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Bishop skates through day 1 of Castrol Edge Tin Top Titles |
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Saturday, 19 April 2008 |
Stuart Bishop, pilot of the Diamond Doorslammer ’67 Camaro, has had an
interesting return to the driver’s seat today for day one of the Castrol EDGE
Tin Top Titles at Willowbank Raceway.
Bishop’s first qualifying run -
his first time back in the car since testing at Willowbank Raceway in early
February - saw the world’s fastest jeweller skate across the track and snap a
blower belt at the half-way mark before bringing it back into the groove.
“The first run was pretty scary to tell the truth, it got all crossed up and my
feet were dancing but I managed to pull it back in,” said Bishop.
The
CEO of Wallace Bishop Jewellers’ second pass was not quite as dramatic looking,
but was impressive all the same, with Bishop and his Diamond Doorslammer – one
of the quickest Doorslammer cars in competition at the moment – lining up
against Peter Kapiris and his world’s fastest Top Doorslammer for a side-by-side
pass.
Running alongside for the duration of the quarter mile, Bishop
came up from that pass with a 6.541s (237.34mph/379.74kmh) pass against Kapiris’
6.416s (216.87mph/346.992kmh), placing him ninth on the board ahead of
tomorrow's final qualifying run.
 “I have to say it is great to be back
in the driver’s seat and it helps take the mind off other pressures,” said
Bishop.
“To have my Doorslammer lined up with Kapiris who is officially
the world’s fastest Doorslammer and to run with him side-by-side all the way was
a great feeling, and we ran pretty close times too.
“I guess now with
the final qualifier moved, which I feel was a good call by Willowbank Raceway
with the dropping temperatures, we will just come back and see how it pans out
as the car is set to go.”
While today’s program originally showed three
qualifying runs scheduled, the third will be completed tomorrow afternoon at
1.00pm ahead of the eliminations at 4.00pm, after increasingly lowering
temperatures caused the program to be altered.
While the Castrol EDGE
Tin Top Titles are serving as Bishop's comeback event, it will also act as the
final event from which images can be submitted for the second-running of the
Wallace Bishop Jewellers National Photographic Competition.
The Wallace
Bishop Jewllers National Photographic Competition provides amateur and
professional photographers the opportunity to win more than $20,000 in cash and
prizes, simply by taking photos of the on and off track action at their local
drag racing strip and entering them online at www.stuartbishopracing.com.au
“There are two categories available, one for Stuart Bishop Racing and
one for drag racing across the board, and I sincerely hope that anyone
interested in drag racing takes the chance to be involved and possibly win some
great prizes,” said Bishop.
The overall winning entry selected from all
winners of each category will be awarded a half carat 50-point diamond. This is
an identical diamond to the one encased in the roof of Stuart Bishop’s Diamond
Doorslammer, which is situated somewhere among the configuration of 540 cubic
zirconia.
Five finalists in each category and subject area will be
selected to be involved in a unique public art exhibition at the Ipswich Art
Gallery. Images will be exhibited leading up to Willowbank Raceway’s 2008
Winternationals and extended through to the end of July.
Full details of
the Wallace Bishop photographic competition are available at
www.stuartbishopracing.com.au as is all the new up to date information relevant
to the SBR team and the ’67 Camaro Diamond Doorslammer. Entries officially close
at 5.00pm Friday April 25th, 2008.
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