Round one opened with a shock when eighth qualifier, Amanda Shepherd in her Wynns sponsored car watched opponent Phil Read go up in smoke, however approaching the 1000 foot mark she lost her engine’s blower belt and while he did a mighty pedal job Read’s 5.60/201 mph pass was never going to catch the little lady’s 5.12 after a pretty even start. The next pairing saw Steve Read face Luke Shepherd and despite a horrible .392 light Read’s 4.79/290.51 was all that was required as Shepherd dug a hole off the startline.
 Though not qualifying in the quickest ever Top Fuel bracket down under Mariani was certainly spectacular. |
The result was also the same in the clash between Darren Morgan and Alan Dobson. Morgan ran a 4.664/306.53 despite a weaving run and a pipe out before the finish line while Dobbo had to settle for a second best 6.95. The final pairing between Martin Stamatis and Terry Sainty saw no surprises as Sainty smoked the hides. Stamatis had his own problems when he tossed a blower belt at the 1000 foot but still ran a 5.000 at a slowing 219.54 to Sainty’s 11.64
The semis opened with Amanda Shepherd taking on Steve Read. Shepherd was being followed by a camera crew from the local “A Current Affair” TV Show however her dream run was about to come to an end when Read took nearly two hundredeths off the line (.085 to a .102) and a 4.72/303.98 handled a fading 5.74/170.13. The run came at a price though as Read pushed out a head gasket and had the blower sieze with twelve foot flames coming from each side of the engine as it slowed to a stop.
Darren Morgan looked on paper to have Stamatis well and truly covered in the other finals decider but the wiley veteran took nearly six hundredths off Morgan on
the tree (.075 to .131) and then ran a personal best of 4.577/329.10 to well and truly snuff any chance of a win thanks to a second best a 4.744/292 mph. Stamatis too had some problems hurting a rear main and having to change motors. “We could have fixed it with time but thought it best that we put a fresh engine in”, he revealed.
Read on the other hand was hoping to pull off back to back wins but he had no spare engines left having also hurt a main during his first round win. “It is hard to run an operation like this without a major sponsor”, he freely admitted with a slight Yorkshire accent. “If we could obtain some major backing we would be able to have the extra parts that we need. We had to miss the Perth round because it would have cost us a small fortune to get there and back and now we obviously have to restock the parts that we used up this weekend but we’ll be back”, he philosophically added.
With no opposition for the money run Stamatis team decided to go for the 4.565 national record. The car left hard but just after half track the belt broke and a 4.80 at only 238.13 mph was the result. “I couldn’t be happier”, a jubilant Stamatis stated. “This weekend has been a real team effort, my crew did a tremendous job. We ran 272mph to half track on the 4.57 run and in the final we ran 273mph but this motor only had a four inch belt on it (with a couple of laps already on it) and it snapped”, he went on to say.
“We hadn’t won a single round all season and this time we got the monkey off our back and took the win. I am still a rookie (having only 33 laps in this car) and Robert Cavagino (his crew chief), like the Americans, he has had to take this car (an ex-Cowin jobbie) from 85% to 90% nitro with no data – he did a tremendous job”, he continued. Having the Read Racing brainstrust behind him didn’t hurt either but in the end Stamatis took his first win in some thirty years and thoroughly deserved it.
Brett Stevens totally dominated the Top Alcohol bracket with a bracket win, low ET and Top Speed of 263-plus mph.
Top Alcohol also provided an action packed portion to the program thanks to the rivalry between current Australian champ Wayne Newby and 2008 points leader, Brett “The Boss” Stevens. Stevens ran a 5.724 in his Kitten Polish Mustang off the trailer to take the number one qualifying spot which lasted for two sessions as Newby fnally ran a 5.57 in his dragster for the eventual top spot.
Stevens answered that time in the first round when, after a staging dual with Ben Bray, he cranked out a stout 5.55 at 263.26. (the fourth fastest speed ever recorded and the fastest outside America) while Bray lost traction and slowed to an 8.65. The semi saw The Boss take on Aaron Hambridge who was peddling the ex-Jack O’Bannon Racing “Tequila Petrone” dragster. Hambridge got a slight jump on Stevens but the car went silent and rolled to a stop leaving the Kitten car to run a solid 5.68/251.16 winning time.
For Newby his first round match up with John Cannuli’s funny car produced the wrong result as he had horrific tyre shake and had to watch the flopper post a 6.01 win. Cannuli then took on Aaron Lynch in the B&L Steel Mustang with the pair having a pedal fest that saw Cannuli make into the final despite a towering wheelstand but thanks to a 7.56.
Stevens therefore took on the number eight qualifier in Cannuli for the gold. After some blazing burnouts the two vitrually left as one (.050 to .053 for Cannuli) but as the race evolved the Kitten car just extended its lead recording a 5.62 to 5.90 win. Commenting later on his wife’s five second pass and his team leading three of the six Pro eliminators Stevens said “This race has just been awesome for the team with some incredible individual performances all around”, he summarised.