Victor’s son, Ben Bray was having all sorts of problems with his Castrol-sponsored GTO and a best of an 8.03 from three attempts anchored the first 16-car field. As it turned out the damage to his father’s car ‘s clutch and gearbox was much worse than was first thought and this saw him uncharacteristically run out of time to make his first round call at 4;55 pm giving recent Summernats winner Maurice Fabietti, in the Holden Genuine Parts Monaro (GTO), a freeby into the second round.
Nearly every race in the first round was decided by either tyre shake or a radical turn one way or the other off the start-line. A solid 6.13 from Robin Judd put away Kapiris’ 7.00 in a battle of the Studebakers. Next up Kath Stevens then almost sideswiped the left hand wall in her Falcon and had to watch Phillips’ Studebaker scramble to a shake affected 6.51. Misfud then ran low ET of the round with a 6.12 outdistancing Steve Packman’s Falcon on a squirrelly 6.74.
Mark Belleri was in the seat of his father’s former Championship winning Camaro. He qualified 13th with a 6.60 but an improving 6.44 was still no match for Aaron Lynch’s 6.18 in the first frame.
The stunning ’57 Nomad of Ray Bernard qualified well with a 6.19, however a sideways leave in his first round match with semi-finalist Stuart Bishop ended his day early.
The Holden Genuine Part Monaro (GTO) of Maurice Fabietti made it to his second final in three rounds of the championship, however his semi final win over Stuart Bishop came at a price - a damaged diff that saw him shut down on the line.