April 10th-12th |
Santa Pod Raceway. Easter Thunderball. As part of the fourth Pro Fuel Shootout competiton two rookie drivers were making licencing passes in Top Fuel. Norweigan Thomas Nataas was in the seat of one of Rune Fjeld's cars, and Knut Soderquist was supplying another for Dutchman Lex Joon. Andy Carter opened the first round with a 5.400/203.65 after a couple of pedals to try and maintain traction. In the next round he lined up alongside the Showtime Funny Car of John Spuffard and drove through tyre shake to record a 4.943/292.24 as Spuffards tyres went up in smoke at the hit. After the run it was found that the Showtime car had broken a ring & pinion in the rear axle, putting the team out of action for the rest of the meeting. In the final qualifying round Carter and Gordon Smith, in the Shockwave Funny Car were due to run together. Carter's team struggled to get the car started and it finally fired as Smith came back over the start line from his burnout. It was then shut off again to allow Smith a solo run, which resulted in a huge bang at the hit which split the blower in two, lifted the body and sent the pressure relief plate skywards. Thomas Nataas started next, but the crew were unable to detach the starter, the engine evntually being shut down again. Carter then put in his run, a 5.793/172.76 with a pedal due to tyre shake and an early shut off. Lex Joon was next up with a 5.606/182.37 half pass, followed by Nataas with a 5.883/189.13. With both Funny Cars out of action the final it was between the two top qualifying fuellers, Carter and Joon. A holeshot from Carter got him to the finish line first with a 5.049/290.75 to an engine-destroying 5.046/280.95 from Joon who crossed the centre line after the finish. Top Methanol saw Rob Turner qualify at number one with a 5.616/245.05. The only other car in the class was the Funny Car of Doug Ripley, who managed a new personal best of 7.404/175.74. Turner took the final win with a 5.635/242.07, but Ripley beat his personal best again with a 7.021/189.80. Super Modified qualifying began with a new personal best for Tim Garlick of 8.180/169.18 that put him at number one after the first session. In the second he was pushed down to third by an 8.078/169.18 from Steve Rawlings and an 8.151/171.17 from Rob Smallworth. The Oldsmobile of Graham Ellis was being driven by Kev Perkins and took a hard turn into the wall at 1000ft when the radiator cap came loose, putting fluid under one of the slicks. The car was damaged but Kev was OK. Rawlings held on to his first place until the last round, despite a new personal best of 8.086/169.86 from Paul Brooks that put him in the number two spot. In the final session Rob Smallworth leapt over both of them and recorded a 7.997/173.23, the first seven second SM run under the classes new rules. Custom Car Street Eliminator saw Andy Frost take his Red Victor Vauxhall to a new personal best of 8.393/165.36 which put him in the number two spot. Reigning champion Steve Pateman qualified at number four and went out in round two to number one qualifier Wayne Saunders. Round three saw Saunders and Ian Jackson both out of action leaving Andy Frost to take his first win with an 8.574/165.45. Martin Hill put three runs over the three days in the Fireforce II Jet Funny Car with a best of 6.072/212.23. Top Fuel Bike qualifying saw Steve Woolatt make the number one spot with a 6.595/209.16. Antonio Ferretti was number two with a personal best of 7.098/190.85 and another new personal best of 7.394/175.10 from Steve Carey was good enough for third. Ian King made fourth with a 13.322/61.81 that saw a flash of flame and bang from the bike that resulted in a snapped camshaft, split manifold and torched head, along with some bodywork damage. Woolatt improved in the first round with a 6.475/213.11 bye, but he suffered a rear brake failure which prevented him making the finaL. Steve Carey took the honours with an 8.155/156.26, feathering the throttle as the bike drifted to the left. In Funny Bike Neil Midgley got back into the sixes after three rounds of qualifying with a 6.930/189.80 that gave him the number one qualifier spot. Paul Knapp ran a personal best of 7.289/179.29 to take number two. The pair made it to the final where Midgley took the win with a 7.195/182.29 to a 7.267/182.23. In the semi finals Sarah Jane Head took a nasty spill at the top end which resulted in her being airlifted to hospital. Comp Bike saw TJ O'Brien set about repeatedly lowering his personal best, leaving it at 8.015/157.43 which was good enough for number one spot in qualifying. He bettered this again in the final where he took the win with an 8.000/157.15 over a 9.816/106.64 from Vaughan Foster. In Super Street Bike Graham Dance took an early lead in qualifying by being half a second ahead of the rest of the field. He continued to improve on this in each round, ending up at number one with an 8.165/176.25. He made his way to the final and then went quicker again, setting a new ACU Super Street Bike record with an 8.108/166.83 and taking the win over an 8.446/171.89 from Mark Fisher. Eric Teboul put in two runs on his Rocket Bike, a 6.242/182.83 on Sunday and a 5.795/200.96 on Monday, the quickest two-wheeled pass at the track ever.
For all class results click here. For Eurodragster live updates click here.
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