ANDRA Pro Stock Barrier Falls at Nitro Champs 

In what many are calling the best event held at Sydney Dragway, the ANDRA Pro Series Nitro Champs  featured some of the best personal performances and amazing races that Australian drag racing has yet produced…..

The ANDRA Top Doorslammer class was all about 5.7s, but it was the ANDRA Pro Stock category (which features competition for cars limited to 400 CID) that produced a barrier breaking run.  In what has been an ongoing race to the six-second zone that historic mark was final achieved by Victorian, Peter Ridgeway.
 
Ridgeway’s 6.997-second pass against championship rival Tyronne Tremayne in the semi-final round earned him some history and it also delivered him into the event championship match up versus Chris Soldatos, which he also won.   Ridgeway was driving a spectacular new Ridgeway Motorsports Holden Monaro. 

Peter Ridgeway produced Australia Drag Racing's first "six" in Pro Stock last weekend

 
On the other side of the draw, Dave Newcombe made his way to the finals show with wins over Perdikaris, Xerakis and the in-form Jason Grima. Whilst Ridgeway couldn’t replicate his six-second performance, his 7.00-second pass handed him the win over Newcombe. 

The ANDRA’s immensely popular Top Doorslammer class produced a feast of 5.7-second passes, with West Australians John Zappia and Robin Judd continuing to trade blows. However, Peter Kapiris defeated Judd in the first round and Belleri in the second round to force a finals showdown with long-time rival Zappia.
 
Kapiris’ .068 reaction time and amazing 5.789-second pass was too much for Zappia’s 5.941 in another all 5-second final for the category.  

Peter Kapris drove his outrageous '58 Saratoga to the Top Doorslammer title at Sydney's Nitro Champs

Kapiris won the eliminator coming from the 8^th and final qualifying position after running his outrageous ’58 Saratoga to 6.016 secs during time trials.
  
Top Fuel delivered some amazing racing as the teams attempted to make use of the extra traction on the Sydney Dragway surface and none did it better the Damien Harris’ team.
 
Harris faced the reigning ANDRA champion Darren Morgan in the final. The Harris driven machine didn’t miss a beat for the entire weekend and the final was no exception, with a stout 4.723-second pass delivering the West Australian his first ANDRA Gold Christmas Tree. Harris also got the bonus points for quickest elapsed time (4.673 secs) and highest terminal speed (320.74 mph) for the event.

Damien Harris (from Victoria SA) won in Top Fuel for the first time in his career

An all funny car final between two Queenslanders kept the fans on the edge of their seats in Top Alcohol. Experienced campaigner Gary Phillips couldn’t stop Steven Ham with the 5.52 of Ham too strong for Phillips’ 5.54. Phillips did manage to take the bonus points for quickest and fastest runs over the weekend to keep him in good championship shape.
 
Lachlan Ireland made it two event wins in a row in Pro Stock Motorcycle after recently claiming the event crown in Adelaide. Ireland got the win ahead of Queensland-based rival Michael Gilbertson with a superior reaction time and elapsed time. Ireland also took the bonus points for quickest elapsed time whilst reigning champion and top qualifier Maurice Allen recorded the fast terminal speed for the event.
 
Chris Matheson has dominated ANDRA Top Bike over the recent past and the Nitro Champs was no exception with the Queenslander recording a win over Harley-rider, Chris Porter.
 
Matheson also took the bonus points for the event. During the trophy presentations Matheson sounded an ominous warning to his rivals, with the team looking for their first five-second pass at the Fuchs Winternationals.

 
The final round for the 2011/2012 season will be held at Queensland’s Willowbank Raceway (this coming June 8-10^th)

Posted by: Luke Lieuwhof

Photos by:  Rob Sparkes & Grant Stephans www.dragnews.com.au

Event Essentials:  ANDRA Nitro Champs (May 4-6^th, 2012) Sydney Australia