Sydney Dragway will be the scene of one of the most anticipated Top Doorslammer showdowns in years from November 1-3 when Peter Kapiris and John Zappia take their championship fight into the final round of the season, the Australian Nationals.
Over a gruelling extended 2012-13 series, Kapiris has managed to build a 42 point lead on five times champion Zappia and pose a serious threat to the chances of a sixth title for the Western Australian team.
Kapiris is no stranger to championship glory, having won in 2002 when his team charged to unprecedented performance gains and pushed perilously close to the five second zone when 6.1 second passes were still rare.
The emotions from 11 years ago were odd according to Kapiris, who said the series quickly moved on and it became a blur.
“The last championship I won I really didn’t take it all in, I won the title and then before I knew it, it was all over,” he said. “I was saying to my crew guys that this time we have to really try and enjoy that chase at the last round.
“Championships don’t happen all the time, apart from for John obviously, they are a really hard honour to earn.”
Domination rarely goes without a level of resentment from other teams and the feelings are no different in the Top Doorslammer paddock. Kapiris and Zappia are good friends away from the race track, but Kapiris can rest assured plenty of the other outfits want to see the Zappia era reach its end.
“No one wants to see him win another one,” Kapiris admitted. “We’re going up to Sydney Dragway to test for three days before the Australian Nationals, we don’t want to leave anything to chance.
“There are a couple of things we’ve got to try, but at the same time we don’t want to lose sight of the prize. If they don’t work we will put it back as it was.
“The timing isn’t exactly right but we have no other place to do it and if you don’t try things then you are going to get left behind.”
Kapiris said he will be going with a risky strategy that is all about consuming as many points as possible. There are five point bonuses on offer for low time elapsed and top speed of the event, plus small amounts of points available for better qualifying positions.
“At your average meetings you like to sneak up on it. You put in what you think it can take and then a little bit less until you get it to go down the track,” Kapiris said. “The Nationals will be different. On the first qualifying pass we are going to throw everything at it and we are either going to set the world on fire or break it.”
As well as each other, Zappia and Kapiris will also have to do battle with 17 other teams vying for a spot in the eight car race day field.
The Top Doorslammers will be joined by all the other categories of the ANDRA Drag Racing Series and the Aeroflow Sportsman Drag Racing Championship.
Aeroflow Sportsman qualifying begins Friday, November 1, with pro qualifying beginning on Saturday, November 2. Final eliminations commence on Sunday, November 3.
Tickets are available at the gate or online from www.sydneydragway.com.au.
For more on the Kapiris v Zappia rivalry, make sure you check out this month’s Motorsport News, in newsagents now.
