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FUCHS Nationals at Sydney Dragway The opening for the 2011/2012 championship season begun slightly grey when rain started on Thursday evening and continued through Friday, causing the cancellation of most of the days schedule. Fortunately Supercharged Outlaws was able to get in a qualifying session, however unfortunately the altered left the line in 2nd gear and the parachute deployed before half track not putting a decent number on the board for this run. Saturday was clear, cool blue skies and kicked off with Q2. The problems in the previous session were easily solved and it was important to put down a good number as Friday’s rain had cut all categories down to 2 qualifying sessions not the normal 3. After the burnout the altered was not running correctly and Matt made a very hard but spot on decision to shut the engine off. When back in the pits the crew found a burnt push rod,but as Matt hadn’t continued on with the run the damage was repairable. After a very successful and consistent car in the previous season this was not the way we dreamt of starting the defence of the number 1. Since the season ended a few key changes had been made to the tune up of the altered, for safety it had to slow it down as the chassis was beginning to show signs of stress from the fast runs of last season. This also means we had no idea on what times it would run in eliminations making it incredibly difficult to dial in. Team discussions came up with a 7.25 dial in when Matt paired up with Ben Gatt for Rd 1 eliminations. Both cars got out nicely until half track when Gatt had issues allowing Matt to take the win with a 7.31ET. Round 2 of eliminations would have Matt front up against John Ward’s dragster. A cooler day with less head wind the team changed the dial in to a 7.20, turned out to be a positive change when the altered ran a 7.21ET but sadly a .095 reaction against Wards .004 and his run of a 7.26ET on a 7.25 dial in was too tough to beat and unfortunately packed up the altered for this race meeting. BUT only till this weekend at Alice Spring International Dragway when Matt’s back on track again. |
