2005 Big Bang
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22:00
Today's pictures are now posted, you can view them via the Event Index page.
That's the end of our coverage of the Big Bang, thanks very much for tuning in.
Thanks for their help and hospitality today to Race Director Ian Marshall; Chief Marshal Steve Horn; Martin Wallis and Sharon Norris of Santa Pod's timing crew; David Anniwell; Santa Pod Raceway's track and safety crews; Paula Marshall and Carol Ismail and Kathy Taylor; track announcer Paul Venners; David Anniwell; David Lloyd-Jones; and Yvonne Tramm.
Today's Event Coverage was brought to you in association with American Car Imports.
18:20
Final results:
VW Pro: Joe Gallagher (12.61) 14.148/78.13 def. Ian Dale (12.80) 12.830/103.72 red light
VW Sportsman: Paul Herbert (15.27) 15.335/83.64 def. James Lake (14.40) 14.382/91.82 breakout
VW Alternate Engine: Matt Attwood (13.59) 13.606/98.01 def. Wayne Allman (11.90) 11.914/111.44 red light
Super Modified: Andy Kirk 8.058/169.70 def. Andy Hone 7.977/169.23
We are now working on today's pictures, stay tuned.
18:00
VW Pro eliminations semi-final winners: Ian Dale (12.80) 13.043/98.73, Joe Gallagher (12.61) 12.757/102.81
VW Sportsman eliminations semi-final winners: Paul Herbert (15.27) 15.429/72.13, James Lake (14.40) staged
17:55
VW Alternate Engine semi-final winners: Matt Attwood (13.59) 13.667/97.68 bye, Wayne Allman (11.90) 17.913/67.05
17:25
VW Pro eliminations round 3 winners: Ian Dale (12.80) staged, Chris Emmens (11.90) 12.426/105.16, Joe Gallagher (12.61) 12.835/103.17, James Wotton (12.49) 14.046/101.41 bye,
VW Sportsman eliminations round 3 winners: Tony Isley (17.60) 17.915/72.45, Paul Herbert (15.25) 16.997/64.55, James Lake (14.40) 14.503/86.84
17:10
Super Modified eliminations round 2 winners: Andy Kirk 16.312/72.58 bye, Andy Hone 17.213/70.10 bye (Simon Farmer no show)
Simon Farmer lost a propshaft and had a tyre puncture on his previous pass which accounts for his wild ride!
17:00
VW Alternate Engine eliminations round 2 winners: Simon Williams (15.30) 15.402/84.40, Matt Attwood (13.59) 13.725/88.26, Wayne Allman (11.99) 11.896/111.40 bye
16:45
VW Sportsman eliminations round 2 winners: Chris Bray (16.40) 16.999/57.82, Tony Isley (17.55) 17.698/72.93, Graham Fairhead (15.60) 15.645/81.80, Paul Herbert (15.25) 15.327/83.04, Adele Atherton (15.68) 15.936/83.80, James Lake (14.40) 15.136/69.95
16:30
VW Pro eliminations round 2 winners: James Wotton (12.49) 12.527/107.87, Glynn Morgan (12.42) 12.587/105.36, Scott Cutler (12.99) 13.680/91.29, Chris Emmens (12.50) 12.043/107.15, Ian Dale (12.80) 12.960/100.67, Joe Gallagher (12.61) 12.783/103.41
16:20
Super Modified eliminations round 1 winners: Simon Farmer 9.063/116.88, Andy Kirk 8.072/169.85, Andy Hone 7.959/169.04
Steve Rawlings drove trough a double nitrous burp in his pairing against Simon Farmer, but Simon pulled ahead very quickly and then had his own problems as the car went out of shape, left and right, towards the top end and at one point looked headed for the wall.
VW Alternate Engine eliminations round 1 winners: Spencer Tramm (9.79) 9.869/129.33, Matt Attwood (13.69) 13.686/95.93, Matt Finney (15.70) 15.696/85.09, Wayne Allman (11.99) 12.024/111.62, Simon Williams (15.30) 15.426/83.63 bye
VW Sportsman eliminations round 1 winners: Nick Orme (15.00) 16.292/84.27 bye, Tony Isley (17.55) 17.647/72.71, Andrew Jones (16.98) 16.938/81.99, Mick Geraghty (19.55) 19.483/63.83, Simon Longman (14.30) 15.083/47.12, Paul Herbert (15.25) 15.431/82.70, Martin Kearn (23.42) 23.586/57.48, Adele Atherton (15.68) 115.797/82.71, Rhodri Price (15.20) 17.036/79.34, Graham Fairhead (15.60) 16.117/64.47, Chris Bray (16.40) 17.018/73.32, James Lake (14.40) 14.814/69.98
15:55
VW Pro eliminations round 1 winners: Glynn Morgan (12.49) 12.449/105.67 bye, James Wotton (12.49) 12.718/108.70 bye (Bernard Newbury shut off), Scott Cutler (12.99) 13.594/91.83 bye, Joe Gallagher (12.61) 12.653/104.08 bye (Nigel Green broke on burnout), Martin Charles (12.50) 12.907/93.96 (Neil Davies broke off line), Natasha Garcia (11.00) 11.014/116.52 bye (Martin Taylor no show), Russ Fellows (9.99) 10.976/97.20, Pete Englezos (10.90) 11.089/122.23 bye (Adam Sheard no show), Paul Bate (10.91) 14.406/89.11 (Brian Burrows no show), Peter Shattock (12.95) 13.160/96.35 bye (Richie Webb no show), Ian Dale (12.99) 12.834/99.99, Chris Emmens (12.20) 14,848/96,31 bye (Jim Smith no show), Phil West staged bye (Marco Mansi no show)
14:30
Here I am back from scrutineering, and after the oildowns we have had so far the third cycle of qualifying turned out to be the final session for all classes so here are the final top fives in each class:
VW Pro
VW Sportsman
VW Alternate Engine
Super Modified
Simon Farmer had a wild ride in the final session of Super Modified qualifying, a fine driving job kept the car off the wall.
Tony Baker rounded off the 'morning' session with a 7.190/229.55 in the Fireforce 1 Jet FC.
We're now on a break, stay tuned and we will bring you all the winners in each round of eliminations as soon as racing commences.
12:55
The track crew are doing a great job today, already having to deal with a couple of major fluid leaks, the latest trans fluid from Richie Webb's VW Pro Beetle. The top five in VW Pro after session three has changed some and now stands as follows:
I've now been called to scrutineering but I will be back during the lunch break (which starts vey shortly) and will catch up then.
12:00
Changes to the top five in VW Alternate Engine, too, after the second session with Wayne Allman taking over the lead:
11:55
Richard Merriman still leads VW Pro after session two but the rest of the top five has moved around with improvements from a number of racers:
11:40
Glynn Morgan took over the lead in VW Pro after session two:
Russ Fellows ran a new PB of 10.053 in this session, with a 0.002 Reaction Time, well done Russ! Congratulations also to Natasha Garcia who ran a new best of 11.061/116.87.
VW Sportsman is up again, stay tuned.
11:30
Richard Merriman took the lead in VW Sportsman after the first session, followed by Larry Stockford in his mum's daily drive!
11:20
VW Alternate Engine is led by recent Eurodragster.com News contributor Matt Finney after session one:
The qualifying is coming thick and fast, VW Sportsman now on track, stay tuned!
11:15
Next up was Super Modified and after yesterday's qualifying we have unfortunately lost Graham Ellis who rodded his motor yesterday. Craig Gibbs did not appear in this morning's session after experiencing the dreaded nitrous burps yesterday. The top five after this session of qualifying is as follows:
Next up is VW Alternate Engine, stay tuned.
11:05
The top five in VW Pro after the first session of qualifying is as follows:
Congratulations to Pete Englezos who went into the tens with a 10.928/122.35 in this session, breaking out but Pete won't be worried about that! Commiserations to Kevo Matcalfe whose gearbox split in two at the hit, Kevo climbed out of the car with his customary smile and doubtless Connor and the guys at Race Shack will already be making plans to fix it.
9:30
Good morning and welcome from Santa Pod Raceway on a very sunny and warm Sunday morning. It's race day at the Big Bang and we're here to bring you all the action in association with American Car Imports.
The Webster Race Engineering/MPM Oil webcam is on-line and is scheduled to broadcast a picture every two minutes.
We had a spectacular thunder and lightning show plus a lot of heavy rain in the small hours this morning, but the track is already dry and we're looking at a 10:00 start with four rounds of qualifying scheduled for VW Pro and VW Alternate Engine, five sessions for VW Sportsman, and two for Super Modified. Racing is scheduled to start at 14:00.
A few Hellos this morning, firstly the traditional raceday Good Morning to our US correspondents Ed O'Connell and Kathy Hileman who are tuned in from New Hampshire, hello to our good friend Simon Groves who is already steeling himself to bring you four days of pit notes at the FIA Main Event, and a special Hello to all of our friends on Volkszone who we know are tuned in.
The plan for today is to track the top fives in qualifying throughout this morning and then to bring you the winners in each round of eliminations this afternoon. At some point today your reporter is going to be called away from Race Control to attend scrutineering of my mount for tomorrow's ET Challenge, but should it happen whilst the track is open then I promise you faithfully that whatever and however long it takes I will catch up when I return.
Stay tuned and as soon as the track opens we'll start to bring you the news.