ANDRA Top Doorslammer championship leader John Zappia made the case for a fifth straight national title on day two of the Fuchs Winternationals at Willowbank Raceway in Queensland, Australia’s biggest drag racing event.
Zappia scorched to a 5.75sec run in the second session of qualifying with his Fuchs/Procomp Motorsport Holden Monaro, the quickest pass in the history of the category. The Western Australian driver outpaced second placed Robin Judd’s 5.83sec and championship rival Peter Kapiris’s 5.89sec.
“It felt good but I didn’t think it would be that good,” he said. “We backed it off a bit from the first qualifying session and the track got a bit better; it started to rattle the tyres and I punched second gear where it started to fishtail a bit.
“It’s good to be the quickest again and so far it means we’re staying a few more points ahead of Peter (Kapiris) in the championship series.”
Queenslander Ben Bray currently holds the bump spot in the eight car field with his 6.06sec run.
The 8000 horsepower fight in Top Fuel saw Phil Read emerge on top with a 4.67sec run in the first qualifying session, his quickest all season. The Uplift Cranes team tried for improvement in the second session but a broken cam bearing caused the engine to flame out.
“It was turning the tyres hard and then the parachutes didn’t come out so it was a pretty exciting run,” he said. “We were being too aggressive in the last round of the championship in Sydney. We want to get back into the 4.5sec zone but we’d also be happy to run 4.6sec times all day.”
Pro Stock championship leader Denis Whiting has made sure his first home track appearance of the season is a good one, currently holding pole position after a 7.00sec pass, just .01sec off the national record. Bruce Leake has the bump spot in the 16 car field at 7.11sec.
Other leaders include Adam Marchant with a 5.53sec in Top Alcohol, Chris Matheson with a 6.23sec in Top Bike and Phil Howard with a 7.33sec in Pro Stock Motorcycle.
