Super Series 2001 Round 5

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Super Series 2001 Round 5 September 22 - 23

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Super Series 522nd - 23rd September 2001Points awarded for Super Series Championship

Super Series 5 was a great event to finish the Series with. We had a field of 16 Wild Bunch cars entered, 8 Slingshots, 4 Altereds and 4 Rear-engine dragsters. There were two qualifying runs on Saturday and all 16 cars qualified!
All of the eliminations were completed on Sunday and five of the drivers ran their personal best E.T.'s. The results was as follows:-

Event Results
Pos	WB	Driver	Car	Points
1	4	Chris Hartnell	Backdraft	800
2	20	Mark Coulsell	Limited Funz	550
3	1	Andy Gosling	Nutcracker	390
4	3	Tony Smith	The Cunning Plan	340
5	56	Sarah Howells	Ram Raider	320
6	109	Paul Croston	B-Sting	320
7	146	Ian Roddy	Ex-Chariot Of Fire	310
8	133	Tom Coe	Cobalt	250
9	124	Mark Turton	Growler	230
10	110	Nick Connor	Barking Mad	200
11	46	Colin Aldred	Classy Chassy	180
12	67	Darryl Howells	Jolly Boys Outing	170
13	243	Derek Annable	Thunder & Lightning TMD	160
14	73	Johnny Hall	The Happening	140
15	134	Dave McKenzie	Thing 3	130
16	15	Keith Charman	Alkymist	010

Spot Prizes
	WB	Team/Driver	Car	Detail
Best Reaction	20	Mark Coulsell	Limited Funz	.440
No1 Qualifier	4	Chris Hartnell	Backdraft	.020 off
Fastest m.p.h.	243	Derek Annable	Thunder & Lightening	151.01 mph
Best Engineered	46	Colin Aldred	Classy Chassy
Closest to Dial-in	4	Chris Hartnell	Backdraft	.005
Closest Runner-up	146	Ian Roddy	Yellow R.E.D.	by .043
Best Appearing Team	109	Team B-Sting	B-Sting

Saturday

This was a qualifying day with 2 rounds.

It was a really busy event with over 200 cars and bikes entered again.

Andy Gosling was having another turn in "Nutcracker" and after some problems on the first run, put in a good 12.985 on a 12.85 Dial-in.

Tony Smith was seeing a return to form with "The Cunning Plan" altered running a 12.592 and a better 12.228, both on 12.20 Dial-ins. He finished up in the third qualifying position.

Chris Hartnell, who had been leading Super Series by 630 points, came out early and put in a great 9.370 on a 9.35 Dial, .020 off, which later turned out to be the #1 qualifying spot. This also gained him enough points to win the Super Series championship in Wild Bunch, for the 3rd season in a row! Many congratulations to him!

Keith Charman was back out in the repaired "Alkymist" and put in a 10.269 checkout pass on a 9.40 Dial-in. His second run of 11.1 unfortunately turned out to be the last of the weekend when spun bearings were diagnosed, forcing him to sit out eliminations. Hopefully there is not as much damage as at last event!

Mark Coulsell set the #2 qualifying mark on his first pass with a 10.822 on a 10.80, just .022 off, and with his second pass of 10.916, he was the most consistent on the day in his "Limited Funz" slingshot, in his attempt to move up from 3rd place in Super Series.

Colin Aldred was trying out something new on the "Classy Chassy" in the first round, and did not record a time, but put in a 10.152 on a 10 even in the second round, and was trying to improve on his 4th place standing in Super Series.

Sarah Howells was having another turn in the "Ram Raider" slingshot and really getting to grips with it. She ran a 12.123 and a better 11.779, both on 11.00 Dial-ins. A film crew were also following her progress this weekend, with roll cage and startline cameras and pit interviews. This is due to be shown on the "Pulling Power" programme in October.

Meanwhile husband Darryl ran a 12.750 and a 12.583 on a 12.40 Dial in the "Jolly Boys Outing".

Johnny Hall had fixed the gearbox in "The Happening" slingshot and came straight out and ran a PB of 9.561, quickly followed by an even better personal best 9.246 at 143.31 mph! He was helped by several new crew members, including Chris Bennett and ex-"Northern Star" owners Paul Stubbings and Wendy Baker (fresh from running her Top Methanol Dragster at the European Finals the previous weekend at Santa Pod! Chris H had crewed for Wendy at that event and she was also providing tow driver support for "Backdraft"!).

Paul Croston was driving the "B-Sting" Topolino altered and put in a 12.507 on a 12.65, and a 12.584 on a 12.50 Dial-in to take 5th qualifying spot.

Nick Connor was running his "Barking Mad" altered and put in a 10.669 on a 10.55, and then a Personal Best 10.421 on a 10.45.

Mark Turton's crew had got his "Growler" altered ready to run, and waited anxiously for him to turn up, as he had been stuck with some urgent last minute work commitments. He showed up just in time and was able to put in a qualifying pass late in the day. This was not as straight forward as it could have been as the green machine was hesitant to stay running. It conked out on the startline and would not refire, much to the dismay of the whole "Dog Squad" and many other supporters who had come down to cheer him on. Finally, after Scottie had run over and gestured wildly at the reluctant motor, it coughed into life, to huge cheering from the spectators (and start crew included by now, caught up in the tension!). Mark set off and ran his Personal Best E.T. of 12.240 and ended up qualifying 4th for good measure - result!! Well done, gang!

Tom Coe was out in his "Cobalt" machine, lying in 2nd place in Super Series before this event. He put in a 12.620 and a 12.334 on 12.40 Dials.

Dave McKenzie was back in the "Thing 3" Rear-engine dragster, and ran a 12.682 on a 12.00 and a Personal Best E.T. of 12.114 on a 12.31 Dial-in.

Ian Roddy Dialled in 10.45 and ran 10.992 and 10.559, finishing number six qualifier.

Derek Annable was running his Top Methanol Dragster "Thunder & Lightning", and was limited firstly to 9.50 and then to 9.00 by officials at this MSA event. He put in a 12-second checkout pass, followed by a great well-calculated and controlled 9.696, qualifying 11th in the ladder of the 16-car field.

Sunday

The day started with a 2-minute silence in tribute to those who died in the recent tragedies in America. The track and several race teams also held flags at half mast as a mark of respect and in remembrance of the fallen. Our thoughts and hearts are with them, their families and the brave rescuers at this time, and our hopes are for a better future of peace, love, understanding and compassion for all mankind.

Round 1

First up were Chris Hartnell and Colin Aldred, with Chris posting a 9.512 on a 9.35 Dial-in taking the win against Colin's 10.311 on a 10.05. Colin was awarded "Best Engineered" car by scrutineer Glenn Stockton for his well-presented "Classy Chassy".

Next came Paul in the "B-Sting" who ran a 12.854 on a 12.50 against Johnny Hall's 10.021 on his 8.99 Dial-in. Johnny had been hoping to better Saturday's personal best, but Paul took the win and advanced to the Quarter-finals.

Tony Smith also progressed with a 12.507 on a 12.20 Dial-in by virtue of a quicker reaction time up against Derek Annable who ran an excellent 9.200 @ 151.01 mph ("Fastest MPH" Spot Prize) which was very good on a 9.00 Dial-in in a Top Methanol Dragster.

In the next pairing, Sarah Howells continued to improve with an 11.252 on a 10.98 Dial-in, to advance over Nick Connor's 10.539 on a 10.40, also by having a quicker reaction time!

Mark Coulsell ran an 11.203 on a 10.80 defeating Darryl Howell's big breakout of a 12.196 on a 12.50 Dial-in, which had been close to his best time ever.

Ian Roddy took his first competition round win with a 10.664 on a 10.47 over Dave McKenzie's 12.333 on a 12.10.

Tom Coe ran a 12.606 on a 12.40 to take the win over Mark Turton's 12.673 on a 12.20.

In the last pairing, Andy Gosling ended up with a bye-run due to Keith's breakage, and ran a 13.090 on a 12.85 Dial-in.

Quarter Finals

In the first of the quarter-finals, Paul Croston had a very close run, but the wrong side of his Dial-in, with a 12.496 on a 12.50, losing out to Chris Hartnell's 9.404 on a 9.35. Team "B-Sting" took the "Best Appearing Team" Spot Prize.

Sarah H made another slight improvement of an 11.243 on a 10.98 Dial-in when she met up with Tony Smith, who unfortunately lost fire after the burnout and could not make the run.

Ian Roddy posted a good time with a 10.550 on a 10.50 against Mark Coulsell's 11.115 on a 10.80, but could not get close to Mark's .440 reaction time, although he did take "Closest Runner Up" Spot Prize, finishing only .043 behind.

Andy Gosling progressed to the Semi-Finals with a 13.564 on a 12.95, when the gearbox of the "Cobalt" car finally gave up the ghost after Tom Coe's burnout.
This meant that both "Team Dog's Bollocks" cars were in the Semis for the first time ever!

Semi Finals

The first Semi saw Chris running "Closest to Dial-in" with a 9.355 on a 9.35, just .005 off (on the right side of the Dial-in). This took the win over Sarah Howells, who was nevertheless absolutely ecstatic as she had only Dialled in an 11.20 and ran her first 10-second run ever in the "Ram Raider", a brilliant 10.483!! Well done, Sarah!!

The other pairing saw Mark running an 11.069 on a 10.80 Dial-in to advance to the final over Gos's 14.628 on a 12.95.

Final

This seemed like another quick turnaround, but in the end was nearly an hour after the semis. It saw Chris and Mark in their third final matchup of the year, and the score was one all!! Chris ran a 9.457 on a 9.30 Dial-in with a good .515 against Mark's 11.069 on a 10.80 with a better .451 reaction. Chris took the win with Mark only trailing by .048 at the top end! This meant that Mark had not quite done enough to take 2nd place in Super Series and this honour went to Tom and Alec Coe in their first season of competition. In all, there have been 22 different Wild Bunch cars competing in this year's Super Series.

Once again a great event and a great way to end Super Series 2001!!