Hi everybody!

Here is the brief news from our ‘Fall Nationals’ at the National Finals at Santa Pod, last weekend, 21^st & 22^nd September.

The Wild Bunch had a field of 8 teams competing at the event:

• Keith Crampton in ‘Soul Town Shaker’ (already succeeded in getting in the WB Top 10 for his 10^th year in a row!! Well done Keith!)
• Mark Coulsell in ‘Ballbreaker’ (the team worked hard to tune the car to the new converter and managed varying conditions well)
• Philippa Turton in ‘Bitchcraft’ (another good solid weekend from her in the top half of qualifiers!)
• Rob Brown in ‘Rebel’ (another good performance on Saturday with mid 8’s throughout!)
• Terry Clifford in ‘Ratcatcher Resurrection’ (a fantastic 8 & 150mph in qualifying!)
• Callum Swinchatt in ‘Pryzm Altered’ (more great runs on the Saturday in the 8.9’s!)
• Dan Boone in ‘American Pie’ (hard work from the team and friends meant they made the 2^nd qualifier after some damage sustained whilst towing; the team thanks all those who helped!)
• Elaine Hancock in the ‘Power Exhausts Altered’ (a great run in the 3^rd round to qualify 2^nd!) 

Unfortunately entrant Phil James could not make it with the ‘Rampage’ funny car, due to engine block damage at the Hot Rod Drags. Commiserations to Phil and team and look forward to seeing them back out running well again next season!

Saturday’s weather started dry and sunny and warmed up during the day. We were able to run in all 3 of our qualifying rounds, and all 8 cars qualified, so there were due to be 4 great races Sunday. The forecast had not looked good for Sunday, but the heavy rain only fell between about 7am and 8am. The track crew worked to dry the track, but this took longer than usual, with a few very minor spots of rain, and working hard on the top end. The track open just before 12noon, and we were hopeful of getting one round in. But after less than an hour of racing, the heavens opened torrentially!! Although they started to disperse the water after the showers stopped, more persistent rain came in and the officials were forced to call of the event around 2pm. Such a huge shame for all the racers waiting, and not being able to finish the season by racing!  Many thanks to all the track crew and marshals and officials for all they did to try to get racing to happen!

Although we were not able to run any eliminations, we were able to have a reduced prizegiving.

Here are the Spot Prizes that were awarded:-

#1 Qualifier:   Callum Swinchatt in ‘Kings N/W’ .020 off

Best Appearing Car & Team:  Callum Swinchatt and team in ‘Kings N/W’

Highlights of the weekend were the great day of qualifying in brilliant weather, the small but excellent field of Wild Bunch, and the usual great spirit and camaraderie amongst all the Bunch!

Well done also to our very own Harley Coulsell for winning in the 1^st round of Junior Dragster, which was the last round of his career with his ‘Bandit 1’ Junior! He finished joint 7^th in the Championship, so many congratulations to him on that and a great junior career!  Also a big well done to Wild Bunch supporter and crew Thomas Cooke-Abbott who tried so hard all year battling problems with his Junior Dragster and still finished 10^th! Well done to him as Top 10 was his goal! Glad to see he achieved that!

Callum had already won the ‘Roy Wilding Nostalgia Race Cars Series’ for 2019, at the Hot Rod Drags.  The results this weekend mean that he has also won the 2019 Spirit of Nostalgia Series, the ‘Springbridge Motorsport UK Challenge’, and the Santa Pod Racers Club Championship for Wild Bunch!! Congratulations and very well done to Callum and the whole team on these great achievements!!

With no racing taking place, the Wild Bunch Series stayed as it was before the event, and the results mean that Phil James has WON the 2019 Wild Bunch Series, his second win in a row!! Many Congratulations and very well done to Phil and the whole team!!

Huge thanks to all the Santa Pod marshals and officials, track and safety crews and organisers for all their hard work as always!! Well done to all of the Wild Bunch on another great show!!

All the best

Claire

PS. Full points will be updated as soon as I can! Plus, it is now about 2 months until our Annual Prize Presentation and Dinner Dance on 30^th November at the SnowDome, Tamworth. Ticket forms and info will be going out in the post in about 2 weeks for this brilliant evening! Hope to see you all there!!