Strong testing puts Fabietti back in touch
Strong testing performances have buoyed the confidences of Sydney Top Doorslammer stalwart Maurice Fabietti ahead of the season's biggest event, the Fuchs Winternationals at Willowbank Raceway.
After a lacklustre Nitro Champs four weeks ago where the team failed to qualify, a personal best 5.77 second run in testing has put the spotlight back on the Holden Trade Club Monaro.
"That testing run certainly gives us some confidence, I am looking forward to going to the track for a change," Fabietti said. "The car did everything perfectly. The testing conditions were similar to the Nitro Champs, which will probably be similar to the Fuchs Winternationals."
Curing tyre shake was the catalyst for the strong pass, which was just 0.02 seconds off the current national record, held by Western Australian driver John Zappia.
"The car has always been fast, we've just got to stop the dreaded tyre shake," Fabietti said. "We have been working towards that but I made a mistake with clutch set up at the Nitro Champs and we never picked up on it and we lost the whole meeting and the testing because of it.
"We regrouped and found the problem the week after the meeting. My crew chief Stu Rowland looked at a few other things the car was lacking and we went out and sure enough it went 5.84 on our first pass and with some more fine tuning came the 5.77."
Fabietti currently sits an unrepresentative seventh in the ANDRA Top Doorslammer championship despite showing glimpses of brilliance, such as at the Westernationals in March where he top qualified.
The Fuchs Winternationals (June 7-10) will this year play host to 14 Top Doorslammers vying for a spot in the eight car field. At last year's event, John Zappia recorded the quickest time in the category's history with a 5.750 pass.
Fabietti believes that mark could fall if everything goes right, especially with hitters such as points leader Peter Kapiris recently running big speeds approaching the 260mph barrier (418kmh).
"The track and air conditions should be superb and with four qualifying sessions everyone will have a chance to really go for it," he said. "You can only try and make the car better by changing things but then of course you risk making it worse.
"I think we can see mid to low 5.70s and in an ideal world I think we will be running 5.60s, but saying it is one thing and achieving it is another.
The Fuchs Winternationals features every ANDRA championship category including Top Fuel, Top Alcohol, Top Doorslammer, Pro Stock, Top Bike, Pro Stock Motorcycle plus the Aeroflow Sportsman Drag Racing Championship.
Sportsman qualifying begins on Friday, 7 June with pro qualifying kicking off from Saturday, 8 June.
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