Mini Showdown Weekend

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Mini Showdown Weekend July 12 - 13

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Wild Bunch ResultsBritish Mini Showdown12th - 13th July Wild Bunch Series Round 4. Real Steel Series Round 7.

This event was the British Mini Showdown RWYB at Shakespeare County, and it was the fourth round of the Wild Bunch Series, as well as Real Steel Series Round 7. There was a field of 13 Wild Bunch cars participating: 5 Altereds, 6 Slingshots and 2 Rear-engined dragsters.

Wild Bunch Points
Pos	WB	Driver/Team	Car	Points
1	6	Chris Hartnell	Backdraft	10
2	1	Tony Smith	The Cunning Plan	8
3	4	Darren Law	The Wicked Lady	7
4	17	Scot Durrant	Tiki Munki	6
5	44	Dave Rowlands	Destinys Angel	5
-	142	Mike Cresswell	Living the Dream	5
-	25	Terry Clifford	Ratcatcher Resurrection	5
-	3	Darryl Howells	Chemical Reaction II	5
-	16	Mark Hartnell	Awesome 4-Some	5
-	81	Steve Taylor	Claustrophobic	5
11	95	Mark Richardson	Pony Express	4
-	9	Dogs Bollocks Racing	RamRaider	4
13	76	Steve Field	The Black Pig	3

Spot Prizes
	WB	Team/Driver	Car	Detail
Closest To Dial-In	142	Mike Cresswell	Living the Dream	0.009 off
Best Reaction	17	Scot Durrant	Tiki Munki	0.024
Most Improved MPH	16	Mark Hartnell	Awesome 4-Some	0.23 mph
Best Altered	95	Mark Richardson	Pony Express
Best Slingshot	6	Chris Hartnell	Backdraft
Best Rear Engined Dragster	4	Dave Williams	The Wicked Lady
Best Engineered	95	Mark Richardson	Pony Express
Drivers Choice	16	Mark Hartnell	Awesome 4-Some	9.065

Saturday The day started off dry and cool and there were clouds looming round. These finally dumped their contents around 1:30pm, and though the track crew tried to dry the track in between, some more rain arrived. The track later opened for about an hour, but only for treaded-tyred vehicles, and there was later a nice Mini Showdown array of 50 Minis parked on the track up to the eighth mile! Pretty unique! This had been a practice day but most drivers only got one run in, with some not getting any at all. The evening saw the Annual Wild Bunch fancy dress party and this year the theme was Cowboys and Indians! Loads of teams took part and had a great time as the Wild Bunch pits turned into the Wild West, complete with saloons, horses, hitching posts and Wanted posters!! And the Team Twisted ‘cactus’ was a great hit! Fair play to Helen for creating it and Dean for the ideas!! Sunday (Series Points Day) Sunday's weather started off dry and sunny and turned out quite warm. The good weather remained all day, and we were able to run all 4 rounds of Wild Bunch action!
WB 1	saw Tony Smith back in the hotseat of The Cunning Plan minivan altered. Tony was not able to put in a pass on Saturday, and dialled in blind at 11.50. He started well with an 11.578 @ 112.47 mph in the first round, and followed this up with runs of 11.588, 11.583 and a slightly off-pace 11.668 in the last round. This earnt Tony 2nd place overall for the weekend, and stretched the team's overall lead in the Wild Bunch Series to 7 points! They are also now still in 4th place in the Real Steel Series.
WB 3	Darryl Howells was running the DASH Racing Chemical Reaction slingshot, and only made one pass on the Saturday, backing off to a 13-second run. Darryl dialled in at 10.20 for the rounds on Sunday, and began with a 10.648 in the first round. He then ran a closer 10.394 in the second, a 10.448 in the third and a 10.599 @ 130.43 mph, saving his fastest speed for last round! Darryl finished in 7th place overall.
WB 4	Darren Law was back in The Wicked Lady rear-engined dragster, and the team were raring to go. Darren put in one run on Saturday, also having to back off, to a 12-second pass. The team debated the Dial-in and decided on 9.54. In the first round, Darren recorded a 9.628 @ 143.37 mph, and then a strong 9.398 @ 143.49 mph in the second round. He posted a 9.598 in the third and a 9.721 in the fourth, peppering shots all round the Dial! Darren and the team were very pleased to finish in 3rd place overall, and win the Best Dragster/Radical Spot Prize to boot. This also meant that Darren has stretched his lead in the Real Steel Series and moved up into 4th place in the Wild Bunch Series.
WB 6	‘Crazy’ Chris Hartnell had repaired the coupler shaft between events, and was happy with the recent form in the Backdraft slingshot. He made one run on Saturday of 9.303 @ 141.46 mph. The team dialled in at 9.20 for Sunday's rounds and Chris never went slower, recording passes of 9.163, 9.051 @ 143.75 mph (low E.T. and top mph for the Bunch for the weekend), 9.147 and 9.088. This consistency earned him the win, his first in RWYB format for some time! And he was also awarded the Best Slingshot Spot Prize by the commentators, to top off a great weekend! Well done, Chris! This meant Chris moved back up into 3rd place in the Real Steel Series after this result.
WB 9	saw Andy Gosling with another turn in the RamRaider slingshot, after his great runs at the Nostalgia Nationals. He did not make a pass which would dial the car in on the Saturday, and dialled in blind at 9.11 for Sunday's rounds. He started the day with a 9.417 @ 131.21 mph, and then made off pace runs of 9.704 @ 120 mph, and 9.833 @ 127 mph, before sitting out the last round. Hopefully this will only turn out to be a minor problem.
WB 16	Mark Hartnell was back in his Awesome 4-Some slingshot, after rebuilding his gearbox, which broke at a Test and Tune in the middle of May. Mark was hoping to pick up where he left off, and start tuning the car. But the car would not fire up first thing on the Saturday, and a failed ignition module turned out to be the cause. Luckily fellow Pinto campaigner Scot Durrant had a spare points distributor and coil (many thanks Scottie!) and Mark was back in action, and put in one run that day, recording a 14.507 @ 77.23 mph, with some minor problems, which he sorted out later that afternoon. He dialled in at 12.42 for Sunday's rounds, and began with a 13.069 @ 104.59 mph, launching too hard and bouncing. He then put in a better run of 12.594 @ 105 mph in the second round, and really got close to Dial in the third and fourth, posting a 12.454 and a 12.433 at a new Personal Best Speed of 107.05 mph, close to Dial-in and finishing in 6th place overall. Mark was the only driver to improve on his previous best speed, by just .23 of a mph, and so won the Most Improved MPH Spot Prize. He also won the Driver's Choice award voted for by all the drivers attending, so had a great day!
WB 17	Scot Durrant was running the Tiki Munki Pinto-powered Ruby-bodied altered. He made just one run on the Saturday, of 14.3 seconds, and dialled in at 14.05 for Sunday's rounds, predicting an improvement. He began with a 14.114 @ 89.40 mph in the first round, with a Best Reaction of .024, and followed this with an off pace 14.381 in the second round. He improved again to runs of 14.136 and 14.217 @ 90 mph in the third and fourth rounds, and this earned him 4th place overall, keeping him in 2nd place in the Wild Bunch Series and extending the gap to 3rd by one more point.
WB 25	Terry Clifford was back out with his Ratcatcher Resurrection slingshot. He did not make a run on the Saturday, and the team chose a Dial-in of 10.18 for Sunday's rounds. Terry began the day with an off-pace 10.751 @ 129.04 mph. He then improved in the second and third rounds with passes of 10.425 and 10.320. But in the fourth round, the car did not fire straight away, though it made it on the second time of asking, and Terry managed to make the round, albeit with a troubled 11.952 @ 92 mph, but this meant he made it to 8th place overall.
WB 44	Dave Rowlands was back out in the Destiny's Angel altered, and made one run on the Saturday, of 10.1 seconds. The team correctly predicted the car would run better on the Sunday and dialled in at 9.80 for the rounds. Dave started off with a great 9.859 @ 142.87 mph, and followed this with a 9.904 in the second round. He then ran a 10.156 in the third round, which put him out of contention for the top 4, though a better 9.943 @ 143.66 mph in the fourth round meant that he finished just outside the points in 5th place overall. This means that Dave is still in 2nd place in the Real Steel Series, and 3rd in the Wild Bunch Series, and doing well for his first full season with the Bunch!
WB 76	Steve Field was back in The Black Pig altered, and did not make a pass on the Saturday. He and Lesley dialled in blind at 10.05 for Sunday, and unfortunately got shut down on the line with a suspected leak in the first round. Steve quickly fixed the problem and bounced back in the second round, with a great run of 9.819 @ 137.46 mph. He then posted an off pace 10.244 in the third round, and could not make a pass in the fourth, suspecting a problem. Hopefully Steve can fix this soon and be back out real quick.
WB 81	saw the first track action of the year for Steve ‘Jacko’ Taylor in his Claustraphobic Rear-engined dragster. He did not make a run on the Saturday, and spent the day fixing some minor problems. Steve dialled in at 13.10 for Sunday, and made all the rounds, posting runs of 15.017, 16.405, 16.174 @ 84.59 mph and a troubled 33.201, to finish in 10th place overall. Steve enjoyed a rare match race with fellow rear-engined dragster driver Darren Law, during the rounds.
WB 95	Mark Richardson was back in the hotseat of his Pony Express altered. He and Karen dialled in at 9.75 for the rounds on Sunday, and started very well with a 9.727 @ 129.50 mph in the first round. He followed this with a 9.920 @ 135.76 mph in the second round and another very close 9.774 in the third. Things were looking good until Mark discovered that the gearbox had broken on the last run! Such a shame, as he had looked very good for a Top 4 finish! Hope he can get the box fixed quickly and be back out real soon! There was some consolation in that the car won Spot Prizes for Best Engineered, chosen by the scrutineer, and Best Altered, chosen by the commentators! Fair play, Mark!
WB 142	saw Mike Cresswell taking the sole driving role for the weekend in the Living the Dream slingshot. Mikey put in a pass of 11.93 on the Saturday, and thought the car would improve with the Sunday conditions, so dialled in at 11.56 for the rounds. Unfortunately, the car lost fire after the launch in the first round, though once re-fired, Mike completed the run to a 25-second total, @ 114 mph. He then put in a solid run of 11.712 in the second round. But the real improvements came in the third and fourth when he posted 11.545 and 11.551, both at 118 mph. The last run earned him the Closest to Dial-in Spot Prize, being just 9 thousandths off the Dial. The first run was a real shame as Mikey would have been in with a great chance of a Top 4 if he had not lost fire, but as it turned out he finished 9th overall. Still, the team were happy with the performance in the later rounds, and the Spot Prize!
It was a good weekend, where we were lucky with the weather overall, and managed to complete four rounds again. Thanks very much to all Shakey for their hard work. We are now looking forward to the “York Summer Showdown” on 2nd & 3rd August at York! This will be Wild Bunch Series Round 5 and Real Steel Series Round 8.