On Saturday January 8 the Perth Motorplex will welcome the New Year in style with the thrilling drag racing action of Nitro Slam.
The huge one-day event will host spectacular nitro racing for all the family from the WA Nitro Max Series, the Direct Mining International Summer Slam Series and Dragon Bikes Nitro Bike, plus 150 of WA’s toughest Sportsman racers. And before the action hits the track, the pits will be the place to be with a special ‘Pit Party’ allowing fans to get up close and personal with all of the Nitro Cars and Doorslammers, with their drivers ready to meet the fans, pose for photos and sign autographs alongside the Sportsman racers at 4.00pm.
The event will mark round two in the WA Nitro Max Series and round three for the Direct Mining International Summer Slam Series.
Mat Abel is leading the way in the Nitro Max standings after taking out victory at the series opener in December, while John Zappia and Stuart Moresby are tied for the lead following a win apiece in the first two rounds of the Summer Slam Series.
Abel is feeling quietly confident that he and his team can take another victory at the January 8 event.
“It is a short championship across four events so you can’t afford to be getting anything wrong. We are in a good spot at the moment heading to round two in the lead, and we are feeling quietly confident,” said Abel, while thanking his supporters Speed Torque, Bill Miller Engineering and SignBiz.
“At the opening round we had some struggles with the clutch – in the first round it went 5.80 driving through the clutch, but it was good all the same as it was the first time I had been in the car for a year so it was great to get back behind the wheel and get a feel for the car.
“In the second pass we put some more clutch in to try and make it go faster and smoked the tyres on the hit, but the other car hadn’t been able to front so we were able to still take the win.
“In the last pass, our crew chief Rory Taylor was scratching his head with the clutch as it just wasn’t doing what it was supposed to do, so we took some clutch out of it and it went 6.0 – it should have gone fast, but it just drove through the clutch the whole run. We were lucky Andrew Katavatis had some issues and got off it, as if he had pedalled it I reckon he would have beat us.
“Since that event Rory has been working really hard on the car and I am pleased to report we have found the problem now which is great, as we think it was also causing us some grief at our last event in 2020. We have also been changing up some other things, and we are definitely feeling good heading into the January event.
“We are really especially looking forward to Nitro Slam now as we think the car will go real fast – if everything goes as it should, we should run into the thirties and perhaps even into the 20s, which would be something pretty special!”
In the Summer Slam Series, things are all tied up heading to the third round, but Moresby has his eye on the prize following a breakthrough victory at the Goldenstates in November.
“Getting the win at the Goldenstates was pretty great and we really worked out some things. We are still sneaking up on it and are probably less aggressive than most when we are tuning the car as we are in unchartered territory a bit, and that worked well for us at that event,” Moresby said.
“We got pretty lucky too actually, as when we pulled the car apart after the event it was evident the engine did not have another pass in it, so we have fixed all that up as well as a couple of little fuel issues and other things.
“I am feeling optimistic heading into Nitro Slam. We have been in this position before – last year we were tied for the lead two or three rounds in, but in the back half of the season we lost our way a bit, so we need to make sure we don’t lose our way this time.
“We are in a pretty good place at the moment and will just keep doing our best to progress the car forward – as we do more laps and get more data, hopefully we can move forward the right way with the car.
“In the end, everyone is beatable on their day, we have proven that! So, we will do our best and it should be a good event. The field sizes are looking good and the pit party will be great as well, I think it is a good initiative to get the crowd involved and we will have stuff to giveaway, so it should be good fun,” Moresby concluded, while thanking sponsors Dananni Haulage, Black Magic Race Cars, BL and SG Lake, Bam Roller Lifters, Armadale Mini Loads, Final Drive Engineering and Applied Automotive as well as his father John and his whole crew.
Racing at the January 8 Nitro Slam event will commence from 11.00am with qualifying ahead of the main feature program from 5.30pm to 10.00pm (times approximate only), while the Pit Party will be held at 4.00pm in the pit area. For more event information or to buy tickets, go to https://motorplex.com.au/nitro-slam-2/
For more information about the Perth Motorplex, go to www.motorplex.com.au
