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Team Bray cars Qualified All three Team Bray Racing Top Doorslammers had solid performances at the Perth Motorplex last weekend. After the final qualifying session all three TBR cars had qualified for the eight car eliminations on Saturday. At the top of the TBR pack was Ben in fourth place with a 6.182 /186.33; Victor in sixth with a 6.201 / 234.37 and new recruit Matt Abel finished in seventh place with a new personal best 6.239 / 227.27. Unfortunately Ben damaged his engine during qualifying and with some parts unavailable to repair the spare before the trip west, TBR had no spare engine and they were left with the decision that one car had to be withdrawn from the elimination. Victor was not 100% comfortable in his car, due to his finger still recovering from the accident in Bathurst. He therefore put his good hand up and gave his engine to Ben. Victor said, "It was a shame I had to withdraw, however, I had knocked my finger stub on two occasions during qualifying and I felt that Ben was in the best position to make the most of the bonus points on offer at the weekend. We took a risk coming over to Perth without a spare engine and this time it bit us. We need to ensure we don't make that mistake again!" "Matt is starting to get a handle on his car, but to come up against Zap in his 1st round was a tough introduction into Top Doorslammer eliminations". Benny drove his Castrol Edge Monaro to an impressive semi-final finish. After a short start line dual, Ben fought a hard battle against West Aussie rival, John Zappia in the semi-finals, giving up the finishing line by just over a car length, 6.044 / 236.34 to Zapps 5.900 / 243.24. "It was a great race," Ben said. "I got the better start. I had him to the 1000 foot mark then in that last 320 feet he just pulled away. Although our car was great in the first half of the track it just ran out of legs in the top end. Maybe the N.H.R.A 1000 foot rule would not be so bad after all." The Quarter finals were the closest at the weekend. Ben was paired against hard charger Sean Mifsud in Wild Wllliey, a formidable opponent from Sydney. Leaving the line only three-thousandths of a second apart, the two chargers barreled down the strip with Ben taking the line by a scant .030 seconds - about 16 inches: 6.152 /233.76 to Sean ever so slightly slower 6.187 /231.95. "I could see Sean's car out of the corner of my eye all the way. When we crossed the line I had no idea if it was win, loose or draw. By the looks on the faces of my crew when they came down to pick me up I think that they held their breath for the whole race". Ben said "All things considered I am happy with the weekend, Our car was running right at the top of the pack until I hurt my engine in the second qualifying session. We were in equal first place with Roll Over Cranes, Deno in the points chase coming into this event. We have slipped back to third but with 5 rounds to go, this championship is far from over. I'm very pleased with the weekend,"
"It was definitely a great weekend of drag racing, despite
the engine damage and the semi-final loss. Commiserations to Deno
for tipping his Camaro over and thanks also for managing to miss
Victor in the other lane.
here Results page for Top Doorslammer .....here |
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