Summer Nationals - Wild Bunch

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Summer Nationals June 27 - 28

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Wild Bunch ResultsSummer Nationals27th - 28th June Spirit of Nostalgia Challenge Series Round 5.

The Summer Nationals was the fifth event of the WB season. It was Spirit of Nostalgia Challenge Series Round 5 as well as the 3rd round of the Springbridge MSA Challenge. There was a field of 6 Wild Bunch cars competing: 4 Slingshots, 1 Altered and a funny car

Wild Bunch Points
Pos	WB	Driver/Team	Car	Points
1	25	Terry Clifford	Ratcatcher Resurrection	9
2	45	Phil James	Rampage	7
3	69	Alan Loten	Paranoia	5
4	76	Team Black Pig	The Black Pig Too	3
5	2	Bob Hawkins	Timetraveller II	1
-	67	Darryl Howells	Chemical Reaction	1

MSA Points
Pos	WB	Driver/Team	Car	Points
1	25	Terry Clifford	Ratcatcher Resurrection	520
2	45	Phil James	Rampage	390
3	69	Alan Loten	Paranoia	230
4	76	Team Black Pig	The Black Pig Too	110
5	2	Bob Hawkins	Timetraveller II	40
6	67	Darryl Howells	Chemical Reaction	10

Spot Prizes
	WB	Team/Driver	Car	Detail
Closest To Dial-In	25	Terry Clifford	Ratcatcher Resurrection
Best Reaction	45	Phil James	Rampage	0.047
Best Appearing Team	25	Terry Clifford	Ratcatcher Resurrection
#1 Qualifier	45	Phil James	Rampage	0.016 off
Best Appearing Car	76	Team Black Pig	The Black Pig Too

Qualifying - Saturday This was a qualifying day and there were scheduled to be 3 qualifiers, and we were 4th on the running order, so out nice and early. Our first qualifier was around 10:45am and 4 of the teams ran in that round. The next round was about 1:30pm and 5 teams ran. These teams ran again in the third qualifier about 4:30pm, so an early finish to the day with just those 5 qualified.
WB 2	Bob Hawkins was in his fifth Wild Bunch event of the season with his 'Time Traveller II' slingshot. Bob and the team had once again had work to do between events, and Bob had installed his spare head and two pistons, and not had time to fire the car up before the event. He began Saturday with a Dial-in of 6.91, his PB. This run was a bit squirrely after half-track, and as it was a checkout pass, Bob backed off a little, but still recorded a strong 7.198 at 182.88mph! For the second qualifier he modified the Dial-in to 6.95 (!) and promptly ran his second ever six, with a 6.998 at 189.74mph! He kept this Dial for the third round and was really consistent, posting another six, a 6.987 at 191.26mph. He also qualified in 2nd place overall for the weekend!
WB 25	Terry Clifford was back for his fourth event of the season, after sorting out the starter motor engagement problems in the 'Ratcatcher Resurrection' slingshot. His first Dial-in was a 9.15. He ran quicker than expected, recording a 9.075 at 149.13mph. He then lowered the Dial-in to 9.05 for Round 2 and posted another breakout, a 9.012 at 147.23mph. He duly lowered the Dial again, to 8.99, and ran his first 8 for some time, a new Personal Best ET of 8.925 at 148.14mph. He qualified in 4th place overall. Well done, Terry, nice to see you back in those 8's!
WB 45	Phil James was running in his fourth event of the year in the 'Rampage' funny car. He had just had a new spool installed and set up, and just made it for the event. He began with a Dial-in of 9.30, and was amazingly bang on the numbers straight away, recording a 9.316 at 139.96mph, which was good for #1 Qualifier in the first round. He then lowered the Dial to 9.29 and ran a 9.336 at 140.28mph. He raised the Dial again, to 9.31 for the third round, and posted a 9.345 at 139.83mph. He remained in #1 Qualifier spot, for the 3rd MSA event in a row this year! Fair play, Phil!
WB 67	Darryl Howells was also in his fourth Wild Bunch event of the season in the DASH Racing 'Chemical Reaction' slingshot. He had experienced a slight drop in performance at the Nostalgias, though had run consistently. On further investigation after warmup, there was a slight problem with the spark plugs being damaged. The team spent most of the morning Saturday checking on this, and doing other checks, and later in the afternoon they changed gaskets which Darryl had gone off site to get. More checks were done and a test fireup, but unfortunately Darryl was not able to make a run that day, and planned to take the car home and investigate further in the garage. Good luck Dar!
WB 69	Alan Loten and Steve were raring to go after some improvements in performance at the Nostalgias in the 'Paranoia' altered. They had a limited supply of nitrous this weekend, so decided to pass on the first round. They then dialled in at 9.20 for the second qualifier. This was a bit of hairy run and Alan recorded a 10.458 at 127.22mph. They then raised the Dial to 9.30 for the third qualifier, and Alan ran a strong 9.427 at 136.99mph. He qualified in 3rd place overall.
WB 76	Sarah Howells was having her first drive in Steve and Lesley Field's 'Black Pig Too' slingshot, which was again sporting the purple sparkly bodywork. Sarah made several practice passes down into the low 9's on the test day on the Friday. She dialled in at 9.31 for the first round. She posted a breakout 9.151 at 148.12mph which was promising. The team then lowered the Dial-in to 9.10 for the second qualifier and Sarah recorded her first 8 in the car, an 8.995 at 149.57mph. (She ran her first ever 8 several years ago in 'RamRaider'). The team then reduced the Dial to 8.98, and Sarah promptly broke out again with another Personal Best ET of 8.934, at her first ever, and the car's first ever 150mph plus speed, posting a 152.08mph terminal! Many Congratulations to Sarah and Steve and Lesley on this milestone!! Sarah qualified in 5th place overall due to all those fantastic breakouts!
Race Day Sunday (Eliminations) Sunday's weather was a bit on the wet side to start with! The track crew worked hard several times to dry the track and nearly had it open mid-morning. The light rain eventually subsided again, and thanks to their hard work again, racing started at about 1:30pm. We were late on the running order due to class size, and were eventually called out for our first round, the quarter-finals at about 5pm, with the run happening around 5:30pm! Quarter-Finals 5 of the Wild Bunch cars had qualified for eliminations, with Alan due to face Sarah and Bob due to race Terry, and Phil with the #1 Qualifier Bye. Phil posted a 9.417 at 137.29mph on this solo pass. Unfortunately, when Bob had been warming up the 'Time Traveller II' there was a problem and the team discovered lifter damage, so sadly that was it for their weekend! Bob is sure to have this cured in time for Dragstalgia though! This left Terry with a single and he opted for an 8.90 Dial-in. He posted a 9.091 at 146.57mph to advance to the next round. In the only race of the round, Alan decided on a 9.35 Dial-in and Sarah an 8.99. Alan had the advantage off the lights and posted a 9.432 at 134.13mph run to take the win over Sarah's 9.245 at 148.08mph pass. Congratulations to Alan on his first ever MSA round win!! Sarah finished in 4th place overall and the car won the 'Best Appearing Car' Spot prize chosen by the commentators â€“ a great weekend for the whole team! Semi-Finals This took place around 6:30pm and saw Terry with the Bye and he carded a 9.017 at 147.06mph run on his 8.90 Dial-in. The only race of the round was a cracker as Phil and Alan went 'heads up' on a pair of 9.35 Dials. Both had great reactions, with Phil recording a 'Best Reaction' of .047 to Alan's .057. It was close all the way down and Phil took the win by just .014 of a second, posting a 9.430 at 138.98mph to Alan's similar 9.435 at 132.21mph! A great race, enjoyed by both teams, as well as the rest of the Bunch! Alan finished in 3rd place overall. Final This was only an hour later, and was a great matchup between Terry and Phil. Rachael recommended Terry's Dial-in remain at 8.90, and Phil and team chose a 9.36. Phil had a start line advantage but broke out with a 9.349 at 130.58mph to Terry's winning 'Closest to Dial-in' run of 8.928 at 146.77mph! Another great race! And a fantastic weekend for the Ratcatcher Racing team who also won the 'Best Appearing Team' Spot Prize chosen by the commentators. Well done to all! It was a great event where the track crew marshals and officials worked really hard to complete it, so huge thanks to all of them!! The results mean that Phil is leading the Spirit of Nostalgia Series, closely followed by Terry in 2nd place, Darryl in 3rd and Keith Crampton in 4th. Phil also leads the Springbridge MSA Challenge Series, with Terry in 2nd, Darryl in 3rd and Alan in 4th place. We are now really looking forward to the third Wild Bunch Series round, sixth Spirit of Nostalgia Challenge Series round and second Roy Wilding Nostalgia Race Cars Series round of 2015, at the fifth annual 'Dragstalgia' event at Santa Pod on 11th & 12th July! We have over 35 Wild Bunch teams entered for that one already!! Can't wait!!