2003 Excitement Nationals
Monday (eliminations)
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21:15
Today's pictures have now been posted. You can view them via the Event Index page.
That's the end of our coverage of the Excitement Nationals, thanks for tuning in. For their help this weekend we would like to thank Ozzy, Simon and Wayne of the Tech Crew; Race Director Richard Warburton; all the APIRA race officials; the FAST team; Scott Talbot and the start line crew; Lee and Emma Child; John Price; Barry Bohannon; Jerry Cookson; Wendy Talbot; Dave Alexander; Jim Broome; Roger Gorringe; Ian Turburville; Ivan Sansom; Tracy in the media centre; and of course to all the racers for giving us so much to write about and quote.
Eurodragster's next Event Coverage will be from next weekend's Speedfreaks Ball at Santa Pod Raceway; our next Event Coverage from Shakespeare County Raceway is scheduled to be the Power Nationals on 14th-15th June.
This weekend's Event Coverage has been brought to you in association with American Car Imports.
18:45
Fuel Funny Car final
John Spuffard 5.633/263.16 def. Gordon Smith 6.343/183.67
No mistakes from Spuff here as he blacktracked the entire length of his lane, drifting a tiny bit towards the top end and pedalling once. Gordon launched strongly but was off the throttle at about half track.
British Nitro FC Championship co-ordinator Jim Broome kindly calculated the provisional points standings for us, they are
Top Methanol final
Dave Wilson 5.716/235.60 def. Doug Bond 5.940/no speed
Dave capped off a great weekend for the American Car Imports team with another thundering pass, the car started to drift towards the top end and Dave pulled the chutes just before the finish line. Doug Bond's time came up as 5.940 with no speed displayed. It transpired that Dave's chute had displaced the finish line reflector tripping the clock. Dave said that Doug was right there with him at the finish line and Doug's incrementals bear out the five.
Here are the final results in all classes:
Fuel Funny Car: John Spuffard 5.633/263.16 def. Gordon Smith 6.343/183.67
Top Methanol: Dave Wilson 5.716/235.60 def. Doug Bond 5.940/no speed
Super Mod: Danny Cockerill 7.794/180.72 def. Andy Hone NTR
Super Pro ET: Wayne Nicholson (8.95) 9.194/147.06 def. Nick Stephenson broke
Pro ET: Lee Huxley (10.90) 11.098/112.22 def. Dave Baldwin (11.55) 11.682/114.50
Sportsman ET: Nick Gay (15.80) 16.725/66.75 def. George Greves (12.75) 12.848/105.88 red light
Super Comp: Tim Adam 8.945/149.50 def. Martin Curbishley 8.975/154.11
Super Gas: Malcolm Francis 9.986/123.29 def. Will Furniss 10.067/137.20
Super Street: Mike Bentley 10.986/128.21 def. Conrad Stanley NTR
Junior Dragster: Joe Bond (9.65) 19.001/16.17 def. Collin Morrice (9.03) 9.138/71.20 red light
Custom Car Street Eliminator: Jon Webster 8.742/164.23 def. Steve Pateman 12.195/85.07
Wild Bunch: Alec Coe (10.50) 10.437.114.50 lesser breakout def. Mark Coulsell (10.50) 10.413/126.40 breakout
Outlaw Anglia: Paul Hensher 8.882/153.58 def. Pete Ashworth 9.359/115.98 DQ hit timing equipment
The NTR for Andy Hone in the Super Modified final doesn't tell the whole story. Fred got out of shape off the startline and tagged the guardrail, the car bounced back into its lane and then a pendulum effect set in, Fred was doing everything he could but the car suddenly turned hard left. From race control we could see Fred braking hard but there was too much momentum and the car hit the guardrail again. Fred was out of the car in moments and the safety crews were there at the same time. Fred is A-OK and the car doesn't look too badly damaged.
The last of the Pro Mod best of three was only contested by John Ellis who clocked 10.884/75.13. Gordon Appleton won two out of the three so he takes the win.
European Top Gas: Harry van Schie 9.569/137.61 def. Cord Albers 8.619/158.45 red light
Top Fuel Bike: was not contested
Pro Stock Bike: Paul Watson 7.660/175.78 def. Richard Gipp 25.327/25.98
Funny Bike: Dave Holland 7.267/177.17 def. Stu Chamberlain DQ hit timing equipment
Super Street Bike: Karl Larcombe 8.424/170.45 def. Tony Clark 8.469/179.28
Comp Bike: Jerry Collier 8.198/157.89 def. Phil Leamon 8.752/157.34
9.90 Bike: Paul Hambidge 9.933/133.14 def. Fred Furlong 10.016/137.20
10.90 Bike: Andy Burfitt 11.151/99.78 def. Nick Holland 11.160/122.28
Supertwin Fuel: Dave Witts 10.271/123.97 def. Chris Stebbings 12.686/64.75
Supertwin Gas: George Laycock 9.612/137.20 def. Bart Salentyn 10.250/130.81 red light
Supertwin Modified: TJ O'Brien 9.926/139.32 def. Dave Bartz 9.893/135.95
Supertwin Street: Mark Earrey 10.590/135.14 def. Dave Jones 10.905/123.29
Junior Drag Bike: Jennifer Hurcomb 10.354/70.98, Dan Baldwin no show
Stay tuned for today's pictures.
17:30
If you were tuned in yesterday you'll remember that TJ O'Brien ran 9.959 on his Supertwin Modified bike, which would be a record if he backed it up. This afternoon TJ backed up the 9.959 by running too quick with a 9.844. He is still in with a chance of making the 9.844 a record in the STM final. It's not all his though since Dave Bartz also ran in the 9.8s in his semi.
16:40
Richard Gipp and Paul Watson will contest the Pro Stock Bike final. Richard took his semi-final 7.906 to Ray Debben's 8.289, and then Paul Watson followed up on a bye and smashed his personal best out of sight with a 7.629/173.08.
Super Street Bike will be decided between Karl Larcombe and Tony Clark, Karl took his semi-final with an 8.342/172.41 to Jamie Sneddon's slowing 15.319/50.17 whilst Tony took a great semi-final against Matt Nixon with an 8.374/173.75 to Matt's 8.642/167.29. 0.032 between the finalists! The Comp Bike final will be contested between Jerry Collier and Phil Leamon after they took their semis at 8.356/159.57 and 8.593/155.17 respectively.
16:20
The Super Modified final will be between Danny Cockerill and Andy Hone, Danny ran a blistering 7.777/180.72 to Steve Rawlings' 9.518, Andy Hone pulled yet another huge wheelstand on his 8.110/170.45 bye.
Gordon Appleton took the second of the Pro Mod best of three with a 6.773/203.62 to John Ellis' solid 7.427/186.72, both cars drifting a little bit in the second half of the track. If you consider that Gordon had not turned a wheel in the car before this weekend that's quite something.
Now that the bikes are back on the quarter we have had new PBs for Super Street Bikers Matt Nixon at 8.41 and Jamie Sneddon at 8.56. Good work lads!
16:00
Top Methanol semi finals
Dave Wilson 5.710/235.60 def. Doug Ripley 8.034/179.28
Another great run for Dave, looking particularly strong in the second half of the track until it just started to wander towards the top end. Dave dropped the chutes just before the traps, took the first turnoff and parked up right at the weighbridge. A strong run from Doug, a tiny bit of shake, but his best pass of the weekend.
Doug Bond 8.059/117.19 bye
Doug's "slow pootle through" to save parts turned into a Cheltenham sixty foot as he got further and further onto the throttle as he went down the track.
European Top Gas Bike semi finals
Harry van Schie 11.874/124.65, Job Heezen no show
Cord Albers 8.665/157.34 def. Michael Merse 10.198/136.78
The first ever Junior Drag Bike elimination round outside the USA was won by Dan Baldwin with a 16.937/42.33 to Jake Carruthers' 13.432/51.96 break-out. Both racers dialled in a 13.50. Jennifer Hurcomb took the other race in round one, 11.627/64.94 on an 11.60 dial-in to Andy Irvine's 12.861/53.25 on a 10.90 dial-in.
Roger Goring was in the pairing lanes in his Firestorm Jet FC but was returned to the pits because the event is running behind schedule. "I think people thought we had broken, we haven't and I will be running at the end of the day", he said. "I'm sorry to those fans who came to see us and will have to leave before the end."
14:45
Top Fuel Dragster match race 2
Smax Smith 7.615/97.83
Smax left the line with a cylinder out and was off the throttle by three hundred feet. Darryl Bradford did not appear for this round, we hear that a cylinder was out in the warm-up.
14:10
European Top Gas eliminations round 1
This round was contested over the eighth mile. All of the bike classes will run quarter mile from the next round of eliminations.
Job Heezen 5.215/136.78 def. Andy Ludwig 7.801/86.21
Harry van Schie 5.987/112.07 def. Gerd Caspari
Cord Albers 5.329/131.20 def. Carsten Hormann broke
Michael Merse 6.599/109.76 def. Axel Seifert 9.881/98.25
14:00
Top Methanol eliminations round 1
Dave Wilson 5.696/252.81 bye
Dave might have been tempted to take this one easy but there was no sign of it. A strong and long burnout and then Dave drove through shake, a nice straight pass.
Doug Bond 6.322/171.10 def. Rob Turner 6.992/141.51
Strong burnouts from both racers and then they left together, Rob drove through shake but then got off the throttle at about half track. Doug was still under power and took the lead, shutting off at about a thousand feet but getting there first. Some of Doug's ignition wires were found on the track at the top end but no news from the Shell pit of any damage.
Doug Ripley 9.679/138.04 def. Steph Milam 10.260/149.01
If we were in the USA we'd say "This wasn't pretty" but it was a pretty exciting match-up. Doug got very sideways in the burnout, almost collecting the Tree and fire marshal Wayne in the process. On the green the race quickly turned into a pedalling contest with both cars hitting shake and going out of shape, Doug getting back on when he realised he couldn't see Steph.
Fuel Funny Car qualifying session 2
John Spuffard 7.100/133.93, Gordon Smith 8.156/111.94
A very eventful qualifier. Big burnouts from both cars, on the green they left together, Spuff was pulling ahead then at half track he started to drift towards the centreline. There was a bang, sheet of flame, the relief panel came off the body and a blower belt flew through the air. Meanwhile Gordon started to drift right towards Spuff, we would guess that he saw Spuff and got off the throttle.
In Pro Mod, Gordon Appleton ran a superb, straight 6.740/206.42 in his new Camaro, there is obviously plenty more left in there too - NDRS Pro Mod racers have been warned for the Main Event! John Ellis in the other lane broke on the line.
In Super Modified Andy Hone pulled another huge wheelie in his Scorpio, pedalled very briefly but still clocked a very rapid 8.106/171.10, Ian Marshall broke off the line. Danny Cockerill ran 8.291/169.81 in his Rover. Steve Rawlings also had a bye running 9.654/142.86 - we would guess another nitrous-free pass.
If you were tuned in to the webcam earlier you will have seen the "offline" caption. What happened was that 10.90 Bike racer Chris Wheeler came out of the back door of his bike right on the start line, we didn't want to broadcast pictures of the ambulance and safety crews so we stopped the camera. The safety crew were there in moments, Chris was taken to the medical centre for a check-out and we hear that he is A-OK.
It is a very pleasant day here, 60.6 F, 40% humidty and 29.88 air pressure on the start line.
Eliminations are continuing apace, stay tuned.
10:00
A good morning to you and welcome from Shakespeare County Raceway on another pleasant summer's day. It's 55.9 F on the start line, 61% humidity and 29.83 inches of air pressure on the start line although there is a very stiff breeze. Action is about to start and we're here to bring you all the news in association with American Car Imports.
The Webster Race Engineering/Dragrace Drachten webcam is already on-line, you can reach that via the Event Index page.
A big good morning to our US correspondents Ed O'Connell and Kathy Hileman in Rye, NH, who we know are tuned in as ever. Hope you are enjoying the coverage, we wish you were here. A good morning also to APIRA Press Officer Jerry Cookson who is still in dock.
The big news so far today is that the bike racers will be running over the eigth mile because of the wind.
Jane Vogwell of the FAST team has asked us to pass on a big Thank You to all crew members for observing the rule about not standing in front of the emergency vehicles on the start line. "Everyone is obviously making the effort and we really appreciate it", she said. "I have only had to try to run over a couple of people this weekend!".
We had a very quick turn around the pits this morning, lots of very busy racers beavering away on their vehicles. Here's what we found out.
Another candidate for Thrash of the Weekend are the Turner Racing Top Methanol Dragster team, some of whom have not actually been to bed. If you were tuned in yesterday you will remember that Rob Turner hit vicious tyre shake on his qualifying pass yesterday, crew chief Steve Turner said that the shake actually broke the rear axle brackets, the rear axle tipped back, and the coupler came out. "It's a good thing that Rob has a sixth sense and got off it rather than pedalled it", said Steve. "The brackets hold the wing supports, the wing could have collapsed and the chutes could have pulled the rear axle off". Steve fabricated some new axle supports overnight. The metal arrived here at the track at 12:30 and Steve finished the job at about 8:15 this morning. "Thanks to Jon Webster, Darren Galloway and Andy Hill for their help", said Steve.
Top Methanol #1 qualifier Dave Wilson characteristically underplayed his driving job in the first qualifying session yesterday. Not only could we read American Car Imports on the side of the car but we could read the "PS2" on the front spill plates! As we did with Gordon Appleton yesterday, we asked Dave if the run was as violent on the inside as it looked from the outside. "Quite often it's not", said Dave, "but I didn't need much more of that".
Pro Stock Bike racer Paul Watson got into the sevens for the first time in qualifying yesterday although he said that the shine was taken off it by Lucy Thorn's spill in the other lane. The good news is that Lucy is perfectly OK. "I was concentrating on not hitting the reflectors at the top end", said Paul. "The bike moved a bit and I leaned to keep it straight, I made sure I got on the clutch before I got off it, and then I forgot to brake!", he said.
John Ellis and the Lethal Pro Mod team have been working on the Calibra's clutch after a computer trace of yesterday's pass showed every reading along the top line with the exception of the clutch trace which crew member Chris told us was along the bottom. "We've tightened it up a bit", he said. "It's a nice feeling to be able to change things to go even quicker". Crew Chief Ray White estimated that John's pass yesterday, on which he didn't get a time, was a 7.5.
Pro ET racer Steve Good was one of several who got very close to pulling a perfect reaction time yesterday, with a 0.501 in qualifying. Steve is quoted as asking if he could have forty nine pounds from Eurodragster. Nice try, Steve.
Top Fuel Dragster racer Smax Smith gave us his take on yesterday's match race in which Darryl Bradford was bulbed. "My hand relaxed on the brake and before I knew it I was in stage!", he said. "I waited a moment and then put it on the high side and I thought I shouldn't have done that! It was one of those things and it won't happen today". The CBD team will be dialling more horsepower off the start line in the Purple Loans rail this morning, and a bit less at about 330 feet. "I ran 2.46 to 330 feet and then hit shake", he said. "The rule with tyre shake is that you get off it if it hurts!".
Eliminations are well underway now, stay tuned and we'll bring you the news.