Rapisarda Autosport International has stamped itself as a genuine top ten contender after making the quarter- finals of Top Fuel at the Arizona NHRA Nationals. The rookie team sits in tenth place after two events on the 2013 Mello Yello tour.
In round one the Larry Dixon versus Brandon Bernstein duel proved to be the most entertaining match- up of first round. Bernstein was first off the line, then both cars quickly smoked the tyres. Dixon seized the moment to drive past Bernstein and take the win by an estimated three meters and with an awesome superior speed of 456 km-272 km/h.
Moving to round two young gun Spencer Massey one of the finest leavers was handed the win after the RIA machine lost traction and rolled to the end zone.
A reflective team owner Santo Rapisarda was still overjoyed with the teams effort.
“We went into the Phoenix meeting expecting to do well”, said team owner Santo Rapisarda.
“To win first round was a good effort and it was disappointing that we lost to Spencer Massey in the quarter -finals. We have come a long way in a very short time. The team performed magnificently over the weekend and it is a credit to the crew that we left the track with no parts damaged. That hasn’t happened very often in the past I can tell you!”
Driver Larry Dixon is happy with the continual improvements being made by the new look team.
“We did better than we did last week,” said Dixon.
“Our qualifying result was better and our finish on race day was an improvement as well. We get a couple of weekends off before we go to the next event in Gainesville so that will allow us to go back to the workshop and make improvements to the car. We are looking for a better package when we pull up at Gainesville. We’ve got two races under our belt and are in the top ten. I’m very proud of the guys”.
