Pressure on for points leader Jason Grima
Pressure on for points leader Jason Grima (Photo courtesy ANDRA)
ANDRA Pro Stock Championship point's leader Jason Grima will feel the pressure when his PC Group Ford Mustang rolls into Adelaide International Raceway for the second time this season. He has a slight 18-point lead over his nearest competitor and there are just two rounds left!
Back in October 2012, it was at the first round of the Pro Stock championship where vandals had damaged the AIR surface prior to the event. The drivers deemed the track unsafe for competition and were awarded 40 points apiece.
As such the Lady Daly Spring Nationals on September 20-21, will see the Sydney racer make his official AIR Pro Stock appearance on the South Australian track.
"It's been a while between rounds," said Grima. It was back in June when the PC Group team were at Willowbank Raceway for the Winternationals."
"But we recently went testing on two occasions at Sydney Dragway taking the opportunity to trial a few different setups in varying track conditions from a Wednesday street meet to a private track hire, "said Grima. We made about eight launches.
"On one of those attempts the rear wheel fell off as I turned the corned at the end of the strip. I was very lucky that it wasn't a full power pass, and equally lucky that there was no damage to the car. Car shook hard in one and two and that stripped the thread on the lug nuts."
Grima is looking to perform well at the Lady Daly Spring Nationals to try and build up a buffer before the final Pro Stock round at the Nationals in Sydney.
"At the Winternationals the wet weather robbed us. I had top qualified with a 6.98, and Brandon Huhtala and myself won our heats in round one with a pair of sixes. I believe we had a good chance to go all the way had it not rained," said Grima.
"Sadly Brandon will not be racing with us for the remainder of the year as he is chasing a Divisional 6 championship of his own in NHRA Comp Eliminator. He's currently in second place so it looks like the blue car is having a little holiday at the moment".
The PC Group Mustang team is all looking forward to hitting the track again in Adelaide. We have had some luck there when we use to race our Jag in Super Sedan. Rino has stepped up and hired the tyre tractor from Peter Kapiris to prepare the track, which should mean it would be a two-lane race track. We will throw everything at it and have plenty of spares in the trailer, just in case.
In addition to the scary moment when the wheel came off, Grima also was lucky escape damage from the bushfire that hit the Castlereagh area on Tuesday (Sept 10).
"A fire started just up the road from my home," said Grima. I had left for work in the morning and everything was fine but around midday the high winds had turned a fire up the road to out of control. Luckily it was blowing in the opposite direction but for my manager he was in the fire path and stayed to fight the blaze along with my brother James and James Jnr.
On a happier note, Jason and girlfriend Georgia got engaged on Fathers Day following a proposal in a Darling Harbour restaurant.
