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Promising start steered foul for Bishop in Perth |
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Monday, 03 December 2007 |
The World’s fastest jeweller Stuart Bishop has seen a promising start
to his Goldenstates weekend at the Perth Motorplex turn sour after the
quick release steering wheel came free at the launch of his first
elimination round, forcing him to abort and be eliminated after
qualifying third from a field of 13.
The weekend got off to a topsy turvy start with the third qualifying
run on Friday night disallowed due to an oil-down delay followed by
rain disadvantaging members of the field. At that stage Bishop had
qualified third after putting down a 6.33 second pass, followed by a 7
second pass and the later disallowed 6.14 pass.
With the third pass for the entire field rescheduled for Saturday
afternoon ahead of the elimination rounds beginning at 4.00pm, Bishop
was able to equal his previously third-run time of Friday night with a
6.149 to be qualified third fastest behind top qualifiers John Zappia
and Peter Kapiris.
Bishop’s ill-fated first round of eliminations saw him and his
Diamond Doorslammer ’67 Camaro line up against Steve Stanic, who took
the win when Bishop was forced to abort his run.
“Everything was looking set for a good pass, and then I let the clutch off and the steering wheel was in my hand,” mused Bishop.
 “There was a feeling of ‘oh dear’, and although nothing bad
happened it could have and luckily that wasn’t the case - it is just
one of those things I guess that you try and not let happen too often.
“It was a tough track to get a hold of, even Zappia who was on his
home track where he has done more than 80 passes or something of the
like in the past six to twelve months had some difficulties getting
down the track.
“It was a good learning experience, and I am glad to be home now in Brisbane and regrouping for the next hit-out in February!”
While Bishop’s promising start did not quite come to fruition, in
the Junior Dragster class the Stuart Bishop Racing Junior Jem of
Bundaberg teen Cody Grohn was wowing the crowds as the top qualifier
before advancing to the semi-finals.
“I was really happy at the weekend to see Cody Grohn and his Stuart
Bishop Racing Junior Jem come in as the top qualifier in Junior
Dragster – it was a top performance from Cody who then went on to
advance to the semi-finals,” said Bishop.
“Cody continues to grow from strength to strength in his category, and I am really pleased to be able to support his campaign.”
Grohn drove his Stuart Bishop Racing Junior Jem Dragster to the top
qualifying spot with an 8.68 second pass in a field of 29 youngsters,
with the recently re-built engine of the Junior Jem flying down the
quarter mile time and time again to make it through to a semi-finals
appearance alongside Nathan Hort.
With a stipulated time of a minimum 8.5 second pass needing to be
run to progress to the finals, Grohn was eliminated when his pass of
8.415 came under the mark, with Hort’s 8.906 seeing him progress
through.
Despite being eliminated, the plucky Bundaberg youngster who made
the trip West for this weekend’s hit-out was happy with his
performance.
“To advance to the semi-finals was great and I was really happy with the Junior Jem which was lightening quick,” said Grohn.
“I just want to say a big thank you to Stuart Bishop for his
continued support of my racing, and hopefully we can keep putting down
some quick passes for him!”
Perth locals at the weekend had the chance to be involved in the
second-running of the National Wallace Bishop Jewellers Photographic
competition, which provides amateur and professional photographers the
opportunity to win more than $20,000 in cash and prizes, simply by
taking photos at their local drag racing track and entering them online
at www.stuartbishopracing.com.au.
There are two categories available, one for the Diamond Doorslammer
and one for drag racing across the board, with full details available
at the website. Drag Racing Fans can get in on the action at any Drag
Racing event around Australia up to and including April’s QT Tin Top
Titles at Queensland’s Willowbank Raceway.
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