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Ben Bray became the first driver this season to stop John Zappia from making the final and did it at his home event.. With a 200 point deficit going into Westernationals at the Perth Motorplex, Ben Bray who turned 24 on race day had a birthday wish of a combination of John Zappia losing in the 1st round and an event win for him self with bonus points.
After qualifying finished and the field was set for race day, Victor came up against his old mate John Zappia. Ben was hoping Dad could stop Zap in his tracks thus helping Bens birthday wish.
Unfortunately part one of the Westernational's wish list would not come true. On the start line Victor moved into the pre-stage beams, brought the revs up and edged into full stage. The car then rolled the beams and moved forward bringing on a very rare red light for the Castrol EDGE 57 Chevy.
"I was very disappointed with that result, Zapp did not make a very good pass at all. He was only able to manage a very unstable 6.215 @ 234MHP and that is well below the standard we have all come to expect from John. It was an opportunity to close him down and I missed it. But that is way the cookie crumbled" Victor said.
Ben had no trouble in his 1st round putting down a new personal best and very straight [email protected] to defeat Maurice Fabietti 6.345 @ 233.90. He then lined up against a struggling John Zappia, (not relying on John problem week-end), Ben brought on the win light with a 6.099 @ 234.37 to Zapps 6.20 @ 235.68.
The stage was now set for a final against fellow Queenslander Brett Stevens. The second generation drag racer had driven the Castrol EDGE Monaro faultlessly all week- end. Ben moved straight into stage denying Brett Stevens what has become his trademark attempts to gain advantage over the other racers by playing kids games on the startline. Ben fought a hard battle off the line but a gear box failure on the 1- 2 shift stop Benny in is tracks and denied him a birthday present.
"John is still the man to beat but boy that semi final felt good".
"John has run many 5 sec passes, other than this week-end and have been in every final this year. Not qualifying at the East Coast Nationals at the start of the season really hurt me in the points. "I would have won tonight, should have qualified at the East Nationals and could have won when we were here back in December, but you don't get points for woulda, shoulda, coulda".
"Even though we lost the final, we had a great weekends racing, we have ironed out some of the 60 foot shake problem we have been having and making 6 passes with 3 of them being 6.0's that is not a bad day out. And it's not over yet!! We have 6 weeks between now and the tin tops and Dad has plenty R&D he would like to do. He already has some test days booked at Willowbank. We would like to get both cars right on the minimum weight and if the conditions are right, having the two cars running first five second passes. I'm sure the rest of the doorslammer field has the same aim so we'll be looking forward to getting it on." Ben said.
The Winternationals at Willowbank Raceway on June 6th to 8th is the final round of the series and is known for producing excellent conditions conducive to record setting performances.
BRAY'S RAT TRAP NEARLY WORKED
Ben Bray became the first driver this season to stop John Zappia from making the final and did it at his home event.. With a 200 point deficit going into Westernationals at the Perth Motorplex, Ben Bray who turned 24 on race day had a birthday wish of a combination of John Zappia losing in the 1st round and an event win for him self with bonus points.
After qualifying finished and the field was set for race day, Victor came up against his old mate John Zappia. Ben was hoping Dad could stop Zap in his tracks thus helping Bens birthday wish.
Unfortunately part one of the Westernational's wish list would not come true. On the start line Victor moved into the pre-stage beams, brought the revs up and edged into full stage. The car then rolled the beams and moved forward bringing on a very rare red light for the Castrol EDGE 57 Chevy.
"I was very disappointed with that result, Zapp did not make a very good pass at all. He was only able to manage a very unstable 6.215 @ 234MHP and that is well below the standard we have all come to expect from John. It was an opportunity to close him down and I missed it. But that is way the cookie crumbled" Victor said.
Ben had no trouble in his 1st round putting down a new personal best and very straight [email protected] to defeat Maurice Fabietti 6.345 @ 233.90. He then lined up against a struggling John Zappia, (not relying on John problem week-end), Ben brought on the win light with a 6.099 @ 234.37 to Zapps 6.20 @ 235.68.
The stage was now set for a final against fellow Queenslander Brett Stevens. The second generation drag racer had driven the Castrol EDGE Monaro faultlessly all week- end. Ben moved straight into stage denying Brett Stevens what has become his trademark attempts to gain advantage over the other racers by playing kids games on the startline. Ben fought a hard battle off the line but a gear box failure on the 1- 2 shift stop Benny in is tracks and denied him a birthday present.
"John is still the man to beat but boy that semi final felt good".
"John has run many 5 sec passes, other than this week-end and have been in every final this year. Not qualifying at the East Coast Nationals at the start of the season really hurt me in the points. "I would have won tonight, should have qualified at the East Nationals and could have won when we were here back in December, but you don't get points for woulda, shoulda, coulda".
"Even though we lost the final, we had a great weekends racing, we have ironed out some of the 60 foot shake problem we have been having and making 6 passes with 3 of them being 6.0's that is not a bad day out. And it's not over yet!! We have 6 weeks between now and the tin tops and Dad has plenty R&D he would like to do. He already has some test days booked at Willowbank. We would like to get both cars right on the minimum weight and if the conditions are right, having the two cars running first five second passes. I'm sure the rest of the doorslammer field has the same aim so we'll be looking forward to getting it on." Ben said.
The Winternationals at Willowbank Raceway on June 6th to 8th is the final round of the series and is known for producing excellent conditions conducive to record setting performances.
