5 July 2011

Robin Judd faces one of the biggest challenges in his Top Doorslammer drag racing career, when the season-ending 44th annual Castrol EDGE Winternationals resumes at Willowbank Raceway from July 15 to 17.

Perth-based Judd is in 10th place and out of the eight-car field after the first qualifying session, run in mid-June before rain caused the event to be postponed to the July dates.

With two qualifying sessions to run, Judd, who has been runner-up at the past two (2009 and 2010) Winternationals, is keen to make his third successive Winters final, but first will have to put in two good qualifying passes and try to place his Aeroflow/William Buck/Mickey Thompson Studebaker in the top-half of the elimination field.

Judd is also looking to finish the 2010-2011 (Australian National Drag Racing Association) ANDRA Pro Series in the same manner he started, with a win, after he won the season-opening Australian Nationals, for the second year in a row, at Sydney Dragway last September.

At last year’s Winternationals, Judd was also vying for the Australian Top Doorslammer/ championship with arch-rival John Zappia. The Winternationals final was the last race of the 2009-2010 series and saw Judd lose the championship by the slimmest of margins – 16 points.

While Judd concedes he cannot win the 2010-2011 Australian Top Doorslammer championship, a win at the Winternationals could see him again runner-up in the ANDRA Pro Series for the third season in a row.

Judd is also keen to keep his qualifying streak intact, which has so far seen him make the field at 23 consecutive Top Doorslammer championship events. The most since the ANDRA Pro Series came into play.

“If we want our Aeroflow/Mickey Thompson/William Buck team to do well at the Winternationals we need to be on top of our game,” Judd said.

“To have a chance at winning the event, we need to qualify well. That means running two five-second passes, with at least one in the 5.8-second zone.

“Sure there will be a lot of pressure on the team, but we have been down this path before and managed to come through.

“If we can get a handle on the (track) conditions early, I would like to think we can qualify in the top-half of the field, go (elimination) rounds, reach the final and hopefully end the season on a high note.”