A remarkable 17-car field is locked and loaded for the second last-round of the 2025 NDRC Australian Top Doorslammer Championship at Willowbank Raceway for the Gulf Western Oil Winternationals.
An epic line-up of entries that include cars from as far afield as New Zealand (Nigel Dixon and Steve Carlsen), Western Australia (Russell Taylor, Lisa Gregorini, Daniel Gregorini, John Zappia, Brodie Zappia), New South Wales (Peter Lovering, Emilio Spinozzi, Salim Matta, Ronnie Palumbo) Queensland (Jack Danaher, Rob Harrington, Mark Harris, Russ Pavey) Canberra (Jeremy Callaghan) and South Australia (Mick Mahoney) will rock the house in an Elimination format for the first time this NDRC season.
Series leader and defending Australian Champion Russell Taylor comes into the Winternationals looking to wrap up back-to-back title victories and sweep ‘the Winters’ as he did last year with a stunning 5.592 in the process.
He wants the Royal Precision Lubricants SS to leave Queensland with an unassailable points leader over second placed Lisa Gregorini, third placed John Zappia and fourth placed Brodie Zappia ahead of the final round in Darwin in August and a brave man would bet against the pilot of the jet-black Camaro doing just that after his stirring performance to win the Nitro Champs in Sydney last month.
Realistic Championship contenders for the top three are Lisa Gregorini and John and Brodie Zappia who will definitely need to first qualify ‘in’ to the 16-car field before they can work on their elimination challenges over the potentially four-round format they then face.
Eleven-times national champion John Zappia laid down a new national record 5.591 at the Nitro Champs but some niggling mechanical inconsistencies saw the iconic West Aussie unable to make the A or B Final and that definitely hurt his title aspirations.
Lisa Gregorini reached the A-Final to match up with Russell Taylor but a vision problem seeing the tree past the blower saw the normally unflappable West Aussie lady racer leave the line agonisingly late and watch Taylor disappear off into the distance.
Brodie Zappia was the holeshot king at the Nitro Champs and grabbed some vital points to win the B-Final whilst Ronnie Palumbo had motor woes that saw him unable to make the line – something that the AC Delco Slammer Team have now solved after an encouraging test session at Sydney Dragway recently.
Palumbo has no title points hopes but will go into the event as one of the sentimental favourites given that he has indicated this weekend is his last driving for Maurice and Mary Fabietti in “Ol Betsy” at a venue that has special emotional significance for ‘Ronnie and the Fabs’.
Riverbend Nationals Gold Christmas Tree winner Jeremy Callaghan is back and ready to rip after a disappointing Nitro Champs and the likeable Canberra wheel-man has the immaculate Moits prepped 70.5 Camaro and ready to make amends for Sydney and come into the event as a real dark horse.
Daniel Gregorini brings a very human touch to his program this weekend as the former Australian Champion brings the words “Doing it for Dex” to honour the life and the memory of an eleven-year-old family friend named Dexter who sadly passed away after battling neuromuscular disease.
Both Daniel and Lisa will carry the words “Neuro Muscular WA” on the side of their Scratch and Match Camaros and will be raising money through collection points and a percentage of their merchandise sales for the weekend.
For 24 years, Adam Stewart crewed with Scratch & Match Motorsport and for eleven of those years his son Dexter has been there. On May 22, 2025, ‘Dex’ passed away following a long battle with Spinal Muscular Atrophy.
“Adam and I went to high school together so he’s been crewing with me since the Super Sedan days,” Daniel said. “When Dex was old enough, he would come to the workshop and just chill on the couch while we worked on the cars. He didn’t say anything negative ever, he just enjoyed everything and especially anything sport-related. One memory I have is when Dex was in hospital and Adam couldn’t make it to the track for the 2019 Westernationals. Dex told him to go to the track but added, ‘Daniel has to win!’ Well, we did win, and we are going to try and do it one more time for Dex at the Winternationals,” explains Daniel.
In honour of Dex, Scratch & Match Motorsport will be raising money and donating 50% of merchandise profits to Neuromuscular WA , a for-purpose organisation passionate about enhancing the quality of life, happiness and wellbeing of people living with neuromuscular conditions in Western Australia. Anyone who would like to make donations can also donate here: https://chuffed.org/fundraiser/32741
“The Colonel” Peter Lovering brings the iconic Atcall Shoebox Motorsport 55’ into Willowbank with a stout new 5.7s PB at the Nitro Champs to bolster his confidence in the package that is some 240lbs lighter than last year’s car.
Kiwis Steve Carlsen and Nigel Dixon have both had very encouraging Top Doorslammer appearances so far with Carlsen running strongly at Dragway at The Bend and Dixon impressing at the Nitro Champs when he immediately went into the 5’s on debut.
Sunny Coaster Jack Danaher produced two five-second passes in his immaculate Corvette during the Nitro Champs and will bring confidence and speed into his ‘home town round’ at the Bank this weekend.
Sydneysider Emilio Spinozzi brings the wickedly cool Minto Mall SS Chevelle to the Winters after looking speedy early in the 5’s at the Nitro Champs but hurting the motor shortly after and not being able to make more of an impact.
Salim Matta makes his Doorslammer debut after his Dad Nasser took down John Zappia in the A-Civil Shelby that he’ll use this weekend on the big stage, South Aussie Mick Mahoney continues to live the dream in his stunning Reads Transport Shelby making his Winters NDRC debut and also on NDRC debut are Queenslanders Russ Pavey, Rob Harrington and Mark Harris.
It’s indeed one of the most mouth-watering events in NDRC Doorslammer history with the added pressure of the elimination format that may have dramatic Championship implications for several front running teams.
There are massive Championship rollercoasters ahead this weekend as a nailbiting Winternationals Doorslammer kicks off tomorrow!
The Top Ten Championship points are:
Russell Taylor 741
Lisa Gregorini 555
John Zappia 484
Brodie Zappia 480
Matt Abel 354
Ronnie Palumbo 276
Daniel Gregorini 254
Peter Kapiris 224
Jeremy Callaghan 177
Steven Aldridge 163
Qualifying Session One kicks off Friday at 2.49pm.
Qualifying Session Two is scheduled for Saturday 12.23pm.
Race One is scheduled for Saturday 2.26pm.
Race Two, Three and the Final are scheduled for Sunday at 1143am, 2.05pm and 323pm.
