Spring Speed Festival

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Spring Speed Festival May 2 - 4

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Wild Bunch ResultsSpringspeed Nationals2nd - 4th May Real Steel Series Round 2. APIRA Series Round 1.

The SpringSpeed Nationals was the second event of the Wild Bunch season. It was Real Steel Series Round 2, MSA Challenge Round 2 and APIRA Series Round 1 and there was a field of 7 Wild Bunch cars competing: 3 Altereds and 4 Slingshots

Wild Bunch Points
Pos	WB	Driver/Team	Car	Points
1	44	Dave Rowlands	Destinys Angel	8
2	9	Dogs Bollocks Racing	RamRaider	6
3	142	Mike Cresswell	Living the Dream	5
4	3	Chris Hartnell	Backdraft	4
5	95	Mark Richardson	Pony Express	2
6	2	Terry Clifford	Ratcatcher Resurrection	1
-	43	Martin Holgate	Paranoia	1

SCR Points
Pos	WB	Driver/Team	Car	Points
1	9	Dogs Bollocks Racing	RamRaider	410
2	44	Dave Rowlands	Destinys Angel	360
3	3	Chris Hartnell	Backdraft	240
4	142	Mike Cresswell	Living the Dream	220
5	95	Mark Richardson	Pony Express	130
6	43	Martin Holgate	Paranoia	50
7	2	Terry Clifford	Ratcatcher Resurrection	10

Spot Prizes
	WB	Team/Driver	Car	Detail
Closest To Dial-In	44	Dave Rowlands	Destinys Angel	0.039 off
Best Reaction	95	Mark Richardson	Pony Express	0.044
Best Appearing Team	95	Mark Richardson	Pony Express
#1 Qualifier	9	Dogs Bollocks Racing	RamRaider	0.005 off
Fastest m.p.h.	3	Chris Hartnell	Backdraft	147.43

Saturday and Sunday qualifying The 7 Wild Bunch teams entered at the 3-day event hoped for better weather than at the Thunderball, so they could get a lot of qualifiers in. As it turned out, Saturday was a great day with sunny weather, and there were 4 qualifying rounds for Wild Bunch instead of the scheduled three! And then another two on the Sunday! The track was real good and three of the drivers ran PB's!
WB 2	saw Terry Clifford taking his first turn of the year in his gold Ratcatcher Resurrection slingshot, with support from an extended crew of wife Ruth, daughter Melissa and newlywed daughter Jennifer and hubby on an extended honeymoon! Terry dialled in at 10.50 for starters and ran a checkout 12.220 at 91.47 mph in the first round. He kept the Dial for the rest of the day, running an 11.507 at 120.88 mph in the second round and a much improved 10.971 at 121.69 mph in the third, sitting out the fourth run due to a hot engine. He changed the Dial-in to 10.60 on Sunday, and the run was going well until an oil line came off followed by plumes of smoke. Terry got the car safely stopped, and we all hoped he hadn’t done too much damage. He later fired the car up, after repairing the oil line, and noticed a drop in oil pressure, so decided to sit out the last qualifier. He qualified in 7th place overall.
WB 3	‘Crazy’ Chris Hartnell was fresh from the win at the Easter Thunderball and hoping Backdraft continued to run well, and pull some good wheelies. The team dialled in at 8.98, and Chris ran a promising 9.092 at 145.87 mph in the first qualifier. Keeping the Dial-in the same for the second round, Chris ran his first 8-second pass at Shakey for nearly 3 years, an 8.994 at 146.90 mph, his best speed for nearly 3 years, and close to Dial. Another 8 followed in the third round with a breakout 8.953 at 146.53 mph on the same Dial, so the team lowered it to 8.93 for the fourth round, and Chris ran an 8.997 at 146.21 mph, overall being pretty consistent on the day. For Sunday's qualifiers, the team chose 8.97 for the Dial, and Chris posted runs of 9.299 at 143.09 mph, into a sidewind, and 9.017 @ 147.43 mph, which proved to be the Fastest MPH of the event for the Wild Bunch. Chris qualified midfield in 4th place, and was really pleased with the car's performance.
WB 9	saw Ed Yates having his second consecutive turn for Team Dog's B's in the RamRaider slingshot. Ed dialled in at 9.33 for the first qualifier, and recorded a breakout 9.305 at 142.37 mph for starters. The team lowered the Dial to 9.28 for the second round, and Ed broke out again with a 9.243 at 143.49 mph. They lowered the Dial again, to 9.20, but Ed recorded a 9.602 at 114.66 mph with a slight problem at the top end. But he bounced back in the fourth round, posting a 9.379 at 142.14 mph on a 9.26 Dial. The first round on Sunday saw Ed taking the ‘#1 Qualifier’ spot with a strong 9.335 at 140.27 mph on a 9.33 Dial-in, for the second event in a row. Well done, Ed! He remained consistent in the last qualifier, posting a 9.386 on the 9.33.
WB 43	Martin Holgate was back on track for the first time this season, with his Paranoia altered. The team hoped to have tuned the engine after some progress last season, and were raring to go. Martin dialled in at 9.60 for the first round, and ran a spot-on 9.610 at 133.43 mph for starters! He then ran stronger with a 9.501at 137.82 mph on the same Dial in the second round, with the engine running well, and showing promise. He lowered the Dial for the third round, to a 9.40, but recorded a 9.866 at 133.84 mph. The team later diagnosed a broken oil seal, which unfortunately could not be repaired at the track, so the altered was sidelined for the rest of the event. Martin had qualified in 3rd place overall, and was very pleased that the engine had run so strong, and confident of fixing the car and being back out soon!
WB 44	Dave Rowlands was hoping to continue the consistency he began at the Easter Thunderball, in his Destiny's Angel altered, and looking to make up for the disappointment of not being able to start for the Final. He made an excellent start to the weekend when he ran a Personal Best E.T. of 9.508 at 143.39 mph on a 9.50 Dial in the first qualifier! He kept the Dial for the next round and posted a 9.665 at 144.59 mph, sitting out the next two rounds to adjust some minor problems. He started Sunday nearly the same way, with another massive PB of 9.402 at 144.96 mph on his 9.50 Dial. He lowered this to 9.45 for the last round, and posted a slower 9.815 at 143.33 mph. Dave qualified in 2nd place overall, and was really pleased with the car's performance.
WB 95	Mark Richardson was looking to make some strong runs in his Pony Express altered, after some tuning. He began qualifying with a 9.648 at 132.29 mph on a 9.45 Dial. He kept this for the second round and ran a new Personal Best E.T. of 9.411 at 131.59 mph in the second round! He lowered the Dial to 9.40 for the third, and posted another huge PB of 9.304 at 131.85 mph! Mark sat out the fourth round, very happy with the car's performance. He put in another tune for the morning and ran a slower 9.623 at 127 mph on a lowered 9.25 Dial, trying again in the last round and improving to a 9.537 at 127 mph. Mark qualified in 5th place overall.
WB 142	Andy Cresswell was the first driver of the season for the freQ Racing Living the Dream slingshot. This was Andy's second season of MSA Racing and he was looking forward to it. He started with a Dial of 11.60 and ran a checkout 13.130 at 82.11 mph. He improved on the same Dial in the next two rounds, recording a 12.015 at a new Personal Best Speed of 116.07 mph in the second and a breakout 11.492 at 116 mph in the third. He lowered the Dial for the fourth round to 11.45, but posted an 11.846 at 107 mph. The team raised the Dial back to 11.60 for Sunday morning, and Andy just broke out with an 11.596 at 114.99 mph, followed by a bigger breakout of 11.497 at 114 mph in the last round. He qualified in 6th place overall.
Monday (Race Day) All seven Wild Bunch cars had qualified for eliminations, though unfortunately Terry and Martin were unable to run. Monday started damp, so the new Shakey jet track dryer had to be commissioned into action. We’re sure this helped a great deal, and through the hard work of the crew, racing eventually started at quarter to 2! (Our Quarter-finals then took place at 4pm!). Quarter-Finals The first few runs saw Bye runs, with Ed taking his by virtue of being #1 Qualifier. He posted a breakout 9.382 at 142.78 mph on a 9.39 Dial. Chris then took a solo pass, as he had been due to face Terry. He dialled in at 9.00 and ran a 9.306 at 145.98 mph. Then Andy was also on a solo as his opponent should have been Martin. Andy dialled in at 11.50, and stalled off the line, recording a 20.288 at 89 mph when he re-fired. Still, he was safely through. The only pairing of the round was an excellent race with Dave taking on Mark. They decided to run ‘heads-up’, both dialling in at 9.50, and of course, they both went for it and both broke out! Dave broke out the least with a 9.478 at a new Personal Best Speed of 146.06 mph, to take the win over Mark, who really did not mind too much, as he ran an excellent new PB of 9.258 at 141.52 mph, with a “Best Reaction” of .044! Fair play! There was even more good news when Mark and Karen and team were awarded the “Best Appearing Team” by the commentators, for a well turned out car, great performance and professional appearance. Congrats to them all! Semi-finals After the quarter-finals, there was quite a long wait. Being up against squeezing a whole day into a few hours, the Shakey marshals and officials and track crew really worked hard to try to make it happen, having to face a few more short drizzle stops and an oildown late in the day at 6pm! They did exceptionally well, as they ran as much as they could until the extended curfew, and got all the Semi-finals finished by 7:15, with ours taking place at 6:45pm. The four teams in this round waited in the pairing lanes in hope, and were rewarded by the chance to run the round, which featured two great races. Chris was matched up with Dave, in a re-run of the Thunderball Final that should have been. He dialled in at 9.15 against Dave's 9.45. Chris had a two-tenths holeshot, but broke out with a 9.098 at 136.40 mph, while Dave took the victory with a “Closest to Dial-in” 9.489 at 145.28 mph. In the other Semi, Ed lowered his Dial to 9.37 to face Andy's 11.50. Ed's reaction won it for him as he recorded a 9.508 to Andy's close 11.587, with just .036 in it at the top end! This closeness to Dial earnt Andy 3rd place, to Chris’ 4th place for the weekend. Though the two drivers had progressed to the Final, time just ran out for most of the class Finals, despite the best efforts of all to try to complete the event. Such a shame as it would have been a good close race between Ed and Dave! The result was then decided on closest to Dial of the Semi-final winners, so Dave was declared the winner, with the .039 versus Ed's .138 off Dial. Congratulations to Dave on his first win of the year, and the PBs! And to all the Wild Bunch teams who really performed well early on in the season. It had been a really good event, which was so nearly completed. Huge thanks to everyone at Shakey for all their hard work and all the improvements that they have made around the track and in the organisation! Well done to them all! We are now looking forward to the first Wild Bunch round and the third Real Steel Series round of 2009, at the “Spring Nationals” at Shakey on May 16th & 17th!