Summer Nationals - Wild Bunch

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Summer Nationals June 25 - 26

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Summer Nationals25 June - 26 JunePoints awarded for Wild Bunch Series Round 3 and Real Steel Series Round 5

The first event of 2005 at Santa Pod, the “Summer Nationals” was Wild Bunch Series Round 3 and Real Steel Round 5. There was a field of 8 Wild Bunch cars: 3 Altereds, 3 Slingshots, 1 Radical and 1 Rear-engine.

Event Participants
Position	WB	Driver	Car	Points
1	1	Tony Smith	The Cunning Plan	9
2	3	Mike Cresswell	Living the Dream	7
3	38	Helen Smythe	Hell's Belle	5
4	44	Sarah Howells	Destinys Angel	4
5	6	Chris Hartnell	Backdraft	2
-	29	Tony Wynne-Jones	Welsh Raider 2	2
7	40	Darren Law	Wicked Lady	1
-	57	Neil Ward	Andromeda	1

Spot Prizes
	WB	Team/Driver	Car	Detail
#1 Qualifier	44	Sarah Howells	Destiny's Angel	.023 Off
Closest To Dial-In	1	Tony Smith	The Cunning Plan	.038 Off
Fastest Mph	6	Chris Hartnell	Backdraft	151.08 Mph
Best Altered	44	Sarah Howells	Destiny's Angel
Best Slingshot	6	Chris Hartnell	Backdraft
Best Radical/Dragster	40	Darren Law	The Wicked Lady

Saturday The weather started off wet and rainy on Saturday morning, but the track crew worked really hard and they got qualifying started by 1:00pm, with a few more short stoppages for drizzle. There were scheduled to be 3 qualifying rounds, and 2 full cycles were completed (with the third completed Sunday morning by about 11:00am). In the first two rounds of qualifying, 6 drivers took part, with 7 taking part in the third qualifier.
WB 1	Tony Smith was currently leading both the Wild Bunch and Real Steel Series in “The Cunning Plan” Minivan altered, and was hoping to consolidate his lead. He started off with an optimistic Dial-in of 11.42, and ran an 11.752 @ 110.84 mph in the first round. He changed the Dial to 11.52 for the second round and ran an 11.762. The conditions were a bit better on Sunday, so he kept that Dial-in, and improved to an 11.515, a breakout, but oh so close! He qualified in 5th place overall.
WB 3	Mike Cresswell Dialled in at 11.50 in the “Living the Dream” slingshot for his first qualifier and ran an off-pace 14.130 @ 86.52 mph. He kept the same Dial for the second round, hoping to have cured a mysterious misfire. He recorded a much improved 11.633 @ 106.38 mph for this round. For Sunday's 3rd qualifying round, he left the Dial-in the same and ran an 11.701, and qualified in 3rd place.
WB 6	‘Crazy’ Chris Hartnell was hoping for his first passes at Santa Pod in the 8's in the “Backdraft” slingshot. He Dialled in at 8.80 for the first round and got really close to an 8 with a 9.001 @ 149.42 mph. He kept the Dial-in for the second round, then lost some traction off the launch, but kept with the run and recorded a 9.272 @ 150.13 mph, a PB for speed. (He also recorded the best reaction of the Bunch for the weekend on this run, with a .151). He stuck with the Dial-in for the third round, and was rewarded with an 8.898 @ 149.93 mph to qualify in 2nd place overall.
WB 29	Tony Wynne-Jones was running his “Welsh Raider 2” Radical Corvette after coping with some teething problems at the Shakespeare Nationals. He had problems keeping the car running, and stopping it from emitting flames from the carb, and was unable to put in passes on the first 2 qualifiers. But on Sunday, he dialled in at 12.50 for the 3rd round of qualifying, and posted a 12.833 @ 111.57 mph, to qualify in 6th place and make the show!
WB 38	saw the return of Team Twisted with a brand new engine in the “Hell's Belle” altered, a 420 ci Small Block Chevy. Driver Helen Smythe dialled in at 12.00 for a checkout pass in the first round of qualifying, and ran a 12.797 @ 87.91 mph, around 8 hundredths away from her previous PB. In the second round she kept the same Dial-in and put in another checkout pass of 12.926 at a new best speed of 112.23 mph. Happy with the way the new engine was running, crew chief and hubby Dean instructed Helen that she could use ‘full throttle’ on the next qualifier, so Helen dialled in at 11.90, with neither of them really knowing what to expect so early on. Well, Helen really went for it and blew her PB out of sight by over 3 seconds, with a stunning 9.472 @ 137.89 mph!!!!! Absolutely amazing!! This had the whole Wild Bunch buzzing with excitement! Many congratulations to the whole team on a great achievement! Fantastic! They really didn’t mind that Helen had just broken out by nearly 2 ½ seconds, nor that she had qualified in 7th place! And they didn’t even mind when they were jokingly awarded the “Cockup Trophy” Spot Prize for getting their Dial-in ‘a bit wrong’! Well done to all of Team Twisted, including Helen's Mum Christine, who was on hand to see her daughter run her first 9-second pass! (And congratulations to Dean who has just achieved his Masters in Automotive Engineering, all whilst working full time and building a great new engine!).
WB 40	Darren Law was in his first race event at Santa Pod with the gorgeous “Wicked Lady” Rear-engined dragster. He dialled in at 9.75 for his first qualifier and recorded a 10.359 @ 138.79 mph. He kept the same Dial-in for the second round and recorded an improved 10.080, also at 138 mph. For the third qualifier Sunday, he chose the same Dial, and ran his first 9-second pass at the Pod, with a strong 9.908 @ 138.58 mph to qualify in 4th place.
WB 44	Sarah Howells was running Bernie Nicholas’ “Destiny's Angel” altered for her first ever event at Santa Pod, and looking to continue her winning form from the Shakespeare Nationals. She Dialled in at 9.65 for the first round and ran a breakout 9.615 @ 136.35 mph. For the second round, she changed the Dial-in to 9.55 and recorded a good 9.573 @ 142.48 mph. She lowered the Dial-in once more for the third round, and posted a 9.587 @ 144.23 mph and qualified Number One! Way to go Sarah!
WB 57	was Neil Ward's first Wild Bunch outing of the season in his “Andromeda” slingshot after he and the team had worked hard to try to fix some niggling problems they had encountered at some earlier RWYB events in the season. Unfortunately, the car experienced a problem with a rear main oil seal, and Neil was unable to run either Saturday or Sunday. There was an up side to the weekend though, as they had the car's chassis inspected and were able to get it re-tagged, with no problems at all. So hope Neil and the team can fix the problem and be back out running some more mid 9's real soon!
Sunday (Race Day) We had started the day by having the third round of qualifying, which was a bonus, as it meant everyone had the chance of at least 2 runs on Sunday! 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 newly tarmaced pairings lanes around 12:30pm. Quarter-Finals The first run saw Sarah Howells taking a Bye run by virtue of being #1 Qualifier. She had dialled in at 9.47, just below her previous PB. She ran a 9.512 @ 143.44 mph to advance to the Semi-finals. The first race of the round saw a classic match-up with Tony Smith versus Chris Hartnell. Chris dialled in at 8.80 again, and pulled a nice wheelie and ran an awesome new Personal Best E.T. and Speed of 8.747 @ 151.08 mph (which earned Chris the “Fastest MPH” Spot Prize for the weekend)! This breakout handed the win to Tony who ran a strong 11.538 on an 11.50 Dial-in, which would have been very hard to beat, as it eventually turned out to be the “Closest to Dial-in” of the day, with just .038 off. Needless to say, Chris and the team were really chuffed to run a PB, and were ecstatic at the top end, despite not winning!! The next race saw Mike Cresswell paired up with Tony Wynne-Jones. Tony posted an 11.50 Dial-in, and ran his best run so far with the new engine, recording an 11.784 @ 113.67 mph, but Mike took the win with a good 11.599 on an 11.50 Dial-in for a very entertaining heads-up race. The third race of the round was due to be Darren Law against Helen Smythe, but unfortunately Darren could not fire the car, so Helen soloed to the win with a 9.673 on a 9.50 Dial-in, with another new Personal Best Speed of 139.69 mph, knocking on the door of those 140's! Darren was awarded the “Best Dragster/Radical” Spot Prize by the commentators for his well-turned out rail and a great appearance. Semi-Finals The first semi-final saw Mike pitted against Sarah. Sarah put a 9.50 Dial-in on the board, and promptly went out and ran a new Personal Best E.T. of 9.470! This meant Mike took the victory with a good 11.627 on his 11.50 Dial-in, to reach his first final at Santa Pod. The other semi-final saw Helen taking on Tony. Helen posted a 9.60 Dial and launched well, but got slightly out of shape, which resulted in a 10.004 @ 128.65 mph, still a great run! Tony sailed to the win with a solid 11.546 on his 11.50 Dial. Helen finished 3rd for the event and Sarah took 4th place. Well done to both of the ladies on Top 4 placings and some great mid 9-second runs! Just before the finals, Chris had been speaking to the officials and, as the event had been running so far ahead of time, they asked him if he would like to do a ‘demo’ run at around 4 o’clock with a few other racers, and to ask someone else in the Wild Bunch to pair up with him if possible. Needless to say, Chris was thrilled with the prospect, and jumped at the chance. And luckily (or unluckily!) Sarah had been knocked out in the semi-finals, so Chris asked if she would like to do the demo run too. She also jumped at the chance, and a nice heads-up race was on! Due to a bit of down time, this didn’t take place til about 20 past 5. But it was worth their wait, as Sarah ran a great 9.491 @ 144.68 mph, her fastest speed of the weekend, and Chris ran a nice wheelying 8.895 @ 149.55 mph, and both enjoyed the race immensely! And to top it all, Sarah and the team won the “Best Altered” Spot Prize for Bernie's well-maintained car, its nicely turned out appearance and a great consistent performance by Sarah over the weekend; whilst Chris won the “Best Slingshot” trophy, for his wheels-up launches, dazzling car and its great performance! Final The final saw an excellent matchup between Tony and Mike, with their Dial-ins very similar. Mike stuck with his 11.50, and Tony opted for an 11.48. This proved to be a great race from the start, as they posted reaction times within one thousandth of each other! And the race remained close til about the 1000ft mark when Mike experienced a small misfire, and recorded an 11.786, whilst Tony took the victory with an 11.555. Many congratulations to Tony, as this is the first time he has ever won an MSA event, after previously reaching 3 other finals! Fair play! And congratulations to Mike for reaching the final and providing Tony with some great competition! All in all, a great event where the weather turned in our favour. We would just like to say a really big thanks to all the hardworking marshals and officials, for all their efforts to get the track up and running on Saturday, and for the efficient way the event was run, enabling some great racing to take place. Thanks also to everyone at Santa Pod for their hospitality and making us feel really welcome! We really appreciate it! Well done to all the teams for their performances and professional appearances, and for putting on a really good show over the weekend. They all did themselves proud! We are now really looking forward to the “Nostalgia Nationals” at Shakey on 2nd & 3rd July - next weekend! Should be another great, fun event, really packed with Wild Bunch cars, and with some exciting new debuts! So hope to see loads of you there!