Sportsman National Finals

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Sportsman National Finals September 25 - 26

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Wild Bunch ResultsFall Nationals25th - 26th September Wild Bunch Series Round 6. Real Steel Series Round 10. MSA Points Challenge 5.

The Wild Bunch “Fall Nationals” at the UK National Finals was the 10th and final event of the WB season. It was Wild Bunch Series Round 6 and Real Steel Series Round 10 as well as the 5th round of the MSA Challenge. There was a field of 12 Wild Bunch cars competing: 5 Altereds, 6 Slingshots and a Rear-engine dragster.

Wild Bunch Points
Pos	WB	Driver/Team	Car	Points
-	1	Dogs Bollocks Racing	RamRaider	1
-	2	Chris Hartnell	Backdraft	1
-	4	Dave Rowlands	Destinys Angel	1
-	11	Dave Williams	Green With Envy	1
-	19	Wayne Colliver	Spud	1
-	25	Terry Clifford	Ratcatcher Resurrection	1
-	35	Dick Sharp	Dorset Horn	1
-	40	Darren Law	The Wicked Lady	1
-	78	Keith Crampton	Soultown Shaker	1
-	91	Bob Hawkins	Timetraveller	1
-	99	Adz Price	Go Hard or Go Home	1
-	109	Andy Murphy	B-Sting	1

Spot Prizes
	WB	Team/Driver	Car	Detail
Closest To Dial-In		No Runs Took Place
Best Reaction		No Runs Took Place
Best Appearing Team	109	Andy Murphy	B-Sting
#1 Qualifier	4	Dave Rowlands	Destinys Angel	0.003 off
Quickest ET	40	Darren Law	The Wicked Lady	9.01
Best Appearing Car	78	Keith Crampton	Soultown Shaker

Qualifying Saturday This was a qualifying day and there were scheduled to be 3 rounds. The weather turned out cloudy and cool, but apart from a few spots of drizzle, the day stayed fine, and all three qualifiers were completed, including a night run at about 7:30pm which all the teams enjoyed! 11 of the 12 teams qualified, as Wayne was doing observed runs and had a breakage.
WB 1	Ed Yates and the Dog's Bollocks team were currently in 4th place in the Wild Bunch Series, 3rd place in the Real Steel Series and 2nd in the MSA Challenge coming into this event with the “RamRaider” slingshot. On Ed's first qualifier he dialled in at 9.33, and posted a breakout, with a good 9.279 at 143.38mph for starters. He lowered the Dial for the second round, to 9.27 and recorded a 9.369 at 142.47mph. On the night run, he raised the Dial again to 9.33 and ran a 9.415 at 141.60mph in the cooling conditions. He qualified in 7th place overall.
WB 2	‘Crazy’ Chris Hartnell started the event in 7th place in the Wild Bunch Series, 5th place in the Real Steel Series and 3rd in the MSA Challenge, and hoped to move up in each Series in his 10th Wild Bunch event of the season. He dialled in at 8.99 in the first qualifier and recorded a strong run of 9.042 at 146.29mph. The team raised the Dial for the next qualifier to 9.03 and Chris posted a 9.155 at 144.41mph. They kept this Dial for the night run which Chris really enjoyed, with “Backdraft” having some awesome flames on the startline! Chris ran a 9.311 at 141.27mph and qualified in 5th place.
WB 4	Dave and Warren Rowlands were 2nd in the Wild Bunch Series (though on equal points to Team B-Sting) and leading the Real Steel Series going into this event, their 10th of the season. Dave was also in 4th place in the MSA Challenge. Dave dialled in at 10.00 even for the first round, and ran and excellent 10.003 at 138.21mph in the first qualifier. He kept the Dial for the second round, and ran quicker with a 9.934 at 137.78mph. For the night run, he modified the Dial to 9.96, and ran a 10.020 at 137.28mph. Dave remained Number 1 Qualifier throughout the whole day.
WB 11	Dave Williams was running in 5th place in the Wild Bunch Series and 7th in the Real Steel Series prior to the event. Dave began qualifying with an 11.488 at 118.34mph on his 11.40 Dial-in. He and Linda raised the Dial to 11.45 for the second round and he got a lot closer with an 11.468 at 118.70mph. They kept this Dial for the night time qualifier and Dave posted his best run of the day, with an 11.428 at 117.77mph. He qualified in 3rd place overall.
WB 19	Wayne Colliver was back with the Wild Bunch for the first time since 1998! The team now run a blown Ford Crossflow powered slingshot called “Spud”. Wayne was doing his observed runs and had some problem on the first qualifier, and had to tow back to the pits. The team fixed the problem and made it back out for the next qualifier, but on this run the car experienced clutch damage which unfortunately sidelined the car for the season. We hope the team can make good progress with their plans for a new transmission and hope to see them out regularly next season. Best of luck to them all!
WB 25	Terry Clifford hoped to improve on his current 8th place in both the Wild Bunch and Real Steel Series in his “Ratcatcher Resurrection” slingshot. Terry's first run Saturday was promising, with a 10.189 at 128.44mph on his 10.10 Dial-in. The team raised the Dial for the next round to 10.14, and Terry got closer, with a 10.194 at 129.78mph. Once again, the Dial-in was raised slightly, to 10.18, and Terry posted a 10.365 at 127.36mph in the cool night qualifier. Terry qualified in 6th place overall.
WB 35	Dick Sharp was running the “Dorset Horn” altered in his 4th event of the season after experiencing some fuel pump problems at the last event. The team started off with a Dial-in of 9.80, and uncharacteristically had to be shut down for a leak in the first qualifier. The problem was easily sorted, and they kept this Dial for the second round, where Dick ran a 10.515 at 123.40mph, trying to get a handle on the fuel delivery with the spare pump. The team changed the Dial to 9.85 for the night qualifier, and Dick enjoyed this run, posting a 10.605 at 124.92mph. He qualified in 11th place.
WB 40	Darren Law began the weekend in 6th place in the Wild Bunch Series, 4th place in the Real Steel Series, and leading the MSA Challenge. The team started with their 9.00 even Dial-in and Darren ran a great 9.011 at 145.81mph, which was the “Quickest E.T. of the weekend for the Bunch. They kept this Dial for the second round and Darren posted a 9.056 at 146.30mph, the fastest speed for the Bunch, just .01 of a mph faster than Chris! The team tweaked the Dial-in to 9.02 for the night run, and Darren recorded a 9.063 at 144.07mph. Darren remained 2nd place qualifier all day long.
WB 78	Keith Crampton was back with his “Soultown Shaker” slingshot in his 5th Wild Bunch event of the season. Keith was hoping to remain in the Top 10 of the Wild Bunch Series for the year. He had more new crew this weekend, and his first Dial-in was 11.38. He ran an 11.800 at 110.72mph, though this did not count due to a blue line infringement. He raised this Dial to 11.48 for the second round and happily improved to an 11.705 at 111.94mph. On the night run Keith experienced a phenomenon with sparks flying in front of him, so slowed to a 13-second pass. He qualified in 10th place.
WB 91	was newcomer Bob Hawkins in his second Wild Bunch event with his “Timetraveller” slingshot. Bob had successfully gained his MSA licence at the Open Sports Nationals, and had made good progress on his first ever event. He began with a Dial-in of 10.20, nearly half a second under his best time to date, and posted a strong new Personal Best E.T. of 10.302 at 133.27mph, a new best speed. He kept this Dial for the second round, and recorded a 10.395 at 132.22mph. For the night run, the team lowered the Dial to 10.05, and Bob ran another great PB of 10.136 at 132.17mph. He qualified in 8th place overall.
WB 99	Adam Price was in his tenth event of the season with the “Go Hard or Go Home!!!” Topolino altered and the team were really excited! Adz was currently 3rd in the Wild Bunch Series and 6th in the Real Steel Series going into this event. Adz began with a Dial-in of 10.72, and he started well with a 10.764 at 124.41mph. The team raised the Dial-in slightly to 10.74 for the second round and Adz posted a 10.781 at 123.10mph, getting a little closer. Adam really enjoyed his first ever night run, where he recorded a 10.877 at 123.10mph on his raised 10.76 Dial. He qualified in 4th place overall.
WB 109	Bob Morgan was in the hotseat for the first time in a Wild Bunch round this season, after having run the “B-Sting” altered at the Hot Rod Drags. The team were leading the Wild Bunch Series and in 2nd place in the Real Steel Series before the event, and they had high hopes of a Series win. They dialled in at 10.50 for Bob's first run, and he promptly broke out with a solid 10.489 at 125.14mph. The team adjusted the Dial accordingly to 10.47, and Bob recorded a 10.685 at 126.20mph. On the night run, they dialled in at 10.55, and though Bob ran a 10.725 at 121.77mph, the run was disqualified due to a blue line infringement. Bob qualified in 9th place overall.
Race Day Sunday (Eliminations) Sunday dawned cloudy and cool, and racing started not long after 9am. About 5 classes were able to complete their first round of eliminations, but an oildown, and then some rain stopped play. The track crew worked tirelessly for several hours to clean and dry the track, but there were further showers, and at about 3pm, the officials were forced to call time on the event, with further rain predicted. Such a great shame, as 11 of the dozen Wild Bunch cars had qualified for eliminations, so there had been due to be 5 great races and one Bye in the first round. Also a real shame for all the Series to finish on an event which could not be concluded, but this had been the first rain off of results all season, so we have been very lucky overall. Although we were able to gain qualifying points towards our MSA Challenge, the lack of eliminations meant that the positions did not really change much in any Series. So this means that Team “B-Sting” have won the Wild Bunch Series for their first ever time! Many congratulations to them, including drivers Andrew Murphy, Paul Croston and Bob Morgan, and the whole of the team! They finished the Series on equal points to second place team Dave and Warren Rowlands’ “Destiny's Angel”, but with both teams having one win each, the Series winner was decided by Team B-Sting having one 2nd place finish. (Yet again another extremely close finish to the season!). Things were equally close for 3rd and 4th places, with two teams on equal points. Adam Price takes the 3rd place spot for his first Top 4 placing in only his second year with the Wild Bunch with the “Go Hard or Go Home!!!” altered, by having an event win, compared to second place finishes by the Dog's Bollocks Team's “RamRaider” with drivers Ed Yates, Andy Gosling and Ray Ford. Congratulations to all the Top 4! The Real Steel Series proved another close finish with just one point in it over the 10 events. Team “B-Sting” have also won this Series, for their first ever time, so big congratulations to all of them again! Dave and Warren Rowlands have earned 2nd place in the Series, with Team Dog's Bollocks finishing 3rd and Darren Law finishing in 4th place for the “Wicked Lady” Team. Well done to all! Darren has won the WB MSA Challenge for the second time. Congratulations to him and the team! It was another good event even though the weather prevented eliminations and a great competition. All the teams really enjoyed the weekend and it was great to see a bigger field at this MSA event. Many thanks to all at Santa Pod for all their hard work, and to all the marshalls and track crew for trying so hard to keep racing going on the Sunday. We really can’t wait to race there again at the Easter Thunderball next season! We are now really looking forward to the Annual Wild Bunch Prize Presentation and Dinner Dance on Saturday 27th November at Drayton Manor Park where we will be celebrating all of our winners!