With qualifying passes of 6.08 and 6.02 and elimination passes of 6.05, 5.95 and 6.14 Zappia won over New South Welshman Steve Stanic.

In Top Bike it was the Jack Daniels Racing entry of Queenslander Troy Mclean who won over West Australian Ian Ashelford.

Following is a brief recap of the event by Simon Cope ...

After rain disrupted Friday night qualifying the last few teams that did not get a chance to run were permitted to run a special 3 pm session on Saturday afternoon. After the dust settled though the qualifying order didn’t really change much with an unusually slow 6.40 bump for the Doorslammers.

Regardless of the bump the field was packed with heavy hitters all capable of taking out the event, as long as they can knock Zappia out who has shown consistently outstanding form over the last several meetings and qualified with over a tenth on the rest of the field. Most teams struggled in qualifying without showing their best in the tricky conditions but everyone needs the points in the Championship chase so nothing will be left in the trailer.

Top Bike qualifying was full of excitment as the Brett Stevens Racing Nitro Harleys running consistant 6.5s, however WA's Kim Stevens (no relation) got everyone attention when he ran off the end of the track crashng into the Sand Trap at high speed. Emergency crews were quick on the scene as the big Harley ended up on top of him and luckily Kim only received a fracture to his right leg however that put paid the rest of his weekend.

Top Doorslammer Round 1

With the traditional blessing and National Anthem completed at 6pm it was time to get racing under way with the Top Doorslammers out first.

Gary Phillips and Ben Bray are out first through the tunnel, some businesslike burnouts they are back and into stage quickly, both leave well but Phillips strikes a little shake around 330’ and has to peddle and the timers tell the story with a 6.36 for Phillips to Bray’s tidy 6.12 as they start to get after the tuneup.

Second pair out is Steve Stanic and Stuart Bishop in their immaculate Camaro’s, Stanic and old hand at the Motorplex but struggling at recent events here. This is Bishop’s first competition lap here so it will be interesting to see which way they have gone with the tune since they qualified well ahead of Stanic. Both cars strike trouble early on though, Bishop is all over the track off the line and aborts and it’s shake for Stanic and he peddles it through to take with win with a 6.23. Later on we find out Bishop really had his hands full – the quick-release steering wheel came free on the launch!

Peter Kapiris and Brett Stevens out for the third pair, Kapiris coming to grips with a new tuner on the spanners and Brett looking to turn the event around for the team with only one car qualified. True to form Brett runs through to take the win with a tidy 6.14 win after thrashing with an engine change overnight. In the other lane Kapiris has a shake around 100’ and has to peddle slowing the run to a 6.45.

Final pairing out now, it’ll be Robin Judd up against top qualifier John Zappia who can play it safe and conserve the car a bit, sure enough it’s a straight and soft looking 6.05 for Zappia and a solid and well improved 6.17 from Judd however it’ll be Zappia through to the semis.

Top Doorslammer Round 2

Round 2 of Top Doorslammer and Brett Stevens just squeaks into the lanes after a massive thrash to replace another engine and drivetrain in Jack Daniel's Falcon. He will be up against Stanic, so this should be a great race. Stanic is out with a wheelstand in the top of first gear and then powers straight down track for a great 6.06 to put Stevens out of action, despite a consistent 6.18 from the Ford. It looks like Brett might not have expected that from the Camaro tonight!

On the other side of the ladder we have Ben Bray vs crowd favourite John Zappia, the Bray camp will have to throw everything at this to try to get past Zappia and into the finals. Ben is out with a good RT, but it looks like they’ve gone too far as the car steps out on Ben at the 330’ mark. Zappia meanwhile has it running like it’s on rails, he blitzes past Benny to run a meeting best (so far!) 5.95!!! which brought the house down as the fans went wild when the numbers flashed up on the read out borads..

Top Doorslammer Final

With the air hovering around 170’ all eyes are on John Zappia who announced his intention to reclaim the world Doorslammer record, currently held by an American at 5.912. Zappia will need a 5.911 or better, the air is certainly there to make the horsepower but will they be able to stick it to the track?

Strong burnouts from both cars and there’s a lot of ice on Zappia’s hat in the dense air tonight after the long back up. Zappia out on the green with a much improved RT but still not match for Stanic’s lightning 0.058. The Monaro doesn’t stick as well as they hoped though and it starts to move around into second gear, a quick peddle and still manages to take the win with a 6.14. Steve Stanic meanwhile also has to peddle the Camaro and runs through for a 6.58.

Top Bike Round 1

The Nitro Burning Top Bikes to take to the track around 6.30pm. Touring Kiwi Athol Williams is out first alongside Sydney Standring on his more traditional Harley, Athol on the chase for more 6 second passes tonight, both racers slow on the tree and Athol pulls past Standring to take the win with a 6.95 to Standring’s 7.93.

Mark Ashelford and Mark Drew out for the second pairing, Drew really flying this season with the switch to the USA sourced Nitro Harley, the Ashelford team have struggled recently but are starting to turn things around with the often temperamental V-Twins, Drew red lights though and hands the win to Ashelford who runs through for a 7.04.

It’s Ian Ashelford and Brett Stevens in the third pairing, on paper this is all Stevens. Paper can’t always be believed though as Stevens turns the tire hard off the line and has to take a couple of stabs, a 7.42 tells the whole story there, and Ashelford will have a big smile with a PB 6.58 and a well deserved win.

Closing out round one will be Neville Smith and Troy Mclean, Troy usually good for a mid-high 6, Smith on the bump with a 7.95, Smith out OK but it goes sour by 660’ and Troy moves into the second round with a true to form 6.64.

Top Bike Round 2

Athol Williams with take on Troy Mclean in the first half of the semi- finals for Top Bike tonight. Athol has impressed so far with his ability to get on top of the conditions here at the Motorplex, Mclean no slouch though having run consistent mid 6 passes here tonight so far. Both bikes out but it’s Mclean leading all the way to take the win with a 6.61 to Athol’s consistently improving 6.76.
The second pairing for round 2 will be a battle of the Ashelford brothers with Ian facing off against brother Mark for a spot into the finals. Near synchronous on the tree, they are neck to neck all the way and run through for a 7.29 to 7.29! Ian gets the win light though on a Holeshot and he will face off against Mclean in the finals at 10pm.

Top Bike Final

It’s that time of the night, the Top Bike final. Ian Ashelford vs Troy Mclean, Harley vs Harley. Can Ashelford pull another mid-6 pass out to take the win? Will Troys team step the bike up just to be sure? Into stage and it’s Ian out with a holeshot however Troy passes by 1000’ and takes the win with a 6.58 to Ian’s none too shabby 6.72.

Lets’s not forget the 230 odd other teams tonight with some excellent racing being shown, including a stellar AA/FC 5.87 pass from Pilkington - with big lift around the 300’ mark – along with a number of other personal best times.