Festival of Power - Wild Bunch

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Festival of Power April 3 - 5

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Wild Bunch ResultsFestival of Power3rd - 5th April 2015 Spirit of Nostalgia Challenge Series Round 1. MSA Points Challenge 1.

The 'Festival of Power' was the first event of the WB season. It was the 'Spirit of Nostalgia Challenge' Series Round 1 and the first round of the 'Springbridge MSA Challenge', and there was a field of 4 Wild Bunch cars competing: 3 Slingshots and a Funny Car.

Wild Bunch Points
Pos	WB	Driver/Team	Car	Points
1	45	Phil James	Rampage	8
2	25	Terry Clifford	Ratcatcher Resurrection	6
3	2	Bob Hawkins	Timetraveller II	4
4	961	Dave Nelson	Dorris Dormouse	1

MSA Points
Pos	WB	Driver/Team	Car	Points
1	45	Phil James	Rampage	480
2	25	Terry Clifford	Ratcatcher Resurrection	230
3	2	Bob Hawkins	Timetraveller II	120
4	961	Dave Nelson	Dorris Dormouse	10

Spot Prizes
	WB	Team/Driver	Car	Detail
Closest To Dial-In	45	Phil James	Rampage	0.095 off
Best Reaction	2	Bob Hawkins	Timetraveller II	0.227
#1 Qualifier	45	Phil James	Rampage	0.095 off
Best Appearing Car	961	Dave Nelson	Dorris Dormouse
Event Quickest ET	961	Dave Nelson	Dorris Dormouse	7.884
Wildest Ride	25	Terry Clifford	Ratcatcher Resurrection

The Wild Bunch welcomed back a small group of racers for the start of the 2015 Season. One racer ran a Personal Best E.T. and Speed during the event. Qualifying Friday This was a qualifying day and there were scheduled to be 2 qualifiers, and the Wild Bunch were 22nd on the running order! It was wet to start with and although the track was nearly dry, it rained again. The track crew worked tirelessly and opened the track at around 1pm, but after only 3 pairs of cars it rained again! And by 3:20pm, the officials were forced to call off the event for the day. Saturday There were 2 qualifiers on the Saturday schedule, and again the Wild Bunch were a fair way down the running order. It was a bit damp first thing so the track opened around an hour late. There were a couple of delays during the day and we finally got our first qualifier at around 4:30pm! After that 3 of the 4 teams were safely qualified. We were called down to the pairings lanes around 7:30ish and waited around. Unfortunately there was an incident with a Junior biker, so hope he is now a-ok. Our second qualifier then began around 8:30pm! It was single lane only, and after our 2nd racer, the track was shut down for the day for a small oil down. Sunday qualifier Our 2nd qualifier was rescheduled for 11am ish. And eventually took place at about 1pm! After this all 4 drivers were now qualified for the eliminations.
WB 2	Bob Hawkins was debuting a new bigger engine in his 'Time Traveller II' blown slingshot, in search of even quicker numbers! Bob was testing on his first qualifier, and dialled in at an amazingly low 7.00 even! He had some issues on the run, and recorded a 16.089 at 89.44mph. He put in another run on the Saturday night with another 16-second pass, but this qualifying session was annulled. The team made some changes late into the night working on some theories as to why the car had not run quickly. On the second qualifier Sunday Bob again dialled in at 7.00. The car performed similarly and Bob posted a 15.316 at 63.08mph. He qualified in 3rd place overall.
WB 25	Terry Clifford was back out in the 'Ratcatcher Resurrection' slingshot, and looking forward to racing after his recent engine rebuild. He dialled in at 9.50 for starters, but the car rolled the beams and he did not record a time on what looked like a good run. In the second qualifier Sunday, Terry dialled in at a lower 9.00 even. He recorded a solid 9.696 at 148.65mph to get a number on the board. He qualified in 2nd place overall.
WB 45	Phil James had a newly built axle in the 'Rampage' funny car. Phil was joined by his crew, son Carl, brother Mike and friend Matt. For his first round, he dialled in at 9.28, and ran a good 9.390 at 136.91mph to open his account. He raised the Dial to 9.32 for the second run, and recorded a closer 9.377 at 140.34mph. He repeated his 2014 season opening performance by becoming #1 Qualifier at this event again!
WB 961	Dave Nelson was out for his first event of the season in the team's 'Dorris Dormouse' slingshot. Dave and team were raring to go and dialled in at 7.99 for the first qualifier, a long way below the 8.44 PB mark! The car burned out strongly and left well, and Dave was on a flyer! He posted a massive new Personal Best ET and Speed of 7.884 at 169.17mph! His first ever 7! And also earning him WB 'Quickest ET of the event'. Many Congratulations to Dave and the whole team on this achievement! Dave went out for the evening qualifier, and although the first half of the run was strong, he seemed to back off at three-quarter track. The reason soon became apparent – Dave was covered in oil, as the engine let go! Later inspection showed a hole in the sump which had been punched by a rod, and there was pretty comprehensive damage throughout! Such a shame! Commiserations to Dave and the team! Hope they can be back out later on this season! Best of luck! There was some consolation in that the commentators awarded them the 'Best Appearing Car' Spot Prize, in tribute to their great run!
Race Day Sunday There had been some early drizzle at the start of racing, but the track reopened by about 10:30. The second qualifier took place at 1pm, and then the first round of eliminations, the Semi-Final took place around 4:30pm. Semi-finals The only pairing saw Phil James matched with Bob Hawkins. Phil dialled in at 9.30 and Bob at 7.30. Bob and the team had made some more alterations in hopes of getting rid of the gremlins. Unfortunately, there was not much of an improvement, as he posted a 13.327 at 69.85mph, whereas Phil took the win with a 9.416 at 124.45mph, his first ever competition round win. Bob did run the Wild Bunch 'Best Reaction'.227 on this run. Then Terry took a solo as he had been due to face Dave. He dialled in at 9.00 and ran a better 9.329 at 150.00mph, which was encouraging, although there were minor niggles. Final The teams went back to the pits, and finalists were shortly being called! For this race, Terry dialled in at 9.25 and Phil just very slightly slower at 9.27. Well, when Terry launched, he went up and sideways and landed a bit heavy, earning himself the 'Wildest Ride' Spot Prize. When he landed he noticed some smoke and a loss of power and ran through with an 11.947 at 64.04mph. Phil kept right on it and recorded a 9.365 at 140.71mph to take his first ever event win! Many Congratulations, Phil! He also earned 'Closest to Dial-in' for race day with this .095 off Dial. Well done to all the teams for an entertaining start to the season. A great bunch of cars and teams! Huge thanks to all the marshals and officials and track crew for their hard work over the weekend! We are now looking forward to the second Spirit of Nostalgia Challenge Series and Springbridge MSA Challenge rounds of 2015, and the first APIRA Series round, at the 'Springspeed Nationals' at Shakespeare County on May 2nd – 4th Bank Holiday weekend. It should be a great event! We’re hoping for better weather and a really good field of Wild Bunch!