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Summer Nationals June 14 - 15
Wild Bunch ResultsSummer Nationals14th - 15th June
Real Steel Series Round 5.
Roy Wilding Nostalgia Race Cars Series Round 1.
This event was the fifth round of our Real Steel Series, and the first round of the Roy Wilding Nostalgia Race Cars Series, the “Summer Nationals” at Santa Pod Raceway, and the third of our MSA rounds. There was a field of 9 Wild Bunch cars competing at the event: 3 Altereds, 5 Slingshots and 1 Rear-engined dragster.
| Wild Bunch Points | ||||
| Pos | WB | Driver/Team | Car | Points |
| 1 | 4 | Darren Law | The Wicked Lady | 10 |
| 2 | 44 | Dave Rowlands | Destinys Angel | 8 |
| 3 | 3 | Darryl Howells | Chemical Reaction II | 5 |
| 4 | 25 | Terry Clifford | Ratcatcher Resurrection | 4 |
| 5 | 95 | Mark Richardson | Pony Express | 3 |
| 6 | 6 | Chris Hartnell | Backdraft | 2 |
| - | 142 | Mike Cresswell | Living the Dream | 2 |
| 8 | 9 | Dogs Bollocks Racing | RamRaider | 1 |
| - | 43 | Martin Holgate | Paranoia | 1 |
| MSA Event Points | ||||
| Pos | WB | Driver/Team | Car | Points |
| 1 | 4 | Darren Law | The Wicked Lady | 730 |
| 2 | 44 | Dave Rowlands | Destinys Angel | 470 |
| 3 | 3 | Darryl Howells | Chemical Reaction II | 340 |
| 4 | 95 | Mark Richardson | Pony Express | 260 |
| 5 | 25 | Terry Clifford | Ratcatcher Resurrection | 210 |
| 6 | 142 | Mike Cresswell | Living the Dream | 150 |
| 7 | 6 | Chris Hartnell | Backdraft | 120 |
| 8 | 43 | Martin Holgate | Paranoia | 80 |
| 9 | 9 | Dogs Bollocks Racing | RamRaider | 30 |
| Spot Prizes | ||||
| WB | Team/Driver | Car | Detail | |
| Closest to Dial-In | 44 | Dave Rowlands | Destinys Angel | .026 off |
| Best Reaction | 4 | Darren Law | The Wicked Lady | 0.171 |
| #1 Qualifier | 4 | Darren Law | The Wicked Lady | 0.039 off |
| Quickest ET | 6 | Chris Hartnell | Backdraft | 9.231 |
| Best Appearing Car & Team | 142 | Mike Cresswell | Living the Dream | |
| Saturday This was a qualifying day and there were scheduled to be 2 qualifiers. The day started cloudy and cool, and remained dry during the day. There was some rain at the end of the day, but this was after racing had finished. All of the drivers did both scheduled qualifiers. | |
| WB 3 | Darryl Howells was back in the DASH Racing Chemical Reaction slingshot. He was hoping to get a handle on the injection setup. For the first qualifier, he dialled in at 10.50, and ran an 11.331 @ 117.97 mph. He raised the dial for the second round to 11.22 and posted an 11.375 @ 116.78 mph, and qualified in 6th place overall. |
| WB 4 | Darren Law was making his fifth appearance of 2008 with The Wicked Lady Rear-engined dragster. He began with a conservative Dial-in of 9.70 and broke out with a good 9.463 @ 142.92 mph. The team lowered the Dial to 9.45 for the second qualifier, and ran a good 9.489 @ 142.92 mph, again! This earnt him the #1 Qualifiying spot, for the second time this year!! |
| WB 6 | ‘Crazy’ Chris Hartnell was also in his fifth event of the season, and the team were really thrilled to be there after some major thrashing since the damage at the last event. Chris had taken the car up to Roy's the previous weekend and together they built a new front end, and front axle! Chris finished the rebuild the following week and had the car in the trailer by the Wednesday! Chris would like to say huge thanks to Roy for all his help, and for fitting him into the workshop so quickly! For the first qualifier on Saturday, Chris dialled in at 9.20, and ran a 10.120 @ 137.66 mph, with some minor adjustments to do. He kept the same dial for the second qualifier, and was really chuffed to breakout, with a 9.132 @ 141.54 mph, his quickest run for over a year! (And the Quickest E.T. of the weekend for the Bunch. This meant he was qualified in 8th place overall. |
| WB 9 | saw Ed Yates back in the RamRaider slingshot of Team Dog's B's. He also posted a 9.20 dial, and ran well with a 9.360 @ 143.34 mph. The team left the dial the same for the second round, but Ed experienced a drive problem after the launch, and coasted through to a 25-second pass, qualifying in 7th overall. |
| WB 25 | Terry Clifford had done a bit of tuning in the Ratcatcher Resurrection slingshot, and dialled in at 10.30 for the first round of qualifying. He broke out by just 8 thousandths, recording a 10.292 @ a new Personal Best Speed of 129.04 mph. He then lowered the Dial-in again for the second round, to a 10.15, and broke out with a new Personal Best E.T. of 10.143 @ 126.82 mph, and just 7 thousandths under Dial and qualifying in 9th place. |
| WB 43 | Martin Holgate had quickly rebuilt from the damage to the Paranoia engine at the June Shootout, so we were glad to see him back. He dialled in at 9.90 for the first round, and ran a solid 9.946 @ 108.65 mph, which put him on top after that round. He lowered the Dial-in to 9.80 on the second round, and recorded a 9.852 @ 122.03 mph, and finished in 2nd place overall. |
| WB 44 | was Dave Rowlands in his third MSA event with Destiny's Angel. He posted a good 9.759 @ 138.93 mph on a 9.70 Dial in the first qualifier. He kept the same Dial, and ran an off pace 11.454 in the second round, and finished in 3rd place overall. |
| WB 95 | Mark Richardson was running his Pony Express altered for his third MSA event. He began with a Dial of 9.60 and ran a 9.781 @ 130.28 mph. He raised the Dial to 9.70 for the next round and ran a 9.805 to qualify in 4th place. |
| WB 142 | Andy Cresswell was running the FreQ Racing Living the Dream slingshot, and doing his licencing runs for his MSA licence. He gave a great account of himself, running a nice half pass in the first round, of 13.902 @ 64 mph, handling the car well. On his second pass, he dialled in at 11.42 and ran 11.573 @ 112.21 mph and qualified in 5th place overall on his first attempt, and achieved his licence, at the tender age of just 20! Well done, Andy! And to top it all, the team won the Best Appearing Car and Team award, chosen by the commentators. Fair play! |
| Sunday (Race Day) Round 1 Sunday started off nice and dry, and stayed that way all day, with some cloud cover. There were due to be 4 good races in the first round of eliminations, with a bye for Darren Law. He dialled in at 9.45, and went straight out and ran a new Personal Best E.T. of 9.346 @ 143.35 mph, which remained the fastest speed for the Bunch for the weekend. In his first ever competition race, Andy Cresswell broke out on his 11.55 dial, recording an 11.475 @ 113.84 mph, leaving Terry Clifford to take the win with a 10.416 @ 127 mph on a 10.10 Dial. Dave Rowlands was due to face Ed Yates, and had dialled in at 9.70, but Ed lost drive again after the burnout, and Dave soloed to a10.198 @ 124.21 mph to advance to the next round. Darryl Howells should have been racing Martin Holgate, but unfortunately Martin's starter motor packed up after the last run Saturday, and he was unable to repair it. Darryl took the single with an 11.329 on an 11.22 Dial. Chris Hartnell was matched with Mark Richardson, and in a close race, they both broke out, with Mark breaking out the least (.006) with a 9.744 on a 9.75, to Chris’ 9.187 on a 9.20 (.013)! Quarter-finals This round saw Darryl with the Bye, and he posted an 11.484 on an 11.30 Dial to progress to the semis. There was another close race between Terry and Dave, with Terry carding a strong 10.179 on his 10.10, but being beaten by Dave's “Closest to Dial-in” of 9.726 on a 9.70. This was also a new Personal Best E.T. for Dave! It was an all Riot Racing affair in the other race of the round, with Darren posting a 9.441 on a 9.30 to defeat Mark's 9.941 on a 9.73. Semi-finals This time, Dave took the Bye with another good run of 9.792 on the 9.70 Dial. Darren was due to have faced Darryl, but unfortunately “Chemical Reaction” would not fire in the pairings lanes, so Darren took a solo in style, recording a massive new PB of 9.215 @ 142.43 mph, which is also a best ever E.T. for “The Wicked Lady”! Final This then set up a re-match of the Easter Thunderball, with Dave dialling in at 9.70 and Darren 9.20. Darren left it til this round to record the “Best Reaction” of .171, and took the holeshot win with a 9.389 to Dave's good 9.769. Many congratulations to Darren and the whole Wicked Lady team on an excellent weekend throughout: #1 Qualifier, PB's and the event win! What a way to celebrate a special birthday! Fair play! This had been Round 5 of our Real Steel Series and Darren has increased his lead to 12 points! He is also leading the Roy Wilding Nostalgia Race Cars Series after this first round. Congratulations to all the Wild Bunch racers who put on a good show. The Wild Bunch teams would like to thank the track crew and marshals for all their hard work over the weekend. During the weekend three drivers had run Personal Best E.T.'s and 1 ran a Personal Best Speed. The weather was also good both days, we were able to run all 4 rounds of eliminations, and had a great weekend! We are now looking forward to the third Wild Bunch Series round, which will be the third Wild Bunch Series round, the sixth Real Steel Series round and second Roy Wilding Nostalgia Race Cars Series Round of 2008, the “Nostalgia Nationals” at Shakey on 28th & 29th June! | |