John Zappia and his Zappia Racing team enjoyed a successful weekend at the 2006 Tin Tops, despite being knocked out in the Semi Finals by resident Queenslander Garry Phillips. Chasing the 2005/2006 Top Doorslammer Championship has been a priority for the team, and traveling to Willowbank for the one-day event was necessary to stay in the running. Naming rights sponsors RENTCO and dozens of their clients were on hand in two corporate boxes to witness the days racing, as well as new Major Sponsor Striker Crushing Equipment senior management.
"We were the most consistent car in the field this weekend, but were down on power all day" said Zappia. "The track had very good traction and affected the race cars in different ways. Other competitors suffered a lot of tyre shake and had difficulties with setting up their lock up clutches, but we encountered some strange results in our engine. We have been running consistently in the low sixes at around 240mph, but for some reason we were down on et and mph."
"The car seemed to nose over, and I was short shifting all day trying to get the car going. We may have to look at a specific gearing setup for this track to get the wheel speed up. Look at what Aaron Lynch achieved today when he got the combination right - 5.97 at a whopping 245 miles per hour! Welcome to the 5 second club Aaron."
The RENTCO Monaro top qualified the event earlier with a 6.135et @ 232.44mph on the first pass, then ran 6.259et & 232.32mph and 6.185et & 230.41mph in the subsequent sessions. Zap came up against Brett Stevens in round one, and won with a 6.156et @ 234.74mph pass to Brett's 6.394et @ 221.02mph. Round two saw Phillips narrowly win with a 6.139et @ 234.25mph to Zap's 6.174et @ 232.92mph. The eleven-car field displayed some intense racing, with the bump spot settling at a stout 6.329et. Local heroes Victor and Ben Bray even had to watch from the sidelines, not making the field.
"With Stanic winning the event, the Championship may well be his. But as most competitors have found out this season, anything can happen in Top Doorslammer. We are 70 points behind Stannic, and all he has to do in the last round at the Winternationals is qualify for round one to win. But we will go into the event with confidence and put on a good show for our sponsors and fans."
With the WA Drag racing season ended on Saturday 8th April, the team has no further racing commitments in Western Australia and will take some well earnt rest, and over the next few weeks prepare the car for the Winternationals at Willowbank Raceway on June 9-11 2006 to round off the National Drag Racing commitments and the Top Doorslammer Championship.
