It's Pilko and a special Victor-y at the 2012 Goldenstates
Rob Pilkington wins Top Alcohol at the 2012 Goldenstates (Photo courtesy Gardner Broz)Race report by Dave Hunter.
The Goldenstates truly brings out the cream of the crop when it comes to action, drama, despair and hope. This year proved to be no exception to that rule, with Top Doorslammer and Top Alcohol featuring for the second year in a row.
T/D qualifying included a number of new faces testing their might on the national stage, hoping to spring in a few surprises and put a dent into the regular competitors' campaign. The first session saw the Zap, Kap and Fab trio showing their well-timed setups and getting a good leg-up on the field; John Zappia's 5.869, Peter Kapiris' 5.876 and Maurice Fabietti's 5.894 leading the way. Other notable session times saw Victor Bray pop in a respectable 6.020 and Pat Carbone very close behind with a straight and true 6.035 to put in a potentially interesting race day appearance if it stood up to the tough opposition.
Session two would be remembered for all the wrong reasons, as the Shane Catalano-shoed Rude Stude suffered a break and speared into the opposite wall (narrowly missing Andrew Sutton's Corvette), the damage severe enough to set the team back for quite some time. Fabietti enjoyed a slight betterment of his first session time, a 5.889 keeping the status quo. Marty Dack would over-take the newly coloured Victor Bray and John Zappia missed out on session 2.
In the third qualifier Zappia put in the effort of the day, making up for the Australian Nationals DNQ with a number one posting of 5.828 at 248.61mph. Kapiris' first session time still stood in second overall, Fabietti also staying put with his time from session 2. Murray O'Connor got a just reward for his many years of hard work with a 5.994 in the lovingly crafted XM Falcon. Marty Dack just got edged out and settled for fifth with his second session 5 second lap. Victor Bray was knocking on the door of his very own 5 with 6.020 a solid start to his campaign. Pat Carbone's pro debut earned him 7th on the list and John Cannuli was 8th fastest with a 6.050. Mark Belleri, who earlier had put in a top 8 time, had to withdraw the (not quite-so) Lucky Belleri Camaro from the Saturday rounds, putting Cannuli in the field.
Peter Kapiris and Pat Carbone got things started in the Doorslammer category for race day, but those who thought the Saratoga would have it all it's own way were to be very much mistaken. An 0.092 from Kap and 0.128 from Carbone kept things nice and cosy at the beginning, but the Saratoga made a violent move at the 330 foot mark, leaving Carbone to continue on a direct course for a giant-killing run (not bad a for a debut, you might say!) of 6.077 at 242mph.
Maurice Fabietti had an unenviable task ahead of him with Victor Bray alongside at the lights. The Monaro was having none of it unfortunately, as the car slipped away just before the race begun, giving Victor the win and the '57 putting yet another bracket-like 6.024 in the bank. The third eliminator of round 1 would stoke the fires of controversy however, as Marty Dack and Murray O'Connor suffered a timing malfunction that turned on O'Connor's win light despite the XM only reaching the 330ft timing block. With the replay showing a close race that could actually have gone to the Midwest Pumpcrete BA Falcon of Dack, the ruling would be O'Connor's win would stand. The battle of the two Johns (Zappia and Cannuli) would be a more straightforward matter, Cannuli redlighting away his chance and Zap recording a 5.930 at 245.90mph.
In the semis, Zappia and O'Connor would leave fairly evenly on the hit, a slight advantage to the carbon-fibred XM. But the car would just miss the tune needed for the time of night and misbehaved at the worst possible time, letting the Striker/Fuchs HQ off the hook. Zap would still put in a 5.884 at 247.25mph for the run. Pat Carbone would try and put a dampener on Victor Bray's party in his semi-final shot, but his dream would end and a quicker reacting VB would race ahead and... gain his first ever 5! The Doorslammer King would return to his throne with a 5.960 and also a good old-fashion battle with John in the final. A thrilling prospect indeed.
The final proved to have a few fireworks still to go off, Zap nearly a tenth off of Victor's keenly anticipated light to play catch up. The Monaro would have one last bit of mischief to play on it's owner, as it stepped out at mid track and left Victor to claim his very first win in a good few years. Not only that, it was a 5.953 for Victor as well, the Sidchrome '57 Bel Air back where it belongs.
Photos courtesy Gardner Broz
Top Alcohol had a thinner field with 6 funny cars (those who like Monte Carlos had a choice of 4!) and a solitary dragster taking part in the proceedings. The first session would see comparatively sedate times to the usual frantic efforts, Rob Pilkington leading the charge with 5.773 at 252.10mph. Gary Phillips kept the Alutech Monte honest with his own Lucas Monte with a 5.820 (same mph as Pilko). Shane Weston got a 5.928 at 236.22mph to take a provisional third spot. John Napier, Brian Robinson and Craig Glassby would struggle finding their feet with a set of 6 second runs, John Cannuli not recording a time in this session.
Session two would pretty much see everyone struggle to improve their benchmark, the only gain was for the dragster-steering Weston who popped into second place with a 5.810 at 240mph. Gary Phillips had a fairly major disagreement with one of his spark plugs, which exited the car courtesy of a newly created hole in the body shell. Due to incidents that occured earlier in the day, the third session never eventuated and the positions were set for the Saturday.
Rob Pilkington would gain the bye for topping the timesheets and would put in a strong case for lane choice in the next round with a 5.782 ET. John Napier would exit out of competition as Brian Robinson laid claim to a quicker RT (0.145 to 0.299) and ET (5.982 to 6.127). John Cannuli didn't have much luck the day before in qualifying, but just found enough to keep Shane Weston (and the hopes for the dragster loving section of the crowd) at bay, 5.87 to5.917 showing how close it got. Gary Phillips put in a strong case as to why he should advance to the next round when his timing board showed a 5.579 at 257.87mph. However, it would be the Craig Glassby car that would be ahead with a tenth in the bank at the start line and a 5.608 at 250mph that made 3 out of 4 for WA.
Round two would turn out to be severely delayed by the very evidently growing timing issues, but Rob Pilkington kept that out of mind and put Brian Robinson away for the night, a 5.652 at 254.95mph getting things done. John Cannuli's 0.076/5.766 nearly had Craig Glassby at the line, but the Austek Metals car was on a last charge and got through with an 0.140/5.655. Close stuff!
Unfortunately, the general theme of chaos continued as it turned out the Craig Glassby TA/FC would not turn over after a delay getting through the staging lanes. Rob Pilkington was already up and away to take on a solo pass.
Videos courtesy Gardner Broz
The timing issues that plagued the track on both days had affected Stuart Bishop's qualifying chances and ruled him out of contention in the cruelest of ways, but it also had a very large impact on the schedule. As such, it left the sportsman finalists hanging for a proper result. The following class semi-finalist winners were as follows:
- Comp Bike: Rob Wasley and Kevin Gummow
- Junior Dragster: Matthew Matulovich and George Blacklock
- Modified: Trent Morrison and Nick Gardiner
- Modified Bike: Ross Smith and Roger Harris
- SC/O A Final (my thanks to Ray and Gillian for doing better maths than I): Donald Freind and Travis Oberg
- SC/O B Final: Al McClure and Stuart Moresby
- Super Comp: Allen Puglia and Robert Gaikhorst
- Super Sedan: Paul Downe and Alby Bakranich
- Super Street: Darran Bakranich and Tony Zaccaria
Dave's Save of the Day pick wouldn't be tough to choose this meeting, as it could only go to John Zappia's wrestle on his second shot at the qualifying tree. The Monaro started off well enough then all of a sudden took a left into the next lane at (yes, that number again) the three thirty block. With a fair bit of persuasion, Zap had it gathered just in time to pull it parallel to the wall with no damage and up to the top end of the track. Without intervention, who knows which of the 17 other cars could have had a shot at glory instead...