Round 2 Report 2008

Pro / Fac Mod Class

Entries were up in the pro class with an exciting new entry from RE:WORX with a brand-new RX8 and Andy Forrest returned with his record-breaking Subaru Impreza. Mark Mosley was moved up from Street Class due to his specification, and John Bradshaw was back with his Skyline looking stronger than ever.

The RX7s of Gary Gooding and Chris Impey were out with turbo and transmission problems respectively after practice on Saturday, and Steve Whittaker, Leon Green and James Rumsey were unable to get their cars ready in time.

Pro / Fac Mod Class Semi Finals

John Bradshaw had yet to get down to his usual low-8s, struggling for grip and a straight run with all of his qualifying sessions. However, into eliminations and he found his feet, running onto a superb 8.3. Geff Rance was still getting to grips with his new car and new setup… but the 1.2 second reaction time didn’t help advance his race either! Geff was back out later in the day to clock his first 9 in his first event, but unfortunately, his HKS Drag Series Race was over.

Mark Mosely suffered terminal problems that meant Andy Forrest had a free ride to the finals, but he took the opportunity to push his car closer to its potential and ran a 10.0.

Pro / Fac Mod Class Final

Jon Bradshaw vs Andy Forrest in the finals. John was very much on form, and Andy was still trying to find it, so it was going to be a tough race for Andy. As the lights went green, John leapt off the line with a super reaction time, and Andy had already lost the race! Despite a very nice 9-second run, Andy was unable to catch up, and John went on to run his fastest ever ET in the HKS Drag Series.

Winner: John Bradshaw

Street Class

Round 2 of the HKS Drag Series, and Johnny McKeon was able to clock a superb 9.9 despite a nasty scare in practice the day before. However, Gary Passingham was in action for the first time in 2008 with a newly-installed rollcage and the car shot straight to the top of the table with an excellent 9.7! David Greenhalgh was running very strongly, and Kevin Huntley was slightly below his best languishing in 4th place. New entrant Dan Jones qualified well, but Steve Mann was well below his best running in a new engine. James Willday broke on his first qualifying run. Jeff Ludgate was disqualified for inadequate safety equipment after his second run put him into the 11’s, and Steve Mann was bumped up to take the final qualifying slot.

Street Class Round 1

Gary Passingham would have been up against Steve Mann, but Steve was unable to get his car together in time for eliminations, and Gary was left with a free pass to round 2.

Kevin Huntley got to the line just a fraction of a second ahead of Malcolm Thomas, whose reaction times nearly gave him the win. The cars were just inches apart at the finish line, and a great example of how exciting racing with full-weight cars can be!

Johnny McKeon’s racecraft shined through with an almost-perfect reaction time to put him just ahead at the finish after a not-so-perfect run gave Roy Ashby a chance in the flying MR2.

David Greenhalgh was left lonesome on the line when Dan Jones failed to make the start after suffering form dump-valve problems in the last qualifier.

Street Class Semi Finals

In the semis, Kevin Huntley got off the line quickly to give Gary Passingham a catch-up job to do, but things still weren’t going great for Kevin, and his ET tells the story of his frustration, losing out to Gary at the finish line.

Johnny McKeon’s usually excellent reaction times let him down in the semis, and the 0.1 of a second he lost at the lights proved to be critical, with David Greenhalgh staying ahead despite Johnny charging up next to him 6mph faster.

Street Class Finals

The finals consisted of the two GT-ART cars, customer car vs corporate flagship, and the firm favourite was Gary Passingham with his 9-second ETs, but despite the awesome power of Gary’s car, he was not unbeatable… plenty had been able to better his reactions over the weekend, and David stood a good chance of doing that. If he could find half a second on the lights and then run a mid-10, he would have Gary firmly in his sights. As it was, the pressure was just too much, with David wheel-spinning wildly off to the left as the lights went green, and Gary caught unprepared, leaving the line a whole second late! Luckily for Gary, his run was straight and true, and David was unable to properly recover from his sideways antics, handing the win to Gary after a determined but ultimately unfruitful attempt to claw back the lead. What a race!

Winner: Gary Passingham

FWD Class

The FWD class was a little thin on the ground with 2007 champ Scott Whitelaw amongst other suffering from problems before the race. Tough track conditions also made finding traction a problem for the FWD boys, and qualifying times were held back somewhat as drivers tried to tune their cars into the track.

Guy Chamberlain headed up the field, followed by an improving Neil Knight. Douggie Gemmell was involved in the HKS Drag Series for the first time, and Ryan Panter struggled to find form.

FWD Class Semi Finals

Guy dipped into the 10’s in round one of eliminations to take out Ryan Panter, who despite a decent reaction time just could not compete.

Neil Knight had a much tighter race with Douggie Gemmell. Neil ran a good 12.1, but relied on his reactions to put him comfortably ahead at the line. Douggie’s decent 12.2 however was not complimented by his poor reactions and it lost him the race.

FWD Class Finals

Neil pulled out all the stops and ran his best time of the day in the final, but Guy finally found his usual form and posted a superb 10.4 at a flying 136mph, more than enough to see off Neil by over a second. Guy extended his lead in the points nicely over the no-show Scott Whitelaw.

Winner: Guy Chamberlain

2008 Round 2 Points:

The season standings table is on the main 2008 Points page.