Fuchs Teams Upfront at Winternationals
Text by Luke Nieuwolf ~ Photos by Dave Ried
Phil Lamattina recorded his quickest pass in years with a 4.610 second
clocking at over 523kmh to put claim to the top qualifying position in
Top Fuel, with two sessions to come tomorrow.
Lamattina said it was a case of the Fuchs dragster finally realising some long held potential.
“We’ve had our back against the wall and allowed ourselves to get in a
position where Darren is ahead of us and that is our fault, not
Darren’s,” he said.
“We know we have the right set up and car and tune up but we haven’t
had the components be so forgiving. The time was good tonight but the
speed blew us away.
“We are going to see if we can go quicker tomorrow and see if we can get the car to run consistently as well.
“For the Fuchs car to be in the number one spot at the Fuchs Winternationals so far is just great.”
In Top Doorslammer, John Zappia dropped a bomb on the field with a 5.753 to top qualify his Fuchs Holden Monaro.
Zappia’s time was just 0.003 of a second off the quickest ever run for
the category, which he himself performed at last year’s Fuchs
Winternationals.
Zappia said they used the same tune up and despite a run that was anything but straight the pace was there.
“We want to fine tune what we’ve got now with some very small
adjustments,” he said. “Hopefully we can repeat that kind of run. We
need to learn what our limits are and hopefully keep it more in the
centre of the track – by just doing that we might even be able to go a
5.73.”
The run formed the first part of a new national record as well for
Zappia, should he be able to back it up across the rest of the event.
Also in national record territory was Pro Stock Motorcycle’s Rhett
Lougheed, exceeding the speed record with a 305.04kmh terminal speed on
his 7.122 pass.
It was the first pass on Australian soil since 2009 for Lougheed, who is a former Queenslander now residing in the USA.
“I was pretty happy with that out of the trailer, I think it has a bit more in it,” he said.
“I’m shooting for the whole match this weekend but whether or not that
comes through is another thing. If I can get the first part of the pass a
bit better it definitely has potential to go under the record.
“Willowbank Raceway is still my home track, everyone has been great and
has looked after me. I’m very happy to be a part of this great
meeting.”
Jason Grima remained the leader in Pro Stock on their second day of
qualifying, with an improving 6.989 staying in front of the quickest
field in history, bumped by Bill Perdikaris’ 6.989.
John Cannuli’s 5.638 second time held number one position in Top
Alcohol, with big time names Steven Ham, Steven Reed and Wayne Newby all
still out of the field with two sessions left.
Chris Porter’s 7.001 is currently leading the seven Top Bike entries,
with most of the field looking to run into the six second zone.
Fuchs Winternationals qualifying continues Sunday.
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