ANDRA at Perth, Australia

Harris Doubles Up; Drew Resets Records; Porter Takes First Win

Words by Tim Baker
Photos by Luke Nieuwhof/dragnews.com.au

Damien Harris made good progress on his promise of making this his championship season with a win in a spectacular opening round of the ANDRA Top Fuel Championship at Perth Motorplex on Saturday, Feb. 28.

The Western Australian driver defeated reigning national champion Phil Lamattina in the final, taking the finish line stripe for Rapisarda Autosport International by just over two hundredths of a second, with a .047 to .064 reaction time advantage followed by a 4.770 to a 4.775.

It looked as though Lamattina, from Victoria, had the win in the bag until his motor began to burn up, and that allowed Harris to come by at a scorching 506.41 kmh (314.63 mph) to Lamattina's fading 413.81 kmh (257.10 mph).

Harris said that it was the ideal way to start the team's championship hunt.

“It's all about grabbing as many points as you can and to walk away with all the points today was really nice,” he said. “I didn't see Phil until half track where he went blazing past me and I sat there crying. Then next thing I went straight past him and the cries changed to cheers.

“The car moved around heaps, but I had my foot buried (on the throttle), I really wanted to put Phil on his back so we were lucky he had problems and we got to drive around him.”

Harris qualified second with a 4.701, then had a bye run in the elimination round where he carded a 4.838 to earn his place in the final.

First round jitters were apparently non-existent in Top Fuel, with every car running into the four second zone during the single qualifying shootout.

Wayne Newby's top qualifying pass of 4.589, only marginally off the 4.582 track record, stood for low elapsed time of the event, while Phil Lamattina at least claimed top speed points for his qualifying blast of 520.99 kmh (323.69 mph).