MSA British Drag Racing Championship
Subject: Round Two race report
David Alexander, MSA Championship Co-ordinator
Contact: mobile 07836 332576
e-mail dave_ale@etmra.com
Embargo: Immediate release
The second round of the MSA British Drag Racing Championship took place at the inaugural Excitement Nationals, held at Shakespeare County Raceway, Warwickshire over the May Bank Holiday weekend.
Five teams entered for the round, which features 3000+ bhp Top Methanol Dragsters and Funny Cars in side-by-side competition over the quarter mile. A track surface that was not at its best played havoc with the teams and resulted in some poor qualifying times and close calls to the Armco on numerous occasions.
The first day of eliminations was lost to rain, but the weather was kinder on day two and allowed the third and fourth qualifying sessions to take place.
In the first outing, Dave Wilson came close to a calamity as the American Car Imports dragster tried to get lose, first towards the centreline then towards the Armco. A less experienced driver would probably have lost it, but Dave’s skill came to the fore and he recovered to complete the run. Doug Bond, seeing Dave coming towards him, shut the Shell dragster off early, but not early enough to avoid a minor blower explosion. Steph Milam also suffered tyreshake, but Doug Ripley was able to drive through to a high 8 second pass. Rob Turner left well but suffered a very severe case of tyreshake just pass the Christmas tree. It was so bad that the rear axle mounting plates of the Netcall Telecom dragster were torn and the rear axle coupler came away from the drive shaft, preventing much greater damage.
Round two was almost as eventful, with Doug Ripley in the Allglass/Flint Insurance Funny Car taking two attempts to make a pass, but achieving a straight run, but it was more of the same for Steph Milam, who sensibly lifted her right foot in the Pro Seal car as she headed towards the centreline. Dave Wilson confounded the critics by carding a five second pass, while Doug Bond ran a creditable six seconds for the number two spot. Rob Turner sat this session out as various crew members scattered across the country to acquire the parts to rebuild their car.
Round One saw Wilson solo through with yet another quick time, to ensure lane choice in the semi, where he met Ripley who had put Steph Milam back on the trailer with a 9.62 to her 10.26, both suffering from more of the ‘shakes’.
On the other side of the tree, Doug Bond upset the form book
by taking out Rob Turner, who was back in competition after an all-night thrash
by his team to repair their ailing dragster. Tyreshake forced Rob to click off
early, leaving Bond to head for the finish line, but not before suffering
another blower explosion. Doug then soloed in the semi final before meeting
The final pitted David against Goliath, with Doug valiantly
trying to take out
Qualifying
|
Position |
Name |
Time |
Speed |
|
1 |
Dave Wilson |
5.762 |
245.90 |
|
2 |
Doug Bond |
6.719 |
207.37 |
|
3 |
Doug Ripley |
8.838 |
156.79 |
|
4 |
Steph Milam |
10.716 |
89.82 |
|
5 |
Rob Turner |
13.068 |
51.84 |
Eliminations
R Bye
L Dave Wilson 5.696,
252 mph – Winner
R Doug
Ripley 8.034, 179 mph
L Dave Wilson 5.710,
235 mph
R Steph Milam 10.260, 149 mph
L Doug Ripley 9.679,
138 mph - Winner
R Doug Bond 5.940, no mph
L Dave Wilson 5.716, 235 mph - Winner
R Rob Turner 6.992,
141 mph
L Doug Bond 6.322,
171 mph – Winner
R Bye
L Doug Bond 8.059, 117 mph - Winner
R Bye
L Bye
Points standings after
Round Two
|
Position |
Name |
Round One |
Round Two |
Total |
|
1 |
Dave Wilson |
98 |
118 |
216 |
|
2 |
Rob Turner |
117 |
54 |
171 |
|
3 |
Doug Ripley |
76 |
76 |
151 |
|
4 |
Stephanie Milam |
75 |
55 |
131 |
|
5 |
Doug Bond |
|
97 |
97 |