Zappia seeks a win at the Westernationals
The Westernationals is Western Australia’s premier drag racing event, and local hero John Zappia is keen to cap off his recent super consistent form with a win in Top Doorslammer. The Striker Monaro leads the 2008/2009 Championship after four rounds – two of which have been washed out due to bad weather at WSID. This fifth Round is a pivotal event for several teams and could go a long way to deciding the championship.
“I have never won a Westernationals” said Zap this week, “The whole Zappia Racing team are fired up about the prospect of winning this event on our home track. I would say that our team is in the best position ever to win, since we returned to racing with this HQ Monaro almost six years ago this month”.
“We now have the Striker Monaro so consistent, even a bracket racer would be happy with the times. Our chassis and engine combo’s are sorted, and we once again start the process of finding one percent improvements to allow consistency and progression to happen together as we race.”
The field of nine cars in this weekends event means the pressure to qualify is not as intense, but chasing vital championship points is on every team’s agenda. Winners gain extra points for traveling to the remote city of Perth, so a good performance is rewarded with big gains in the championship points race.
“It takes around six seconds to complete our races in ANDRA Championship Drag Racing, and there is not a lot a driver can do on those runs to go quicker, other than keeping the car straight, getting a good reaction time and shifting at the optimum RPM, and also the ability to recover from incidents if and when they occur. Most of the skill in Top Doorslammer racing is the hard work in the shop weeks before a meeting, the decision making on what set-up to use and engineering cunning. Zappia Racing specialises in all those elements, and that is what has made us champions and hard to beat. Our crew are just amazing with their dedication and depth of knowledge”.
“The weather might be a factor this weekend. I am not sure there will be super quick times like earlier in the season, but having said that we have a number of tunes in our database for poor weather and difficult track conditions. We also have the added bonus of knowing the Kwinana Motorplex track better than any of our competitors”.
Qualifying will start on the Saturday night at 6pm, with three chances for teams to get in the field and establish their position in the field. Top qualifying in the field allows a team to gain extra points, and get a first round match up against the slowest qualifier in the field.
“We have a good record of top qualifying, and our process of getting to that point in three runs works well. Despite the low numbers in the field, I am confident all of us will put on a fantastic show for the fans this weekend. The rivalry is strong between all the drivers and that makes for a better contest making the Top Doorslammer bracket so popular with the crowd”.
“We are proud to race for our big sponsor Striker Crushing and Screening and bring them into the winners circle again. Craig Pedley and his team have given us so much in sponsorship, mentoring, and association with success - it has rubbed off on everybody in the team. Fuchs lubricants continue to give us great products and support, and our other sponsors and supporters are right behind us”.
We welcome all sponsors, supporters and fans to come down to the pits and have a look, take photos or just to chat with the team. A full range of merchandise is available from the merchandise trailer.
