Newly crowned Pro Slammer champion Paul Mouhayet set a new track record at Hidden Valley Drag Strip in testing today ahead of the opening day of competition for the 2018/19 Pro Slammer season.
With a switch to the all-run format, Friday night at Nitro Up North was all about teams gathering data on the track.
Mouhayet’s 5.681 at a slowing 244.74mph broke John Zappia’s existing record of 5.691 seconds. The Hidden Valley start line showed it was up to the job with a scorching 0.933 second short time from the Moits Racing Ford Mustang, which turned up to Darwin earlier in the week in a beautiful new transporter.
Zappia wasn’t far behind with a best of 5.716/250.74mph from the Fuchs/Dananni Hotshots Monaro while Sam Fenech piloted the App Shop Camaro to a 5.739, also recording top speed of the meet so far at 252.85mph. Ben Bray joined the gang in the 5.7s with a 5.763 pass of his own, while Daniel Gregorini rounded out the five second runners with a 5.92 in his Camaro.
Pro Slammer Top Testing Times
Paul Mouhayet 5.681 244.74
John Zappia 5.716 250.74
Sam Fenech 5.739 252.85
Ben Bray 5.763 251.67
Daniel Gregorini 5.920 238.60
Emilio Spinozzi 6.086 252.52
Mark Hinchelwood 6.096 200.56
Victor Bray 6.135 225.56
Marty Dack 6.142 240.21
Kelvin Lyle 6.156 247.47
Frankie Taylor 7.811 133.37
Matt Abel 10.454 106.29
Top Bike saw four bikes hit the track, led by Chris Matheson. Like Mouhayet, Matheson also clinched a track record with a strong 6.241 blast to commence his championship defence.
Jay Upton had some positives from his first night at Hidden Valley in a long time, with an early shut off 7.261. Upton was eight hundredths up on Matheson at half track (2.72 vs 2.80) and was off the throttle before half track, so there is plenty left yet in the bike known as ‘The Edge’.
Les Holden’s small cube nitro Harley played the consistency game with a 7.77 while Ricky Wood took the family’s budget fuel bike to an 8.64 to round out the field.
Top Bike Top Testing Times
Chris Matheson 6.241 201.43
Jay Upton 7.261 118.50
Les Holden 7.775 162.78
Ricky Wood 8.643 138.14
Racing resumes tomorrow at Nitro Up North, with pro rounds beginning from 5.00pm.
