Jason Grima may not have won Pro Stock at the 2013 Nitro Champs but he was able to keep his championship hopes more than alive by knocking out points leader Wayne Daley in the second round of eliminations and putting his PC Group Ford Mustang back in the lead of the ANDRA championship.
Grima was hopeful of taking advantage of racing on his home track where in November 2012 he reset both ends of the national Pro Stock records with a 6.982 at 195.79mph.
Grima was again joined by Seattle-based Brandon Huhtala at the event, driving the second of the team’s Mustangs.
Though Huhtala went out in the first round, he did run a losing time of 6.982 seconds, matching Grima’s mark, while Grima himself advanced to the semi finals and took a crucial round two victory against Daley.
“This (the second round0 was the race that was a pressure cooker,” said Grima. “With Wayne in the points lead I really needed to be on the ball at the tree and thankfully I got the job done for the team.”
Engine troubles struck in the semi finals however with the car stalling repeatedly and the crew forced to push it away from the start line.
“The car just wasn’t accelerating and on some occasions it threw us a curve ball with the ET and the speed,” Grima said. “The end result was that we had problems with the engine and we will have make the repairs for the next round in a few weeks at the Fuchs Winternationals.
“But the good news is that I’m back in the championship points lead and we need to do well in Queensland to try and extend that.”
The first round of Pro Stock at the Nitro Champs was regarded as one of the greatest ever rounds of competition for the category with performances stepping up across the board and only the quickest and best reacting drivers making it through.
“Pro Stock is exciting at the moment as we have new cars and a few teams have stepped up in performance,” Grima said. “It certainly makes it tougher as proven in the first round of competition in Sydney but that’s what I love about this category. Better still we now currently own the two quickest Pro Stock cars in Australia.”