Ultimate Power Series Shakespeare Nationals

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Ultimate Power Series Shakespeare Nationals June 18 - 19

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Ultimate Power SeriesShakespeare Nationals18 June - 19 JunePoints awarded for Ultimate Power Series Round 2 and Real Steel Series Round 4

The second Ultimate Power Series event of 2005, the “Shakespeare Nationals” was also our Real Steel Series Round 4. There was a field of 8 Wild Bunch cars: 3 Altereds, 2 Slingshots, 2 Radicals and 1 Rear-engine

Ultimate Power Series Points
Position	WB	Driver	Car	Points
1	44	Sarah Howells	Destinys Angel	560
2	1	Tony Smith	The Cunning Plan	350
3	3	Mike Cresswell	Living the Dream	310
4	6	Chris Hartnell	Backdraft	130
5	40	Darren Law	Wicked Lady	240
6	76	Steven Field	The Black Pig	20
7	29	Tony Wynne-Jones	Welsh Raider 2	10
-	464	Tracy Froome	Sunburst	10

Real Steel Points
Position	WB	Driver	Car	Points
1	44	Sarah Howells	Destinys Angel	9
2	1	Tony Smith	The Cunning Plan	7
3	3	Mike Cresswell	Living the Dream	5
4	40	Darren Law	Wicked Lady	4
5	6	Chris Hartnell	Backdraft	2
6	464	Tracy Froome	Sunburst	1
-	76	Steven Field	The Black Pig	1
-	29	Tony Wynne-Jones	Welsh Raider 2	1

Spot Prizes
	WB	Team/Driver	Car	Detail
#1 Qualifier	3	Mike Cresswell	Living The Dream	.047 Off
Best Reaction	1	Tony Smith	The Cunning Plan	.164
Best Altered	44	Sarah Howells	Destiny's Angel
Best Slingshot	6	Chris Hartnell	Backdraft
Best Radical/Dragster	40	Darren Law	The Wicked Lady
Best Engineered	44	Bernie Nicholas	Destiny's Angel

Saturday The first thing you have to say about this event is “Phew! What a scorcher!”. The weather turned out to be sunny and really hot both days with the drivers trying to stay as cool as possible in their firesuits! Saturday was a qualifying day and there were scheduled to be 3 qualifying rounds. In the first two rounds of qualifying, 5 drivers took part, with 6 taking part in the third qualifier.
WB 1	Tony Smith was running in “The Cunning Plan” Minivan altered, fresh from his victory at the York Spring Shootout. He recorded an 11.998 @ 110.43 mph on an 11.52 Dial-in for his opening bid. He kept the same Dial-in for the second round and ran a slightly better 11.770, and then modified the Dial-in to 11.65, posting an 11.936 in the third round, and qualified in 3rd place overall.
WB 3	Mike Cresswell Dialled in at 11.80 in the “Living the Dream” slingshot, for his first qualifying pass. He ran an off-pace 13.162 @ 92.87 mph, but expected an improvement for the second round and dialled in at 11.50. He posted a better 12.571, but really got going on the third where he kept the same Dial-in and ran an 11.547 @ 108.44 mph, just .047 off, to take the #1 Qualifier Spot! Fair play, Mike!
WB 6	‘Crazy’ Chris Hartnell was hoping for some more 8-second passes in the “Backdraft” slingshot, after an improved performance at York. He Dialled in at 8.80 for the first round, and ran a high-wheelying 9.108 @ 147.99 mph. He kept the Dial-in for the second round, but lost traction off the launch, pulled a double wheelie, and gently swerved towards the centre line, before pulling the car back straight again, and ran a 10.074 @ 119.52 mph. He decided to keep the same Dial-in again for the third round, and put in another low 9-second pass, with a strong 9.119 @ 148.21 mph, and qualify in 5th place overall for the day.
WB 29	was Tony Wynne-Jones’ first outing of the year in his beautiful “Welsh Raider 2”, after having installed a new 462 cu in Pontiac engine in the Radical Corvette. He spent some of Saturday in the pits, trying to iron out some teething troubles, including a coil which was causing trouble. He was able to make the call for the third qualifying round and, after losing fire just before the line, managed to fire the beast up again, partly by pure willpower from himself and the other onlooking Bunchers! He put in a qualifying pass of 13.623 on an 11.20 Dial-in. He qualified in 7th place, but was really happy to have made the show for Sunday!
WB 40	was Darren Law in his first race of the year in the beautifully-painted dark green and sparkly “Wicked Lady” Rear-engined dragster, which had just received a transplant of a stronger axle. He dialled in at 9.75 for his first qualifier and recorded a 10.050 @ 137.96 mph. Not bad for a checkout pass! He kept the same Dial-in for the second round and recorded an improved 10.009 to qualify in 4th place. Darren and the team were very happy with the car's straight and strong performance, and had a good baseline for the Sunday, so decided to sit out the third qualifier and enjoy some spectating in the sunny grandstand. Fair play!
WB 44	Sarah Howells was running in Bernie Nicholas’ “Destiny's Angel” altered, and looking for some more strong mid 9-second passes. She Dialled in at 9.50 for the first round and ran a 9.715 @ 143.24 mph. For the second round, she kept the same Dial-in and recorded a 9.695 @ 141.24 mph, and later posted a 9.746 in the third round on the same Dial-in, to qualify in 2nd place overall.
WB 76	Steve Field in “The Black Pig” altered was hoping for some more runs over 130 mph. He went to the line for the first qualifier, but had a problem with a small oil leak after the burnout, so had to shut down and retire to the pits to diagnose the problem. He and the team worked hard most of the day to fix the problem, and just made the call for the third qualifier. Steve dialled in at 10.40 and ran a great 10.726 @ 128.16 mph, to qualify in 6th place. Well done, Steve!
WB 464	Tracey Froome and the team had brought the “Sunburst” Radical Funny Car, hoping to sort out the teething troubles from the last RWYB event. They spent much of the day Saturday in the pits ironing out some problems, and getting some expert advice from John Wright who had built the bottom end of the engine. Unfortunately, they ran out of time to get in any qualifying passes on the Saturday, but had hoped to be able to put in a checkout pass sometime on Sunday if track time allowed. This was not to be, but the team had made considerable progress during the weekend, so hope to be able get a tune-up for the next event. Good luck to them all!
Sunday (Race Day) 7 Wild Bunch cars had qualified for race day and there were due to be 3 good races and a Bye in the first round, which was the quarter-finals, and we were called down to the pairings lanes about noon. Quarter-Finals The first pairing saw Sarah Howells matched up with Chris Hartnell. Sarah posted a 9.60 Dial-in, and Chris put a 9.10 on the board. Sarah ran a 9.753, with ‘Crazy’ Chris recording his second ever 8-second pass, and a new Personal Best E.T. of 8.884 @ 143.15 mph, just a thousandth quicker than his other 8-second run! This was a breakout of over two tenths, so Sarah took the win and advanced to the Semis. Chris won the “Best Slingshot” trophy, actually being dubbed ‘Mr Excitement’ by one of the commentators for his wheels-up launches, strong passes and nicely turned-out car! The next race saw Steve Field pitted against Tony Smith. Unfortunately, Steve was shut down after the burnout with a new small oil leak, leaving Tony to solo and take the win with an 11.860 on an 11.75 Dial-in. On this run, Tony also recorded the “Best Reaction” of the day, with a .164. Well done to Tony as this is the first time he has won this trophy! The next run saw Mike Cresswell with a Bye run, by virtue of being Number 1 Qualifier. He showed an 11.50 Dial-in, and ran a solid 11.542, which actually proved to be the closest to Dial-in of the weekend! In the third race, Tony Wynne-Jones faced Darren Law. Sadly, Tony had problems before staging and could not make the run, handing the win to Darren, who went on to run a 10.424 on a 9.75 Dial, reaching the Semis in his first ever MSA competition. Semi-Finals The first semi-final saw Mike taking on Tony. Not too much difference in the Dial-ins on this one, as Mike Dialled in at 11.35 whilst Tony opted for an 11.75. Tony recorded an 11.854 to take the win over Mike who posted an 11.732. The other pairing also saw close Dial-ins with Darren putting up a 9.90, and Sarah refining hers to a 9.65. Darren put in his strongest run of the weekend, with a breakout 9.863 at a new Personal Best Speed of 141.46 mph (his first trip into the 140 mph zone)! This gave Sarah another win, with a 9.770 at 141.56 mph. Darren and the “Wicked Lady” team were really chuffed to be awarded the “Best Radical/Dragster” Spot Prize by the commentary team for their lovely looking rail and its strong performance over the weekend. Mike finished 3rd for the event and Darren took 4th place, for his first Top 4 finish in competition. Well done guys! Final The final saw what may become a new classic matchup between Tony and Sarah. Both altereds experienced a bit of bounce after the launch, with Tony recording a 12.433 on an 11.75 Dial-in, whilst Sarah and the “Destiny's Angel” cruised to the win with a 10.022 on a 9.75 Dial for her first MSA competition win in the car! The team also took home the “Best Altered” Spot Prize for another great performance. And Bernie was awarded the “Best Engineered” trophy for his well-turned out and maintained altered and its great consistency. It seems the heat affected the performance of most of the cars over the weekend, with the times being slower by a couple of tenths in some cases, but we did all enjoy the sunny June weather! Thanks to “The Black Pig” team for the shade of their tent, and several of the crews who were cooling each other down with water sprays. We would just like to say a huge thanks to all the hardworking marshals and officials, and especially the fire crews for all their efforts over the weekend in the heat! Cheers guys and gals, we really appreciate it! Congratulations to Sarah on a great win, and to all the teams for their performances and professional appearances. All in all, a really good event where we enjoyed the benefit of some great sunshine. We are now really looking forward to the “Summer Nationals” at Santa Pod on 25th/26th June. Should be another great event!