I’m finally (and apologetically) getting around to posting Steven Moxley’s excellent follow-up to his Redline Rumble coverage from Santa Pod Raceway. If you read Part 1, which you will find here, you know that there were some strong winds sweeping the Pod. Saturday’s headwind continued on Sunday during qualifying for the ACU Championships Round 4.

Funny Bike

Dave Peters qualified number one in Funny Bike with an 8.260. Lorcan Parnell ran a troubled 8.989 and Dave Buttery was the only other rider and ran 15.447. Phil Crossley still had issues from Saturday and didn’t make a run.

Peters broke the beam on his bye run. Parnell sorted his problem and beat Buttery with a 6.752.

Parnell picked up his second ACU event win with a 6.721 at 207.04 mph to beat Peters who had a delay problem with the bike off the start line.

The two wins over the weekend for Parnell has nearly clinched the championship.

Comp Bike

Erik Jennes continued his strong run in Comp Bike the following day with another personal best 7.479 at 193.88. Scott Collier repaired the transmission overnight and ran 7.637-177.06. Sigmaro Profas was third with 7.745-187.33.

Dave Batcheler ran a p/b 7.875 at 156.82 for fourth, followed by Kevin Osman at 8.096-184.34.

There was a tight group for the next five places. Sean Mills 8.141, Mick Winyard 8.1551, Martin Walker 8.1556, Sam Sykes 8.173 and Margot Schmidt 8.182.

Rounding off the field were Daniel Bergelin 8.227 and Paul Hambridge 8.421.

Jennes ran another p/b of 7.431 to trailer Hambridge. Mills redlit against Winyard. Collier broke at mid-track against Bergelin. Walker put a .131 to .233 holeshot over Osman, but Osman powered around to take the win 8.106 to 8.301. Profas slowed near the finish against Schmidt, losing 7.911 to 8.547. Sykes had a bye run.

Round two and once again Jennes ran another p/b 7.388 against Winyard, who redlit. Osman powered around Bergelin 7.841 to 8.425. Schmidt ran a personal best of 7.710-182.14 to beat Sykes’ 7.915-178.54.

Jennes had a bye to the final and Schmidt ran another p/b 7.705 to beat Osman 8.022.

So once again an all-Dutch final—could Schmidt stop Jennes? Schmidt got off the start line first but Jennes spun his rear tyre and couldn’t catch Schmidt, who won her first ACU event with another p/b of 7.636.

Jennes leads the Championship just ahead of Schmidt.

Super Street Bike

Garry Bowe was the number one Super Street Bike qualifier with a 7.218-197. Dave Smith ran a best to date of 7.575 at 186. Mark Dainty ran 7.708-185. Graham Dance had some clutch problem and didn’t take part in the eliminations.

Smith ran 7.698 in E1 but had a fuel injector problem at the end of the run. Bowe wasted a 7.088 when he redlit against Pete Field, who picked up his second win.

Field did a test pass and ran 7.271.

8.50 Bike

Ian Chrichlow led the 8.50 field with an 8.527. Jay Roe was next with an 8.551, and then Jake Mechaell’s 8.593 and newcomer Thorsten Appel’s 8.753.

Mechaell picked up his second win when Roe broke out with an 8.492.

9.50 Bike

Straightliner racer James Cross was the number one 9.50 qualifier with a 9.591, with Brett Cordelle his nearest challenger with a 9.612.

Points leader David Bowe lost in round one of eliminations to Leo Lester.

Lester faced reigning champion Richard Sawatzki in the final. Lester lost when he broke out with a 9.430.

ET Bike

Mike Nelthorpe was the number one ET Bike qualifier on his 267cc Aprilla with a dial-in of 13.70 and ran 13.711 for his first ever top spot at an event. Dave Grundy just edged Paul Adams for second spot.

But it was reigning champion Phil Pratt who won the event, beating Jasmine Cordelle in the final.

Gasser Circus

The B&G Racing Falcon pulled a redlight against Tim Holmes in round one of Gasser eliminations. Lee Pike also redlit against Brian Gibson.

Sean Milsom beat Nervous Nick and Martyn Hallam knocked out Steve Matthews.

Hallam ran 11.248 to beat Gibson’s 11.295 in the semis. In the other semifinal,  Holmes beat Milsom.

Both finalists broke out on their dial-in and Hallam won the event with an 11.023 (11.05) to Holmes’ 11.915 (11.95).

Going into the final round at the Hot Rod Drags meeting, there are five drivers in with the chance of winning the championship.

Super-Charged Outlaws

Super-Charged Outlaws rules are that the vehicle has to run quicker than 9.9 seconds, on a dial-in system.

Joel Kerr ran 7.684 and 7.83 both at a speed of 179 mph plus. Aaron Windridge was the next best with 8.442-158 and Sam Freeman recorded a best-to-date of 8.573-152 in his new slingshot. Paul Watts dipped into the eights with 8.855 and Paul Dale ran 9.554.

Outlaw Anglia

Simon Barlow ran a best-to-date 8.08 at 169.25 in round one of Outlaw Anglia eliminations.

In the semifinals, championship points leader Colin Millar faced his nearest challenger for the championship Jed Guy, who unfortunately broke on his burnout, leaving Millar a solo run to the final. In the other semi, Scott Crookston beat Barlow 7.819 to 8.248.

Millar turned the wick up and ran low ET of 7.430 to take the winlight and extend his points lead. Crookston ran 7.814.

story and photos by Steven Moxley