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Ultimate Power Series Power Nationals April 16 - 17
2005 Ultimate Power Series- Power Nationals16 April - 17 AprilPoints awarded for Ultimate Power Series Round 1 and Real Steel Series Round 1
The first Ultimate Power Series event of 2005, the “Power Nationals”, was also our Real Steel Series Round 1. There was a field of 7 Wild Bunch cars competing: 4 Altereds, 2 Slingshots and 1 Radical
| Event Participants (Real Steel Series Points) | ||||
| Position | WB | Driver | Car | Points |
| 1 | 3 | Mike Cresswell | Living the Dream | 7 |
| 2 | 44 | Sarah Howells | Destinys Angel | 5 |
| 3 | 1 | Tony Smith | The Cunning Plan | 4 |
| 4 | 38 | Helen Smythe | Hell's Belle | 3 |
| 5 | 6 | Chris Hartnell | Backdraft | 2 |
| - | 76 | Steven Field | The Black Pig | 2 |
| - | 258 | Dave Ward | Rampage | 2 |
| Event Participants (Ultimate Power Series Points) | ||||
| Position | WB | Driver | Car | Points |
| 1 | 38 | Helen Smythe | Hell's Belle | 310 |
| 2 | 44 | Sarah Howells | Destinys Angel | 260 |
| 3 | 3 | Mike Cresswell | Living the Dream | 250 |
| 4 | 1 | Tony Smith | The Cunning Plan | 240 |
| 5 | 258 | Dave Ward | Rampage | 130 |
| 6 | 76 | Steven Field | The Black Pig | 120 |
| 7 | 6 | Chris Hartnell | Backdraft | 110 |
| Spot Prizes | ||||
| WB | Team/Driver | Car | Detail | |
| No 1 Qualifier | 38 | Helen Smythe | Hell's Belle | .047 Off |
| Fastest Mph | 6 | Chris Hartnell | Backdraft | 150.03 Mph |
| Best Altered | 44 | Sarah Howells | Destiny's Angel | |
| Best Slingshot | 6 | Chris Hartnell | Backdraft | |
| Best Radical/Dragster | 258 | Dave Ward | Rampage | |
| Best Appearing Team | 38 | Team Twisted | Hell's Belle | |
| Saturday This was a qualifying day and there were scheduled to be 3 qualifying rounds. The day started off cloudy and cool, but a wet track first thing meant the start got delayed til noon. In the first two rounds of qualifying, all 7 drivers took part, but unfortunately we ran out of time for a third qualifying round. | |
| WB 1 | 2004 Wild Bunch Champion Tony Smith was running in “The Cunning Plan” Minivan altered, after having had quite a bit of track time already this season at the first two RWYB's of the year. He recorded an 11.621 @ 112.10 mph on an 11.52 Dial-in for his first qualifier. He then kept the same Dial-in and ran a slightly closer 11.615 in the second round to qualify in 4th place overall, and running pretty consistently already. |
| WB 3 | Mike Cresswell Dialled in at 11.30 in the “Living the Dream” slingshot, for his first time in competition this year. He ran an 11.416 @ 115.13 mph in the first round, and kept the same Dial, and ran an improved 11.357 in the second, to finish in 3rd spot. |
| WB 6 | ‘Crazy’ Chris Hartnell was in his first outing of the season, after the team's recent trip to display the “Backdraft” slingshot at the American Car Show in Helsinki, Finland. He Dialled in at 9.10, just under his previous PB and went straight out and ran an amazing 8.885 @ 150.03 mph!!! (His first 8-second pass, and at the speed he’d hoped for since he bought the car!!!) Many congratulations to Chris and the whole team on a dream come true!! He changed the Dial-in to 8.80 for the second round and ran a 9.590 @ 149.06 mph with a loss of traction off the launch. He qualified in 7th place, but really didn’t mind after running those magic numbers, Personal Bests by a long margin!! The icing on the cake was winning the “Fastest MPH” Spot Prize for the weekend with this speed! |
| WB 38 | was Helen Smythe in the “Hell's Belle” altered. She Dialled in at 12.90 for her first round and ran a very good 12.947 @ 99.35 mph, just .047 off, which proved to be the #1 Qualifying mark! She kept the same Dial and ran a good 12.954 in the second round, and was really happy with the day's overall performance! |
| WB 44 | was Sarah Howells’ first MSA outing this season in the “Destiny's Angel” altered of team Evolution Racing, after having succeeded in a steep learning curve over the first two RWYB's of the year, and running her first ever 9-second pass 2 weeks earlier! She Dialled in at 9.50 and went out and ran a 9.725 @ 145.03 mph, for both ends of yet more PB's this season! For the second round, she kept the same Dial-in and ran 9.548 @ 143.08 mph, yet another Personal Best E.T., and only one thousandth behind Helen off her Dial, so qualified in 2nd place! Many congratulations to Sarah on all her achievements so early in the season! |
| WB 76 | was Steve Field in “The Black Pig” altered. He dialled in at 10.70 and ran an off-pace 12.811 for his opening bid. He kept the Dial and followed this with an improved 11.273 in the second round to qualify in 6th place, and trying to repeat the great 10-second runs he’d made at the second RWYB event. |
| WB 258 | Dave Ward was back in the beautiful “Rampage” funny car Radical and Dialled in at 11.00, not knowing what the car would run with the new engine. He posted a breakout 9.618 @ 133.74 mph for his Round 1 of qualifying, to record his first ever 9-second pass. Many congratulations to Dave and the team, as the early performance came as a very pleasant surprise to them all! Dave changed the Dial-in to 9.40 for his second pass, where he posted another great 9.608 @ 136.01 mph, another new Personal Best E.T. and speed. He qualified in 5th place overall, and was really pleased with the day's performance. |
| Sunday (Race Day) Sunday started off sunny and cool but became more cloudy as the day went on. All 7 Wild Bunch cars had qualified for the race and there were due to be 3 good races and a Bye in the first round, the quarter-finals. Quarter-Finals The first pairing saw Mike Cresswell facing Steve Field. Steve recorded his first 10-second pass of the weekend with a strong 10.753, but brokeout on his 10.95 Dial-in, handing the win to Mike who ran an 11.434 on an 11.35 Dial. In the second pairing, Tony Smith and ‘Crazy’ Chris Hartnell matched up. The start was a close run thing with Chris’.193 reaction time just edging Tony's .196, but after that it was Tony all the way, as he recorded an 11.720 on an 11.60 Dial to take the win over Chris’ 9.172 @ 146.83 mph on an 8.80 Dial-in. Chris was awarded the “Best Slingshot” Spot Prize by the commentary team for his first 8, and first 150+mph run, and great appearance of the car. In the closest race of the round, Sarah Howells posted a strong 9.596 at another Personal Best speed of 145.79 mph to advance to the next round by just .021 ahead of Dave Ward's 9.625 on a 9.55 Dial-in; the third of 3 exciting match-ups. Dave and the team were also very pleased to be awarded the “Best Radical/Dragster” Spot Prize by the commentary team for their gorgeous and quick funny car, running its first 9's over the weekend. Sarah and the team took home the “Best Altered” Spot Prize for their great performance and further PB's from Sarah. Rounding off the first round was Helen Smythe with a Bye run, by virtue of being Number 1 Qualifier. She recorded an off-pace 13.396 on a 12.90 Dial-in, with a minor problem to sort out before the next round. (The team promptly got to work, and everything was a-ok for the Semi-Finals). Helen and all of Team Twisted won the “Best Appearing Team” award for their smart purple shirts, fleeces, caps, umbrellas, and just about everything else purple. Well done to them, they really were well turned-out and professional, a great-looking team! After the quarter-finals all the cars returned to the pits and prepared for the call to the semis. This came mid-afternoon, after a couple of delays for oil downs, etc, and the four semi-finalist were in the fireup road waiting their turn. Unfortunately the weather broke and the rain came down! It did not let up, so the officials were forced to call time on the event. Such a shame, as we were sure to see more exciting racing in this round with Tony and Sarah matched up, as well as Helen and Mike. Although we did not progress further with eliminations, and were unable to complete the Ultimate Power Series round, we were able to declare a result for our WB Real Steel Series purposes, and this was based on the difference from Dial-in of the four quarter-final winners. Mike emerged the victor as he was the closest with just .084 off his Dial. Sarah was second, Tony third and Helen fourth. Congratulations again to Chris for his first 8 and 150mph, to Dave Ward for his first 9's and to Sarah for yet more PB's deep in the 9's. And congratulations to all the WB racers who put on an excellent show for the first race event of 2005. All in all, a good event frustratingly cut short by the weather. Thanks again to all the hard working marshals and officials for their efforts. We are now looking forward to the first WB Series round of 2005, our “Spring Nationals”, the “American Car Nationals” mid-May, where we expect to see a really big field of Wild Bunch!! | |