Spring Speed Festival

2008 Index

Select another 2008 event

Spring Speed Festival May 3 - 5

Previous Event Next Event

Wild Bunch ResultsSpring Speed Festival3rd - 5th May Real Steel Series Round 3. APIRA Series Round 1.

This event was the third round of our Real Steel Series, the Spring Speed Festival at Shakespeare County Raceway, and the first of two rounds of the APIRA Series. There was a field of 9 Wild Bunch cars competing at the 3-day event: 3 Altereds, 5 Slingshots and 1 Rear-engined dragster, and the way we were pitted meant that 7 of the cars were all displayed in a line - they looked terrific!

Real Steel Points
Pos	WB	Driver/Team	Car	Points
1	9	Dogs Bollocks Racing	RamRaider	8
2	6	Chris Hartnell	Backdraft	6
3	95	Mark Richardson	Pony Express	5
4	4	Darren Law	The Wicked Lady	4
5	54	Phil Sweeney	Bone Idle	3
6	3	Darryl Howells	Chemical Reaction II	2
-	25	Terry Clifford	Ratcatcher Resurrection	2
-	44	Dave Rowlands	Destinys Angel	2
-	78	Keith Crampton	Soultown Shaker	2

APIRA Series Points
Pos	WB	Driver/Team	Car	Points
1	9	Dogs Bollocks Racing	RamRaider	380
2	95	Mark Richardson	Pony Express	370
3	6	Chris Hartnell	Backdraft	360
4	4	Darren Law	The Wicked Lady	330
5	54	Phil Sweeney	Bone Idle	250
6	25	Terry Clifford	Ratcatcher Resurrection	140
7	78	Keith Crampton	Soultown Shaker	130
8	3	Darryl Howells	Chemical Reaction II	120
9	44	Dave Rowlands	Destinys Angel	110

Spot Prizes
	WB	Team/Driver	Car	Detail
#1 Qualifier	4	Darren Law	The Wicked Lady	0.014
Best Reaction	54	Phil Sweeney	Bone Idle	0.221
Closest to Dial-In	54	Phil Sweeney	Bone Idle	.055 off
Fastest MPH of the event	54	Phil Sweeney	Bone Idle	149.76 mph
Best Appearing Car & Team	78	Keith Crampton	Soultown Shaker

Saturday & Sunday Qualifying These were qualifying days and there were scheduled to be 3 qualifiers on Saturday and 3 more on Sunday. The weather was somewhat cloudy throughout the day, and we were able to complete two rounds of qualifying, and were queued up for the third when Kev Slyfield's Pro Mod hit the tree and the guardrail. Luckily Kev was unhurt and we would like to wish him well for the rebuild and hope the damage is not too extensive! There was quite a big clearup and that was it for the day, so we knew we would be one of the first classes out on the Sunday. Luckily, all 9 Wild Bunchers had safely qualified at this point. Sunday dawned cloudy again, and there was scattered rain throughout the day which the track crew worked hard to clear up. There was an unfortunate incident when the jet track dryer had a small crash. Fortunately nobody was hurt, and the crew set about modifying the truck to get it back into action. We were finally called down around 4:15pm, and were about 5 minutes away from the track being open, when drizzle started to fall again. This turned into a light shower, and at this late stage in the day, the organisers were forced to call a halt to the day, without a wheel being turned. Such a shame, despite all of the crews’ best efforts – thanks to them for trying to get the action rolling! This meant that we would be straight into eliminations on the Monday. Sample Title Paragraph text. Paragraph text. Paragraph text. Paragraph text. Paragraph text.
WB 3	Darryl Howells was back in the DASH Racing Chemical Reaction II slingshot, after the damage sustained at the Easter Thunderball incident. Darryl and Sarah would like to thank the Dog's Bollocks team and Zane Llewellyn of Zannetec for all their help with the rebuild and to all the Wild Bunchers who contributed to help them get back on track quickly. It was great to see the car back in the pits! Darryl was initially hoping to just get down the track, and spent some of Saturday morning making checks and firing up to check the new fuel system. He missed the first qualifier, but made it out for the second, dialling in at 10.91 as a guess. He made a nice steady checkout pass of 13.243 @ 106.12 mph, just testing some of the new parts, and was very pleased to be safely qualified in 8th overall. Fair play, Darryl!
WB 4	Darren Law was making his third appearance of 2008 with The Wicked Lady Rear-engined dragster, and came into the event with the Real Steel points lead. He started off with a Dial-in of 9.54, and ran an excellent 9.554 @ 142.52 mph, just .014 off the Dial and good enough to take and keep the #1 Qualifier Spot for the rest of qualifying. On his second run, Darren again dialled in at 9.54 and had a problem with the transbrake, which meant the beams were tripped at the wrong time, and Darren did not get a time. Still, his first run put him in a strong position, and the team were happy with that!
WB 6	‘Crazy’ Chris Hartnell was also in his third WB event of the season in the Backdraft slingshot, and was hoping for some more good wheelies, following an encouraging performance at the Easter Thunderball. The team dialled in at 9.30 for the first qualifier and Chris posted a 9.654 @ 141.74 mph. On the second run, Chris kept the Dial-in and launched with a great wheelie, still recording a 9.284 @ 142.46 mph, breaking out. Chris and the team did not mind at all as the car has run well. Chris finished the qualifying in 4th place overall.
WB 9	saw Ed Yates taking his second turn of the season in the RamRaider slingshot of Team Dog's B's. The team dialled in at 9.43 for starters, and Ed ran a breakout 9.387 @ 142.61 mph. Again, the team were quite pleased with this performance, and lowered the dial to 9.23 for the second qualifier. This proved to be a good move, as Ed recorded a 9.263 @ 144.85 mph, getting his near his best ever speed. Ed qualified in 2nd place with this run, and was very pleased with this.
WB 25	Terry Clifford had also rebuilt from the damage sustained at the Easter Thunderball, and it was great to see him and Ruth back out with the golden Ratcatcher Resurrection slingshot. Terry and Ruth arrived on the Saturday morning, and though they unloaded quickly and got scrutineered, just missed out on the first round. Terry dialled in at 10.28 for the second round, and ran his first pass of the year, posting a 10.871 @ 114.46 mph, and qualifying in 6th place overall. Not bad at all for a straight-off-the-trailer run! Well done to them for all their hard work!
WB 44	was Dave Rowlands in his third event of the year driving Destiny's Angel. This was Dave's second MSA event and he had made it to the final on his first! Dave dialled in for the first qualifier, but had a problem and could not make the run. He came back out for the second qualifier and dialled in at 9.80, and went straight out and ran a new Personal Best E.T. and speed of 9.l750 @ 144.41 mph! Well done, Dave! Although he qualified 9th overall, Dave did not mind at all with such a great run!
WB 54	Phil Sweeney was in his first event of 2008 with his Bone Idle altered, hoping to pick up where he left off last season. He dialled in at 8.80 for the first run, and ran a 9.340 @ 136.37 mph, so some re-adjustment was needed by him and the crew! He came back out with the same Dial-in for the second qualifier, and posted a 9.219 @ 142.62 mph on this run, to qualify right in the middle at 5th place. Not bad, with no practice to date this season!
WB 78	Keith Crampton was in his first MSA event with the Wild Bunch in his beautifully finished Soultown Shaker slingshot. To this point, he had not even had the chance to make a pass, as the previous event had been rained off! Keith was also doing his licensing runs, so hoped to gain his licence during the qualifying. He dialled in at 14.00 seconds even as a shot in the dark for his first run, and recorded a 15.486 @ 76.02 mph checkout pass. He lowered the Dial to 13.50 for the second qualifier and ran a much better 12.987 @ 93.54 mph, beginning to get a handle on the car, and qualifying in 7th place in his first ever attempt.
WB 95	Mark Richardson was in his second ever MSA event with his Pony Express altered. He dialled in at a conservative 10.10 for the first round, and surprised himself with a strong 9.737 @ 130.35 mph! He then lowered the Dial-in to 9.60 and ran a 9.953 @ 132.40 mph, which was good enough to earn him 3rd place overall.
Monday (Race Day) Monday started off with a rain shower overnight, and rain in the early morning and the sky was heavy with clouds. This did not stop completely until about 11:30am, and the track crew then worked really hard to turn the track around, and racing started at about 2:20pm! By then we were all raring to go, but had to wait until just after 5pm for our first round!! Round 1 There were due to be 4 good races and a Bye run in this round, so we were all looking forward to it! Darren Law had the Bye run as he was #1 Qualifier, and he recorded a 10.396 @ 139.08 mph, redlighting on his 9.54 Dial due to problems with the transbrake. But he was safely through! The first pairing saw Darryl Howells in only his second run of the year facing ‘Crazy’ Chris Hartnell. Darryl dialled in at 10.10 and recorded a good 11.603 @ 120.98 mph, still learning the new setup, whilst Chris advanced to the Quarter finals with a backing-off 9.389 @ 130.50 mph on his 9.20 Dial-in. There was another ‘all slingshot’ matchup with Ed Yates versus Terry Clifford. Ed ran a slowing 9.453 on a 9.23 Dial-in to take the win over Terry's 10.859 on his 10.40 Dial-in, which had been really consistent over his only two runs of the year! There was another good pairing of like-bodied cars when Dave Rowlands took on Phil Sweeney in an ‘all T-bodied altered’ matchup. Dave posted a 9.65 Dial-in and red-lit, carding a 10.415 @ 128.91 mph to hand the win to Phil, who had the “Best Reaction” of the day with a .221, and who had now found his old form, recording a strong 8.655 @ 128.56 mph on an 8.60 Dial, also the ‘Closest to Dial-in’ of the day. The last pairing saw newcomer Keith in his first ever race recording a new Personal Best E.T. and mph of 12.520 @ 108.42 mph on an 11.90 Dial against winner Mark Richardson who posted a 9.911 @ 118.12 mph on a 9.60 Dial-in. Keith was awarded the “Best Appearing Car and Team” by the commentators who unanimously voted for the ‘new little slingshot with the pie crust wheels’! Well done Keith - welcome to the Bunch! Quarter-Finals We were later called down to the Quarter-finals which took place at about 10 to 7!! The fire-up road then closed whilst we were waiting for the round. This time, it was Ed Yates with the Bye run and he recorded a good 9.307 @ 142.05 mph on the 9.23 Dial-in. The first pairing of the round saw Chris and Darren paired up for a re-match of the Easter Thunderball Semi-finals. Chris reversed the fortunes of that race and took the victory with a 9.386 @ 140.32 mph on his 9.20 Dial over Darren's 9.856 @ 131.79 mph on his 9.54 Dial-in, in a good-looking race. The other pairing of the round proved to be an exciting race between Phil and Mark, with Phil breaking out on his 8.58 Dial with an 8.563 @ 149.76 mph, the “Fastest MPH” for the Bunch for the weekend. Mark also broke out on his 9.60 Dial-in, by just one thousandth, recording a new Personal Best E.T. of 9.599 @ 132.08 mph, to take the win due to the lesser breakout! Nice race, guys! Semi-finals Unfortunately, due to the lateness of the hour, time ran out for everyone, and we could not run the Semi-finals. This was a great shame, as the weather was now good, and we would have seen a great matchup between Chris and Ed, and a strong Bye run from Mark, whose car is running really well. Many thanks to the event organisers for getting as much racing done as possible and allowing us to get as far as we did into the eliminations, and to the track crew for making it possible for any eliminations at all to take place! Well done to everyone, and huge thanks for all your efforts! Because we did not complete all the rounds, the results were based on ‘closest to Dial-in’ (without breaking out) of the quarter-finals winners, and 4th place was also awarded by this method. The event had been good despite the weather, so it was a shame that eliminations had to be concluded early. During the weekend 3 drivers ran Personal Best E.T.'s and 2 ran Personal Best Speeds, so well done to them. This had been Round 3 of our Real Steel Series and after this event, Darren Law is still in the lead, with Chris Hartnell now in 2nd place. Congratulations to all the Wild Bunch racers who did themselves proud, especially with such a great display of cars in the pit lineup. The Wild Bunch teams would like to thank the track crew and marshals and officials for all their efforts in trying to dry up the track and give us some racing! We are now looking forward to the second Wild Bunch Series round, which will be the fourth Real Steel Series round of 2008, the “June Shootout” at Shakey on 31st May and 1st June!