<img src="http://www.nitromater.com/gallery/files/5/vic-in-car-300.jpg" alt="vic-in-car-300" align="right"borders="0"/>
The annual Westernationals are on again this week end at The Perth Motorplex, Kwinana Beach. The pressure will be on the Top Doorslammer field this weekend to stop West Australian John Zappia from winning his home event and possibly the 2007/2008 Australian Championship with two rounds to go.
But Zappia, the first Australian to run a five-second Doorslammer pass and current points leader, is not invincible at the Kwinana strip, and a large chink in his armour showed at this event last year when his car failed to fire for the semi-final.
That said, Team Bray boss Victor Bray said, "John has been to every final this year so beating him on home turf will be tough, as will knocking off the rest of the category's hard chargers".
"If John Zappia wins Kwinana he's got the championship in the bag," Victor said, "But if someone can put him out early, there's probably three or four other drivers who can win it, including Benny (Bray). The fight would then go on to the next two rounds. It's the most important round for John Zappia, but it's also the most important round for everybody else; we've got to stop him in Perth."
"Zappia does have a home track advantage, and the rest of the competition will also be hot in WA. Kwinana is the track where I set my world record terminal speed of 245.23 mph/394.57kmh back in 2003", Victor said.
"Maurice Fabietti is coming off a win at the Summernationals, Benny's got the Monaro going okay but this would be a great event to really pin its ears back. Steve Stanic has a very consistant racecar at the moment and will be looking to make amends for his 6.028 first round loss to John Zappia at the Summernationals. Gary Phillips is always keen in Perth, so you've got six or seven top cars and everyone will be keen to stop Zapp.
"I think this will be one of the most competitive races we've ever been involved with and we've got a couple of racers with their eyes on the championship. Zapp's is in the driving seat and needs to win and if he does he'll will just have to turn up for the final 2 events to wrap up the championship. But if he goes out in the first round, he will have three or four guys all trying to take his spot".
"John has been down Kwinana a lot of times, it's his test track and he will have his full crew on hand so he'll be confident and that will just make us work harder." Victor has a soft spot for Kwinana and said it's a great racetrack.
"You can get extremely good weather conditions, (although it can be a little too hot this time of the year), but when the Fremantle Doctor blows in, the air cools off and the conditions can get pretty good at night. The humidity is usually fairly low and generally it's not a bad place to be. But what it really boils down to is the racing surface; as the sun comes off it in the afternoon and the track gets better, so do the atmospheric conditions and that's good for drag racing. Also, the way the track's prepared makes it very favourable for Doorslammers; it's very forgiving."
"It's a pity we won't be able to test before the event, but if we can work hard, hopefully we'll get both cars in the field," Victor said. "But it'll be tough because there will be 12 cars in WA, eight of them can run into the 6.00secs and if the conditions are right, John Zappia and Kath Stevens could run into 'fives'.
TEAM BRAY HEAD WEST FOR THE WESTERNATIONALS
The annual Westernationals are on again this week end at The Perth Motorplex, Kwinana Beach. The pressure will be on the Top Doorslammer field this weekend to stop West Australian John Zappia from winning his home event and possibly the 2007/2008 Australian Championship with two rounds to go.
But Zappia, the first Australian to run a five-second Doorslammer pass and current points leader, is not invincible at the Kwinana strip, and a large chink in his armour showed at this event last year when his car failed to fire for the semi-final.
That said, Team Bray boss Victor Bray said, "John has been to every final this year so beating him on home turf will be tough, as will knocking off the rest of the category's hard chargers".
"If John Zappia wins Kwinana he's got the championship in the bag," Victor said, "But if someone can put him out early, there's probably three or four other drivers who can win it, including Benny (Bray). The fight would then go on to the next two rounds. It's the most important round for John Zappia, but it's also the most important round for everybody else; we've got to stop him in Perth."
"Zappia does have a home track advantage, and the rest of the competition will also be hot in WA. Kwinana is the track where I set my world record terminal speed of 245.23 mph/394.57kmh back in 2003", Victor said.
"Maurice Fabietti is coming off a win at the Summernationals, Benny's got the Monaro going okay but this would be a great event to really pin its ears back. Steve Stanic has a very consistant racecar at the moment and will be looking to make amends for his 6.028 first round loss to John Zappia at the Summernationals. Gary Phillips is always keen in Perth, so you've got six or seven top cars and everyone will be keen to stop Zapp.
"I think this will be one of the most competitive races we've ever been involved with and we've got a couple of racers with their eyes on the championship. Zapp's is in the driving seat and needs to win and if he does he'll will just have to turn up for the final 2 events to wrap up the championship. But if he goes out in the first round, he will have three or four guys all trying to take his spot".
"John has been down Kwinana a lot of times, it's his test track and he will have his full crew on hand so he'll be confident and that will just make us work harder." Victor has a soft spot for Kwinana and said it's a great racetrack.
"You can get extremely good weather conditions, (although it can be a little too hot this time of the year), but when the Fremantle Doctor blows in, the air cools off and the conditions can get pretty good at night. The humidity is usually fairly low and generally it's not a bad place to be. But what it really boils down to is the racing surface; as the sun comes off it in the afternoon and the track gets better, so do the atmospheric conditions and that's good for drag racing. Also, the way the track's prepared makes it very favourable for Doorslammers; it's very forgiving."
"It's a pity we won't be able to test before the event, but if we can work hard, hopefully we'll get both cars in the field," Victor said. "But it'll be tough because there will be 12 cars in WA, eight of them can run into the 6.00secs and if the conditions are right, John Zappia and Kath Stevens could run into 'fives'.
