August 27th/28th |
SPR. British Drag Race Championship Meeting. Sunday saw the running of the Class Eliminations, the first heats of some of the major eliminations and some demonstrations from Tony Densham in the 'Commuter'. The first saw the car bog off the line and then rapidly pick up speed as Tony got to grips with the power. The E.T. was 10.30, the fastest of the day so far. A second run later showed that Tony was gaining confidence in the car and he clocked a storming 9.10/141, the quickest ever by any British built car. Also on hand for demos was Alf Hagon who put in a nine second run on the JAP. His second run of the day ended before it had begun when a broken crank pin seperated the flywheel and wrecked the crankcase on the start line. Pete Gray brought along two Harley Davidsons, the first was a street bike on which he performed a selection of stunts for the entertainment of the crowd, the second was his supercharged, nitro-burning sprint bike which dropped a valve on the start line before its first run. After action on the track had finished the 200 campers, and the assembled competitors, made the most of the warm evening and various parties sprang up, one of which was being organised by the start line crew. They had laid claim to Jack Stillwells 'Stripside Stores' and were supplying free drinks with music and dancing. For reasons which are not apparent Clive Skilton decided to see how many women he could cram into the cockpit of his 'Henry T' Hot Rod. The answer being a staggering 15! Monday saw Tony Densham out for another demo but some backfiring on the fire up indicated problems and that was his weekend over. Alf Hagon had stayed at the track and put in a smoky run on Pete Allens supercharged Triumph twin, and Ian Richardson put in some demos on 'Moonraker'. The eliminations produced some great racing. Keith Sales missed out on his chance of a Super Eliminator title in 'Megalomania' in the second round when his parachute came out as he left the line against Peter Mylrea in 'Stagecoach'. Mylrea made it to the final where he lost out to Dave Riswick who was driving the 'Hustler' altered. Only six dragsters were entered for the Top Eliminator which would decide who took the Championship crown. Alan Ing, in his blown Cortina engined 'Dragon' rail, had missed a gear and put a rod through the block on the previous day but was back out with a rebuilt motor using a block that another competitor had lying in his garage. The other drivers in Top Eliminator had decided that Alan would be allowed back into the running whenever the car was ready. He defeated Harold Bulls 'Stripduster', 11.604/121.65 to 11.728/114.94, in the first round, got a bye-run in the second where he recorded 11.776/118.06, and advanced to the final by beating Maurice Hicks Jaguar powered 'Avenger' with an 11.752/113.25. His opponent for the title was Ken Cooper who had earlier run a personal best of 12.050. There were doubts that Ings temporary motor would stand up to another full pass. Both cars launched well and stayed together until half track where the motors of both began to falter. It was close at the top end but Ing crossed the line first with a 12.869/117.51 to a 13.280/101.73. This meeting saw the introduction of a 'Ladies Eliminator' Christine Skilton, driving Clives E Type, beat Diana Floyd in Jagos T while Rachael Harvey beat Pam Metcalfe, the only woman to try her hand in a dragster in husband Dereks 'Wombat'. Christine took the final win over Rachael.
For all class results click here. (Jim & Janet Smith)
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