Australian National Drag Racing Association (ANDRA) Pro Series Top Doorslammer championship leader, Robin Judd, will be out to break a nine-year drought at this weekend’s 39th annual Westernationals at Perth Motorplex, Kwinana Beach.
Judd may have a handy championship series points lead and has won the last two series events, the Australian Nationals in Sydney and Goldenstates, Perth Motorplex – the recent Summernationals in Sydney was abandoned due to rain – however, the Westernationals has proved to be his hoodoo event.
The Perth-based Chartered Accountant has also reach six finals at the past nine events contested, but since the Motorplex opened in 2001, Judd has lost in the first round of eliminations at all Westernationals, except at the 2006 event when he reached the final, only to be runner-up.
This weekend, Judd is looking to break his luckless Westernationals run, win his third-straight event and take a comfortable championship lead with then only two events remaining in the series.
Judd currently leads the Top Doorslammer championship series with 355 points, a 50-point lead over Maurice Fabietti (305pts) and 72 points ahead of defending champion John Zappia (283pts).
While Judd concedes this year’s Westernationals to be the most important event to date in his 10-year drag racing career, his William Buck/K & B Exclusive team will not be under any undue pressure.
“The Westernationals is our (the teams) most important event to date. We must do well if we are going to win the championship.
“Does that create pressure? Yes, there is some pressure, but that pressure is on us (the team). My crew and I have created a standard that we don’t want to see compromised, so a poor performance at the Westernationals will be unacceptable,” Judd said.
With the Westernationals carrying 50 percent bonus points to entice interstate teams to travel to Perth for ANDRA Group One Championship series rounds, is another reason Judd needs a good result in his quest to win the championship.
“We know that we have to perform well. We will be trying our absolute best to win the event. A win would give us a distinct advantage with the 50 percent bonus points on offer.”
While Judd has run Australia’s quickest-ever Doorslammer pass at the Motorplex, a 5.822-seconds, he is confident his William Buck/K & B Exclusive team will have a setup in the ’59 Studebaker to win the event.
“We tested at the Motorplex this week in similar conditions to that forecast for the weekend competition. We had to make some major changes to the car setup to get it down the hot and slippery track. Those changes produced a respectable 6.00-second at 241mph.
“We have had mixed results at the last few events at the Perth Motorplex, some have been good and some not so good. We have done a lot of research on the data recorded from those events. From that information and this week’s testing, we think we have a car setup base-line that will suit the track conditions this weekend.
“For this event it will not be so much to run the quickest time, but to stick to the fundamentals, which are to firstly get in the field (to qualify), hopefully in the top-half, preferably in the number one position and then just take each run as it comes,” Judd said.
