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Open Sports Nationals August 25 - 27
Open Sports Nationals25th - 27th AugustPoints awarded for the APIRA Series Round 2, Real Steel Series Round 9 and Roy Wilding Nostalgia Race Cars Series Round 4.
This event was at Shakespeare County Raceway, the Open Sports Nationals. It was Real Steel Series Round 9, and Roy Wilding Nostalgia Race Cars Series Round 4 (Final), and the Finals of the 2-round APIRA Series. There was a field of 9 Wild Bunch cars competing: 6 Slingshots, 2 Altereds and 1 Rear-engined dragster
| Event Participants | ||||
| Position | WB | Driver | Car | Points |
| 1 | 2 | Roy Wilding | Chariot of Fire | 10 |
| 2 | 25 | Terry Clifford | Ratcatcher Resurrection | 8 |
| 3 | 67 | Darryl Howells | Chemical Reaction II | 6 |
| 4 | 9 | Dogs Bollocks Racing | RamRaider | 4 |
| 5 | 34 | Alec Coe & Kev Mortimer | Shy Talker | 3 |
| 6 | 6 | Chris Hartnell | Backdraft | 2 |
| - | 54 | Phil Sweeney | Bone Idle | 2 |
| 8 | 40 | Darren Law | The Wicked Lady | 1 |
| - | 57 | Neil Ward | Andromeda | 1 |
| Spot Prizes | ||||
| WB | Team/Driver | Car | Detail | |
| #1 Qualifier | 67 | Darryl Howells | Chemical Reaction | .034 Off |
| Best Reaction | 2 | Roy Wilding | Chariot Of Fire | .120 |
| Closest To Dial-In | 2 | Roy Wilding | Chariot Of Fire | .049 Off |
| Fastest Mph | 34 | Alec Coe | Shy Talker | 158.01 Mph |
| Best Appearing Car & Team | 6 | C & C Drag Racing Team | Backdraft | |
| Saturday & Sunday qualifying Saturday was a qualifying day and there were scheduled to be 3 qualifiers. The day started off warm and sunny, and racing began at 9:30 am. The Wild Bunch got all three qualifying rounds in, and everyone was safely qualified. Sunday started off warm and sunny again! There were scheduled to be 3 qualifiers again, but time ran out for most classes to complete the third cycle and we only had 2 qualifiers during the day. | |
| WB 2 | Roy Wilding was back out in his Chariot of Fire altered. His first Dial-in was an 11.39, and he ran a tentative 11.581 against this. He raised his Dial to 11.45, and promptly broke out with an 11.282 @ 119 mph. He lowered the Dial to 11.28, and ran an 11.339, which eventually earned him 3rd place overall for qualifying. On the fourth round Sunday, he dialled in at 11.38, and broke out with an 11.333, and then lowered this to an 11.33 Dial-in. He broke out on that, recording a new Personal Best E.T. of 11.224, so was very pleased with how the altered was running. |
| WB 6 | ‘Crazy’ Chris Hartnell was hoping for some good wheels-up runs with the Backdraft slingshot! On the first round Chris posted a 10.141 on a 9.61 Dial-in. He raised the Dial to 9.81 for the second round and recorded a 10.155 @ 125.69 mph, which put him in 6th place overall at the end of qualifying. Going on the previous runs, he Dialled in at 10.11 for the third qualifier, but broke out with a nice wheels-up 9.755 @ 130 mph! He lowered the Dial-in to 9.72 on Sunday, and ran an off-pace 10.424, followed by a 10.518 on a 9.92 Dial-in. A timing problem was diagnosed, but the sixth qualifier never came to test the change, so Chris would have to Dial in blind on Monday. |
| WB 9 | was Ed Yates’ turn again in the RamRaider slingshot of Team Dog's B's. The team dialled in at 9.36 for the opening qualifier, and Ed ran a good 9.278 @ 143 mph. They lowered the Dial to 9.25 for the next qualifier, and Ed ran quicker again, with a 9.223. Once again the Dial-in was lowered to a 9.15, and Ed posted a 9.267 on this. On Sunday morning, the team set the Dial at 9.25 and again Ed bettered this with a 9.214! For the last qualifier, the Dial was lowered back down to a 9.21 and Ed recorded a 9.319, which earned him 4th place overall. The car was running very consistently, to within a tenth, so the team were hopeful for Monday's rounds. |
| WB 25 | Terry Clifford was back out in his Ratcatcher Resurrection slingshot. Terry started off with an optimistic Dial-in of 10.20, and was very pleasantly surprised with a new Personal Best E.T. of 10.243 @ 126.31 mph, shaving 3½ tenths off his old PB. This was also a new Personal Best Speed, and good enough for temporary top spot at that point. For the second qualifier, the team kept the Dial-in at 10.20 and were thrilled to run another new PB at 10.195, again at 126 mph. The Dial was duly lowered for the third qualifier, to a 10.18, and Terry ran a 10.287. The Dial was raised slightly on Sunday morning to a 10.19, and Terry posted a now off-pace 10.434. In the fifth round, he ran a 10.380 on the 10.19 Dial, and finished in 2nd place overall. |
| WB 34 | was the third event of the season for Alec Coe and Kev Mortimer's Shy Talker slingshot, and they were still in tuning mode. Unfortunately, the team did not make the first qualifier, with some tuning problems, but came out for the second round where Alec recorded a 9.692 on an 8.50 Dial-in, to get a safe qualifier in. The team missed out on the 3rd qualifier, and unfortunately the 4th on Sunday morning, when a puncture was discovered in a rear slick, just as the tune-up was sounding more promising in the pits! Luckily they got this fixed and Alec shaved 4 more tenths off, posting a 9.215 on an 8.50 Dial-in, to qualify in 9th place overall. This was the best run so far with the new engine and the team were happy to be making some progress, and hoped for even better in the first round of eliminations on Monday. |
| WB 40 | Darren Law was raring to go and the team were hoping for good numbers with The Wicked Lady Rear-engined dragster. They started off with a Dial-in of 10.20, and Darren ran a 10.697 @ 123 mph for his opening bid. They kept the same Dial for the next two rounds and Darren posted a 10.755 in the second qualifier, and a hugely encouraging breakout of 9.879 @ 139 mph in the third! They were very pleased to be back in the 9's! They lowered the Dial-in on Sunday morning to a 9.85 and were even more thrilled to breakout with Darren running a new Personal Best ET of 9.478 @ 141.31 mph! The Dial-in was lowered to 9.45 for the last qualifier, but sadly on the burnout, the output shaft broke, sidelining the car for the rest of the day! Darren qualified in 8th place overall, and the team were really chuffed with the 9.4. They made enquiries to see if the shaft could be fixed or a replacement found, but to no avail, so sadly they were unable to take part in the eliminations. The team is sure to have this fixed soon, and hope to be back out for the National Finals and repeat the new found good form! Best of luck to them! |
| WB 54 | Phil Sweeney was in his first MSA event with his new Bone Idle altered. He had not been able to make a pass at the first event he took the car to, the Mini Nationals, as he had spent a lot of the Saturday in the pits tuning, and the rest of the event was rained off! So, not knowing what the car would run, Phil posted a Dial-in of 9.8. He and the team were absolutely over the moon when the first run netted a fantastic PB of 8.628 @ 151.35 mph!! Straight into the 8's! Fair play Phil! Congratulations on such a great debut run! The rest of the day was spent in the pits after they found that the fuel pump had seized! Luckily they caught this in time and several teams came to their aid with a spare pump, regulator and fuel lines! Phil was back out on Sunday morning and recorded an 8.739 @ 149 mph on an 8.90 Dial-in. He lowered this to an 8.65 for the last round and ran a 9.083 @ 147 mph, to qualify in 7th place overall. |
| WB 57 | was Neil Ward and crew with the Andromeda slingshot. They dialled in at just under Neil's PB, with an 8.87, and were hoping to sort out the nitrous gremlins they had recently been encountering. Neil posted a 9.301 @ 145 mph in the first qualifier, and a better 9.143 in the second. The team sat out the third qualifier, making some modifications, but came back out on the Sunday morning with a 9.218 in the fourth round. The fifth round saw Neil running a better 9.125 @ 145.85 mph, and this put him in 5th place overall. The team investigated further as to why the car was not running as quick as they hoped, and later found that some valve springs were broken, so sadly they were unable to take further part in the event. They plan to have an off-season strip down and rebuild and are sure to come back out next year running back into the 8's. |
| WB 67 | was Darryl Howells in the DASH Racing Chemical Reaction slingshot, and he was still hoping for his first 9-second pass with the car. He started off with a Dial-in of 10.30, and recorded a 10.381 @ 133 mph in the first round. He kept this Dial for the second qualifier and posted a great 10.096 @ 134.36 mph, so close to his personal best! Darryl lowered the Dial-in to 10.00 even for the third qualifier and posted a 10.198. He then raised the Dial to a 10.15 and ran a great 10.184 @ 134 mph, to take #1 Qualifying Spot! He backed this up with another strong 10.136 on a 10.10 Dial-in in the fifth round! Fair play, Dar! |
| Monday (Eliminations) All 9 Wild Bunch cars had qualified for eliminations and there were due to be 4 good races, between Ed and Darren, Chris and Terry, Roy and Phil and Neil and Alec, and a Bye for Darryl. Round 1 This was the first time this season that we had a four-round field of cars at an MSA event. Unfortunately, Darren and the team had been unable to repair the damage to the dragster, so this left Ed with a Bye run. He posted a 9.303 on a 9.21 to go through to the next round. The first matchup saw Roy facing Phil. Roy dialled in at 11.30 and Phil opted for an 8.65. Phil was pretty close to Dial, considering it was only his fourth pass in the car, and he recorded an 8.831 @ 148.65. Roy was closer, with an 11.349, and took the win to advance to the Quarter finals. This proved to be the Closest to Dial-in of the day, so Roy was pleased with that Spot Prize. Alec also ended up on a Bye, as Neil was broken, and he posted the 8.50 Dial-in again. Unfortunately, there was a small mishap when he went to change gear, and the fuel was accidentally shut off, and the chute popped! Alec ran through with a 14.952 and was very lucky to move on to the next round! The next race was a close one with Chris dialling in at 9.91 and Terry chosing a 10.20. This time, Terry got the holeshot on Chris, and ran a 10.418, whilst Chris recorded a 10.119. At the top end, there was only .080 in it, and Terry progressed to the Quarter finals with this reaction time win. The commentators awarded Chris and the team the Best Appearing Car and Team Spot prize for their smart appearance over the weekend. Darryl's Bye run saw him posting a 10.300 @ 129 mph on a 10.10 Dial-in to move safely forwards to the next round. Quarter-FinalsIn this round, there were due to be two good races and a Bye run for Terry. The first race, saw Roy matched up with Alec. Roy Dialled in at 11.30, and Alec 8.50, hoping to go for it and record a better E.T. Alec did just that posting a breakout 8.429 @ 158.01 mph, the best the car has run so far with the new engine, and earning the Fastest MPH of the weekend Spot Prize. In the other lane, Roy also brokeout with an 11.263, but advanced to the Semi-finals by virtue of a smaller breakout. The next pairing saw Ed facing Darryl. Ed posted a 9.30 Dial, whilst Darryl opted for a 10.24. Unfortunately, Darryl had a problem bogging on the line, and also accidentally knocked the ignition off, and cruised through with a 12.472. Luckily for him, Ed brokeout, with a 9.247, and Darryl took the win to progress to the Semis. Darryl was awarded the Cockup Trophy for that one! Ed took 4th place by virtue of being the closest to Dial-in of the Runners-up in the round. Terry took his Bye run, recording a 10.304 on a 10.20 to move on to the Semis. Semi-finalsRoy had a Bye in this round, and he just staged on an 11.30 Dial, and reversed back, to make it to the Final. Next up was the only race in the Semis, with Terry matched up with Darryl. Darryl ran a 10.197 on a 10.24, breaking out and handing the win to Terry, who ran a 10.337 on a 10.20 Dial to gain a place in his second final this year. Darryl took 3rd place at the event, and was pretty pleased with the performance of his slingshot. FinalThe final saw some confusion on the startline, as both drivers staged before the Dial-ins appeared on the timing boards. The Dial-ins came up after Roy reversed and re-staged and the race was on. Terry recorded a 10.333 @ 119 mph on his 10.20 Dial, whilst Roy posted an 11.308 on an 11.24 Dial. This time Roy got the holeshot, with a .120 reaction which earned him the Best Reaction Spot Prize for the day, and he also took the victory. Congratulations to him and the whole team! It had been a really good event, and all the teams enjoyed it, especially the great weather! Huge thanks to all the track crew, marshals and officials and Race Director and organisers for all their hard work. Well done to them all! Darryl has now won the Roy Wilding Nostalgia Race Cars Series, with Chris Runner-up, Terry in third place, and Roy himself in fourth! Congratulations to Darryl for his first ever Series win, and to all the other place winners!! Roy has now won the APIRA Series with Terry Runner-up so congratulations to them for their result! Well done to all the winners and all the Wild Bunch racers who put on a really good show! Darryl is also still leading the Real Steel Series, with Chris in second place, and they are both guaranteed a Top 2 finish, with one event to go, but there are 6 teams still in the running for 3rd and 4th places, so there will be hot competition at the finals! We are now looking forward to the Finals of the Wild Bunch Series and Real Steel Series, at the UK Sportsman | |