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Summit Racing Equipment Sportsman Series qualifying at the Australian Nationals has been completed at Calder Park Raceway.
Standout performance of the day goes to Super Stock’s John Kuiper (Austral, NSW) who surpassed both the quarter mile elapsed time and speed records for the C/G class.
Kuiper top qualified by going 0.58 seconds under the National C/G index with a 7.952 ET while reaching 178.40 mph to have a chance at resetting both records by backing up during eliminations.
“We haven’t raced here for a long time but we’ve been campaigning the car for quite a while,” said Kuiper.
“Sydney has been a kinder track, this has been challenging but we’ve got nothing to lose, we qualified and we’re at the top.
“We didn’t expect go any faster on that last pass but when it settled and left the start line I thought well; let’s see how fast it will go.
“We’re pretty happy with that, there are a couple of increments we can improve on. The index game is very tough and any class that is here and goes fast, it’s an effort for everybody. It’ll be good and if I can save the index but if we go fast to win, we go fast to win.”
“Daniel Camilleri qualified second with Jamie Chaisty, racing a quarter mile track outside of Perth for the first time, in third. Reigning Super Stock Champion Steve Norman qualified fourth and Mick Simic is fifth with some heavyweight drivers occupying positions six to 12.
David DeQuen (Darling Downs, WA) stole top position from Craig Geddes in Competition Eliminator when Geddes opted out of his final qualifier. DeQuen beat Geddes by two thousandths of a second on his final run with a 7.482 ET on a 7.90 index.
“We struggled with the track, not that the track is bad it’s just a bit bumpy for what we’re doing with our car but the track is good, it’s a great place.” said DeQuen.
“You’re never too confident when there is people like Geddes, Cartledge and Baxter in the field. It’s always good to have a good field, it would have been nice to have more cars but it’s always great to be top qualifier.
“If I had a message for Craig it would be to stick around next time!”
Shane Baxter, Wayne Cartledge, Mike Nola, Kit Hunter, Cameron Ambesi, Michael Davis and Steven Athans complete the nine-car field.
Brett Ghedina (Kalamunda, WA) and Rob Cassar are the only riders in Competition Bike to go beneath their index with Ghedina posting a 7.669 ET to go under his CC/CBI index by 0.27 seconds.
Cassar’s ride 0.15 seconds under his BB/CBN index secured second leaving Paul Pires, Niki Zakrzewski, Corey Scholes, Nathan Stone and Terry Jongen to complete the field third through seventh.
Peter Datsun set the stall early in Supercharged Outlaws but it was the in form Adam Murrihy (Karama, NT) who continued his top qualifying streak with a fourth in a row dating back to early December. Datsun dropped to second followed by Dave McGraw, Drago Nikodijevic and Bruno Matijasevic completing the top five.
Darren Saliba secured his third pole position in a row in Top Sportsman as he looks to break his duck and convert consistent qualifying form to an event win. Saliba recorded a 7.176 ET to best Jason Stares in second, Anthony Rodrigues in third, Paul Russo fourth and Matt Forbes fifth on his Top Sportsman debut.
In Modified Jess Turner (Epping, VIC) laid down a 7.307 ET in her first qualifier to lead the field all day and into eliminations. Matt Forbes, driving in Top Sportsman, Modified and Super Gas this weekend qualified second from last weeks South Coast winner Simon Barlow, South Coast runner up Katie Cunningham and Leanne Braggs in fifth.
Michael Vlasakakis (Point Cook, VIC) leads Super Sedan with an 8.683 ET in session two enough to hold top spot. Vlado Turic is second followed by Kaylene Gourley who shot to third in her final qualifier seemingly from nowhere, Robert Lanteri secured fourth and Glenn Henley fifth in a field of 50.
Mick Day (Ellenbrook, WA) could not be stopped in Modified Bike leading throughout and making his second qualifier really count with a best effort of 8.675 ET. Matthew Allan came out in Q2 for the first time doing enough to secure second spot straight off the trailer with Edgell Mallis, Greg Sparks and Wally Hosta rounding out positions three through five.
David Brae’s (Altona, VIC) 11.039-second pass in the first qualifier held firm all day as he topped Super Street from Rowe Memorial winner Garth O’Hehir in second. Jodie Tedesco wrapped up third, Robert Camilleri fourth and Anthony Barbara fifth.
In Summit Racing Equipment Junior Dragster the lead changed with each passing round as first Joel Burns occupied top, then Mikey Naylor after two qualifiers. Ultimately it was Natalie Bishop (Orangeville, NSW) who continued her winning form from a week ago in Portland securing the number 1 with an 8.024 ET. Mikey Naylor dropped to second as a result followed by Joel Burns, defending Champion Eden Ward and Kelly Donnelly in fifth.
Warren Bull (Junortoun, VIC) qualified first in Super Gas courtesy of his first round effort of 9.907-second pass in the fixed 9.90 index class. Darryl Stephen qualified second from
Portland winner Colin Griffin in third, reigning Champion Graeme Spencer in fourth and Anthony Panetta fifth in the 10-car field.
Eliminations commence at 9am on Sunday with racing scheduled to finish approximately 6:30pm. Also on the schedule are two Top Fuel passes by Rapisarda Autosport International and one run by ‘The Hussler’ Nitro Funny car.
The Cannuli brothers, John and Paul, have each qualified first in Top Alcohol and Top Doorslammer at the Australian Nationals.
Back at Calder Park for the first time in 15 years, a big crowd was on hand to welcome back the ANDRA Drag Racing Series and witness both Cannuli’s, Aaron Tremayne, Chris Matheson and Scott White lead their respective fields into eliminations on Sunday.
John Cannuli (Loganholme, QLD) needed his very last pass to secure the number one in Top Alcohol with a 6.043 elapsed time at 187.90 mph to bump Gary Busch from top spot and claim top qualfier in his first ever visit to Calder.
“It’s tricky out there, “ said Cannuli. “The second qualifier the car took the cones out at half-track so we just changed everything around and we’re number one.
“With our form, the way we’ve run the last season and a half we’re the most consistent car out there.
“But coming to a track we’ve never raced before. It was out first time, we tried to do some testing during the week but the weather played a big part so we couldn’t do much testing.
“We’re trying to run a 5.40 (second pass) on (an estimated) 5.70 track.”
Busch qualified second with a 6.102 second pass from Jason Maggs, Craig Russo, Chris Hargrave and Brian Lockman.
Click image for high res. Photo credit: Grant Stephens / Drag News Australia
Top Doorslammer was wild and unpredictable as John Zappia thrilled the crowd with some trademark drive jobs on a pair of snaky runs while Peter Kapiris made a bid for longest burnout as he entertained his home crowd.
Over just two sessions when all competitors agreed to call it a night as the temperature cooled, Paul Cannuli (Edmonson Park, NSW) was left smiling with his first ever-top qualifier thanks to a first up 6.064 ET at 240.20 mph to keep Zappia at bay with a 6.070 ET at 225.20 mph on his second run.
“It feels good but as you know, anything can happen,” said Cannuli.
“I was off (the throttle) early today, at about 1200 foot so we probably would have run a high 5.90 (second pass). But you don’t know.
“The car is capable of going into the fives tomorrow and I think we’ll see some fives on race day.”
Five-time Champion Aaron Tremayne (Tamborine, QLD) returned to the Pro Stock summit top qualifying or the first time since the Benaraby Nationals in October 2014.
Once he moved into first position on his second qualifier he never looked back even though the conditions were expected to be slower in the third and final session.
Tremayne improved on his earlier 7.048-second pass to record a 7.001 ET at 197.68 mph from Nino Cavallo, Tyronne Tremayne, Lee Bektash, Bill Perdikaris, Bill Kotsias, Jason Grima and Jodi Racco.
“It’s been a while since I’ve been top qualifier, I always seem to be at the top – top three or four – but to get the number one spot off (Bektash) is really good.
“The track conditions were a bit tricky – that last run I actually thought it would be worse and it was actually better, surprising everyone. A few people made some good runs.
“I think there is probably a six (second pass) in there tomorrow if the air gets a little better.”
Chris Soldatos, Bruce Leake and Gerry Parente all find themselves on the outside of the eight by qualifying in positions 9, 10 and 11 respectively.
Like Top Doorslammer, Top Fuel Motorcycle also completed just two qualifiers with Chris Matheson (The Gap, QLD) coming out on top in a duel with Chris Porter.
Matheson was the only rider to get his bike into the six-second zone with a 6.662 ET at 179.73 mph to Porter’s 8.421 ET at 148.27 mph. Graham Morrell qualified third and Phil Parker is fourth.
Following on from winning his first ANDRA Gold Christmas Tree last November, Scott White (Roseberry, NT) has picked up where he left off by qualifying claiming pole position in Pro Stock Motorcycle.
White and Glenn Wooster took turns at the top over three qualifiers but White’s 7.361 ET at 179.14 mph gave him the number one position from Wooster’s 7.400 ET at 181.25 mph. Corey Buttigieg qualified third from Ryan Learmonth and Locky Ireland.
Also on the card were the dual combo of ANDRA Drag Racing Series Top Fuel Champion Damien Harris and Wayne Newby making an exhibition pass to thrill the crowd.
It didn’t go to plan for Harris as his blower popped violently on the burnout but Newby made a respectable five-second pass lifting off the throttle at approximately 1000-feet. The team will make two more passes on Sunday.
Australian Nationals eliminations commence from 9am on Sunday morning and continue to approximately 6:30pm.
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