ANDRA Top Doorslammer championship leader John Zappia made the case for a fifth straight national title on day two of the Fuchs Winternationals at Willowbank Raceway in Queensland, Australia’s biggest drag racing event.

Zappia scorched to a 5.75sec run in the second session of qualifying with his Fuchs/Procomp Motorsport Holden Monaro, the quickest pass in the history of the category. The Western Australian driver outpaced second placed Robin Judd’s 5.83sec and championship rival Peter Kapiris’s 5.89sec.

“It felt good but I didn’t think it would be that good,” he said. “We backed it off a bit from the first qualifying session and the track got a bit better; it started to rattle the tyres and I punched second gear where it started to fishtail a bit.

“It’s good to be the quickest again and so far it means we’re staying a few more points ahead of Peter (Kapiris) in the championship series.”

Queenslander Ben Bray currently holds the bump spot in the eight car field with his 6.06sec run.

The 8000 horsepower fight in Top Fuel saw Phil Read emerge on top with a 4.67sec run in the first qualifying session, his quickest all season. The Uplift Cranes team tried for improvement in the second session but a broken cam bearing caused the engine to flame out.

“It was turning the tyres hard and then the parachutes didn’t come out so it was a pretty exciting run,” he said. “We were being too aggressive in the last round of the championship in Sydney. We want to get back into the 4.5sec zone but we’d also be happy to run 4.6sec times all day.”

Pro Stock championship leader Denis Whiting has made sure his first home track appearance of the season is a good one, currently holding pole position after a 7.00sec pass, just .01sec off the national record. Bruce Leake has the bump spot in the 16 car field at 7.11sec.

Other leaders include Adam Marchant with a 5.53sec in Top Alcohol, Chris Matheson with a 6.23sec in Top Bike and Phil Howard with a 7.33sec in Pro Stock Motorcycle.

Racing continues tomorrow.

For more information on the Fuchs Winternationals click here.

Qualifying Order (Group One)

Top Fuel
Phil Read 4.676
Allan Dobson 4.686
Steve Read 4.697
Darren Morgan 4.719
Damien Harris 4.755
Phil Lamattina 4.765
Terry Sainty 5.684
Andrew Cowin 6.175

Top Doorslammer
John Zappia 5.750
Robin Judd 5.839
Peter Kapiris 5.891
Mark Belleri 5.943
Daniel Gregorini 5.984
Stuart Bishop 5.994
Andrew Sutton 6.053
Ben Bray 6.068
–
Victor Bray 6.102
John Cannuli 6.112
Scott Maclean 6.131
Russ Pavey 6.139
Maurice Fabietti 6.194
Marty Dack 6.291

Top Alcohol
Adam Marchant 5.536
John Cannuli 5.592
Jon Sting 5.600
Steven Reed 5.659
Steven Ham 5.722
Wayne Price 5.739
Debbie O’Rourke 5.836
Jamie Noonan 5.849
–
Scott Maclean 5.901
Wayne Newby 6.096
Rick Gauci 6.277
Gary Phillips 7.344

Pro Stock
Denis Whiting 7.009
John Barbagallo 7.018
Peter Ridgeway 7.037
Dave Newcombe 7.037
Emilio Spinozzi 7.044
Tyronne Tremayne 7.049
Michael Ali 7.063
Aaron Tremayne 7.066
Lee Bektash 7.091
Nino Cavallo 7.094
Jason Hedges 7.098
Shane Tucker 7.099
Bill Kotsias 7.103
Wayne Daley 7.107
Bruno Cavallo 7.109
Bruce Leake 7.112
–
Jason Grima 7.131
Bill Perdikaris 7.138
Chris Soldatos 7.151
John Galea 7.194
Anthony Selva 7.328
Kirsten Cannuli-Tucker 7.683

Top Bike
Chris Matheson 6.235
Gavin Spann 7.304
Chris Porter 8.077
Graeme Morell 8.231
Phil Parker 12.237

Pro Stock Motorcycle
Phil Howard 7.336
Scott White 7.385
Ross Lemberg 7.395
Maurice Allen 7.532
Glenn Wooster 7.543
Mark Hancock 7.795
Locky Ireland 7.859
Michael Gilbertson 8.139
–
Luke Crowley 8.521