Featured Drag Racing A 765rs

Do you have a link? My feeble search skills have revealed bugger all.

Cheers.

 

Well here we are, just back from the Greenlight Nationals - a double header meeting with Round 5 running on Saturday and Round 6 on Sunday.

I think a pretty accurate summary of the weekend is - I was crap.

Saturday we had 2 qualifying sessions, the massive headwind causing all sorts of problems, but being too cautious and trying hard not to wheelie had me short shifting way too early into second and losing all momentum. The result meant I was 0.3 seconds off my dial in. Underestimating the effect of the headwind in Q2 meant I only improved marginally to 0.22 off dial-in. sadly, only good enough for P12 of 15. It also meant I was paired against the No.1 qualifier in the first round.

First round and my reaction off the line was 0.05 of a second. Too soon.Red light and the win to my opponent. In every respect, not the result I was hoping for, but at least I got to get out and watch the rest of the day's racing.

Sunday gave us rain first thing and the prolonged drying efforts meant that we would be reduced to a one shot qualfier and then straight into eliminations. Working on my times from Saturday I dialled in a predicted 11.21 second run and ran 11.23 - good enough to put me in to number 2 spot. Result.
Which put me up against Paul Adams, currently sat at number 2 in the championship and only qualified so low down as he broke out in qualifying, running 0.02 quicker than his dial in.
What a race. No red light this time, 0.04 reaction time and a really good, solid run. With Paul dialling in 9.05 he was catching up really quickly at the line, but I was far enough on front to shut off and cross the line 0.09 seconds ahead.
Unfortunately, I broke out - by 0.04 of a second. Bollocks. To be fair, Paul ran a 9.06 with a 0.07 reaction. It was a great race, but not the result I wanted and no good for my championship position.

I knew this year would be a learning curve on the new bike, but I really should be getting better at this point in the season and although Sunday was a much better day in terms of performance it was pretty crap in terms of the championship.

Next round is is the National Finals in six weeks time, but there are a couple of Run-what-ya-brung events before that, so a bit of practice is in order methinks.

 

Yep. All racing is good racing.
Saturday was definitely an off day - I should have listened to wifey and put he time on she suggested for Q2 and I would then have qualified top 6 and not met the defending champion in the first round...
Sunday, realistically, was a bloody good day. Number 2 qualifier and a race that was almost perfect which was lost by only 0.04 of a second - any other opponent that round would have seen me through, but that's racing.

Onwards and upwards! And if anyone has an extended swinging arm that will fit - get in touch. ;-)

 

Well that's a pleasant surprise.

I thought after my dismal showing at the Greenlight Nationals that I would be languishing in the bottom half of the championship. It turns out that a combination of good qualifying points and similar performances from some of my main rivals, I am actually still seventh in the points standings.
A decent performance at the National Finals in a few weeks could see me finishing in the top 5 this year.

The National Finals are 21st and 22nd September.

http://www.eurodragster.com/news/19points/uk/etbike.htm

 

Season's End.

Last weekend was the National finals at Santa Pod. It was a weekend of two parts, Saturday bright sunshine, minimal downtime and three qualifying runs.
We won't talk about Q1 (over a second off my dial-in due to a missed shift) but Q2 and 3 improved significantly and I ended the day as number 3 qualifier.
This put me against Jordan Kenway in the first round - ex junior drag bike racer, P5 in the championship, but a first round win would see me leapfrog him in the championship.
In fact, the championship this year has been so close, P1 to 3 could all change places and so could P4 to 9.

Unfortunately, it wasn't to be. Overnight rain meant a late start and a later massive downpour and then continual rain meant that ET Bike didn't get to run.
Huge relief, frustration and disappointment, depending on championship position, summed up the reaction to the weather bringing the meeting to an end.

Congratulations to Phil Pratt for retaining his title, commiserations to Paul Adams who would have met Phil 1st round and could have beaten Phil if he had won the event, and to Gary Hester who lost his second place to Paul when electrical Gremlins resulted in an uncharacteristically poor qualifying position.

A special mention must also go to Jasmine Cordelle, whose qualifying on Saturday was almost perfect - 3 runs, 0.03, 0.001 and 0.003 off her dial-in. A deserved number 1 qualifier and a performance which meant her qualifying points were enough to overtake me in the championship and relegate me to 8th overall. Jasmine has had some problems over the season and it's great to see things coming together for her. She will be one to watch next year for sure.

I'll be back next year and I'm looking forward to another year of great company, great people and great racing.

I'd also like to take this opprtunity to say a massive thank you to all the track crew, marshalls and stewards of Santa Pod and I think I can speak for all the racers when I say that your efforts and dedication through the season are appreciated by all of us. Thank you.

And finally, a quick mention to my good friends Jon Crawford and Holly Sanders who finished 1st and 2nd in the VWDRC VW Sportsman class this year Well done!

That's about it for another year, I plan to get some track time at the Straightliners meeting in October, but after that the RS will be off the road for a few tweeks prior to the new season.