The weather leading up to the event was not very good. So, a lot of racers took advantage of Friday’s test session, to get some data. Four qualifying sessions were planned for Saturday, but due to the rain only one session was almost completed (four classes did not get a run).
Funny Bike.
With championship points leader Stuart Crane not competing, it gave the rest of the field to close the points gap. Tony Clark was the only rider to put a good run in 7.942-178.52. Dave Peters had a misfire and ran 9.042. Another rider with a misfire was Jiri Lukes 10.998 and Kevin Osman has forks issue, which put him out of competition. Lorcan Parnell had a new rear tyre for the event and did a test pass on Friday. But had a fault the next day and missed the only qualifying session and was out of the show.
Clark had a bye to the final and ran 7.556 at a personal best for bike and rider 191.32. It was a bizarre race in the other semi, Peters led up to the 1/8 and then slowed, meanwhile Lukes struggled off the start line with engine misfiring again and managed to pass Peters to take the win light.
In the final Clark led from start to finish and run another p/b speed 7.237 at 192.97 to win his first ACU Funny Bike event. Lukes had a big backfire which burnt some wiring, Lukes was ok.
Comp Bike.
Rain fell in the middle of Comp Bike qualifying, which saw Louis Davies run 7.15 at a personal best speed of 186.48. The times were removed and qualifying on Sunday saw Sean Mills number one with 7.6 and Davies No 2 with 8.9 (nitrous system failed). Mills beat Jordan Kenway in the semi-finals 7.385 to 9 058. Davies ran 7.187 to beat Chris Neary p/b 7.702. Mills was a no show in the final due to a crankshaft problem. So, Davies put bigger jets in to see if he could run a six-second pass. The best Davies ran was 7.066 with a p/b speed of 188.92 to extend his points lead.
Super Street Bike.
With the weather forecast not good most of the riders tested on Friday. Alan Morrison Jr sent a warning message to the other rider when he ran 7.093-203.37. Garry Bowe making his first appearance ran 7.20 and is now running on Methanol but damaged his motor. Morrison Jr ran a jaw dropping 6.942 211.81 for the first six-second pass for him and the bike. Steve Venables had a new colour scheme for the bike and ran 7.111-210.83. Stephen Mead ran p/b speed of 208.88 for third spot. Dave Smith had a new Motec ECU and was on the bump spot.
In round one Morrison Jr drifted to the centre line and slowed at the top end and Smith almost caught him. Mark Hope broke on the start line against Mark Dainty. Steven Wood broke at the 150ft mark against Venables 6.973-217.94. Mead beat Jake Mechaell who ran p/b speed of 198.11. In the semi-finals Morrison Jr ran another personal best figure of 6.913-211.91 to beat Dainty best run of the w/end 7.204-201.57. There was a shock in the other semi, when Venables wasted 6.911-217.88 when he red lit against Mead. Finalists were in the staging lanes when rain fell, and the event was curtailed.
Report by Steven Moxley