Hi everybody,

Here is the brief news from our ‘Fall Nationals’ at the National Finals at Santa Pod, last weekend, 25^th & 26^th September. This was Wild Bunch Series Round 5 (Final), Spirit of Nostalgia Challenge Round 8 (Final), Springbridge MSUK Series Round 4 (Final) and the SPRC Championship for Wild Bunch Round 4 (Final).

The Wild Bunch had a field of 4 fine teams competing at the event:

• Phil James in ‘Rampage’
• Pete Brown in ‘Rebel’
• Mark Coulsell in ‘Ballbreaker’
• Bob Hawkins in ‘Time Traveller II’

The weather had been forecast to be dry all weekend, so we were all looking forward to a great event for the exciting season finale! Saturday’s weather started misty but the track crew had the track ready just a couple of minutes after the scheduled start time! The day turned out dry and cloudy and a bit cool. We were able to run in all 3 of our qualifying rounds, and all 4 cars qualified. Sunday also began misty but proceedings started on time again. The day became nice and sunny so it was a fitting end to a great season! Our first round, the Semis was at about 1pm with the finals being around 4pm. The fantastic Top 4 and Spot Prize trophies were fabricated by Steve Cassisi through his and Anna’s company Piston Rings and Things and co-sponsored by Lynne and Mark of Limited Funz Racing! They were made with all sorts of engine parts (including conrods from Havoc and Apache!) and were awesome! Many thanks to the whole team for these! Thanks again also to our Springbridge MSUK and SPRC Title sponsor Bob Hawkins of Springbridge Direct! All very much appreciated!

The winners were:-

1^st Place: Pete Brown in ‘Rebel’ (very consistent again, great qualifying and racing! 4^th win of the year!)

2^nd Place: Phil James in ‘Rampage’ (a great effort, just .034 adrift in the Semis against Pete, which turned out to be the decider for 2 of the Series!)

3^rd Place: Mark Coulsell in ‘Ballbreaker’ (more very strong runs in the 8.1s throughout qualifying!)

4^th Place (trophy only): Bob Hawkins in ‘Time Traveller II’ (another sterling effort to do everything possible to qualify, with a 7.80/155 pass!)

Here are the Spot Prizes that were awarded:-

#1 Qualifier:  Pete Brown in ‘Rebel’  .008 off (on the very first qualifier!)

Best Reaction in eliminations: Pete Brown in ‘Rebel’  .102 (in the Semi-final)

Best Appearing Car & Team: Bob Hawkins and Team ‘Time Traveller II’ (a huge effort to make improvements for the event, plus stunning sounding nitro power and amazing burnouts!)

Huge commiserations to Bob and team, as that qualifier came at the expense of a couple of rods letting go, causing extensive engine damage! Once again, a diaper helped save the day, containing all of the oil, and sadly a fair amount of shrapnel! We were all pretty devastated to see this, after an absolutely mammoth effort from Bob and team again, including installing a new larger fuel tank and fuel lines and making adjustments at the track to improve the fuel flow. They tried everything they could! Best of luck to Bob and the whole team on the rebuild!! 

Massive commiserations also to Mark, who had an issue with the transbrake on his Bye run in the Semi-final. This caused him to jump through stage and leave before the tree ran, and disappointingly being disqualified, so unable to run in the final! We were all gutted for him and the whole team about this! Especially the Marras who were looking forward to racing him in the Final! A brilliant effort from Mark and crew chief Steve throughout the year though with stunning PB’s in the low 8’s, a great performance!

Highlights of the weekend were the great day of qualifying in dry weather, the small but excellent field of Wild Bunch, the final results going right down to the wire at this event and the usual supportive camaraderie amongst all of the Bunch! A brilliant way to finish the season!

Well done also to Harley Coulsell for winning a couple of rounds in Junior Dragster and to Ada Cassisi for winning her first round against a tough opponent! Also a big well done to Wild Bunch supporter and crew Thomas Cooke-Abbott who earned #1 qualifier and won a couple of rounds in his last ever event in Juniors! Well done to him on a brilliant junior career! Best Wishes for your next step Tom!

Rob & Pete had already won the ‘Roy Wilding Nostalgia Race Cars Series’ for 2021 at the Hot Rod Drags, their first ever series win.  The results this weekend mean that they have also won the 2021 Wild Bunch Series, the Spirit of Nostalgia Series, the ‘Springbridge Motorsport UK Challenge’ AND the Santa Pod Racers Club Championship for Wild Bunch!! Congratulations and very well done to Pete & Rob and Hayley & Natalie and George & Julie on the clean sweep!!  Great achievements team!!!!

Many thanks to all the Santa Pod marshals and officials, track and safety crews and organisers for all their hard work as always!! Well done to all of the Wild Bunch on another small but fantastic show!!

All the best,

Claire

PS. Full points will be updated as soon as I can!

PPS. It is now about 2 months until our fab Annual Prize Presentation and Dinner Dance on 27^th November at Drayton Manor, Tamworth. Ticket forms and info will be going out in the post in a few weeks for this brilliant evening! Hope to see you all there!!