Perth Top Doorslammer drag racer, Robin Judd, is hoping he can repeat past performances when he races at Sydney Dragway, Eastern Creek this weekend – Saturday and Sunday, March 24-25.
Judd reached the final at the past three consecutive Australian Nationals at Sydney Dragway, winning the 2009 and 2010 titles and runner-up last year.
Judd was also the first Australian Top Doorslammer racer to run into the 5.7-second zone, a 5.779 second pass while testing at Sydney Dragway for last year’s Nationals.
“I believe our Aeroflow/William Buck ’59 Studebaker is more suited to Sydney Dragway than any other track on the championship series pro tour,” Judd said.
Having fought his way back into (Australian National Drag Racing Association) ANDRA Top Doorslammer championship series contention at the recent Westernationals at the Perth Motorplex, Judd is looking to reach another Sydney final to set up a run for the championship series with two events remaining after this weekend.
“The Perth Motorplex maybe our home track, but Sydney Dragway is our most successful and therefore must be considered our favourite track, Judd said.
“Our Aeroflow/William Buck Studebaker likes the Sydney track. We have performed better at more Pro Series events there than anywhere else.
“For some reason the Sydney track seems to have better traction out past the (Christmas) tree (start line), which suits our tune-up because we can keep the power in it without the risk of losing traction and causing grief.
“This, no doubt is why we have run our quickest time (5.779sec) and fastest speed (250.18mph/402.53kph) at Sydney Dragway.”
However, Judd also knows he has to improve his start line reaction time – after a slow reaction time allowed John Zappia win the Westernationals final – to have a good result in Sydney.
“I became over cautious at the Westernationals. This coupled with a shallow staging technique probably cost me the race. My 0.201sec reaction time against Zap (Zappia) in the final was unacceptable and uncharacteristic. I am confident I can shave a tenth (of a second) or so off that,” Judd said.
“My average reaction time is something like 0.14sec, if I had have achieved that I would have won the Westernationals. My goal is to consistently get under 0.10sec reaction time in Sydney and I will be practicing during qualifying to try and achieve that.
“I know I can risk being a bit quicker on the (start line) tree, but how much is the question. I’ve dug out my portable practice Christmas Tree and have been giving it a real workout. “
After being runner-up in three ANDRA Top Doorslammer championship series – 1999-2000, 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 – and fourth last season (2010-2011), Judd concedes he must reach the final and even win at this weekend’s event to keep his 2011-2012 championship dream alive.
Going into this event last year, Judd was in fourth place in the championship series, 33 points behind series leader Zappia.
This year, Judd (334.5pts) is in third place, 35.5pts behind Zappia (370pts), with Peter Kapiris (348.5) in second place.
“There is certainly a lot riding on this event. Last year, this event was rained-out and we fell away badly at the final two events, the Nitro Champs at Sydney Dragway and Winternationals at Willowbank. If we make the final and win, we will most likely leave Sydney leading the (championship) series, which is what we will be setting out to do,” Judd said.
