RACE REPORT : ALICE SPRINGS
RECORDS BROKEN
AT ASID
There was never any doubt that the 2017 Shannons Desert Nationals would see the track records at Alice Springs Inland Dragway take a beating , and Kelly Bettes in the Lamattina Top Fuel Racing dragster and tentime ANDRA Top Doorslammer Champion John Zappia made sure of it .
A strong crowd was on-hand for day one amidst blue skies and warm sunshine , with four qualifying sessions on day one and a further qualifying opportunity on day two giving the racers plenty of opportunities to dial-in their cars and bikes for round two of the Summit Racing Equipment Sportsman Series .
Saturday ’ s qualifying saw plenty of action across its four qualifying runs for all brackets .
Like at Hidden Valley the week earlier , Modified Bike again had the biggest entry list and it was Danny Rickard who led the pack from the get go . His South Australia-based Harley Destroyer went 8.85s in the first session and then 8.80s . Come race day Sunday , the semi-finals saw Gavin Dohnt on a solo having defeated Malcolm Price and Gordon Crawford earlier , while top qualifier Danny Rickard was looking good for a finals appearance but red lighted against Johnny Ireland in the semis . The final saw Dohnt take the win thanks to a 0.082s reaction and a 9.659s on a 9.54s dial-in .
In the Summit Racing Equipment Junior Dragster bracket , Jake Berias went to the top of the qualifying sheets after the first session with an 8.049s ET and improved in the second session with an 8.03s . After the final qualifier for the day , Bradley Bishop from NSW then took over the number one spot with an 8.01s effort . When it came time for racing on Sunday , it would all come down to an all-brother final between Samuel and Jackson Perri . As the tree came down in Samuel ’ s lane , he went red , handing Jackson the automatic win .
In Super Street , Robyn Phillis nailed the number one position with a 10.45s ET from the first qualifying session and went on to win in the semi-finals against a red-lighting John Kapiris . Meeting Phillis in the finals was Harry Harris , with a tough race seeing the reaction time fall in favour of Harris ( 0.076s , compared to 0.105s from Phillis ). At the stripe , Harris took the win with an 11.64s pass on an 11.62s dial-in to a Phillis ’ 10.502s effort on a 10.50s dial-in .
In Super Sedan , South Australian racer Leon Davis pushed his crowd-pleasing Chev Camaro to the top of the list with an 8.67s ET . However , come Sunday ’ s final qualifier , Davies was out , moving local NT Ashley Smith into the top spot with an 8.72s ET at 155 mph in his Chev Camaro . In round two of eliminations , the Chev of Ned Karanovic put away the top