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Open Sports Nationals August 27 - 29
Wild Bunch ResultsOpen Sports Nationals27th - 29th August 2011
Real Steel Series Round 8.
Roy Wilding Nostalgia Race Cars Series Round 3.
APIRA Series Round 2.
MSA Points Challenge 3.
The “Open Sports Nationals” was the 8th event of the WB season. It was Real Steel Series Round 8 and APIRA Series Round 2 (the Final) as well as the 3rd round of the MSA Challenge and Roy Wilding Nostalgia Race Cars Series Round 3 (The Final). There was a field of 9 Wild Bunch cars competing: 1 Altered, 7 Slingshots and a Rear-engined dragster.
| Wild Bunch Points | ||||
| Pos | WB | Driver/Team | Car | Points |
| 1 | 25 | Terry Clifford | Ratcatcher Resurrection | 10 |
| 2 | 4 | Dogs Bollocks Racing | RamRaider | 8 |
| 3 | 6 | Chris Hartnell | Backdraft | 6 |
| 4 | 91 | Bob Hawkins | Timetraveller | 4 |
| 5 | 8 | Ballbreaker | Mark Coulsell | 3 |
| 6 | 17 | Tiki Racing | Tiki Munki | 2 |
| - | 69 | Alan Loten | Paranoia | 2 |
| - | 40 | Darren Law | The Wicked Lady | 2 |
| - | 961 | Dave Nelson | Doris Dormouse | 2 |
| Spot Prizes | ||||
| WB | Team/Driver | Car | Detail | |
| Closest To Dial-In | 6 | Chris Hartnell | Backdraft | 0.002 off |
| Best Reaction | 17 | Tiki Racing | Tiki Munki | 0.069 |
| Best Appearing Team | 8 | Ballbreaker | Limited Funz | |
| #1 Qualifier | 6 | Chris Hartnell | Backdraft | 0.030 off |
| Best Appearing Car | 69 | Alan Loten | Paranoia | |
| Fastest m.p.h. | 961 | Dave Nelson | Doris Dormouse | 157.55 |
| The Wild Bunch welcomed back Darren Law and team in “The Wicked Lady” rear-engined dragster, returning after early-season damage. We welcomed newcomer Dave Nelson in the “Dorris Dormouse” slingshot, who was doing double duty at the weekend! But we were missing Dick Sharp who had entered with the “Dorset Horn” but could not attend, after a recent illness (get well soon Dick!). And we missed several teams who were unable to attend due to work commitments and financial constraints. The 9 teams competing at the event were hoping the weather would be better than the forecast!
Qualifying Saturday This was a qualifying day and there were scheduled to be 3 rounds. It had been raining overnight, and not long before the track was nearly dry in the morning there was a torrential rain storm. This took a few hours to clear up, and just as the track was nearly dry, there was another shower. But, fair play to the whole track crew, as they got the track cleared of water (with some help from racers and spectators) and then got it dry and prepped, and qualifying got under way at about 4:30pm!!! We were 18th on the running order, and got called down to the pairings lanes at about 6pm, but there was another light shower at about 6:30pm, so that was it for the day! An early start Sunday! Sunday qualifying After Saturday's rain delays, we were due to finish those classes who did not get their 1st cycle of qualifying, plus complete the previously scheduled 3 rounds of qualifying. We were called to the pairings lanes just before 10am, and got our 1st qualifier in at about 10:15am, with 8 drivers qualified, and Alan succeeding in his half pass observed run in “Paranoia”. We then had quite a wait until the next round, as there was another shower, an oildown and some other down time. We had our 2nd qualifier at about 2:2pm, and all 9 drivers had safely qualified after this session. We were hoping for a 3rd qualifier, but a heavy shower fell at about 3:30pm, and though the track crew worked for over 2 ½ hours to get the track within about 5 minutes of opening, the local authorities called time on the day's racing. Such a shame! Many thanks to all the marshals and officials for their hard work! | |
| WB 4 | Ed was back in the “RamRaider” slingshot for his third Wild Bunch event of the year, and the team's seventh. Ed dialled in at the ‘old faithful’ 9.33 for the first round, and posted a breakout 9.294 at 144.75mph for his opening bid. The team kept the Dial-in for the second round, and Ed ran on the right side of Dial, posting a 9.388 at 143.59mph to finish in 5th place for qualifying. |
| WB 6 | ‘Crazy’ Chris Hartnell was in his eighth event of the season, and had recently made some tuning adjustments to the “Backdraft” slingshot in the hope of being back in the ‘8's, on his birthday weekend. The team dialled in at 8.96 for the first qualifier, and Chris had a great run back into the 8's, with an 8.990 at 146.27mph to move into provisional top spot. For the second round, the team lowered the Dial to 8.94, and Chris recorded an 8.998 at 146.01mph. Chris took #1 Qualifier Spot for the first time this season. Well done, Chris!! |
| WB 8 | Mark Coulsell was in his fifth event of the season with the “Ballbreaker” slingshot, and had managed to break the 140mph barrier at the last event, ‘Dragstalgia’. On his first qualifier he ran a 9.859 at 132.55mph on a 9.20 Dial-in. The team kept the Dial for the second round, and Mark posted a breakout new Personal Best E.T. and Speed of 9.145 at 145.43mph!! Congratulations Mark and team (who didn’t mind the breakout one bit!). Mark qualified in 8th place overall. |
| WB 17 | was Scot Durrant's third event of the season in his and Gina's “Tiki Munki” Ruby-bodied slingshot coupe, on their seventh event of the year. This was only Scottie's second MSA event with the car, and he began the weekend with a Dial-in of 13.42. His first run netted a 13.616 at 94.62mph. The team raised the Dial-in to 13.50 for the next qualifier and Scottie recorded a better 13.546 at 88.34mph to finish in 4th place overall for qualifying. |
| WB 25 | Terry Clifford was in his eighth event of the season with the “Ratcatcher Resurrection” slingshot. The team started the day with a conservative Dial-in of 10.45, and Terry promptly broke out with a 10.384 at 128.48mph in the first round. The team lowered the Dial-in to 10.35 for the next round, and Terry posted a strong 10.387 at 128.05mph, to finish in 2nd place overall in qualifying. |
| WB 40 | Darren Law was back with the team's “The Wicked Lady” rear-engine dragster, in his first Wild Bunch event this season since sustaining engine damage at the Easter Thunderball. He had been out testing at the recent Bulldog Bash where the car had run consisten 9.0's. He started the weekend with a Dial-in of 9.03, and ran a solid 9.076 at 146.38mph in the opening qualifier. The team kept this Dial for the second run, and Darren recorded a 10.127 at 132.16mph. He qualified in 3rd place. |
| WB 69 | Alan Loten was making his MSA debut with his “Paranoia” altered. He still had to do his observed runs to complete his MSA licence. His first round was an observed half pass run of 14 seconds at 41mph, which he easily got signed off. On his next qualifier, his full observed pass, he dialled in at 10.00 even, and recorded a new Personal Best ET and Speed of 11.889 at 119.37mph. He successfully gained his MSA licence and safely qualified in 9th place. Congratulations, Alan! |
| WB 91 | Bob Hawkins had recently run quicker and quicker with his “Time Traveller” slingshot, and looked forward to this event. Bob began with a Dial-in of 8.75 and ran an 8.942 at a new Personal Best Speed of 156.15mph! He kept this Dial-in for the second round, and shaved a thousandth off his Personal Best E.T. running a breakout 8.733 at 155.88mph. Bob qualified in 7th place overall. |
| WB 961 | Dave Nelson was making his Wild Bunch debut in his mid 8-second “Dorris Dormouse” slingshot. He was also entered in another class, so a busy weekend for him! For his first qualifier, he dialled in at 8.57 and recorded an 8.765 at 149.72mph. He raised the Dial to 8.65 for the second round, and posted an 8.796 at a new Personal Best Speed of 157.35mph. Dave qualified in 6th place. |
| Race Day Monday (Eliminations) Monday dawned cool and cloudy and remained that way most of the day, with some sunny periods and thankfully no rain at all! The track opened around 10:00am, right on schedule and all classes completed all their eliminations by about 3:15pm! Many thanks to the race officials and marshals!! Round 1 All 9 Wild Bunch cars had qualified for eliminations, so there were due to be 4 good races and a Bye in the first round. We were 17th on the running order, so our first round took place at about 10 to 11. The first run saw Chris Hartnell taking his earned Bye run, posting a 9.005 at 146.72mph on an 8.99 Dial-in. to advance to the Quarter-finals. The first pairing saw Darren Law facing Bob Hawkins. Darren and the team kept the 9.03 Dial-in, but unfortunately the car rolled through stage before the lights, handing the win to Bob, who posted an 8.887 at 132.54mph on his 8.75 Dial-in. The next race saw Mark Coulsell and Scottie Durrant matched up. Mark dialled in at 9.50 and ran a 9.559 at 109.37mph to take the win over Scottie, who ran a 13.940 at 86.74mph on his 13.50 Dial whilst recording the “Best Reaction” of the Bunch for the day, a .069. Ed Yates was paired up with newly-licensed Alan Loten. Ed kept his 9.33 Dial and posted a 9.458 at 126.86mph to take the win over Alan, who recorded another new Personal Best ET and Speed, of 10.382 at 128.58mph, which he was very happy with. Another bonus was that “Paranoia” was awarded the “Best Appearing Car” Spot Prize by the commentators. The last race of the round saw Terry Clifford taking on newcomer Dave Nelson. Terry kept his 10.35 Dial and Dave lowered his to 8.54. Dave was a bit eager on this run, and redlit with another big new Personal Best ET and Speed of 8.443 at 157.55mph, which proved to be the “Fastest MPH of the weekend”. Terry then took the win with his pass of 10.494 at 117.29mph. Quarter-Finals There was originally not much time scheduled before the next round, with the officials calling us down to the pairings lanes whilst some of the cars were still returning to the pits! They kindly accommodated this by putting our round back a few classes, and we were back out at about 1:00pm. The first race of the round saw Chris and Mark paired up. This was due to be a good race as they had always had some close ones when Mark was running his previous slingshot. Chris dialled in at 8.99 again, and Mark and the team lowered their Dial to 9.12, hoping to go flat out. Mark left the line first, but as soon as he launched, something broke in the diff or maybe a half shaft, and he coasted to a stop! Such a shame. Though there was some consolation when the team were awarded the “Best Appearing Team” Spot Prize by the commentators. Hope they can fix the car soon and be back out for the next round. This then left Chris to take the race win, with an 8.992 at 136.08mph. He also won the “Closest to Dial-in” Spot Prize for this run. The other race of the round also promised to be a good one with Ed taking on Bob. Ed Kept his 9.33 Dial and Bob kept his 8.75. Bob had a start-line advantage, but both drivers broke out, with Ed breaking out the least and recording a 9.270 at 143.37mph to take the win over Bob, who broke out by over a tenth and recorded an amazing new Personal Best ET of 8.646 at 147.16mph! He and Tom were amazed with the time on that one! Bob was awarded 4th place as he was the only finisher of the Runners-up in the quarter-finals. Next up it was Terry who had a Bye run, and he opted to stage, roll the beams and push back, in order to save time and engine heat in advancing to the next round. Semi-finals After the quarter-finals, it was not long until the semis which took place just after 2:00pm! The only race of the round saw Chris matched up with Terry, which should have been a great race. But Chris had discovered a minor problem on the slingshot, and had to err on the side of caution, just staging and breaking the beams on an 8.96 Dial, leaving Terry to take the win, with a 10.356 at 125.92mph on his 10.35 Dial-in. Another close run! Chris finished in 3rd place for the event, after a consistent weekend where his ET's only varied by .015 throughout! This round it was Ed who had the Bye, and he staged and rolled the beams on his 9.33 Dial-in to advance to the Final. Final As expected, all Finalists were being called to the pairings lanes as Ed and Terry arrived back in the pits! They quickly got ready and made it back down to the fireup road by about 3:00pm. They both kept their Dial-ins, with Ed with his 9.33 and Terry with his 10.35. Both drivers were real close to Dial with Ed recording a 9.342 at 143.33mph, and Terry posting a 10.382 at 126.60mph. It was Terry who took the victory by means of a holeshot win! Many Congratulations to Terry and team for a consistent weekend and their second win of the season! And to Ed for a strong challenge in the Final. Well done to all the teams, who really put on a great show, with some close qualifying and racing. Another great performance from the whole of the Bunch! Congratulations to all those who ran PB's! Overall it was a good event, where the weather improved so that all eliminations were completed. Once again huge thanks to the track crew, marshalls and officials who worked really hard to repeatedly dry and prepare the track and run the event. The results mean that Team Dog's Bollocks have won the 2011 Roy Wilding Nostalgia Race Cars Series with their “RamRaider” slingshot. Terry Clifford has finished in 2nd place, Chris Hartnell in 3rd place and Bob Hawkins in 4th place, so congratulations to all of them!! And, subject to ratification by the APIRA, Terry Clifford has won the 2011 APIRA Championship and Chris Hartnell is Runner-up (there was a mere 20 points in it!). Congratulations to both of them!! Terry is still leading the Real Steel Series and is now leading the MSA Challenge, whilst Adam Price still leads the Wild Bunch Series, with one more round still to go for each!! We are now really looking forward to the Finals of our season at the “National Finals” at Santa Pod on 24th & 15th September, for Wild Bunch Series Round 6, Real Steel Series Round 9 and the Final of the MSA Challenge. It should be a great end to the season! Hope to see loads of entries for this one! | |