29 November 2010
Robin Judd, is looking to win back-to-back Top Doorslammer events at this weekend's 39th Goldenstates. Fresh from winning back-to-back Australian Nationals titles at Sydney Dragway in September, Judd is keen to reach a third-straight Goldenstates final.
A win on the weekend, will give Judd the Nationals-Goldenstates double for the second year in a row and enable him to take a handy points lead in the (Australian National Drag Racing Association) ANDRA Pro Series Top Doorslammer championship.
Judd leads the championship series with 113 points after the season-opening Australian Nationals. Maurice Fabietti is second with 87 points, while defending Pro Series champion and Judd’s archrival, John Zappia (20pts), failed to qualify at the Nationals.
With 22 Doorslammer entries at the Goldenstates, Judd is expecting the quickest-ever bump spot for an eight-car Doorslammer field.
Judd also believes he will have to run consistently in the low 5.80-second zone in his William Buck ’59 Studebaker to be in the top-half of the field after qualifying.
“If the track and weather conditions are right and with 22 cars entered, it could be the quickest-ever bump spot in Australian Top Doorslammer history,” Judd said.
“With so many entries, we will have to be on the pace right from the first qualifying session. We need to run in the low 5.80s (second) to be guaranteed to finish in the top-half of the field at the end of qualifying.”
Judd ran a 5.830sec at 244.56mph pass at the recent November 20 Motorplex event, which is just shy of his best-ever 5.822sec time, recorded at the Motorplex in October last year. He believes with further improvements, his Studebaker can run quicker.
“We are going to test prior to the event to refine our suspension and chassis tune-up in search of more consistency. The William Buck team is slowly getting on top of our combination, but we still have a little way to go.
“With the Perth events carrying 50 percent bonus points, it is essential we do well to enable us to build up a handy (championship series) points lead.
“While we won both the Nationals and Goldenstates (events) last year, we did not have a large point’s buffer. A win on the weekend will give us a good point’s lead over our two main rivals, Fabietti and Zappia going into the Willowbank round in January,” Judd said.