On Saturday John Zappia beat legend Victor Bray in the final of the East Coast Nationals at Western Sydney International Raceway, Sydney Australia to win Round 1 of the Australian ANDRA Top Doorslammer Championship - with a five second pass!
Zap has to be close to being proclaimed the formost alky doorslammer tuner in this country, with performances of 6.036, 5.988, 6.031, 6.006, and 5.965 demonstrating mastery over the difficult PSI blower and lock up clutch combination used here in Australia. No other team came close to that sort of consistency, but several racers notified the class that their performances are approaching the magic five second zone.
On Friday Zap top qualified in the Striker Monaro Top Doorslammer with a 5.988et on his second qualifier, after running a 6.036et earlier. "First pass I got out of the groove to the left, which is unsual for our car. We had changed a lot of weight distribution on the car including Aurora's new protoype four link rod ends, and it took us a while to set up the suspension again." said Zap, "It still went hard though, and made an interesting tyre hopping stop in the braking area. Second qualifier was dead straight and I actually short shifted to second and third - just shows how much torque we are making to run a five."
"First round run against Brett "The Boss" Stevens was a danger run for us, as Brett can pull some amazing performances from nowhere. I must have staged crooked, as I took off to the left again, but managed to bring it back for a nice 6.031et @ 237.13mph and a win over Brett's 6.989et @ 214.40mph."
"The Semi Final run against Stuart Bishop again was a possibility of a tough race as well. The newcomer to Top Doorslammer is making some serious horsepower in his Camaro with huge mph, and a 6.022 in qualifying. The car went dead straight on this run and really hauled to a 6.006et @ 239.61mph win. Speaking to Bishop at the end of the track, he showed me the graze marks on the side of the car where he hit the wall after a monster wheelstand and 6.401et @ 203.03mph awkward pass."
"The final was up against my old mate Victor. Seems like yesterday we were running mid sixes in our old Outlaw cars against each in the early 90's at the now closed Ravenswood International Raceway in Perth. We hotted the TFX up a little for the final run and gave the clutch a little more to ensure we had the power. Victor got me on the startline and I could see him ahead of me out of the corner of my eye, but when I punched second the Striker Monaro torque monster edged ahead and really took off to a 5.965et @ 240.85mph win - around half a car ahead of Victor who managed a 6.045et @ 230.33mph."
"I am thrilled to have won this event again - we love the track and the atmosphere here in Sydney, and have lots of special memories, today included. Many thanks to the Zappia Racing crew, who were sensational over the weekend working on the Rat. We have delivered for our naming rights sponsors Striker Crushing and Screening, and Major Sponsors Rentco, Pigdon Portable Restorations, Fuchs, AGI Insulation, Trustek, Mickey Thompson Tyres, Beta Spuds, and our longest serving major sponsors Southside Engine Centre. We are aiming to win the Championship this year, and this win is a good start towards that process."
“We are now looking forward to round 2 of Top Doorslammer at Willowbank for the 42nd Australian Nationals in 2 weeks time (14-16 Sept) where we will lock horns with Victor on his home track and another top field of Doorslammers. We hope to repeat the results of this weekend and would love to see as many of our sponsors, friends and supporters at Willowbank to cheers us on”.
