2006 Index
Select another 2006 event

Ultimate Power Series Shakespeare Nationals April 29 - 30

Previous Event Next Event
Shakespeare Nationals29th April - 30th AprilPoints awarded for the Ultimare Power Series Round 2 and Real Steel Series Round 2
This event was Ultimate Power Series Round 2, the “Shakespeare Nationals”, also Real Steel Series Round 2. It was the third MSA event in April this year so quite a hectic start to the season for many drivers! There was a field of 7 Wild Bunch cars competing: 2 Altereds, 4 Slingshots & 1 Rear-engine dragster
Ultimate Power Series Points
Position WB Driver Car Points
1 3 Helen Smythe Hell's Belle 610
2 44 Sarah Howells Destinys Angel 360
3 54 Phil Sweeney Antisocial 250
4 9 Ed Yates RamRaider 210
5 40 Darren Law Wicked Lady 130
6 57 Neil Ward Andromeda 120
7 4 Chris Hartnell Backdraft 40
Real Steel Series Points
Position WB Driver Car Points
1 3 Helen Smythe Hell's Belle 9
2 44 Sarah Howells Destinys Angel 7
3 54 Phil Sweeney Antisocial 5
4 9 Ed Yates RamRaider 4
5 40 Darren Law Wicked Lady 2
- 57 Neil Ward Andromeda 2
7 4 Chris Hartnell Backdraft 1
Spot Prizes
WBTeam/DriverCarDetail
#1 Qualifier 3 Helen Smythe Hell's Belle .024
Fastest Mph 44 Sarah Howells Destiny's Angel .046
Closest To Dial-In 44 Sarah Howells Destiny's Angel .060 Off
Best Altered 3 Helen Smythe Hell's Belle
Best Slingshot 9 Ed Yates Ramraider
Best Radical/Dragster 40 Darren Law The Wicked Lady
Saturday. This was a qualifying day and there were scheduled to be 3 qualifying rounds. The day started off cloudy and cool, and remained that way for most of the day. Racing started at 9:30am and carried on until 6:30pm when they completed the fifth cycle of qualifying (which didn’t start until about 5:20pm!!) Most drivers completed 3 or 4 qualifiers, with Phil Sweeney being the only driver to run all five.
WB 3 was Helen Smythe in her third outing of 2006 in the “Hell's Belle” altered. She Dialled in at 9.70 for her first round and ran a 10.140 @ 107.18 mph, a bit off pace, due to a slight spray of oil at the top end!! The team quickly traced the problem, and although they sat out the second round fixing it, they came back in the third and Helen ran a storming 9.724 @ 133.90 mph, on a 9.70 Dial, to take #1 Qualifier! And although she was off the pace again with a 10.156 in the fourth qualifier, she bounced back again with a 9.900 on a 9.70 in the fifth.
WB 4 ‘Crazy’ Chris Hartnell was also in his third event of the year with the “Backdraft” slingshot. He Dialled in at 8.90 for the first qualifier to get a banker in, and recorded a 9.367 @ 139.91 mph. Then, in the second qualifier where he dialled in at 9.10, he performed the burnout with no problems but on launching something let go, and the engine was up on the rev limiter, and Chris immediately pulled over to the side of the track. On returning to the pits, Chris removed the prop shaft cover and discovered a broken male pinion coupler. This was not fixable at the track, and although he had qualified in 4th place overall, he could take no further part in the weekend. Hope Chris can get that fixed real soon and be back out racing at the American Car World Nationals!
WB 9 saw Ed Yates having his third turn of the season in the “RamRaider” slingshot of Team Dog's B's, fresh from some low 10-second passes at the Pod. For the first qualifier, he dialled in at a hopeful 9.80. The team had made some experimental tuning changes, and Ed recorded an 11.147 @ 120.30 mph. They made other changes for the second and third qualifiers and ran 11.452 and 13.718, skipped the fourth round and came back out for the fifth, but recorded a slower 19-second pass. Ed qualified in 7th place overall, and the team worked on the tuning for race-day, trying to get a handle on the fuel injection system.
WB 40 Darren Law was eager to repeat the consistency that gave him a win at the Thunderball with “The Wicked Lady” rear-engine dragster (even though the semis and the finals had not been run, he took the victory in Wild Bunch as he had been closest to Dial-in of the four Semi-finalists). He dialled in at 11.15 for the first round, and ran his first 10-second pass of the season, with a 10.954 @ 124.74 mph. Unfortunately, after this, the team discovered a bent push rod, but luckily there was no other damage and they were able to replace it and join back in with the third round, where Darren ran a tentative 11.480 @ 127.43 mph. In the fourth qualifier, he recorded his best E.T. of the weekend, with a 10.663 on a 10.00 Dial-in, which eventually earnt him the 5th place qualifying spot. The team were happy with this and sat out the last qualifier.
WB 44 Sarah Howells was back in the hotseat of the “Destiny's Angel” altered of team Evolution Racing, and she had a narrow lead in the Ultimate Power Series by virtue of being #1 Qualifier at the ‘Power Nationals’. She Dialled in at 9.65 for the first round and went out and ran a 9.696 @ 141.13 mph, to go straight into the Number 1 qualifying spot, which she held til round 3 when Helen took over #1 Qualifier. In the second round, she kept the same Dial-in and ran 9.764 @ 143.08 mph, and then a better 9.632 in the third round. She lowered the Dial to a 9.62 and ran a 9.733 in the fourth qualifier.
WB 54 Phil Sweeney was in his second event of the year with the new Rover engine in his “Antisocial” slingshot. He started off with a Dial-in of 11.98, and posted a 12.756 to open his account. He raised the Dial to 12.55 for the second round and ran a new PB of 12.346. He lowered his Dial-in again to a 12.40 and ran another PB of 12.275 @ 108.89 mph, a new best speed. For the fourth round, he lowered the Dial yet again to 12.28 and ran a new Personal Best E.T. of 12.220! He used this as his Dial for the fifth qualifier, and ran a 12.515, which moved him up the order and he finished in 3rd place overall.
WB 57 Neil Ward was in his first event of 2006 in the “Andromeda” slingshot. Neil had gotten down to the 9.0's on his last outing and the whole team were eager to run that first 8-second pass!! He dialled in at 10.00 for round one, without the nitrous on, and ran an 11.100. The team made some adjustments and dialled in at 9.60 for the second qualifier and ran a 10.731. They kept this Dial-in for the third and fourth qualifiers and ran a better 10.664 in the third, and then a way better 9.555 @ 138.92 mph in the fourth, and didn’t mind the breakout!! Neil qualified in 6th place overall, and the team contemplated turning on the gas for the following day!
Sunday (Race Day) It had rained early in the morning and the day dawned cloudy and cool. The wet track first thing meant the start got delayed til noon, but things went well and all eliminations were completed before 5:30pm. All 7 Wild Bunch cars had qualified for race-day, but with “Backdraft” sidelined, this meant 2 races and 2 Byes.

Quarter-Finals The first pairing saw Phil facing Neil. This turned out to be a battle of the breakouts with Neil recording an excellent 9.352 on a 9.45 Dial-in, still without gas, whilst Phil went through to the next round with a lesser breakout of 12.307 on a 12.35 Dial. The next race would have seen ‘Crazy’ Chris taking on Ed, but Ed ended up with a Bye run, and dialled in at 9.80, and just went for it. He recorded his first ever 9-second pass, with a 9.964 @ 138.29 mph! Well done, Ed, and congratulations to the whole team on this achievement! The other race of the round was Darren against Sarah, and Darren dialled in at 10.30, also hoping for a quick run. He was somewhat off the pace, registering an 11.225, whilst Sarah advanced to the Semis with a “Closest to Dial-in” of 9.660 on a 9.60 Dial. Darren and the team were very pleased to be awarded the “Best Radical/Dragster” Spot Prize by the commentary team for their well turned out rear-engine dragster, which had been back in the 10's over the weekend. Rounding off the quarter-finals was Helen Smythe with a Bye run, by virtue of being Number 1 Qualifier. She posted a 9.907 @ 133.84 mph on a 9.80 Dial-in.

Semi-finals In the Semis, Helen took on Phil who, despite a good reaction of .071, faltered off the line, running a 12.697 on a 12.25 Dial-in, handing the win to Helen who ran a 9.946 on a 9.80 Dial-in. Phil did however run his best ever speed in this round, with a 109.56 mph on his top end charge. In the other race, Ed was matched with Sarah, and this was an exciting race, with Ed breaking out by just one thousandth of a second, running a new Personal Best E.T. of 9.899 on a 9.90 Dial! This was also a Team Dog's B's best ever E.T. in any of their cars, so congratulations to Ed and the whole team. This meant Sarah took the victory with a 9.714 on a 9.60 Dial. Ed was awarded the “Best Slingshot” Spot Prize by the commentary team for his first 9's, and great appearance of the car, and the whole team were chuffed with the performance. Phil finished in 3rd place by being closer to Dial-in (without breaking out) whilst Ed took 4th place for the second event in a row.

Final Because of the dry weather, Sunday saw the first Final run in the 3 April events, and it was an all-girl affair with Helen and Sarah vying for the title. Sarah dialled in at 9.63 and broke out with a strong 9.595 @ 142.65 mph, the “Fastest MPH” of the weekend for the Wild Bunch. Whilst in the other lane, Helen recorded her second 9.907 of the day (!) on her 9.80 dial-in to take her first ever event win! Many congratulations, Helen and Dean! They were also very pleased as Team Twisted took home the “Best Altered” Spot Prize for their consistent performance and well turned out purple car!

It had been a good event where we were lucky with the weather! Thanks again to all the very hard working marshals and officials for their efforts which enabled five qualifiers to take place on Saturday, and the completion of all finals on Sunday. Well done to them all! We are now looking forward to the first Wild Bunch Series round of 2006, at the American Car World Nationals at Shakey on 13th & 14th May. There should be a big field of Wild Bunch for that one, with some drivers making their first appearance of the season!