Cannuli, Zappia, Bektash Lead Grand Finals Pro Qualifying
Points leaders, John Cannuli, John Zappia, and Lee Bektash, above, have taken out the top spots in their respective Top Alcohol, Top Doorslammer, and Pro Stock classes following qualifying for the Summit Racing Equipment Grand Finals in Adelaide.
The soon-to-be-retired Lee Bektash led all three Pro Stock sessions in his Mopar Dodge, a 5.827/179.03 resetting both ends of ANDRA's 1000ft class records, while Jodi Racco (Holden Monaro – 5.917), Chris Soldatos (Pontiac GTO – 5.950), and local Gerry Parente (Chevrolet Camaro – 6.319) follow. Due to just four cars in attendance, Pro Stock has one further qualifying session.
Cannuli led Top Alcohol with a 4.74/227 in his Funny Car, almost four-tenths clear of second placed Jason Maggs (5.13), with Wayne Talbot's nostalgia Funny car almost another tenth further back (5.21). Craig Russo, Brian Lockman and Cameron Ambesi round out the six-car field.
Ten time champion Zappia, who has already secured the Top Doorslammer title, leads the five-car field, his 4.89/227.67 well ahead of Paul Cannuli's 5.12 with Ben Bray's 5.15 third. Rob Taylor (5.27) and Victor Bray (5.30) complete the field.
Only two Top Fuel cars entered the event, the Rapisarda Autosport International cars for drivers Wayne Newby and Damien Harris, with Newby's 4.250/270.10 leading Harris' 4.304/249.10 in their one match race last night.
American Dom Lagana will be crowned Top Fuel Champion due to his Nationals victory for the Rapisarda team at Calder Park earlier this year, the only complete TF round in the ANDRA series.
There are no fields for the professional motorcycle brackets, Top Fuel Motorcycle and Pro Stock Motorcycle.
In the Summit Racing Equipment Sportsman Series, Competition Eliminator, Super Stock and Sport Compact have been combined into the one bracket due to a lack of entries, while there is also no Competition Bike bracket.
Tom Dimitropoulos leads Super Comp after three of four sessions with his A/MS Camaro, above, running 0.587 under the 7.96 index with a 7.373.
Thirteen of the 16 qualifiers were under their respective indexes.
Mark Tischendorf, who sits outside the bump in 17th, should come into the field with second-placed qualifier Daniel Camilleri losing an engine and withdrawing from competition.
Sportsman qualifying continues this morning, followed by eliminations.
ANDRA is offering a free live stream of the event, beginning at 1:00pm at ANDRA.COM.AU.
Images courtesy ANDRA - Bob Taylor and Dave Hope.
