It came down to defending Australian Top Fuel champion Darren Morgan on his season debut versus 2014 points leader Phil Lamattina and it was LTFR who came out on top at the 43rd Westernationals to take Round 3 of the ANDRA Drag Racing Series.
It was candles all the way in the Top Fuel A Final with side by side fours as Lamattina recorded a winning ET of 4.613 at 327.27 mph (526.68 kmh) from Morgan’s 4.860 at 301.00 mph (484.40 kmh) to win for the fourth time in a row at Perth Motorplex.
LTFR owned the Kwinana venue all night recording 4.673 to top qualifying before doing it again in eliminations with 4.670 despite popping a blower belt toward the end of the run to defeat Martin Stamatis (5.582).
DMR were testing new components but the team was fast all night qualifying second with 4.893 and running a 4.852 in eliminations.
Lamattina said he was happy with the how the car was running and felt relaxed about the setup based on past experiences at this track.
“The car was coming around, the track was coming around and in the final we had Darren (Morgan) and we thought if we ran another low .60 we’d be all good and what did we do? We ran a 4.61 at 327 mph,” he said.
Lamattina is confident the team will find its groove yet again tomorrow as they remain a pillar of consistency in the west.
“Tomorrow is another day. Just after six o’clock we’ll see what we can do and see if we can get the car running consistent, there’s no reason why it shouldn’t. We’ll build from there and hopefully put the Fuchs Top Fuel Dragster in the winner’s circle again.”
Tonight’s B Final pitted Damien Harris against quickest runner up Martin Stamatis. Harris had the quick RT but went up in smoke at the quarter track leaving Stamatis to take a spluttering win on a 5.290.
Earlier in the night Grant O’Rourke set the pace early in Top Doorslammer with a 5.978 to top the field in qualifying. He was joined by Andrew Sutton in the fives with 5.996 while John Zappia found himself in 19th and facing a thrash after tagging the wall.
Zappia recovered to put down a 5.957 in eliminations before the parochial West Aussie crowd rose to their feet to applaud Zap’s pulsating 5.797 from Grant O’Rourke’s 7.533 in the B Final.
Peter Kapiris qualified in eighth spot but put the hammer down in eliminations recording an ET of 5.852 and finding himself in the Top Doorslammer A Final against Mark Belleri who qualified seventh and defeated an out of shape Gary Phillips on a 5.952 from 9.705 in eliminators.
Belleri had the quicker RT in the A Final but the New South Welshman popped the blower sending flames skyward leaving Kapiris to win a pedal fest and mosey across the line on a 7.933 pass.
Kapiris said he was thrown by the close pre-stage and staging of Mark Belleri resulting in an erratic RPM on take-off.
“We had a good semi-final,” he said. “The final wasn’t real good, that was partly my fault. Mark pre-staged and staged in one hit and that threw me. The RPM was all over the place which is why I went up in smoke.”
“Hopefully I’m there again tomorrow. The car is doing everything it’s supposed to no matter what we’re throwing at it, it’s responding.”
With one round down and one to go, the action continues on Sunday as we reset the fields and do it all over again in Round 4 of the Top Fuel and Round 3 of Top Doorslammer championships from 5:30pm.
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