Words by Luke Nieuwhof - Photos courtesy ANDRA

A brand new racing format, some spectacular racing and more than a few fireballs kept fans on the edge of their seats as the ANDRA Top Fuel championship headed to Perth Motorplex, Western Australia.

In a trial of a new racing format, two championship rounds were run over two consecutive days for the modest five car field. Each day utilised the “three round format”, which consists of a single qualifying shootout, followed by an elimination round where all competitors race, then finals. Finalists are decided by the two quickest winners from the elimination round, with a consolation final also run for the next two quickest winners (or in the case of the five car field, a solo pass).

The qualifying shootout on day one saw teams struggling on a racetrack still in excess of 130F even as the sun began to set.

Mark Sheehan led the way despite spinning the tyres past half track, recording a 5.12 over the quarter mile at just 221mph. Sheehan was coming off two straight wins at the Motorplex and with USA crew chief John Smith and some go-fast cylinder heads from Alan Johnson Racing aboard was expected to perform well again.

The “Silver Bullet” Fuchs dragster of Phil Lamattina qualified second with a 5.88, as like most teams tyre smoke on a hot track held them back in the one and only qualifying session.

With the order decided it was then time for the elimination round consisting of Sheehan on a solo pass, Lamattina against arch rival and national champion Darren Morgan and firefighter Allan Dobson facing Damien Harris, who was returning to racing after a six month break.