With a temperature in the forties and plenty of humidity to boot, racing conditions were hardly comfortable at Perth Motorplex for the third round of Top Fuel in the ANDRA Pro Series.
Photos by Lucas Gardner.
Top Fuel
Talk about zero to hero. Mark Sheehan went from qualifying in last position to winning his first ANDRA Pro Series event. He defeated Phil Lamattina with a 4.99 in the first round as the Fuchs team struggled to a 5.99, got a bye in the semis, then took on national champion Darren Morgan in the final where he went 4.95 to defeat a 5.04. As crew chief John Smith said, it was simply a case of getting from A-B on race day.
Darren Morgan didn’t go home too disappointed, moving up to third in the points after top qualifying with a 4.74 and taking low ET and top speed to boot. After a first round bye he eliminated Damien Harris in a great race, 4.84 to 4.85. An ignition issue in the final caused the loss in performance.
Damien Harris took over the points lead after defeating Andrew Cowin in a first round pedalfest.
Andrew Cowin was part of a bevy of drivers in the 4.8 zone after qualifying but will have some work to do in coming events.
Phil Lamattina had a weekend to forget. The Fuchs car developed a magneto issue that saw cylinders out at the start of each pass following a fire on a 4.82 in qualifying. He did manage to run a 4.75 on a later test pass. He slipped to fourth in the points ahead of the next round of the championship in Adelaide in April, where competition will be held over 1000 feet for the first time at the Pro Series 1000.
Top Comp
In one of the more emotionally powerful wins seen in drag racing, John McSweeney won Top Comp with a devastatingly quick 6.15 in BB/FC. With team owner Jeffrey Clarke just a week away from heading to China for cancer treatment, McSweeney made sure he would get to see a Full Boar Racing victory.
Wayne Keys gave it his all in the final but even a AA/AP 6.04 could not take out the Ford Mustang of McSweeney.
Rob Pilkington is getting back on track with a B Final win after a series of events with engine dramas. He is holding on to a slender points lead over Al McClure, who he defeated in the run.
Shane Catalano’s Rude Stude Top Doorslammer was getting its first runs in and with plenty of power on board there was a lot of sideways and wheels up action.
Vince Belladonna was giving AA/AP a go for the first time.
Andrew Sutton came all the way from Alice Springs to get in some racing ahead of the Westernationals Top Doorslammer round. A 6.21 in the elimination round couldn’t get past Keys.
Super Comp
Rob Gaikhorst did his part for WA, defending the state from the raiding Dave Tucker in the final. An 8.45 did the job. He also tightened up the points difference between himself and leader Allen Puglia.
Dave Tucker did well to make it to the final in his B/G Pontiac. After a tough semi final against Terry Stacy, Tucker shut down early in his runner up race.
Terry Stacy gave it his all with an 8.19 only just off the RR/G record, but it wasn’t enough to overcome a 7.76 from Tucker.
Testing with Monster Energy’s Shane Tucker from MatMac Media on Vimeo.
Shane Tucker had the Monster Energy Pontiac Pro Stock out for testing ahead of the Westernationals. The warm conditions were not conducive to quick times but gave the team a lot of data. The only downer was a broken conrod after the second round!
Andrew Katavatis top qualified but a red light in round one was a painful loss for the team.
Competition Bike
Ross Smith has proved to be the new force in Competition Bike this season. An 8.87 in the final took the win over Kevin Gummow whose bike lost power early in the run. Smith now has a 70 point lead in the championship.
Kevin Gummow scored a runner up, despite hurting his index early with a titanic battle against Greg Durack where a CC/CB 7.59 defeated a CC/CB 7.30 after a massive holeshot.
Durack’s weekend was hardly a waste following a new personal best of 7.11 seconds.
Ross Townson got to the semi finals but an 8.03 would not be enough on his BB/CBI.
Modified
A holeshot by Kim Nordahl in the final proved vital with an 8.85 on an 8.82 dial defeating an 8.229 on an 8.22 from Ron Crosby. It also allowed Nordahl to assume the points lead over Jim Duffy.
Crosby was left to take a runner up trophy, and the knowledge he had Miss Nude USA as his reverse gear on the night.
Super Sedan
Kaine Weighell was back in the winner’s circle for the second event in a row with a .013 reaction time and a 9.11 on a 9.10, not a bad package! Despite Paul Downe winning the first four events this season Weighell is slowly closing the gap.
Kevin Hort hardly put in a bad performance with a .037 reaction and an 8.80 on an 8.79 dial in but it wasn’t quite enough to nab the Monaro driver a win after three runner ups in this season alone.
Modified Bike
Paul McNamara is something of a perennial in Modified Bike these days and when opponent Clinton Urban broke off the line he had another win to add to his collection. He is now within striking distance of points leader Tony Day.
Urban was in his first final and it was an untimely end after a series of consistent passes during the night.
Super Street
Darren Bakranich is now leading the points by 60 after his first win of the season, in his third final.
Nicholas Wroe already has one win on the board this season but couldn’t rack up another after a red light in the final.
Junior Dragster
Phoebe Davis is your new points leader in Junior Dragster following a win over Aaron Pense in the final.
Aaron Pense was left to rue a -.013 red light but has at least lifted himself to second in the points.
The Junior Dragster rookie final saw Beau Higgins use a .021 light and a 12.73 on a 12.60 dial in to take the win over Tyson Liddiard.
Getting his first event in was Rocky Lamattina, son of Top Fuel driver Phil. Check out the intensity in the pits!
