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Sportsman National Finals September 29 - 30
Fall Nationals - Sportsman Finals 200729th - 30th SeptemberPoints awarded for the Wild Bunch Series Round 6 and Real Steel Series Round 10.
This event was the Wild Bunch Fall Nationals at the UK Sportsman National Finals at Santa Pod Raceway. It was Wild Bunch Series Round 6 (Final) and Real Steel Series Round 10 (Final) and there was a field of 7 Wild Bunch cars competing: 4 Slingshots, 2 Altereds and 1 Rear-engined dragster.
| Event Participants | ||||
| Position | WB | Driver | Car | Points |
| 1 | 40 | Darren Law | The Wicked Lady | 9 |
| 2 | 67 | Darryl Howells | Chemical Reaction II | 7 |
| 3 | 25 | Terry Clifford | Ratcatcher Resurrection | 5 |
| 4 | 54 | Phil Sweeney | Bone Idle | 4 |
| 5 | 52 | Ant Harris | Frantic | 2 |
| - | 6 | Chris Hartnell | Backdraft | 2 |
| - | 9 | Dogs Bollocks Racing | RamRaider | 2 |
| Spot Prizes | ||||
| WB | Team/Driver | Car | Detail | |
| #1 Qualifier | 54 | Phil Sweeney | Bone Idle | .029 Off |
| Best Reaction | 54 | Phil Sweeney | Bone Idle | .143 |
| Closest To Dial-In | 25 | Terry Clifford | Ratcatcher Resurrection | .006 Off |
| Quickest E.T. | 54 | Phil Sweeney | Bone Idle | 8.494 |
| Best Appearing Car | 52 | Ant Harris | Frantic | |
| Best Appearing Team | 6 | C&C Drag Racing Team | Backdraft | |
| Saturday This was a qualifying day and there were scheduled to be 3 qualifiers. It had rained a lot on the Friday, and early Saturday, and the day started off cool and cloudy. Although the track crews were out around 6am, they had to battle with water seeping back up through the track, and racing did not begin until noon. We got our first round of qualifying at about 4:30pm, after a difficult day of incidents that the track crew had to deal with. At this point, only 6 of the 7 cars were safely qualified. We were on tenterhooks and about to be called down for our second qualifier, around 8pm, when the Race Director had to call a halt to the day's runs due to the cold track. We were all disappointed not to get a night run, but conditions were deteriorating, so we were not able to run. This meant a fairly early start on Sunday for what was due to be the second and final qualifier. Sunday Sunday started off cool and cloudy again, and improved throughout the day. There was a bit of a delay to the start of qualifying, but we got our second round at around 10:30am. Our first eliminations took place around 3pm. | |
| WB 6 | ‘Crazy’ Chris Hartnell had changed the rear axle gearing in the Backdraft slingshot, and son Mark had just rewired the whole car, so the team were hoping for some stronger runs at this event. Chris started off with a Dial-in of 9.25 and posted a 9.615 @ 133.06 mph, for his opening bid. He made an adjustment to the fuel setup for the second qualifier and recorded a 9.737 @ 132.74 mph on a 9.45 Dial and finished in 6th place overall in qualifying. |
| WB 9 | saw Ed Yates back in the hotseat of the RamRaider slingshot of Team Dog's B's. The team dialled in at 9.12, for the opening qualifier, and Ed posted a 10.022 @ 141.06 mph. They raised the Dial slightly to a 9.22, and Ed posted a strong 9.256 @ 142.07 mph to qualify in second place. |
| WB 25 | Terry Clifford was back out in his Ratcatcher Resurrection slingshot, after his Runner-up finish at the Open Sports Nationals at Shakey. Terry dialled in with a 10.20 and disappointingly the car did not fire for the first round! The team had to wait until the following morning to see if they could make the show, and thankfully they did, with Terry recording a 10.372 on the 10.20 Dial, to qualify in 4th place overall. |
| WB 40 | Darren Law and the team were raring to go after a recent return to form with The Wicked Lady Rear-engined dragster, where Darren ran a PB, only to see the output shaft then break. The team had fixed this, and started off with a Dial-in of 9.45, and Darren ran a good 9.705 @ 132.34 mph, to take the temporary top spot after the first round. They kept the Dial for the second round, and Darren posted a 9.951 @ 141.08 mph, and finished in 5th place for qualifying. |
| WB 52 | was Ant Harris and crew back out with the Frantic altered. Ant was currently in 2nd place in the Wild Bunch Series, and he was looking to see if he could take the title from current holders Tony Smith and Dave Williams who were again leading with The Cunning Plan altered. Ant began with a Dial-in of 9.80 and opened his account with a 9.615 @ 136.41 mph on his first run. For the second qualifier, the Dial-in was changed to a 9.50 and Ant lost fire after the launch and had to be pushed back. With the breakout pass, he qualified in 7th place overall. |
| WB 54 | Phil Sweeney was in his third Wild Bunch event with his new Bone Idle altered. He had made a brilliant track debut at the Open Sports Nationals, and has been running regular mid 8's since then. Phil posted a Dial-in of 8.63 for his first qualifier, and ran a new Personal Best E.T. of 8.535 @ 150.46 mph. The team lowered this for the second round, and Phil ran another PB with an 8.529 on an 8.50 Dial-in to take the #1 Qualifier spot. |
| WB 67 | was Darryl Howells in the DASH Racing Chemical Reaction slingshot, and he had recently run his first ever 9-second passes with the car. Darryl came into the event leading the Real Steel Series, and was keen to hold on to this lead, after recently securing his first ever Series win in the Roy Wilding Nostalgia Race Cars Series. He started off with a Dial-in of 10.30, and recorded a 10.204 @ 133.24 mph. He lowered the Dial to a 10.10 for the second round, and recorded a better 10.182 @ 132.30 mph, to finish in 3rd place overall in the qualifying. |
| We are now looking forward to the Finals of the Wild Bunch Series and Real Steel Series, at the UK Sportsman Sunday (Eliminations) All 7 Wild Bunch cars had qualified for eliminations and there were due to be 3 good races, between Chris and Darryl, Ed and Darren and Terry and Ant, and a Bye for Phil Sweeney in the first round. Quarter-Finals The first race saw Ed paired with Darren. Ed dialled in at 9.22 but had a troubled run with the slingshot, carding an 11.803. Darren ran real close to his 9.45 Dial, recording a new Personal Best E.T. of 9.464 to take the win, and advance to the Semis. The next race saw Darryl matched up with Chris. Darryl posted a Dial-in of 10.10, whilst Chris opted for a 9.60. Darryl took the Reaction advantage by a tenth and ran a 10.140 to take the win over Chris’ 9.812. The commentators awarded Chris, Claire and Mark of C&C Drag Racing Team the “Best Appearing Team” award for their teamwear and teamwork. The next pairing saw Terry facing Ant. Terry dialled in at 10.20 and ran a 10.332, defeating Ant who ran an off-pace 10.001 on his 9.65 Dial-in. There was some consolation for Ant, as the commentators awarded him and the team the “Best Appearing Car” prize for the well-turned out “Frantic” altered. Phil had the luxury of a Bye run by being #1 Qualifier, and he set a Dial-in of 8.50. He posted the “Best Reaction” of the day, with a .143 and promptly broke out on his Dial, recording a Personal Best E.T. of 8.494 at a Personal Best Speed of 152.40 mph. This also won him the “Quickest E.T.” of the Bunch for the weekend, and the whole team were chuffed with the car's performance. Semi-finals There were two great races in this round. Darryl posted another good 10.151 on a 10.10 Dial-in to take the victory over a redlighting Phil, who recorded an 8.789 on an 8.50 Dial. The other semi saw Darren having the edge on the Reaction time with a .210 to a .523. Darren ran a 9.626 on a 9.45 Dial, whilst Terry ran a great 10.286 on a 10.28 Dial. Darren took the win by virtue of the holeshot, and advanced to the Final! Terry's run proved to be the “Closest to Dial-in” of the day, just .006 off, and he was pleased to win that Prize! Terry also took 3rd place by virtue of being the closest to Dial-in without breaking out in this round, so Phil finished in 4th place. Final The final saw another great race between Darren and Darryl, with Darren again having the better reaction, with a .165 to a .277. Darren ran a consistent 9.623 on his 9.45 Dial, with a new Personal Best Speed of 144.27 mph. Darryl gave him a great race with a 10.200 on his 10.10 Dial-in to finish only .039 behind him. Darren took his first ever MSA victory and the whole team were over the moon! Many congratulations to them all! Fair play! All in all, a great event for the Finals! Huge thanks to all the track crew for trying so hard to get racing going and keep it going on the Saturday, despite several problems. And many thanks to all the marshals and officials and Race Director for their hard work. Cheers to commentators John and Tog and thanks to the whole of the eurodragster team for the great coverage! And thanks to everyone at Santa Pod for making us so welcome! Big congratulations to Tony Smith and Dave Williams, who have won the Wild Bunch Series and retained the title, and to Ant Harris who finished Runner-up. Congratulations to first timers in the Top 4, Darryl Howells in 3rd place and Darren Law in 4th place! Darryl has now won the Real Steel Series, with Chris Runner-up, and Terry in 3rd and Tony & Dave in 4th place. Well done to all the Wild Bunch racers who gave a great account of themselves this weekend, and well done to each and every one of the 30 Wild Bunch teams who took part in 2007. We are now looking forward to the Annual Wild Bunch Prize Presentation and Dinner Dance at Drayton Manor on the 24th November. It should be another great night where we will celebrate all our winners! | |