The Doorslammers/Big Bang
Santa Pod Raceway, 17th-19th May 2019

Sunday



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Eibach Front Wheel Drive racer Matt Davison has a 1500cc Honda Civic which qualified in 16th place out of 49 with his first ten, and ran a new PB of 10.680 in a first round bye. He then defeated Sam Chisholm-Brown with a 10.639/132 in round two. Matt owns The Turbo Shop in Darlington, and the car is supported by Turbosmart, Competition Clutch and Sunoco.

Eibach Front Wheel Drive racer Sam Chisholm-Brown of Team Mulisha, which is also supported by Turbosmart, got into the 10.7s in his first round bye, but in round two the throttle disconnected and the engine was limited to 3000rpm resulting in a defeat to Matt Davison.


Eibach Front Wheel Drive racer Daniel Malton has a 2000cc VW Lupo and races under the banner of Dubshack, qualified off the pace after a missed gear shift, and on the second attempt the car snapped the driveshaft on launch. Repairs were done before yesterday's rain-off, and today Daniel had a bye and then lost to Lee Openshaw with a 12.434, still off his PB of 10.37 recorded in 2017.

Eibach Front Wheel Drive racer Lee Openshaw has this nitrous Fiat Punto which qualified 37th with a PB 12.341 and then got through to round three on Sunday by virtue of a bye in round one and then defeating Daniel Malton in round two. He is helped by Evil Tuning based in Middlesborough.


Eibach Front Wheel Drive racer Nicolas Hackiere from France entertained us last year with some great and wayward runs in the 9.6s. The engine puts out about 750hp thanks to work by FreeStyl'auto in Challans. This year he was in seventh place in time trials and then defeated Jacob Bailey in round two with a 9.795, after a bye in round one. In later rounds he ran 9.853, 9.841 and 9.838 to defeat Jorel Wells, Oliver St Quentin and Michael Clarke respectively.

Eibach Front Wheel Drive racer Richard Batty in his 2370cc Mitsubishi FTO is supported by a large group of UK firms: Meister Suspension, RC Graphix, Spark Tech Ignition, Competition Clutch, EVO GB, Driveshaft Shop, IPG Parts, Garrett Turbo and Owen Developments, and Nortech Performance. He ran 9.9335/155 on Friday and then a 9.466 in round one to defeat Luis Silva and 9.249 in round two to overcome Jordan Keelan. His PB is 8.859 recorded back in 2014.


Eibach Front Wheel Drive racer Nick Gay who raced in Sportsman ET in the early 2000s, returned in his Rover K series powered Mini pickup. He raced to new PBs of 12.947 on Friday, but with engine breakage. However, the Rover K series is Honda derived and so there were racers on hand with parts to help him, and he defeated Ben Smith in round one. In round two, he came up against Europe's quickest, Wendall Brand and a 13.564 was trounced by 8.346 from Wendall.

Eibach Front Wheel Drive racer and FWD series regular Allan Duthie won a great race with no.1 qualifier Steeve Durrante, his RT being almost 0.3 quicker and a 9.423 new PB overcoming Steeve's quicker 9.190.


Eibach Front Wheel Drive racer Cyril Jugon in his Honda CR-V qualified 35th with a 11.999. After a bye in round one, a new PB of 11.313/133 was overcome by Jorel Wells' 10.903.

Eibach Front Wheel Drive racer Gino de Jong from the Netherlands in his Honda Civic, was in 12th on Friday with 10.840/136, ran a 10.008 in round one against a breaking Joe Green, and defeated Allan Duthie with a holeshot RT of 0.075 and 9.902 against Allan's slower 9.784.


Eibach Front Wheel Drive racer Cristophe Marie-Francoise of MF Performance from France was 31st with 11.632 in his diesel 1900cc Seat Arosa, and went 10.995 in a round one bye, suffering engine damage which resulted in a 29s loss to Adam Brady in round two.

Eibach Front Wheel Drive racer Enrico Schaefer from Germany in his Werk 54 Opel Corsa was sixth in qualifying with a new PB 10.179/136. After a bye in round one, a 10.724 was not enough for Calvin Skerritt's 10.610.


Eibach Front Wheel Drive racer Lisette De Koning from Lola Racing, in her pink-wheeled Civic, ran a 11.460 to qualify 27th, then missed a gear in a round one bye and lost to Adrian Solly's 10.764 in round two with another sub-par 12.701.

Eibach Front Wheel Drive racer Ian Milne who has a 2000cc turbo Corsa, and works for Oakwell Auto in Leyland, Lancashire. He was 28th with 11.526 and defeated Simon Crowley in round one but broke off the line in round two against Joshua Holmes.


Webster Race Engineering 4 Cylinder racer Ian Clark, a member of Outlaw Flat Four, was in 15th position with 10.933 and had a bye in round one with a 11.215. He then ran a 11.908 to defeat Dominic Schleiper in round two.

Webster Race Engineering 4 Cylinder racer Adam Skinner has a Toyota MR2 engine in the rear of his Fiat 126 and ran a 10.448 to go ninth in qualifying. In round one he defeated Stewart Taylor with a 10.381 new PB but came up short against Kev Jenkins in round two.


Webster Race Engineering 4 Cylinder racer Kev Jenkins, a regular Comp Eliminator competitor in his turbo Escort Mk1, was sixth with a 10.144 then stepped up with a 9.393 in round one to defeat Paul Jordan, and 9.792 in round two to defeat Adam Skinner. In round three Kev defeated last year's winner Chris Todd with a 8.628, and in round four he was the beneficiary of a Richie Webb red light. Kev's PB ET is 8.54.

Webster Race Engineering 4 Cylinder racer Steve Guirey races a 2500cc Subaru Impreza Type RA and was no.1 with a 9.148/146. A bye in round one against a no-show Peter Shattock was followed by a 9.574 defeat of Donald Harvey in round two. Turbosmart and Shift Gearboxes are among the string of supporters for the car.


Webster Race Engineering 4 Cylinder racer Richie Webb has a new four link rear setup which has necessited moving the turbo into the rear passenger section of his RJ Volks Performance Beetle convertible. On launch the flames out of the upward facing exhaust recall Top Fuel Bike exhaust headers. However, Richie admitted that the new setup has not yet been dialled in, the result being a number of wayward runs and the car almost turning over in a winning effort against Gino Bernadine who later said 'I lifted - I didn't want any of that'.

Webster Race Engineering 4 Cylinder racer Dominik Schlieper in his Green Leek VW Karmann Ghia qualified 16th with 11.059 and smoked his way to a 10.406 win against Danny Pike in round one. In round two he red lit against Ian Clark.


Webster Race Engineering 4 Cylinder racer Jonny Marriage in the Miss White Beetle supported by The Volks Care, GAC Motorsport, 464 Clothing and Sam's Signs is on nitrous for the second time ('The first time destroyed the clutch'). He qualified in 26th with 13.043 and then ran a bye against a no-show Phil West in round one, before going down against Dave Reed's Fiesta in round two.

Turbo Technics Pro Street racer Mark Todd kept us waiting to see which of his two race cars was coming to the race and we were delighted to see his ex-Steve Neimantas Aston Martin, converted to a single 118mm turbo on a ex Pat Musi engine in a chassis tagged to 6.0. Why the change of car? 'The Aston came up, Steve's a good friend and I gave him my ideas for what I would do with it, and he agreed to sell it. I love the Aston body. I want to do Street Eliminator another way. on paper, it's quicker - and scarier.' In development mode, he qualified with a 8.180 and then in round one defeated Zbigniew Brach with a 7.812/179.96, before red-lighting against Joe Stevens.


Turbo Technics Pro Street racer Chris Goodale in his Chevelle qualified with 9.952 and in round one came in as an alternate for Ian Cleminshaw, who had previously had a rear diff explode and was helped to repair by Team Xtreme. Chris ran a 9.633 but was overcome by Andy Bond's 8.177 (Andy went on to record 7.683/201 in street legal trim)

6 Cylinder racer Jose San Martin in his 3000cc Golf suffered problems in qualifying and failed to get across the finish line before the clocks timed out, hence no participation today. The car was built by TVS Engineering in the Netherlands.


Pro Doorslammer racer Michael Nord was the recipient of three pieces of luck, Jimmy Ålund's red light in round two, Freddy Fagerström's engine breakage in round three, and Chris Orthodoxou's non-starting Viper in round four. He went on to go to the final against Mattias Wulcan who ran a string of five second passes.

Eibach Front Wheel Drive racer Wendall Brand, qualified second with 9.075 and then some magic happened on Sunday with his Fuel Tech engine management systems team and Gordon Darby of Street Racers Rolling Road Tuning & Mapping of Leicester. Wendall ran a 8.346 at 179.25mph to become Europe's quickest FWD car in a winning race against Nick Gay. But triumph was short lived as in the next race Wendall pulled a slow light and his 9.837 was defeated by Michael Clarke's 9.861.


True Street racers Leah and Joe Kellett were racing in Ford Mustangs which Santa Pod are planning to hire out to suitably qualified run what ya brung racers.

6 Cylinder racer Gary Gooding had a great event. The ex-Street Eliminator Supra had wheelie bars bolted on and a pair of rear slicks, and he qualified third with a 8.777/124. In round one he defeated Graeme Cook's similarly powered MX5 with a 8.123/163, and in round two a 8.764/134 defeated Mike Whittaker's VW Caddy.


OCS Group Big Bracket racer Terry Gillam is one of a group of Old Skool Fords who have entered the race. As a result of weather causing the cancellation of yesterday's Bracket, racers who have paid for entry for both days can race for a winner's payout of £10,000. He is running as part of Harris Performance Engines from Maidstone. Time in the time trial session was 11.830.

OCS Group Big Bracket racer Paul Fenech is also in HPE Motorsport and ran a 10.431 in time trials. HPE Motorsport was founded in the 1930s by Albert Harris, and the business was taken over by his son Ron, and Ron's sons Jeffrey, Andy, Martin and Ronnie Jnr have developed it further and expanded racing activities to National Hot Rods and Drag Racing. Unfortunately a battery problem meant a DNS in round one.


OCS Group Big Bracket and VP Racing Fuels Pro Doorslammer racer John Tebenham is double entered with his Outlaw Anglia and Pro Mod Corvette. In the Corvette, JT did a great 7 second half pass, overseen by his Super Team from Andy Robinson Race Cars and Marco Maurischat, and we expect he will need to do a full pass to get his license signed off

OCS Group Big Bracket racer Tim Stanbury is back after a break of over a year and went up against last year's runner-up Jens Könnecke and beat him with a 9.292 and 0.07 RT in round one. We hope to see him back in his natural habitat of Modurstang Pro ET very soon.


6 Cylinder racer Regis Le Caer was eager to get a run in on Sunday morning. He has dipped into the eights at Hockenheim, and has a best at this event of 9.511/162. The R32T engine, mapped by FRT Motorsport, pushes out over 1000hp.

Eibach Front Wheel Drive racer Steeve Durrante was quickest in qualifying with a 8.894/169 in his EG6 Honda Civic which pushes out over 1000hp. For more information see MTR Motorsport. He went 9.190 in round one but lost on a big holeshot to Allan Duthie's 9.423 PB.


OCS Group Big Bracket racer Mark Bailey has been dipping consistently into the eight second zone after switching to Super Pro ET as his class of choice. His best so far is a new PB 8.724, losing in round one to Guy King's perfect light.

OCS Group Big Bracket racer Billy Gane had a great combination of 0.005RT and 8.505 on a 8.50 dial in round one, to defeat Dave Smith's Firebird. More 0.1s packages should help in later rounds.


OCS Group Big Bracket racer Steve Jennerway runs under the Team Ashton banner, which has this car in the UK and a yellow Escort Mk1 in Malta. Both are powered by 2.1 litre Pinto engines naturally aspirated and mated to a four speed manual box, good enough for 11.7s runs. A cage has been installed and extensive lightening includes fibreglass doors, boot and bonnet. Steve said 'The first runs on a new engine have been encouraging'.

OCS Group Big Bracket racer Gideon Liljegren has been racing for 40 years and came to Santa Pod first in 1985. He's owned his Pontiac Grand Prix for three years and usually runs in B/NA class in Comp Eliminator, with nitrous as his power adder. He ran a 7.04 in Sweden which is a European class record, and went 7.53 in his test run, then defeating Oliver Krautberger in round one with a 7.566 on a 7.45 dial.


OCS Group Big Bracket racer Rosello Cassar is the only entrant from Malta, but has got top support from Manty Bugeja and Matthew Carabott from Mr Whippy Racing. Rosello is also supported for tuning work by Power House Garage. Runs on Friday were 11.014, 10.97 and 10.99 but in round one he lit the red light on a 11.109 against Ben Newsome.

VP Racing Fuels Pro Doorslammer racers John Sleath and Pel Norman, both Yorkshiremen, chatted prior to round one. John said 'I'm enjoying the atmosphere here and the truck has run well, although there have been a lot of gearbox repairs needed. I built it all apart from the excellent paint job by Pokies Paintshop. As I'm busy at work and have a budding race driver of twelve years old at home, I'm not at the track so much these days but it's great when I am'.


VP Racing Fuels Pro Doorslammer racer Simon Barlow had a brilliant weekend at the NSRA Nostalgia Nationals last weekend, winning the event and setting backed-up ET, and speed records at 7.332 and 190.60 respectively (best mph of 193.85). He had a dream match-up against Freddy Fagerström in round one, but a 8.031 was overcome easily by Freddy's 6.34/216.

VP Racing Fuels Pro Doorslammer racer Micke Gullqvist is the latest driver in a quick doorslammer to change to a Lencodrive torque converter transmission and he admitted he is in testing mode at this event. His run this morning was a 6.38 with a pedal at mid-track so we expect he will be back to championship form very soon. In round two he had a lot of tyre shake against Mattias Wulcan's 5.83/215 early shut-off.


VP Racing Fuels Pro Doorslammer racer Pel Norman was due to race Micke Gullqvist, but was shut off for a fluid leak. He said 'We're shaking the car down, it's an ex Kenny Coleman and Luke Ramage Super Gas car with twin turbos. John Sleath has helped with the mechanicals. We're running it conservatively at the moment and will go deep into the sevens when it is sorted. We do have wheelie bars and will fit them - the steering wheel is on the wrong side though!'

VP Racing Fuels Pro Doorslammer racer Freddy Fagerström suffered a catastrophic workshop fire during the winter. He said 'Thanks to all the racing community for helping us raise funds to rebuild, and for my crew and friends' time to get the work done'. His best qualifying run was 6.54/213 and he improved to a 6.34/216 in round one. Fast Freddy is back!


OCS Group Big Bracket racer Rocky Harty with Team RTC has a 2100cc engine and ran a best of 11.439. His engine comes from Harris Performance Engines and had the benefit of a bye run in round one of eliminations.

VP Racing Fuels Pro Doorslammer racer Jan Ericsson ran his first 5.8s pass, still moving around his lane, in a round two defeat of Andres Arnover. Jan's mph was 251.


VP Racing Fuels Pro Doorslammer racer Charlie Östedt was the recipient of a bye into round three when Lenn Lindell was unable to make the call with mechanical damage. He lifted well before the finish line but the turbo car ran a PB for him of 8.466, with more to come.

VP Racing Fuels Pro Doorslammer racer and Eurodragster.com sponsor Jon Webster ran a new doorslammer PB of 6.230/234 in a losing effort to Jan Ericsson's 5.939, but he was pleased. 'The car was lazy on the launch, great from 330ft to the eighth but in the second half we had too much downforce on the front and not enough on the rear. We've definitely made advances though and are looking forward to the Main Event'.


VP Racing Fuels Pro Doorslammer racer Caroline Strand had to lift in her qualifying passes and said a lot of work had to take place on shock absorbers to correct the car not going straight. In round one of eliminations the handling problems came back again, and after a couple of pedals the blower burst panel on her PSI-C blower went causing damage the team were unable to repair before her round two match-up against Freddy Fagerström.

VP Racing Fuels Pro Doorslammer racer Chris Isaacs had suffered ignition problems on Friday and co-owner Spencer Tramm reported that every ignition component had to be changed before discovering the points box had failed - 'It was running on four cylinders in the warm-up. After changing components the car ran well, after the National Finals last year we were now thinking that it ran best on cold, dark tracks. We were no.4 in qualifying and the second quickest legal Pro Mod car'.


VP Racing Fuels Pro Doorslammer racer Jimmy Ålund had only a single run in qualifying and the team did well to get the setup right for the 5.882 in round one, which was low ET of the round. But in round two Jimmy saw a red light following opponent Michael Nord going 'up on the limiter' before Jimmy had staged and then the burst panel going on Michael's car.

VP Racing Fuels Pro Doorslammer racer Paula Atkin is a welcome returnee after taking some time off in recent years with other commitments. The car has had a neat twin turbo setup fitted to the 498cu in engine, much researched by Paula and husband Stan. Stan said 'We are concentrating on staging process and running to 330ft'. Against Chris Isaac's 6.65, Paula ran a early shut-off and smokey 7.369 and the team has gained testing experience from the event. Paula has entered into Super Pro ET for the Main Event, but the team discovered slippage in the torque converter which has made their participation doubtful.


VP Racing Fuels Pro Doorslammer racer Chris Orthodoxou is having his best race since converting his Viper to blown Pro Mod spec. Despite having virtually no track time, he ran 8.063/182 in qualifying, and then in round one he went 6.595/210 on a bye followed by a 6.229/220 defeat of Andy Wright Jnr to score a new PB.

VP Racing Fuels Pro Doorslammer racer Lenn Lindell suffered a broken valve on Friday which resulted in a damaged piston and sleeve. He said 'We had to rebuild the engine which we did overnight and finished at 3am. We were pleased with the car's handling as it was my first run on a quarter in nine years and was straight after 200m. Our changes to the transmission with a 4.3 rear end ratio have worked'. However, before round two the mechanical gremlins returned which meant he was a no-show for his bye run.

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