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Sportsman/National Finals September 27 - 28
2003 Sportsman Finals27 September - 28 SeptemberPoints awarded for The Wild Bunch & Real Steel Championships
This event was the first Wild Bunch round at Santa Pod for 2003, the “Sportsman Finals”. It was also Wild Bunch Series Round 6 (Final) and Real Steel Series Round 8 (Final). There was a field of 12 Wild Bunch cars competing this weekend, including 6 Slingshots, 4 Altereds, 1 Rear-engine dragster and 1 Radical.
| Event Results | ||||
| Pos | WB | Driver | Car | Points |
| 1 | 21 | Gareth Kent | Hot Dog | 10 |
| 2 | 34 | Alec Coe | Shy Torque | 8 |
| 3 | 33 | Tom Coe | Psycho | 6 |
| 4 | 1 | Floyd Codpiece Racing | Back in Black | 4 |
| 5 | 2 | Tony Smith | The Cunning Plan | 3 |
| 6 | 20 | Mark Coulsell | Limited Funz | 2 |
| - | 29 | Tony Wynne-Jones | Welsh Raider II | 2 |
| - | 40 | Dennis Hawkins | Wicked Lady | 2 |
| - | 56 | Dogs Bollocks Racing | RamRaider | 2 |
| 10 | 3 | Chris Hartnell | Backdraft | 1 |
| - | 60 | Andrew Gibb | AB Speedshop Slingshot | 1 |
| - | 110 | Nick Connor | Barking Mad | 1 |
| Spot Prizes | ||||
| WB | Team/Driver | Car | Detail | |
| #1 Qualifier | 21 | Gareth Kent | Hot Dog | .055 Off |
| Best Reaction | 21 | Gareth Kent | Hot Dog | .452 |
| Closest To Dial-In | 1 | Joe Stevens | Back In Black | .020 Off |
| Closest Runner-Up | 20 | Mark Coulsell | Limited Funz | 019 Behind |
| Closest Breakout | 33 | Tom Coe | Psycho | -.039 |
| Best Altered | 1 | Joe Stevens | Back In Black | |
| Best Slingshot | 20 | Mark Coulsell | Limited Funz | |
| Best Radical/Dragster | 29 | Tony Wynne-Jones | Welsh Raider II | |
| Best Appearing Team | 2 | Team Cunning Plan | The Cunning Plan | |
| Driver's Choice | 21 | Gareth Kent | Hot Dog | |
| Saturday This was a qualifying day and there were 3 rounds of qualifying to be had. In the 1st round of qualifying, 10 drivers took part. Joe Stevens ran a 10.485 on a 10.40 Dial-in for his first qualifier in the Back in Black altered, whilst Tony Smith ran a 12.518 on an 11.95 Dial-in for his opening bid in The Cunning Plan minivan altered, and Chris Hartnell ran a pass of 9.692 on a 9.50 Dial-in in the Backdraft slingshot to open his account. Mark Coulsell put in a 10.664 on a 10.50 Dial-in with the Limited Funz slingshot whilst Gareth Kent posted a 12.42 Dial-in for his Hot Dog altered, and surprised himself by running a 12.297 straight off the bat! Alec Coe went down the Santa Pod pairing lanes for the first time in many years, this time with the Shy Torque slingshot. He dialled in at 10.28, and ran 10.532 for starters. Dennis Hawkins dialled in at 9.84 in the Wicked Lady Rear-engine dragster and promptly went out and ran a massive Personal Best E.T. of 9.231 @ 142.29 mph! A breakout of more than half a second!! Ed Yates ran a 10.201 on a 10.25 in the Ram Raider slingshot, running well right from the start. Andrew Gibb was making his first Santa Pod appearance with the new ABS Speedshop slingshot and put in a 14.871 on a 12.30 Dial-in, safely qualifying. Nick Connor was back in his Barking Mad altered, Dialling in at 10.60 and running under his index, with a 10.581. Eleven cars took part in the 2nd round of qualifying. Joe Stevens posted a 10.586 on a 10.46 Dial whilst Tony Smith went out and set a great new Personal Best E.T., with the minivan body on, of 11.851 on an 11.95 Dial-in. ‘Crazy’ Chris ran a slower 9.926 on a 9.55 Dial, with a suspicious noise at the top end. (Later investigation sadly discovered flecks of metal in the oil, so Chris had to sit out the rest of the weekend, and will strip down and rebuild the engine over the off-season). Mark Cousell ran a 10.568 on a 10.05 Dial-in (a misreading of the 10.50 Dial). Gareth ran a 12.335 on a 12.28, and qualified #1 with this pass. Tony Wynne-Jones entered the fray with a great 12.104 on a 12.00 Dial in his Welsh Raider II Corvette Radical, and Tommy Coe also made a good showing on his first pass with an 11.361 on an 11.30. Dad Alec improved with a 10.542 on a 10.48, and qualified in 3rd place. Dennis put in another good run with a strong 9.316 on a 9.23 Dial-in, at the fastest speed of the weekend for ‘the Bunch’, a 142.51 mph. Ed posted a 10.313 on a 10.18 and Nick ran the right side of the 10.50 Dial, with a 10.626. The 3rd round of qualifying was held at dusk, and 10 cars took part. Joe ran a 10.588 on a 10.48 and Tony posted another 11, with an 11.922 on the 11.85 Dial, qualifying in 4th place. Mark ran one of his best passes with a 10.479 on the 10.50, whilst Gareth posted a 12.532 on a 12.28 Dial. Tony W-J ran a 12.268 on a 12.00 even, and Tommy improved his qualifying mark by one thousandth of a second, running 11.390 on an 11.33, and qualifying in 2nd place. Alec ran a 10.944 on a 10.50 and Dennis ran a 9.962 on a 9.23. Ed ran just under Dial with a 10.316 on a 10.32. And Andrew had problems, running a 16-second pass on a 12.30 Dial-in. |
| Sunday (Race Day) Round One The first round saw Joe Stevens with a Bye run, as his opponent was due to be Chris Hartnell. Joe posted a 10.717 on a 10.48 on the solo pass. Tony Smith faced Mark Coulsell and took the victory with a closer 12.285 on an 11.90 to Mark's 11.306 on a 10.80. It was a very close race, and Mark was Closest Runner-up, being only .019 behind. He was also awarded the Best Slingshot Spot Prize for the event. Tommy Gun also had a solo when Nick Connor was unable to show. He ran an 11.402 on an 11.35. Gareth and Tony Wynne-Jones ran almost identical E.T.s with Gareth posting a 12.701 on a 12.40 to take the win over Tony's 12.702 on a 12.10 Dial-in. Tony W-J took away the Best Radical/Dragster Spot Prize for the weekend. Alec ran a 10.693 on a 10.50 and advanced over Ed's closer 10.290 on a 10.20, by virtue of a better reaction time (of .478). Dennis also had a Bye run when Andrew could not make the call. He ran a 9.510 on a 9.23 Dial-in. |
| Quarter-Finals In the quarter-finals, Tony Smith was charging hard and put in a strong 11.870, breaking out on a 12.00 even Dial-in and handing the win to Gareth, who ran a very close 12.429 on a 12.40. Tony and The Cunning Plan team won the Best Appearing Team Spot Prize for the event. Alec had a solo pass when Dennis did not show, and ran a 10.803 on a 10.50. The race between Tom and Joe was very close with Tommy running 11.380 on an 11.35 (.030 off) to Joe's 10.600 on a 10.58, (just .020 off), with Joe taking Closest to Dial-in Spot Prize. Tommy advanced to the Semis by having a reaction time advantage of just .035 difference. Joe once again took home the Best Altered Spot Prize for the weekend. Joe also took 4th place on the tot-back system, by virtue of being closest to Dial-in (without breaking out) of the Quarter-final runners-up. |
| Semi-Finals The Semi-Finals saw Gareth with a Bye run, and he carded a conservative 12.879 on a 12.40 Dial. The Semi-Final race saw father and son Alec and Tom, and this turned out to be the decider for the Real Steel Series! Tom ran a Closest breakout of .039 under, with an 11.311 on an 11.35, to Alec's 10.675 on a 10.50 Dial, so Alec advanced to the Final and took the Real Steel Championship to boot! |
| Finals The final saw Gareth facing Alec. Gareth ran a 12.603 on a 12.40 Dial-in to take the win over Alec's 10.756 on a 10.57. Gareth had the Best Reaction of the day with this run, a .452, which enabled him to win the race. This was Gareth's second MSA win of the year, so many congratulations to him!! It also moved him up into 2nd Place in the Wild Bunch Series and 3rd Place in the Real Steel Series, so well done on that score as well! Gareth also won the Driver's Choice Spot Prize, as voted for by all WB drivers. |
| We had more close and exciting racing at this event, with a field double the size of the field at the 2002 event. Many thanks to the track crew and marshals who worked hard all weekend. Thanks also to the SPRC for including us in these finals and awarding 1st & 2nd Place trophies and prize money. And of course thanks as always to our major contingency sponsor Real Steel for their continued support. |