John Zappia claimed an unprecedented tenth ANDRA Top Doorslammer Series title with his Fuchs Holden Monaro on Sunday at Perth Motorplex's Westernationals, adding to his record of dominance in one of Australian drag racing's most competitive categories. Winning the Westernationals on his home turf was an added bonus.

After qualifying in the top position with an elapsed time of 5.74-seconds, Zappia knew he had a good shot at wrapping up the championship during Sunday's eliminations if points rival Mark Belleri went out early. Belleri was indeed unable to compete due to engine damage, and the crown went to Zappia much earlier than anticipated.

“To wrap up the title with one event remaining is a real accomplishment for the Fuchs team and ten straight championships feels great,” Zappia said. “It is good for my crew, my sponsors, all the people who help us do what we do and contribute in any way.”

Putting his number of titles into double digits was definitely on Zappia's mind, right from the start of the season.

“There has been a lot of events on this season in the ANDRA Top Doorslammer and 400 Thunder Pro Slammer series. We were focused on the ANDRA championship because we were after those ten in a row and we didn't want to spread ourselves too thin. It was too big of a milestone not to concentrate on.”

The Westernationals was an unusually tropical weekend for Perth, with high heat and humidity at a venue normally renowned for excellent air conditions.

“It was one of the hottest, most humid weekends we have ever raced at," said Zappia. "The air started around 4000 feet with 85% humidity and it dropped a little bit over the day but was still pretty bad.

“We went out with a 5.71 tune up for the first pass in qualifying but we knew we really should have backed it off, and sure enough it rattled hard and bounced the back wheels clean off the ground. I pedalled and went 5.98 to put us in third spot after the first session.

“For the second session we put a different set of Hoosier tires on and backed the clutch off a little bit and sent it out there and went 5.74 at 251 mph. It went a little bit to the right and used up a bit of the track but it was fast and surprised us for the weather conditions.”

The third session was postponed to Sunday morning due to oildowns taking the track to curfew. Zappia elected to sit the session out, with improvement unlikely on the warm track.

During the elimination rounds, Zappia took out Kelvin Lyle, who received tuning help from Zappia during the weekend, in the first stanza. The semifinals were a non-contest when Paul Cannuli had difficulties starting in the Sean Mifsud Duster. Zappia ran a 5.79 to advance to the final round and opponent Frank Mamone.

With the final round imminent, some last minute changes were made to Zappia's Monaro to help keep it in the center of the track and crank up the horsepower to match an improving track.

“It went to the right a little but nowhere near as much as it had earlier, and we got the win with a 5.72. There is a bit left in the car yet, we had everything on the safe side as we did some engine damage the week before. But we didn't lose much performance for the gains in reliability, especially considering the weather.”

Zappia will next head to the ANDRA Grand Finals at Adelaide International Raceway, before returning back home for the Motorplex Grand Final.