Ultimate Power Series Allstar Nationals

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Ultimate Power Series Allstar Nationals August 28 - 30

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2004 Ultimate Power Series Allstar Nationals28 - 30 AugustPoints awarded for Untimate Power Series Round 3 and Wild Bunch Series Round 6 and Real Steel Series Round 9

The third and final Ultimate Power Series event of 2004, the “Allstar Nationals”, was also our Wild Bunch Series Round 6 and Real Steel Series Round 9. There was a field of 13 Wild Bunch cars competing this weekend: 5 Altereds, 6 Slingshots and 2 Radicals

Positions for Ultimate Power Points
Position	WB	Driver	Car	Points
1	3	Joe Stevens	Back in Black	720
2	4	Tony Smith	The Cunning Plan	570
3	20	Mark Coulsell	Limited Funz	400
4	142	Mike Cresswell	Living the Dream	350
5	57	Neil Ward	Andromeda	290
6	34	Alec Coe	Shy Torque	280
7	38	Helen Smythe	Hell's Belle	270
8	109	Andy Murphy	B-Sting	210
9	29	Tony Wynne-Jones	Welsh Raider 2	160
10	60	Andrew Gibb	Little Old Opel	140
11	67	Darryl Howells	Chemical Reaction	130
12	76	Steven Field	The Black Pig	110
13	6	Chris Hartnell	Backdraft	20

Positions for Wild Bunch/Real Steel Points
Position	WB	Driver	Car	Points
1	3	Joe Stevens	Back in Black	10
2	4	Tony Smith	The Cunning Plan	8
3	20	Mark Coulsell	Limited Funz	6
4	142	Mike Cresswell	Living the Dream	5
5	34	Alec Coe	Shy Torque	3
-	38	Helen Smythe	Hell's Belle	3
-	57	Neil Ward	Andromeda	3
8	29	Tony Wynne-Jones	Welsh Raider 2	2
-	60	Andrew Gibb	Little Old Opel	2
-	67	Darryl Howells	Chemical Reaction	2
-	76	Steven Field	The Black Pig	2
-	109	Andy Murphy	B-Sting	2
13	6	Chris Hartnell	Backdraft	1

Spot Prizes
	WB	Team/Driver	Car	Detail
#1 Qualifier	4	Tony Smith	The Cunning Plan	.000 Off
Best Reaction	57	Neil Ward	Andromeda	.023
Closest To Dial-In	3	Joe Stevens	Back In Black	.004 Off
Closest Runner-Up	38	Helen Smythe	Hell's Belle	.093 Behind
Best Altered	4	Tony Smith	The Cunning Plan
Best Slingshot	20	Mark Coulsell	Limited Funz
Best Radical/Dragster	60	Andrew Gibb	Little Old Opel
Best Engineered	109	Bob Morgan	B-Sting
Best Appearing Team	109	Team B-Sting	B-Sting
Driver's Choice	67	Darryl Howells	Chemical Reaction

Saturday was a qualifying day and there were 3 scheduled qualifiers. The day started off warm and dry, and two rounds of qualifying were completed. Sunday had started off a bit damp, but dried up and there was one more qualifying round. The 4th cycle of qualifying began, but the whole day was cut short by torrential rain at 2:30pm. All 13 Wild Bunch drivers had qualified in the three rounds. Luckily Monday stayed dry for the eliminations! This weekend 7 drivers ran Personal Best E.T.'s, with 5 of these drivers running Personal Best Speeds. Congratulations to all of them on their achievements!!
WB 3	Joe Stevens started with a strong 10.276 @ 134.70 mph on a 10.28 Dial-in in his “Back in Black” altered, just 4 thousandths under his index. He broke out once more in the second round with a 10.248 on a 10.27 Dial. The third round saw him recording another strong 10.2, with a 10.287, the right side of his 10.23 Dial-in, and he finished in 2nd spot on the ladder.
WB 4	Tony Smith was running well in “The Cunning Plan” Minivan altered and recorded an 11.642 for his first qualifier, just 8 thousandths under his 11.65 Dial-in. He ran another breakout of 11.570 on an 11.64 Dial-in for the second qualifier, and then a new Personal Best E.T. of 11.540 in the third round, exactly on his Dial-in of 11.54! (This is the second time he has achieved the feat this season, as he did the same at the Power Nationals event in June! He didn’t win the eurodragster cheque this time though as someone had already ran spot on their Dial early Saturday!). Fair play to Tony for repeating that achievement! This meant that he was the #1 Qualifier and could not be caught!
WB 6	‘Crazy’ Chris Hartnell had now installed a newly built 377 ci Small Block Chevy engine in his “Backdraft” slingshot, to replace the one that blew at the Mini Nationals mid July. He spent Saturday morning in the pits installing a spare starter and a new distributor, after firing problems. Chris says many thanks to crewman extraordinaire Scottie Durrant for having exactly the right dizzy up his sleeve (or should that be in the boot of his original ’55 Chevy! Cheers!). He joined in the second qualifier and dialled in at an optimistic 8.80, not wanting to break out. Chris ran a 9.929 @ 132.67 mph on this pass and went back to the pits to make some tuning adjustments. Unfortunately, when he fired the car Sunday morning, the oil pressure started to fall, so he was forced to park the car for the weekend, and take it home and diagnose the problem. Hope he can fix it soon, as the new engine sounded awesome!
WB 20	was Mark Coulsell in the “Limited Funz” slingshot. He Dialled in at 10.50 for his first round and ran a 10.577 @ 124.85 mph, which eventually earnt him the 4th qualifying spot. He ran an 11.441 on the same Dial-in in the second round, and a 10.649 in the third. On the Saturday night Mark and Lynne hosted a party in the pits to celebrate their recent wedding! Many congratulations to both of them, and all the best from all of the Wild Bunch!
WB 29	Tony Wynne-Jones started off running a 12.261 on an 11.60 Dial in the “Welsh Raider II” Corvette Radical. He improved on this in the second round, carding an 11.566 on the same Dial-in. He lowered the Dial to an 11.40 for the third round and ran a strong 11.547 @ 117.21 mph, to qualify in 8th spot overall.
WB 34	Alec Coe was back in the hotseat of the “Shy Torque” slingshot and dialled in at 10.34 for the first round, and brokeout with a new Personal Best E.T. of 10.211 @ 133.78 mph. He lowered the Dial to 10.19 for the second round and brokeout again with another great PB of 10.113! He lowered the Dial further to a 10.08, and ran a 10.168 in the third round, qualifying in 6th spot.
WB 38	Helen Smythe was in her first MSA event in the “Hell's Belle” altered. She ran a 13.240 on a 13.00 Dial-in for her opening bid, and then a red light meant no time was recorded in the second round. For her third round, she Dialled in at 13.10 and ran a 13.241 to finish 7th in her first ever qualifying.
WB 57	Neil Ward was back in the Ex-“She-Devil 2” Slingshot, and revealed the new name of the car, “Andromeda”. Neil was hoping for some better runs after his recent problems with ignition, which prevented him from reaching the strip. He began with a Dial-in of 10.00 even and promptly broke out and ran a massive Personal Best E.T. of 9.650 @ 135.48 mph, his first 9-second pass! He lowered the Dial-in to 9.40 for the second round and ran another PB of 9.529. He kept this Dial-in for the third round and went out and ran yet another PB of 9.483 at a Personal Best Speed of 136.83 mph. Neil qualified in 5th spot overall and was ‘chuffed to beans’ with how well the car was running. Congratulations to him and the whole team on this string of great 9-second passes!
WB 60	Andrew Gibb was running his Radical Opel, the “Little old Opel”, after having sadly blown up the engine in his beautiful “Witchcraft” slingshot only the weekend before. He dialled in at 12.20 in the first round and ran a 12.515. Keeping this Dial for the second round, he recorded a 12.773, but improved on the third round with a strong new Personal Best E.T. of 12.193 @ 115.00 mph.
WB 67	Darryl Howells was in his first MSA event with the well-turned out “Chemical Reaction” slingshot, now complete with an awesome cockpit painting of a chemical explosion. He dialled in at 11.21 for his first qualifier, and ran an 11.778 for starters. He improved on this with an 11.561 on the same dial for the second round, and then raised the Dial-in to 11.40 for the third. He then recorded his first 10-second pass in the car with a great Personal Best E.T. of 10.910 at a Personal Best Speed of 129.19 mph. Fair cushtie, Darryl!!
WB 76	was Steve Field in “The Black Pig” altered. He dialled in at 11.76 and ran an 11.742 for his opening bid. He followed this with a better 11.638 on an 11.70 Dial in the second round and a Personal Best E.T. of 11.439 on an 11.58 at a Personal Best Speed of 117.24 mph in the third round, breaking out each time, but running very strongly.
WB 109	Bob Morgan was back in the “B-Sting” altered and Dialled in at 12.40. He went straight out and ran a Personal Best E.T. of 12.194 @ 111.27 mph in the first round. He then lowered the Dial to 12.20 and recorded a 13.930 in the second, lowering the Dial again to 12.00 even and ran another PB of 12.059 at a Personal Best Speed of 112.48 mph, the quickest and fastest the altered has ever run! He qualified in 3rd place with this run, so a great day for the team, who also won the “Best Appearing Team” award for their smart appearance and professional performance, and the car was awarded the “Best Engineered” Spot Prize to boot.
WB 142	Mike Cresswell was running the “Living the Dream” slingshot and Dialled in at 11.50. He ran a breakout 11.449 in the first round, and lowered his Dial to 11.10 for the second and ran an 11.377. He then dialled in at 11.30 for the third and ran a 12.2.
Monday (Race Day) Round 1 Tony Smith had a Bye run in this round, by virtue of being #1 Qualifier, and he ran an 11.563 on an 11.54 Dial-in. Alec Coe also had a Bye run, as he had been due to face Chris Hartnell who had to sit out the eliminations with low oil pressure. He ran a 10.641 on a 10.17. The first pairing saw Bob Morgan facing Mike Cresswell. Bob Dialled in at 12.00 even, but unfortunately the car broke the diff big-style on the launch. Glad to say that apart from this both car and driver were fine! In the other lane Mike recorded an 11.714 on an 11.45 Dial-in to go through to the Quarter-finals. In the second pairing, Joe Stevens ran a 10.319 on a 10.25 Dial-in to advance to the next round over Tony Wynne-Jones who posted an 11.607 on an 11.43 Dial. The next pairing saw Neil Ward recording another strong 9.570 on a 9.40 Dial-in, with the “Best Reaction” of .023 for his first ever competition win, against Darryl Howells, who ran an 11.321 on a 10.99 Dial. The smartly-turned out “Chemical Reaction” proved to be a popular car, with Darryl winning the “Driver's Choice” award voted for by all the Wild Bunch drivers. Mark Coulsell took the victory over Andrew Gibb with a 10.914 on a 10.70 Dial to Andrew's 12.345 on a 12.00 Dial-in. Andrew and wife Sandie and the girls were really pleased to win the “Best Radical/Dragster” Spot Prize this weekend. In the last of the pairings, Helen Smythe ran a 13.211 on a 13.10 Dial to progress over Steve Field who had Dialled in at 11.50 but unfortunately broke the gearbox on the run, recording a 12.082. Quarter-Finals The quarter-finals saw Joe with a Bye run, posting a strong 12.262 on a 12.25 Dial-in, remaining close to his index. In the first of the three races, Tony Smith carded an 11.576 on his 11.54 against Neil, who broke out with yet another Personal Best E.T. of 9.436 on his 9.45 Dial. In the next race, Mike ran quite a way off his Dial-in with an 11.971 on an 11.35; but Alec had already handed him the win by breaking out on his 10.17 Dial, running his first ever 9-second run, with a great Personal Best E.T. of 9.982 and a Personal Best speed of 134.88 mph! Congratulations to Alec and the whole team on this milestone! Don’t think they’ve ever been so happy losing a race!! Mark ran a 10.937 on his 10.70 Dial-in to advance to the Semis over Helen, who posted a 13.233 on a 12.95 Dial; a close race where Helen was the “Closest Runner-up” of the day, finishing just .093 behind Mark, and enjoying her first ever MSA competition. Semi-Finals Tony stuck to his Dial-in of 11.54 and ran an 11.560 (again) to take the win against Mike, who recorded a breakout 11.081 on his 11.40 Dial. This was Mike's second best run to date, so he and the team were really pleased with this and making it to the Semis. The other race was a battle of the breakouts with Joe narrowly taking the win with an 8 thousandths under 10.242 on a 10.25 Dial, to Mark's 10.574 on a 10.60 Dial. Mark won the “Best Slingshot” award for his beautiful blue and silver machine. Final The final turned out to be one of the closest races of the day with Joe taking victory with a good reaction and a “Closest to Dial-in” 10.244 on a 10.24, just 4 thousandths off, over Tony's 11.637 on an 11.54. Tony earnt the “Best Altered” Spot Prize for his Personal bests and strong performance over the weekend, and has won the Ultimate Power Series, so congratulations to him, and Joe who finished 2nd in the Series! All in all, a very good event with very close racing. Thanks once again to all the hard working marshals and officials for all their efforts. We are now looking forward to a real fun event in a couple weeks’ time, the good old “Hot Rod Drags” at Shakey! Hope to see loads of you there!!