Summer Nationals - Wild Bunch

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Summer Nationals June 26 - 27

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2004 Summer Nationals26 June - 27 JunePoints were awarded for Real Steel Championship Round 6

The first Wild Bunch Santa Pod event of 2004, the “Summer Nationals”, was Real Steel Series Round 6. There was a field of 5 Wild Bunch cars competing this weekend: 2 Altereds, 2 Slingshots & 1 Radical

Event Participants
Position	WB	Driver	Car	Points
1	6	Chris Hartnell	Backdraft	9
2	106	Tony Smith	The Cunning Plan	6
3	3	Joe Stevens	Back in Black	5
4	29	Tony Wynne-Jones	Welsh Raider 2	3
5	60	Andrew Gibb	Witchcraft	1

Spot Prizes
	WB	Team/Driver	Car	Detail
#1 Qualifier	3	Joe Stevens	Back In Black	.145 Off
Best Reaction	6	Chris Hartnell	Backdraft	.205
Closest To Dial-In	6	Chris Hartnell	Backdraft	.059 Off
Closest Runner-Up	3	Joe Stevens	Back In Black	.123 Behind
Quickest E.T.	6	Chris Hartnell	Backdraft	9.659
Best Altered	109	Andy Murphy	B-Sting
Best Slingshot	60	Andrew Gibb	Witchcraft
Best Radical/Dragster	29	Tony Wynne-Jones	Welsh Raider II
Driver's Choice	Tied Vote
Best Appearing Team	6	C & C Drag Racing Team	Backdraft

There had been 6 cars entered, but unfortunately Steve and Lesley Field broke down on the way, towing their altered, “The Black Pig”. This was a great shame for them, and a disappointment to all of us, as they were very much missed. We hope they get the van fixed and get back out racing again for the Nostalgias! So good luck to them! Saturday Saturday was a qualifying day and there were scheduled to be 3 qualifying rounds. The day started off cloudy and didn’t look too promising, and racing started at 9:00am. Several classes got through their first round, in between the showers, and there were big delays, but the Wild Bunch got a qualifier in just after 3 o’clock. All 5 drivers took part in this round.
WB 3	Joe Stevens put in a strong opener of 10.145 @ 128.56 mph on a 10.00 even Dial-in in his “Back in Black” altered and this was eventually to earn him the #1 Qualifier Spot!
WB 6	‘Crazy’ Chris Hartnell Dialled in at 9.10 and was still running-in the new injection system, carding a 9.868 @ 136.83 mph in the “Backdraft” slingshot. (This remained the fastest speed for the Bunch at the weekend).
WB 29	Tony Wynne-Jones was back in his Radical “Welsh Raider II” after fixing the prop shaft that had broken at York, and he recorded a 13.900 @ 90.76 mph, with linelock problems. This was to be his only qualifier, as he had some minor repairs to do, and he took 4th spot on the ladder.
WB 60	Andrew Gibb was running his “Witchcraft” slingshot, and had a beautiful new sparkly purple paintjob on the car, which looked great! He dialled in at 12.30, and recorded a pass of 25.152 @ 56.09 mph, with some tuning problems, and qualified in 5th spot. This was to be his last run of the weekend, as the team unfortunately diagnosed oil pump problems after that. There was an up-side though as Andrew won the “Best Slingshot” Spot Prize for his lovely-looking car.
WB 109	Andy Murphy was back in the “B-Sting” altered for his second MSA event in a row and started well, running a 12.614 on a 12.39 Dial-in for his opening bid. This one qualifying round was to be the last of the day as showers set in and, despite enormous continued efforts by the marshals and track crew to dry the track in between the rain, it was not to be.
Sunday There was a bonus on Sunday though as the weather started off really sunny and qualifying resumed at 9:15am, with another full cycle, so we got our second qualifier in at about 11:30am, and 3 drivers took part in this. Joe ran another solid pass of 10.220 @ 126.80 mph, on a 10.05 Dial and remained in the lead, whilst Chris improved on his E.T. with a 9.591 @ 134.70 mph, to fill the 3rd qualifying spot, and record the quickest E.T. of the Bunch this weekend. Andy dialled in at 12.37 this time, and ran an improved 12.529, at just over the ton, to take 2nd overall in qualifying. Thanks to the hard work of all the marshals and officials, eliminations for all classes started at 1:15pm, and we got to run our first round at 4:15pm! Round 1 (Quarter-finals) The first run saw Joe Stevens with a Bye-run, by virtue of being #1 Qualifier. He dialled in at 10.05, and ran a 10.323 to advance safely to the Semis. Chris Hartnell also ended up with a Bye-run due to Andrew Gibb's breakage, and he recorded a 9.706 on a 9.30 Dial-in. Chris also won the “Best Reaction” for this pass, with a .205. In the only pairing of the first round, Andy Murphy faced Tony Wynne-Jones and this was a good race, with Tony breaking out by just .008, recording an 11.692 on an 11.70 Dial, handing the win to Andy who ran a 12.639 on a 12.45. Tony won the “Best Radical” Spot Prize, and is now looking to lower those E.T.'s even further! Semi-Finals The Semis took place quite some time after the Quarter-finals, as there was a big oil down to contend with. Again the marshals worked hard to get racing underway again, and we ran our Semis at 10 to 8 in the evening! This saw a great race between Joe and Chris, with Chris taking the victory with a 9.659 on a 9.60 Dial (which was the “Closest to Dial-in” for the day) over Joe's 10.223 on a 10.11 Dial. Chris also won the “Quickest E.T” Spot Prize for this time. Joe took the “Closest Runner-up” award, as he was only .123 behind Chris. On the other side of the ladder, Andy had a Bye-run as he had been the #2 Qualifier. He dialled in at 12.45 and performed a strong burnout, but unfortunately broke something in the diff on the launch of the run, making him unable to run in the Final. Final Andy's breakage meant that Chris had a solo pass in the Final, and this was run straight after the Semi, at 20 past 8! Chris dialled in again at 9.60, and ran a 9.751 @ 129 mph to take the win. So fair play to him! The whole team also won the “Best Appearing Team” award, so they were all really chuffed with that! It had been a long event, and we would like to say a huge thanks once again to all the hard working marshals and officials for all their tireless efforts. They never gave up trying to keep the event running, and because of this all classes had 2 qualifiers and all car classes completed eliminations. Thanks a bunch guys! And thanks to the SPRC for their welcome. We had a great time! We are now looking forward to the “Nostalgia Nationals”, only a few days away on the 3rd/4th July! Hope to see loads of you there!