Sunny (finally) at Santa Pod
Following two rainouts at both Santa Pod and Shakespeare County Raceway since Easter, racers chasing UK national championship points were casting a very nervous glance at the weather forecast prior to the Summernationals at Santa Pod Raceway. The wet stuff began to fall on Friday afternoon, curtailing the Peak Performance test day, and then it carried on falling through Saturday, wiping out qualifying for all but five of the twenty-four classes. The weather came around on Sunday, meaning a long day ahead, kicked off by a one shot qualifying session for those classes that didn’t get down track the previous day and followed by some stunning elimination performances across the board.
Heads-up
The lack of track time seemed to have a significant effect on the flagship MSA Pro Modified Championship class, with only Dan Cockerill recording a six (6.385) in the qualifier and Dutchman Marc Meihuizen breaking after severe tire shake off the startline and failing to record a valid time. Eliminations were also a hit and miss affair, Cockerill set low ET with a 6.383 but lost in the semifinals to eventual winner Andy Robinson in his Studebaker. Robinson’s final round match-up with Bert Englefield was a bizarre event with the timing system throwing a wobbler after the tree ran down and no time recorded in either lane when both drivers were probably on their best passes of the meeting. Robinson was clearly ahead at the stripe and estimated post-race that he was on 6.4-second pace. It’s the long haul over to Finland for many of the Pro Mods as the next FIA/UEM round looms large.
Another Andy took home the laurels in the Super Modified class. The Rat Fink Camaro of Andy Kirk hit consistent 7.6s running with bracket-like consistency in the single carb doorslammer class. A 7.686 was enough to head the qualifying sheet, a 7.688 accounted for Andrew Chilton in the first round and earning a competition bye in the semis; the 
freebie resulted in a 7.686 to earn the right to face Tim Garlick in the final round. Garlick red lit his best run (7.715) of the day away, but Kirk’s 7.664 would have been tough to get around.
The Real Steel Street Eliminator saw the return of some long-term absentees, with the Silver Fox, Ian Jackson, blasting back to the top of the pump gas and mufflers class with his twin turbo’ed Corvette. Jackson moved from the mid eights in qualifying and then turned up the wick in each elimination round to take the final with an 8.259/169 over Jeff Meads by just over a car length.