Two of Australia’s premier Top Fuel drivers turned on a great show at Perth Motorplex as round two of the state championship took place. *updated with videos*
Phil Lamattina and Darren Morgan were the feature racers for the night, putting on one of the most consistent displays seen from a nitro match race. Rain tried its hardest to break through on Saturday after a hot Friday night of racing, but despite some breaks for light showers the show was still able to finish before curfew.
Top Fuel
Lamattina and Morgan were both aiming to get some data under their belts ahead of the January ANDRA Pro Series round, while still putting on a show for the crowd. Lamattina tested on Friday but without any decent results on a very hot track. Both drivers tested on Saturday afternoon before the night’s match racing.
Phil Lamattina was first out and made a strong launch with a .878 60 ft time but shook and smoked the tyres about 200 ft out.
Morgan didn’t make it that far, going up in smoke almost on the hit.
But soon it was on for round one. Simultaneous burnouts got the crowd ready.
Morgan took a soft approach to the track that left the door open for Lamattina to take advantage and a 4.73/324 to 5.00/293 defeat was the result.
The Fuchs team had the Nitro Lounge set up in the pits and the same professionalism was conveyed on track with the second round also going Phil’s way in a 4.76/322 to 4.91/301 race to score him the victory for the best of three match race.
Morgan put on a show with a long burnout for the final race.
Lamattina got out late off the line…
…and would pay for it at the deep end with Morgan sneaking a 4.77/318 to 4.75/310 win courtesy of a .115 to .156 holeshot.
“Helping” the teams on the night were TV presenters Dean Neal and Chad Neylon, here being interviewed by Bennie Bishop, for an upcoming special segment on One HD.
Both the Morgan and Lamattina camps deserve plenty of praise for the highly professional show they put on, much enjoyed by fans.
Funny Car
Matt Treasure and the Greene Machine team would play reserve for the night, taking the opportunity to get in some more testing as Treasure gets more experience.
The first run at 6pm saw a new personal best for the team with a 5.27 run. It came despite an early shut off from Matt, who said he felt the car beginning to drop cylinders and shaking around.
The team returned later that night but the car drove through the clutch according to Matt and he got off the throttle at about the 200 ft mark.
Top Bike
A four bike exhibition field was getting in some laps ahead of the ANDRA Pro Series round next weekend.
Mark Drew’s nitro Harley was set for kill. With American tuner Rex Harris assisting, Drew ran two 6.52 times to sound a big warning ahead of the Goldenstates. It carried the front wheel like this for much of the track.
Terry Burnett achieved his first six second run, a close 6.99 on his Total nitro Harley.
Wayne Barrett was getting more experience and ran plenty of seven second passes.
Kim Stevens took runner up in the match racing, running some 7.0s along the way and a good top speed of 205mph.
Click on next below to read on for the sportsman report!
