP CHEV 398 7.071 193.02
5 414 PRO EMILIO SPINOZZI LUDDENHAM NSW PONTIAC GTO CHEV 400 7.079 193.10
6 1212 PRO JASON GRIMA ST MARYS NSW 2010 FORD MUSTANG FORD 400 7.087 192.30
7 4521 PRO MICHAEL ALI NETHERBY SA PONTIAC GTO CHEV 400 7.090 191.84
8 2909 PRO DENIS WHITING TOOWOOMBA QLD 06 HOLD VZ MONARO CHEV 399 7.092 193.21
9 12 PRO SHANE TUCKER CARBROOK QLD POINTAC GXP CHEV 400 7.106 192.63
10 1480 PRO BILL PERDIKARIS BEVERLY HILLS NSW FORD ESCORT ZX2 FORD 399 7.106 191.51
11 401 PRO LEE BEKTASH KEILOR VIC DODGE STRATUS HEMI 399 7.111 191.87
12 523 PRO PETER RIDGEWAY ROCEDALE VIC HOLD MONARO CHEV 400 7.120 193.10
13 3 PRO JASON HEDGES WINDSOR DOWNS NSW PONTIAC GXP SBC 398 7.155 190.59
14 199 PRO BRUCE LEAKE QUEANBEYAN NSW PONTIAC GXP CHEV 400 7.157 186.64
15 398 PRO NINO CAVALLO NARRE WARREN VIC DODGE STRATUS MOPAR 399 7.174 189.92
16 1705 PRO BILL KOTSIAS KEW VIC PONTIAC GTO CHEV 388 7.179 190.51
Pro Stock Motorcycle standings
1 2650 P/M ROSS LEMBERG MACKAY QLD SUZUKI TL 1000 V&H 1655 7.275 178.14
2 1 P/M MAURICE ALLEN CROYDON VIC SUZUKI GSXR V&H 1655 7.396 179.66
3 868 P/M SCOTT WHITE ROSEBERY NT SUZUKI TLR SUZ 1570 7.575 172.94
4 3 P/M LACHLAN IRELAND HOPPERS CROSSING VIC SUZUKI VULT 1498 7.631 166.35
5 3292 P/M MARK HANCOCK MURWILLUMBAH NSW SUZUKI GSXR 1100 SUZ 1640 7.764 165.38
6 2793 P/M MICHAEL GILBERTSON TOWNSVILLE QLD SUZUKI TL1000 1655CC 8.453 146.38
7 123 P/M GLENN WOOSTER WARRNAMBOOL VIC SUZUKI TLR 1000 SUZ 1428 8.591 168.56
