Lamattina Top Fuel Racing has continued their strong late season form to close out the 2022/2023 Burson Auto Parts Australian Top Fuel Championship at Nitro Up North in Darwin, setting up a solid foundation to build from for the upcoming new National Drag Racing Championship.
Once again Nitro Up North delivered a fantastic spectacle, with an energetic crowd packing Hidden Valley Raceway to watch Top Fuel run on the same program as Supercars and Superbikes at the Darwin Triple Crown event.
As expected, Darwin’s heat and humidity coupled with a green racing surface proved a tough challenge to negotiate for the whole meeting.
In qualifying, both LTFR team cars struggled to find traction, qualifying in fourth and fifth position. As a consequence, Phil Lamattina and Shane Olive had to race each other in round one – a side by side battle Lamattina was victorious in 4.16 to 4.27, with both cars still driving through tyre smoke on the top end.
In round two, Lamattina drove the wheels off the Fuchs Lubricants dragster in a ‘pedalfest’ against Wayne Newby, manhandling the car to the finishing stripe first in a drivers race with a 4.45 second ET. Olive had a solo run; the team took a shot at the track but the Burson Auto Parts fueller shook and turned the tyres at the sixty-foot mark.
Unfortunately, Lamattina’s round two heroics didn’t yield an ET quite quick enough to qualify for the A-Final and he would have to race Newby again for the B-Final win.
The B-Final was another tyre-smoker, and Lamattina again out-pedalled Newby to the finish line for the win, in the process jumping Newby in the championship for a season ending fourth place.
“In direct relation to the conditions we ran okay, we didn’t damage any parts and scored three win lights, so you have to be happy with that result,” said Lamattina. “It was not quite the run we were looking for in the final, but third place in the event for Fuchs Lubricants is something we can build on for next season.”
Olive had progressed into the C-Final against Kyle Putland, and the Burson Auto Parts team delivered the run of the event – a 3.95 second win, and low ET of the meeting.
It was an emotional result for the Burson Auto Parts team who have fought fuel system gremlins over the season. A change in fuel pump for this event served to address the majority of the issues, and has produced a fine send off for the team.
“We have struggled the last few meetings, but one run makes the difference. I am just really happy for my team, the Lammatinas, my young crew chief Dean Rossiter who really has only been in the role at the last few meetings, and Burson Auto Parts – I am just so blessed to have them,” said an emotional Olive.
LTFR will now be dropping back to a single car operation for the upcoming season. It is important for the team to focus all its resources into the one car for the best possible chance to win another championship.
Team Owner, Phil Lamattina, is proud of all that Shane Olive and the Burson Auto Parts team have achieved in their two seasons of operation.
“Shane assembled that crew from scratch, it is credit to him and the team to do what needed to be done,” said Lamattina. “It is not an easy task to put one of these cars on the start line, he and the whole crew done it to the best of their ability every single time. A huge thank you to Burson Auto Parts too, for supporting the team, making it happen, and sticking by LTFR and Shane.”
“We will be focusing on the one car next season, but it won’t be the last time you see Shane Olive in a fuel car.”
With the 2022/2023 Burson Auto Parts Australian Top Fuel Championship now at a close, the team can look back at it as a character building one.
“We can now put this season in the books and move on,” lamented Lamattina. “But even though all was looking lost at the start of the season, we still had the fortitude to turn it around and finish the year strongly. I ran a PB, had some podium results, and we turned Shane’s car around in the end, it puts us in a good position for the start of next season.”
“Looking forward to season three, onwards and upwards with the new NDRC, it is an exciting time for drag racing.”
