Spring Nationals - Wild Bunch

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Spring Nationals April 19 - 20

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Wild Bunch ResultsSpring Nationals19th - 20th April Wild Bunch Series Round 1. Real Steel Series Round 2.

This event was the “Spring Nationals” RWYB at Shakespeare County, and it was the first round of the Wild Bunch Series, as well as Real Steel Series Round 2. There was a field of 11 Wild Bunch cars participating: 5 Altereds, 5 Slingshots and 1 Rear-engine dragster.

Event Participants
Pos	WB	Driver/Team	Car	Points
1	1	Tony Smith	The Cunning Plan	1
-	4	Darren Law	The Wicked Lady	1
-	6	Chris Hartnell	Backdraft	1
-	9	Dogs Bollocks Racing	RamRaider	1
-	16	Mark Hartnell	Awesome 4-Some	1
-	17	Gina Rumble	Tiki Munki	1
-	44	Dave Rowlands	Destinys Angel	1
-	76	Steve Field	The Black Pig	1
-	78	Keith Crampton	Soultown Shaker	1
-	95	Mark Richardson	Pony Express	1
-	142	Mike Cresswell	Living the Dream	1

NO ROUNDS WERE HELD DUE TO COLD TRACK AND DAMP AIR

Spot Prizes
	WB	Team/Driver	Car	Detail
NO SPOT PRIZES WERE AWARDED DUE TO NO ROUNDS BEING HELD

Saturday The day started off cool and cloudy, and remained that way for most of the day, until very light spotting drizzle stopped play at about quarter to 2. This never amounted to much, but was enough to keep the track too damp to run on, and with the cold there was not much chance of drying. This was a practice day and most drivers got in one or more runs, with one getting in three. Sunday (Series Points Day) Sunday's weather started off very damp and cold, with very low cloud and moisture in the air. And although the track dried sufficiently to allow treaded-tyred vehicles, it never became dry or warm enough for slick-tyred vehicles, so we were not able to run any rounds. This was a great shame, as we had all been looking forward to this first Wild Bunch round. Let's hope the weather improves!
WB 1	was the first Wild Bunch appearance of the year for 2007 winners Tony Smith and Dave Williams in The Cunning Plan minivan altered. Last season's special Halloween paint work was still on the car, pending the arrival of better spraying weather! Tony was due to be the driver this weekend, though he was unable to make a run on the Saturday, due to officiating commitments. Tony dialled in blind at 11.50 for Sunday, and who would have bet against him being far off that!
WB 4	saw the second WB event of the season for Darren Law in The Wicked Lady rear-engined dragster. Darren made 2 passes Saturday, and had a problem with an errant transbrake on the first run, carding a 10.870 @ 124.30 mph. Unfortunately he did not record a time on the second run due to a staging problem. The team dialled in at 9.62 for the rounds.
WB 6	‘Crazy’ Chris Hartnell was keen to put in some more improved runs in the Backdraft slingshot, after an encouraging start in the cold and windy conditions at Santa Pod at Easter. On Saturday, he put in a run of 9.907 @ 138.74 mph. Chris dialled in at 9.80 for the rounds on Sunday, anticipating the track to still be cold that day.
WB 9	saw Ray Ford back in the hotseat of the RamRaider slingshot of Team Dog's B's, for his first WB event of the year. He started Saturday with a 9.703 @ 139.61 mph, which proved to be the quickest and fastest run for the Bunch that day. The team dialled in at 9.50, hoping to go a little quicker.
WB 16	saw the return of Mark Hartnell in the Awesome 4-Some slingshot. He had last raced at York in 2007, where he destroyed his clutch. Prior to this he had installed a new Pinto/Cosworth hybrid engine in the car, and made a lot of upgrades to other equipment, including rear wheels. He had been at the previous Shakey test and tune two weeks earlier, and had weathered the snow to put in 6 test runs, including a couple of 12.4's. He paired up with Dad Chris for his first run Saturday, and seemed to bog off the line, recording an 18-second pass at 91 mph. Closer inspection at the top end revealed a broken half shaft! Mark then drove the round trip home to Bristol to collect a spare, and fitted this by about 4pm, only for the rain to put paid to the chance of a test run. Mark has high hopes for the new engine, once he gets a tuneup in it. Mark dialled in at 12.20 for Sunday.
WB 17	saw the debut of Scottie Durrant and Gina Rumble's new Austin Ruby body on their Tiki Munki Pinto-powered altered. The car looked great in this new guise, and Scottie was eager to test it out. He made three passes on the Saturday beginning with a checkout pass of 15.680 @ 63 mph, testing the handling, which proved to be really good. He then improved to a 15.010 @ 81.16 mph, followed by a 14.830 @ 81.55 mph, new personal bests with the new heavier body. Scottie dialled in at 14.90 for Sunday.
WB 44	saw the third event of the year for Dave Rowlands in the Destiny's Angel altered, fresh from his first Final appearance in his first ever MSA event at the Easter Thunderball. He put in a pass of 12 seconds at 121 mph, and dialled in at 10.00 even for the Sunday.
WB 76	Steve Field was in his first appearance of the season in The Black Pig altered. He made a few final touches to the car, after the winter layoff, but unfortunately ran out of time before the rain arrived! Lesley dialled him in at 10.05 for the rounds on Sunday.
WB 78	was newcomer Keith Crampton with the Soultown Shaker slingshot. Keith had bought the car last year and had extensive chassis work and other modifications done to bring the car up to MSA spec. He also had a bright orange paint job, and some fancy lettering and graphics, and the car looked really great! Keith and his crew made some test fireups and checks on the Saturday and Sunday morning and dialled in blind at 16.00 seconds even. They felt that they needed to do some more tweaks before debuting the car, so we hope to see Keith out on track real soon. Welcome to the Wild Bunch Keith!
WB 95	saw Mark Richardson in his second event of the year with the great-looking Pony Express altered. Mark made a couple of runs on Saturday, including a 10.792 @ 123.39 mph and a 10.864 @122.49 mph, pretty consistent in the conditions! Mark dialled in at 10.75 for Sunday and this looked promising.
WB 142	was Mike Cresswell making a welcome return with his Living the Dream slingshot. After a few winter layoff teething troubles in the pits, Mike recorded a pass of 11.973 @ 111.47 mph. He dialled in at 11.20.
It had been a bit of a frustrating event with the weather, especially as there were glimmers of hope. Thanks very much to all the hard working marshals and officials at Shakey for their efforts. We are now looking forward to the 3-day “Spring Speed Festival” MSA event on the May Day Bank Holiday, once again at Shakespeare County Raceway! This will be Real Steel Series Round 3.