 Gary Phillips’ Studebaker (far lane) has already set a course for the wall against Brett Stevens’ Falcon. He would have been hard pressed to catch Steven’s low ET of the race 6.016. |
In total 21 doored cars were looking at the eight spots in Top Doorslammer and no one was surprised when John Zappia top qualified with a 6.04. The previous best bump spot was passed half way through the first session and to give you an idea of how cut throat it really was even Castrol superstar, Victor Bray was on the outside of the 6.23 bubble looking in.
Stevens’ car was second some eight thousandths behind, but only needed a 6.14 in the first frame to take out current Aussie champ, Stanic who was back on a 6.44. In the semis he improved to a 6.039 to take out Ben Bray on an oh so close 6.06 (what a race!!!!) He then faced Gary Phillips who had taken out Aaron Lynch in the first round and Zappia in the semi – 6.118 to 6.118. Two of the best semi finals I’ve ever seen with Phillips .033 light nailing Zap’s 0.85 light.
After recording the best reaction of eliminations Phillips 0.155 light was linked to a wayward 11.54 run that almost saw him hit the wall. Stevens however set sail on his quickest ever pass – a 6.016 at 242.28 miles per hour. “This car is like driving a family sedan – it's so comfortable to drive," he raved after the meeting.
Gary Phillips' dragster lead the top alcohol qualifying in his Lucas Oil dragster with a 5.67 to Wayne Newby's 5.69.
ADVERTISEMENT
 Andrew Stavroulakis’ Escort in the near lane has already lost this race care of a red light, much to his opponent – Jon Andriopoulos’ surprise. |
Phillips and Brett Stevens in his Mustand alky flopper met in the semi-final and Brett had him covered at both ends of the track. This saw a superior .045 light by Stevens out shine Phillips’ .115. Add a 5.67 to a second best 5.86 and Brett was into his second final. Newby on the other hand took care of Ben Bray’s funny car in the other semi with a 5.65 to a 5.75.
In the first round Newby had the first 5.5 second run in a dragster down under with a 5.59 and was obviously the leader on paper. In the final Stevens took a good lead off the line (.031 to .078), however at half track a blower belt let go and he had to watch his arch rival Wayne Newby streak to a slowing 6.16 win and a 105 point lead in the championship points.
During qualifying there was one incident which bore testament to the quality of Stevens’ company’s work - Aaron Lynch had just qualified his gorgeous B&L Steel Corvette in the show after a 6.09/243 mph pass. As he pulled the chutes the wind pulled the rear end up off the braking area bitumen. The car returned to earth right out of shape and this saw the car go absolutely vertical on its left header pipes and a hundred feet later on its right set of pipes before setting it back down again with NO damage.
In nearly forty years of watching drag racing this was the most stunning exhibition of car control I’d ever seen as Lynch steered with the front wheels each time he went over. The car got back down on the ground and stopped safely with the only damage being a few scratches on each set of pipes. This is a testament to the engineering abilities of Stevens Race Car’s head chassis builder Monty Brown.