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Spring Nationals May 16 - 17
Wild Bunch ResultsSpring Nationals16th - 17th May
Wild Bunch Series Round 1.
Real Steel Series Round 3.
The Spring Nationals was the third event of the WB season. It was the first round of the Wild Bunch Series and Real Steel Series Round 3, and there was a field of 9 Wild Bunch cars participating:5 Altereds and 4 Slingshots
| Wild Bunch Points | ||||
| Pos | WB | Driver/Team | Car | Points |
| 1 | 4 | Gina Rumble | Tiki Munki | 7 |
| 2 | 142 | Mike Cresswell | Living the Dream | 5 |
| 3 | 16 | Mark Hartnell | Awesome 4-Some | 4 |
| 4 | 3 | Chris Hartnell | Backdraft | 3 |
| 5 | 11 | Dave Williams | Green With Envy | 2 |
| - | 44 | Dave Rowlands | Destinys Angel | 2 |
| - | 52 | Ant Harris | Frantic | 2 |
| 8 | 9 | Dogs Bollocks Racing | RamRaider | 1 |
| - | 99 | Adz Price | Go Hard or Go Home | 1 |
| Spot Prizes | ||||
| WB | Team/Driver | Car | Detail | |
| Closest To Dial-In | 4 | Gina Rumble | Tiki Munki | 0.050 off |
| Best Reaction | 3 | Chris Hartnell | Backdraft | 0.188 |
| Best Altered | 99 | Adz Price | Go Hard or Go Home | |
| Best Slingshot | 3 | Chris Hartnell | Backdraft | |
| Quickest ET | 3 | Chris Hartnell | Backdraft | 9.345 |
| Best Burnout | 52 | Ant Harris | Frantic | |
| The weather forecast was not very good for the weekend, and we are sure this put some teams off from taking part. As it turned out, the rain came after the first pair of street cars at 10am Saturday, and was intermittent throughout the day, with no more than about an hour of track time. So only 4 of the drivers were able to make a run each. Wild Bunch member Nigel Lane in the “Azbo” slingshot was there testing on the Saturday and got one run in of 10.454 at 123 mph. Steve Taylor was also there with his newly flame-painted “Claustrophobic” rear-engined dragster, but did not get a run, and had tyre problems, so did not run on the Sunday.
Sunday dawned with lovely sunny weather, but this came to an abrupt end with a heavy shower around 9:30am. The rain was off and on again, and the clouds hung around, but eventually there was a weather window, and the Wild Bunch joined the queue around 1pm, when the track opened. Luckily, the drivers taking part in the round just managed to get a run in before the rain came back. This got heavy again and stuck around til around 3pm. By then the track was too wet to dry in time, before curfew, so that was it for the day after just 45 minutes of racing. Well done to the Shakey crew for getting in as much racing as they did, which enabled us to get one round in. | |
| WB 3 | ‘Crazy’ Chris Hartnell was in his third event of the season with the Backdraft slingshot. He was in second place in the Real Steel Series, just one point behind Dave Rowlands. He joined the queue early on Saturday, and at one point was 3 pairs from running before a rain shower. Then half an hour later he did a burnout, only to be shut down for rain spots. On the restart, he ran a 9.409 at 146.36 mph, paired up with son Mark. On Sunday, he dialled in at 9.10, and again paired up with Mark. He ran a 9.345 at 144.35 mph, and on this run won the Best Reaction of the Bunch with a .188, and Quickest E.T. of the weekend Spot Prizes. He was also awarded the Best Slingshot prize by the commentators, and finished in 4th place for the event. |
| WB 4 | Gina Rumble was in her first event of the year in the GAS Racing Tiki Munki altered. It was her first drive for around 18 months, after taking a year off whilst she had son Beau, who came to the track with his Mum and Dad for the first time at the age of 7 months. It was also Gina's first drive with the Ruby body on the car, so quite different to the last time she drove it. She had queued up on the Saturday, but the rain stopped the day before she could run, so she had to Dial in blind on Sunday, and chose a 14.50. She picked a good one, as she ran a 14.550 at 90.19 mph! And this earnt her not only Closest to Dial-in for the day, but her first ever event win!! Fair play, Gina! Congrats! |
| WB 9 | saw Ray Ford in his first turn of the season in the Team Dog's B's RamRaider slingshot. Ray got in the queue quite early Saturday and this paid off as he made a pass of 9.387 at 144.41 mph. The team dialled in at 9.38 for Sunday, but due to the poor weather all of the morning and the dark imminent clouds, they decided to call it a day, thinking it would not improve, so missed the round. |
| WB 11 | saw Dave Williams in his first Wild Bunch event with his new Green with Envy altered (he had acquired the car from Roy Wilding last season, and had been out at one or two test sessions, but had not made a pass so far. Dave now has a nice cockpit logo on the car, and lime green teamwear for the crew. He queued up Saturday, but he was another driver whose day was thwarted by rain. The team dialled in blind at 11.90, and Dave made his first complete pass, with a 13.250 at 97.10 mph. He’ll be sure to get a handle on it soon, once he has made some more passes. |
| WB 16 | Mark Hartnell was back for his first event of the season in his Awesome 4-Some slingshot, hoping to pick up where he left off last year, with 11-second runs. He started the weekend with problems with his newly boxed trailer, and had to limp into the pits with a bent axle. He ran against Dad Chris on the Saturday, with a 12.665 at 107.42 mph. He thought the car would run better on the Sunday, so dialled in at 12.16 for the round. He posted a 12.393 at 106.61 mph, which earnt him 3rd place overall for the weekend. |
| WB 44 | Dave Rowlands was also in his third event of the season with his Destiny's Angel altered, and he was leading the Real Steel Series by one point over Chris. He queued up on the Saturday, but did not get a run. So he dialled in blind on Sunday, with a 9.47. Dave recorded a 9.799 at 142.18 mph, and finished in 5th place overall for the weekend. He is still leading the Real Steel Series, but now on equal points with Chris. |
| WB 52 | Ant Harris was in his first event this year with his Frantic altered. He had taken a year out in 2008, sourcing parts and waiting for them, and fine tuning things on the car. He was fixing his starter solenoid in the pits Saturday morning, which delayed him getting to the queue, so unfortunately he did not get a run that day. So he had to dial in blind for his first run since a checkout pass last November at the Pod. He chose a 9.80 for the Dial, and put in a strong burnout. But when he backed up, he had a small fire in the scoop, which was quickly put out. The crew checked things and gave him the thumbs up, and he made a solo pass of 10.199 at 123.51 mph. Ant finished in 6th place overall, and won the Best Burnout Spot Prize, awarded by the commentators. |
| WB 99 | Adz Price was in his first ever event with the Wild Bunch with the Team Gridlock Go Hard or Go Home!!! Topolino altered, and it was also his first time at Shakey, after several test events up at the Pod. He got in the queue on the Saturday, but unfortunately did not get a run due to the rain. He dialled in blind for Sunday, with a 12.35. Adz made a burnout in the altered, and was going to stage when the revs went right up, so he had to shut the car down, and got pushed back. It turned out to be a throttle cable problem, and the team worked on it at the back wall, and Adz fired up again, after the round had been run. Sadly, he then was shut down for spots of rain, which turned into a shower, so he did not even get to do a checkout pass. Such a shame! The team are getting closer and closer to that run, so better luck next time!! The car was awarded the Best Altered Spot Prize by the commentators so the team were pleased with that. |
| WB 142 | Mike Cresswell was back in the hotseat of the freQ Racing Living the Dream slingshot, for his first event of the season. He made a good checkout pass of 11.712 at 118.09 mph on the Saturday, and dialled in at 11.65 for the rounds on Sunday. Mikey ran a good 11.727 at 115.65 mph, and finished in 2nd place for the weekend. This was the team's first RWYB event Top 4 placing since 2005, so very well done to them! |
| Big Congratulations to Gina on the win! And well done to all the Wild Bunch teams for sticking with it and weathering out the storms!
Overall, quite a frustrating event with the weather. But big thanks to the marshals and officials and track crew at Shakey for getting us all some racing in! And for their organisation of the event. They really worked hard! We are now really looking forward to the second Wild Bunch Series round and fourth Real Steel Series round of 2009 at the “June Shootout” at Shakey, May 30th & 31st ! | |