Harris the home town hero in Top Fuel.

 

Damien Harris took his maiden win in the ANDRA Pro Series on Saturday night as he defeated Andrew Cowin in the final of Top Fuel’s second championship round in Perth.

In front of a vocal home crowd, Harris waited until the final to lay down low elapsed time of the event in the Best Tractor Parts dragster, a 4.72sec pass securing extra bonus points as well as the long awaited victory.

“It’s been a long time coming and it’s pretty special,” he said. “I got pretty amped up for the final, I know Andrew is good on the tree and the whole Cowin family are sharp operators. 

“I crept in a little bit more on the beams to give myself that little bit extra and we got there.”

Cowin’s Rocket team had lane choice for the final but Harris said crew chief Tim Adams was not phased.

“I asked what we were going to do and he (Adams) said we would do what we had done all day; obviously the lane was good,” Harris explained.

Harris has now cut back the lead of Cowin in the championship ahead of the next round of the ANDRA Pro Series, also in Perth in January.

In round two of the ANDRA Pro Series for Top Bike, Queensland rider Chris Matheson got a lucky break in the final to defeat Mark Drew.

Matheson appeared to be gone for all money when his nitro-fuelled motorcycle overpowered the track, but when Drew’s bike crossed the centre line right on the finish a disqualification was issued and Matheson was finally able to shake the Perth monkey from his back.

“A win’s a win, it’s about time we had a bit of luck here,” he said. “We’ve been bridesmaids three years in a row so commiserations to Mark. 

“We did an engine change in the last round and came out there and knew it would be a tough race. We smoked the tyre but were fortunate enough that he knocked out the timing block.”

Matheson also took low elapsed time bonus points for his 6.28 in the semi finals, extending his lead in the ANDRA Pro Series to a considerable margin.

The event will be shown on SBS Speedweek on February 12. For the full ANDRA TV schedule, click here.