The ET Bike bracket, which is rapidly growing in shape and size as a home for a lot of the bikes that just fit in elsewhere, also had a whiff of pop with Craig Boulton going rounds on his blown Nourish Triumph twin that first saw action back in the Seventies (an exemplar of the ET Bike ethos, especially when Boulton lines up against latter day showroom stock bikes).

 

Other brackets

Belinda Bull (Ivan Sansom photo)

Andy Hone  (Ivan Sansom photo)

 

Comp Eliminator was the only class to complete their eliminations, thanks in no small part to a significant number of breakages that gave both Andy Hone and Belinda Bull byes at the semifinal stage. This presented the duo with the opportunity to successively stage for their place in the final and two minutes later race side-by-side for the trophy. We are not too sure if the unusual sequencing caught Hone off guard, but a 0.266 RT against Belinda’s 0.054 was always going to stack the cards in the favour of the A/A pickup and a 7.131/191 (on a 7.56 class index) duly lit the win light whilst Hone’s 7.386/184.17 (on an 8.00 index) from his SuMo Ford was none too shabby.

Andy Bond  (Ivan Sansom photo)

 

Most other classes were waiting to run their semifinals when Andy Bond in the Ugly Sister 55 Chevy clouted both walls hard after break-ing out of the groove in his Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator match up with Mark Todd, fortunately Todd had lost traction shortly off the startline as Bond’s errant ride shot across the track in front of him.

 

With the car shedding paneling and gathering pace before running off the end of the track with Bond in a state of incapacitation many feared the worst, but the safety features largely did their job and a broken hip and leg are the worst of the injuries suffered.

 

Whilst we have photos of the various impacts, we prefer to remember the Chevy in its intended state of ugliness; get well soon, Andy!

PHOTO EXTRA SLIDESHOW

Marco Maurischat  (Rose Hughes photo)

 

The final four was completed by Kev Slyfield who stepped up signifi-cantly from his qualifying numbers with a personal best threatening and event low ET 6.178/228.16mph to defeat Bobby Wallace’s 6.350/216.99 mph, and Marco Maurischat who bested Jean Dulamon with a 6.306/228.90 to a 6.927/194.70 in the Franco-German pairing.

 

The semi-finals kicked off with a tight 7.103/177.84 to 7.130/175.08 match-up between Slyfield’s Thunderbird and Payne’s Camaro with the former heading to the final where he was due to run against Maurischat, who benefitted from Robinson jumping the start, and would have had lane choice over Slyfield after recording his best numbers of the weekend with a 6.256/226.73 mph run. Rain and on-track inci-dents combined to curtail activities shortly after the semifinal stage, but Slyfield has closed the gap with Robinson at the top of the points at the halfway point in the championship.

 

A little nitro action

Lovers of the loud stuff had a few treats dispersed throughout the meeting, with Jndia Erbacher, daughter of multi-time European champi-on and former NHRA tourist Urs, completing her licensing requirements with a 4.094 at 272.83 mph. (Ivan Sansom photo)

Tony Betts  (Ivan Sansom photo)

 

A dynamic duo of Nostalgia Funny Cars were on hand with Tim Garlick leading the way with a 6.188/230.22 mph best from the Apache Trans Am whilst Tony Betts was easing his way into the mid sixes from the ex-Richard Hartman second gen Camaro. They were almost joined by Rob Elsom’s new Dirty Deeds Trans Am, but the ontrack debut of this beau-tiful ride will have to wait (hopefully only a couple of weeks until the Dragstalgia event).

Steve Woollatt (Ivan Sansom photo)

Neil Midgley  (Rose Hughes photo)

 

ACU Top Fuel Bike had Steve Woollatt on the Dealer testing out new clutch settings whilst Neil Midgley was still in the getting to know you phase onboard the Cannon Engineering blown V-Twin behemoth that was putting in some very nice short numbers.

race reports

SPRC Summer Nationals at Santa Pod Raceway, England

Struggling Through

 

Words and photos by Ivan Sansom & Rose Hughes

Thanks to SPR timing crew for access to timing data

The Nostalgia Funny Car of Tim Garlick

 

A short, sharp domestic race weekend at Santa Pod Raceway struggled to get through eliminations on Sunday, June 25, due to a combination of occasional showers and a horrendous looking crash that brought an abrupt end to proceeds due to the amount of debris on track.

 

MSA Pro Modified

 

A diverse entry of nine doorslammers presented to take aim for a spot in the eight car MSA Pro Modified eliminations field, with France, the Netherlands and Germany represented as well as the six domestic entries.

Mick Payne  (Rose Hughes photo)

 

After three rounds of qualification Marck Harteveld sat on top of the pile with a 6.1798/231.66mph from his supercharged Superbird. Unfor-tunately, come eliminations the Dutch racer was a no show due to a lack of oil pressure whilst warming the motor up in the pits prior to the first knockout round, thus handing number eight qualifier Mick Payne his first round win in Pro Mod competition.

Number two qualifier (at 6.1859/237.45 mph, the latter being the class top speed) and incoming points leader Andy Robinson in his NGK-backed Camaro progressed into the semis with a slick spinning and wayward 6.636/185.07 mph over Andy Wright’s 7.391/198.12 mph. (Ivan Sansom photo)

Kev Slyfield  (Ivan Sansom photo)

VOLUME XIX,  NUMBER 6 - JUNE   2017

BACK TO TOP

Connect

official DRO sponsors

 © 1999-2017 - Drag Racing Online and Racing Net Source LLC - 607 Seib Drive, O'Fallon, MO 63366 Phone: 636.272.6301 - Privacy Policy

Andy Bond  (Ivan Sansom photo)

 

Most other classes were waiting to run their semifinals when Andy Bond in the Ugly Sister 55 Chevy clouted both walls hard after break-ing out of the groove in his Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator match up with Mark Todd, fortunately Todd had lost traction shortly off the startline as Bond’s errant ride shot across the track in front of him.

 

With the car shedding paneling and gathering pace before running off the end of the track with Bond in a state of incapacitation many feared the worst, but the safety features largely did their job and a broken hip and leg are the worst of the injuries suffered.

 

Whilst we have photos of the various impacts, we prefer to remember the Chevy in its intended state of ugliness; get well soon, Andy!

fficial ponsors