2012 Index
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National Finals September 22 - 23
Wild Bunch ResultsNational Finals22nd - 23rd September
Wild Bunch Series Round 6.
Real Steel Series Round 9.
MSA Points Challenge 4.
The 'Fall Nationals' at the UK National Finals was the 9th event of the WB season. It was Wild Bunch Series Round 6 (Final), Real Steel Series Round 9 (Final) as well as the 4th round of the Springbridge MSA Challenge (Final). There was a field of 12 Wild Bunch cars competing: 4 Altereds, 7 Slingshots and a Rear-engined dragster.
| Wild Bunch Points | ||||
| Pos | WB | Driver/Team | Car | Points |
| 1 | 4 | Chris Hartnell | Backdraft | 7 |
| 2 | 1 | Adz Price | Go Hard or Go Home | 5 |
| 3 | 9 | Dogs Bollocks Racing | RamRaider | 4 |
| 4 | 109 | Team 'B-Sting' | B-Sting | 3 |
| 5 | 3 | Dave Williams | Green With Envy | 2 |
| - | 8 | Mark Coulsell | Ballbreaker | 2 |
| - | 17 | Tiki Racing | Tiki Munki | 2 |
| - | 40 | Darren Law | The Wicked Lady | 2 |
| - | 67 | Darryl Howells | Chemical Reaction | 2 |
| - | 78 | Keith Crampton | Soultown Shaker | 2 |
| - | 91 | Bob Hawkins | Timetraveller | 2 |
| 12 | 69 | Alan Loten | Paranoia | 1 |
| MSA Points | ||||
| Pos | WB | Driver/Team | Car | Points |
| 1 | 1 | Adz Price | Go Hard or Go Home | 310 |
| 2 | 8 | Mark Coulsell | Ballbreaker | 300 |
| 3 | 9 | Dogs Bollocks Racing | RamRaider | 290 |
| 4 | 4 | Chris Hartnell | Backdraft | 280 |
| 5 | 109 | Team 'B-Sting' | B-Sting | 270 |
| 6 | 40 | Darren Law | The Wicked Lady | 260 |
| 7 | 69 | Alan Loten | Paranoia | 160 |
| 8 | 17 | Tiki Racing | Tiki Munki | 150 |
| 9 | 91 | Bob Hawkins | Timetraveller | 140 |
| 10 | 3 | Dave Williams | Green With Envy | 130 |
| 11 | 67 | Darryl Howells | Chemical Reaction | 120 |
| 12 | 78 | Keith Crampton | Soultown Shaker | 110 |
| Spot Prizes | ||||
| WB | Team/Driver | Car | Detail | |
| Closest To Dial-In | 4 | Chris Hartnell | Backdraft | 0.005 |
| Best Reaction | 109 | Team 'B-Sting' | B-Sting | 0.063 |
| Best Appearing Team | 17 | Team GAS Racing | Tiki Munki | |
| #1 Qualifier | 69 | Alan Loten | Paranoia | 0.0251 |
| Quickest ET | 91 | Bob Hawkins | Timetraveller | 8.401 |
| Best Appearing Car | 109 | Team 'B-Sting' | B-Sting | |
| Qualifying Saturday This was a qualifying day and there were scheduled to be 3 rounds. The 12 teams competing at the event were hoping for good weather for the season finale, and Saturday was a lovely sunny day! We were 16th on the running order, and though the track opened late due to overnight dampness, we had our first round by about 12:45pm. All 12 drivers made the first round and safely qualified. Our next round was at about 3:15pm and our third qualifier was around 5:30pm and everyone took part in all three. During the day one driver, Dave Williams, set a Personal Best ET. | |
| WB 1 | Adam Price was back in the 'Go Hard or Go Home!!!' altered for his eighth event of the season. He and the team dialled in at 9.24 for the first round, and Adam recorded a 9.265(8) at 142.03mph to start the day. The team kept the Dial for the second round, and Adam recorded a 9.275 at 142.11mph. They raised the Dial slightly to 9.26 for the 3rd qualifier, and Adam ran a 9.308 at 141.59mph, to finish in 2nd place overall in qualifying. |
| WB 3 | was Dave Williams' ninth event of the season in his and Linda's 'Green with Envy' altered. They had just had the gearbox fixed after the problems at the Open Sports Nationals. They began the weekend with a Dial-in of 11.50, and Dave recorded a checkout 11.839at 113.91mph in the first round to open his account. They kept the Dial for the second qualifier, and Dave went out and ran a new Personal Best ET of 11.186 at 116.54mph. He and Linda didn't mind the breakout on that one! They then lowered the Dial-in to 11.18 for the third round, and Dave ran another PB of 11.151 at 117.16mph, to finish in 10th place overall for qualifying. |
| WB 4 | 'Crazy' Chris Hartnell was on his fifth Wild Bunch event of the season in the 'Backdraft' slingshot. Since the Open Sports Nationals, he had installed new slicks, and repaired damage sustained at another event when the timing chain let go just before a burnout! A quick turnaround for the team to make the Hot Rod Drags the weekend before! The team started the weekend with a Dial of 8.88, and Chris ran a 9.057 at 147.13mph. They raised the Dial to 9.04 for the third round, and Chris brokeout with a better 8.984 at 145.81mph. He qualified in 5th place overall. |
| WB 8 | Mark Coulsell was in his ninth event of the season with the 'Ballbreaker' slingshot. The team dialled in at 9.10 for starters, and Mark ran well, with a 9.184 at 140.38mph. They raised the Dial slightly to a 9.12 for the next round, and Mark recorded an identical ET to the first round, with a 9.184 at 141.26mph. On the third qualifier, the team raised the Dial to 9.16, and Mark ran a 9.373 at 140.31mph. They qualified in 3rd place overaall for the weekend. |
| WB 9 | Sarah Howells was having the team's last drive in their 'RamRaider' slingshot, as the car has now been sold to Ian and Laura Turburville, and Team Dog's Bollocks will shortly be starting to build the third incarnation of 'RamRaider'. And to make things more hectic, it was planned for Laura to do licensing runs in the car in another class, in between Sarah's runs! Sarah began the day with a Dial-in of 9.28 and quickly broke out with a 9.138 at 145.34mph. She lowered the Dial to 9.12 for the next round, and posted an even better 9.072 at 144.42mph. The Dial was lowered again to 9.03, and Sarah recorded a 9.099 at 144.44mph, to qualify in 4th place. |
| WB 17 | Scot Durrant was in the team's fifth event of the season with the 'Tiki Munki' slingshot coupe, which sported stickers on the top reading 'This time next week I'll be married'! As the following weekend was his and Gina's wedding! The team started the day with a Dial-in of 13.37, and Scottie recorded a 13.256 at 96.11mph in the first round. The team lowered the Dial to 13.24 for the next round, but Scottie missed a shift, recording a 14.583 at 93.11. The team changed the Dial-in for the third round, to 13.22, and Scottie ran a 13.369 at 93.90mph He finished in 8th place overall. |
| WB 40 | Darren Law was back with the team's 'The Wicked Lady' rear-engine dragster for their eighth event of the season. The team began the weekend with a Dial-in of 9.54, and Darren recorded a 9.789 at 139.84mph in the opening qualifier. The team raised the Dial for the next round to 9.65, and Darren posted a closer 9.777 at 138.97mph. They raised the Dial to 9.75 for the third round, and Darren ran a quicker 9.621 at 140.37mph. He qualified in 7th place. |
| WB 67 | Darryl Howells was in his eighth Wild Bunch event of the season in the DASH Racing 'Chemical Reaction' slingshot. He began the weekend with a Dial-in of 10.10. He had problems on the first run, posting a 12.563 at 96.68mph. He raised the Dial to 10.70 for the next run, but the problems continued, and he recorded a slower 12.978 at 99.65mph. He raised the Dial-in to 11.99 for the next run, and posted a 13.137 at 99.91mph, and more head-scratching followed. He qualified 11th. |
| WB 69 | Alan Loten and crewman Steve arrived early for the event, their fifth of the season with the 'Paranoia' altered. Alan dialled in at 9.50 for the first round, and posted a great 9.525(1) to go straight into the #1 Spot, for his first time ever! He kept the Dial for the next round, and posted a slower 9.974 at 134.03mph. He kept the Dial-in again for the third qualifier, and ran a better 9.616 at 135.23mph. He remained Number 1 in qualifying. Fair play, Alan! |
| WB 78 | Keith Crampton was back out with his 'Soultown Shaker' slingshot for his sixth Wild Bunch Series round of the season. He started off with a Dial-in of 11.15, and recorded an 11.147 at 117.47mph to begin with. He lowered this Dial for the second round to 11.14 and posted an 11.344 at 115.81mph, though this run was later disqualified for a blue line violation. He kept this Dial and ran an 11.033 at 117.17mph in the last round. He qualified in 12th place overall for the weekend. |
| WB 91 | Bob Hawkins was in his ninth Wild Bunch event of the season with his 'Time Traveller' slingshot. He dialled in at 8.20 for the first round, though had problems with the nitrous, recording a 10.143 at 115.07mph. He kept the Dial for the second round, and posted a much stronger 8.401 at 160.17mph, which proved to be the Wild Bunch 'Quickest ET of the weekend'. He kept the Dial for the last qualifier, and ran an 8.805 at 157.38mph. He qualified in 9th place. |
| WB 109 | Andrew Murphy was back in the 'B-Sting' altered for the team's sixth event of the season. He dialled in at 10.65 for the opening round. He recorded a breakout 10.612 at 129.41mph on the run. The team lowered the Dial to 10.60 for the next round, and Andrew ran a 10.707 at 127.61mph. They raised the Dial very slightly, to 10.61 for the last qualifier, and Andrew ran another breakout, a 10.543 at 129.55mph. He finished in 6th place in qualifying. |
| Race Day Sunday (Eliminations) Sunday dawned dry, cool and cloudy. The track opened around 9:00am, right on schedule, and we were called down to the pairings lanes at about 10:30am. The weather forecast predicted rain in the afternoon, getting heavier as the day went on, so we really hoped we would get at least one round in! Round 1 All 12 Wild Bunch cars had qualified for eliminations, so there were due to be 6 good races in the first round, which took place around 11am. The first race saw Chris Hartnell facing Darryl Howells. The team dialled Chris in at 8.96 whilst Darryl dialled in at 10.10, having done a major cleanout on the fuel system. Chris had a slight reaction time advantage and also a great run, recording the Wild Bunch 'Closest to Dial-in' with an 8.965 at 147.16mph, just 5 thousandths off! This took the win over Darryl, who had a brilliant improvement, running a breakout 9.847 at 136.86mph! Great runs for both! Another pairing saw Mark Coulsell paired with Bob Hawkins. Mark and team dialled in at 9.18, and Bob chose an 8.28. Bob had some problems on the run, and slowed to a 12.243 at 79.88mph, whilst Mark earned the win with a 9.581 at 130.63mph. Another race pitted Sarah Howells against Dave Williams. Sarah dialled in at 9.18 and Dave at 11.10. Sarah ran closer to Dial and got round Dave for the victory with a 9.346, whilst Dave recorded an 11.454. Darren Law was matched with Alan Loten, and the Dial-ins were not far apart, with Darren going for a 9.65 and Alan a 9.50. Alan left the line before the tree was activated and did not record a time, so this handed the win to Darren, who ran a breakout 9.622 at 140.78mph. Keith Crampton was paired with Andrew Murphy. Keith dialled in at 11.08 and Andrew at 10.55. Andrew cut the 'Best Reaction' of the Bunch, with an .063, and ran closer to dial with a 10.731 at 123.43mph to take the win over Keith's 11.292 at 116.26mph. The 'B-Sting' was awarded the 'Best Appearing Car' Spot Prize by the commentators. The most crucial race of the round saw Adam Price versus Scot Durrant. If Adam managed to stage and break the beam, then he would win this year's Wild Bunch Series! Adam dialled in at 9.24 and Scottie at 13.35. Adam had a slightly better light and recorded a 9.307 at 142.12mph to earn the victory over Scot's 13.469 at 95.50mph. So Adam secured Team Gridlock's second Wild Bunch Series win in a row! Congratulations to all of them! Scottie and the GAS Racing team were awarded the 'Best Appearing Team' Spot Prize by the commentators for their great Hawaiian shirts, 50's Chevy tow car and great overall package! Well done to all! We then waited for the second round and were not far off being called when it started to rain lightly around 12:30pm. As predicted, this got heavier and did not let up, so the organisers were forced to call time on the meeting. Such a shame, but we were glad to have been able to get one round in and everyone got a run! So the Top 4 were decided on 'closest to Dial without breaking out or redlightling'. This meant that 'Crazy Chris' won the event! Adam finished 2nd, Sarah 3rd and Andrew 4th. Well done! It was a great event, even though it did not reach a full conclusion. The racing was really close and a fitting end to another great season. Once again huge thanks to the track crew, marshalls and officials and all at Santa Pod who worked really hard as always! Tom Larman has finished in 2nd place in Wild Bunch, a great result for the team! Team Dog's Bollocks finished in 3rd place with their last season with the current car and Team B-Sting finished in 4th place so congratulations to all of them!! Adam and Team Gridlock have also won the 2012 Real Steel Series. Darren Law and 'The Wicked Lady' team have won the 2012 'Springbridge MSA Challenge'. So big congratulations to all of them!! We are now looking forward to our Annual Dinner Dance and Prize Presentation on 24th November. It will be another great evening to celebrate all our winners after another fantastic season!! | |