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Super Series Midsummer Nationals June 15 - 16
Super Series - Spring Nationals 4 - 6MayPoints awarded for Super Series & Real Steel Championships
This Super Series Round 2 event, the "Midsummer Nationals", was also Real Steel Series Round 5. There was a field of 11 Wild Bunch cars competing at this weekend, and these included 6 Slingshots, 3 Altereds and 2 Rear-engine dragsters
| Event Results | ||||
| Pos | WB | Driver | Car | Points |
| 1 | 33 | Tom Coe | Psycho | 640 |
| 2 | 1 | Dogs Bollocks Racing | RamRaider | 500 |
| 3 | 3 | Paul Croston | B-Sting | 450 |
| 4 | 2 | Chris Hartnell | Backdraft | 280 |
| 5 | 20 | Mark Coulsell | Limited Funz | 270 |
| 6 | 86 | Dick Sharp | Dorset Horn | 260 |
| 7 | 40 | Dennis Hawkins | Wicked Lady | 190 |
| 8 | 96 | Tony Smith | The Cunning Plan | 150 |
| 9 | 34 | Alec Coe | Shy Torque | 130 |
| 10 | 67 | Darryl Howells | Wheels of Fortune | 120 |
| 11 | 131 | Paul Harvey | ex-Locomotion | 110 |
| Spot Prizes | ||||
| WB | Team/Driver | Car | Detail | |
| Best Reaction | 20 | Mark Coulsell | Limited Funz | .416 |
| Closest To Dial-In | 1 | Ed Yates | Ram Raider | .004 Off |
| #1 Qualifier | 3 | Andy Murphy | B-Sting | .002 Off |
| Closest Runner-Up | 2 | Chris Hartenell | Backdraft | .012 |
| Best Altered | 86 | Dick Sharp | Dorset Horn | - |
| Best Slingshot | 33 | Tom Coe | Psycho | - |
| Best Dragster/Radical | 131 | Paul Harvey | Goin' Loco | - |
| Best Appearing Team | 3 | Team B-Sting | B-Sting | - |
| Wildest Ride | 2 | Chris Hartnell | Backdraft | - |
| Saturday This was a qualifying day and there were 3 rounds to be had. In the 1st round of qualifying, 9 drivers took part. Chris Hartnell ran a great 9.278 pass in the "Backdraft" slingshot, at 134.73 mph. This was on a 9.25 Dial-in and earnt Chris overall fourth in qualifying. Team sponsor Andy Murphy was taking another turn in the hotseat of the "B-Sting" altered. He ran a brilliant 12.702 on a 12.70 Dial-in, immediately becoming #1 Qualifier. Mark Coulsell ran an 11.071 on a 10.70 Dial-in in the "Limited Funz" slingshot, and Tom Coe ran a solid 11.304 on an 11.20 Dial for his opening qualifier in the "Psycho" slingshot. Dad Alec was running in the "Shy Torque" slingshot and carded a 12.787, also on an 11.20 Dial-in. Dennis Hawkins ran a good 9.530 on a 9.45 Dial in the "Wicked Lady" Rear-engine dragster and Darryl Howells surprised himself by running a 12.058 on a conservative 12.40 in the "Wheels of fortune" slingshot. Dick Sharp was back again in the "Dorset Horn", with a brand new gearbox freshly shipped in from across the pond and installed only on the Friday. He launched, and to great relief of the whole team, the altered changed into all its gears. Dick had Dialled in at 10.00 seconds, and to the delight of the team ran a brilliant 9.702 - the best the car has ever run, including when Dick and Bunt used to campaign it in the 70's! Many congratulations to the whole team! They didn't mind breaking out for that one! Tony Smith ran a good 12.213 on his 12.25 Dial-in for his opening qualifying run in "The Cunning Plan" altered. In the 2nd round of qualifying, 11 cars took part. Ed joined in and set a great time of 10.142 on a 10.14 Dial-in in the "Ram Raider" slingshot. This was equal to Andy Murphy, but Ed took the #2 Spot by virtue of being the second driver to go .002 off his mark. Chris was tinkering with his fuel system, and ran another solid 9.283 on a 9.15 Dial-in, at a stronger 135.95 mph. Andy Murphy put in another good run, this time breaking out with a 12.546 on a 12.70 Dial-in. Mark Coulsell posted an 11.282 on his 10.70 Dial-in. Tom Coe broke out with an 11.264 on an 11.28 Dial, trying to get closer to his mark, while Alec ran a Personal Best E.T. of 11.890 on the same 11.28 Dial. Dennis Hawkins came out and put in a very good 9.460 on his 9.45 Dial-in, taking the # 3 qualifying spot. Darryl broke out slightly once again, putting in a good 11.974 on his 11.99 Dial-in. Dick once again ran a 9, with a 9.732 on a 9.65 Dial, qualifying 6th, and raring to go for the next day. Tony Smith went and ran a great Personal Best 12.069, breaking out on his 12.21 Dial-in, so was once again quite happy with the altered's performance. And Paul Harvey joined in this round running a solid 9.049 on a 10.00 second Dial-in, in the "Goin' Loco" Rear-engine dragster. For the 3rd qualifying round, 7 cars ran, with some drivers sitting this round out and enjoying watching the racing! Ed ran a Personal Best 10.062, breaking out on his 10.14 Dial-in. Chris ran a good 9.319 on his 9.15 Dial-in, still hoping for an improvement in performance after more tinkering. And Mark was third time lucky with a 10.743 on the 10.70 Dial-in, moving up into fifth qualifying position. Tom ran a Personal Best 11.233 on an 11.25 Dial-in in this round. And Alec ran a 12.021 on the same 11.25 Dial-in, for some heads-up passes with Tom. Darryl broke out for the third time in a row, but with a great Personal Best 11.894 on and 11.96 Dial. Tony had a good run in "The Cunning Plan" altered with a 12.140, on the right side of the 12.05 Dial, and running a Personal Best speed of 114.21 mph. Thanks again to the hard work of all the marshals and officials and racers there were 3 full rounds of qualifying completed for all classes (over 200 racers!). | |
| Sunday (Race Day) | |
| Round One The first round saw Ed Yates narrowly taking the win with a 10.267 on a 10.14 Dial over Tony Smith's 12.459 on his 12.10 Dial-in. Chris Hartnell advanced with a 9.443 on a 9.25 Dial-in over Alec Coe's 12.735 on an 11.25. Andy Murphy had a Bye-run, being #1 Qualifier, and posted another Personal Best 12.454 on the 12.50 Dial-in. Mark Coulsell moved forward with a 10.765 on the 10.70 Dial to take the win over Darryl Howells, who ran a 12.304 on the 11.90 Dial-in. Tom Coe progressed with a good 11.280 on his 11.20 Dial, over Dennis Hawkins, who was also close with a 9.592 on a 9.50. Dick Sharp ran another 9 second pass, taking the win with a 9.852 on a 9.60 Dial-in against Paul Harvey running an 8.962 on his 10.00 Dial-in. Paul posted WB top speed of the event , with 146.58 mph. He also took the "Best Rear-engine/Radical" Spot Prize for his nicely turned out dragster and strong performances. | |
| Quarter-Finals In the quarter-finals, there were 3 races. Ed posted a 10.215 on a 10.14 Dial to advance over Mark Coulsell's breakout of 10.689 on the 10.70 Dial-in. Mark took the "Best Reaction" Spot Prize once again for this run, with a great .416 time. Andy took the win in the "B-Sting", carding a 12.565 on a 12.40 Dial-in over Chris, who had had a very hairy pass, swerving first towards the guard rail after landing the wheelie, then veering towards the centre line. Chris straightened the slingshot up, and posted a 9.581 on his 9.25 Dial-in @ 134 mph, and only lost by .012, taking "Closest runner-up" Spot Prize, as well as the "Wildest Ride" Spot Prize! (Chris also ended up 4th for the event on the "tot-back" system, by virtue of being closest to Dial-in of the runners up in that round.). Tom ran another good 11.273 on an 11.22 Dial-in to progress to the Semi Finals over Dick, who ran another strong 9.866 on the 9.60 Dial. This made 4 nine-second runs in the weekend for the "Dorset Horn", their best performance ever, earning them the "Best Altered" Spot Prize to boot. Well deserved and congrats to the whole team for that one! | |
| Semi-Finals The Semi-Finals saw Ed with a Bye run, being # 2 Qualifier. He went all out on his 10.00 Dial-in, running a great Personal Best 10.004, and taking "Closest to Dial-in" Spot Prize, just 4 thousandths off! In the only race of the Semis, Andy redlit in the "B-Sting", and didn't post a time, handing the win to Tom Coe, who ran another good 11.241 on an 11.23 Dial. The "B-Sting" team took the "Best Appearing Team" Spot Prize once again for their constant smart appearance and polished performances. | |
| Finals This was Tom's first final of 2002, and he took the win with a great 11.235 on an 11.23 Dial-in over Ed's 10.267 on a 10.00 Dial. Tom also took "Best Slingshot" Spot Prize for his PB's and very consistent efforts all through the weekend. All in all, some really close racing once again, which was mentioned by the commentators. And of course thanks once again to all the efforts of the hard working marshals and officials, who enabled the three rounds of qualifying to take place, and the event to be completed early enough for some grudge races to take place, including Darryl taking a "win" over Tony! Darryl says thanks to Tony for all his help at the weekend! Thanks also to the track owner, club and Promoters for another great event! Hope to see lots of you out for the big one, Super Series 3, in August for some more fun, close exciting racing!! |