The third round of the ACU Championships reaches its halfway point at Santa Pod Raceway on June 25-26th.
Top Fuel Bike.
Top Fuel Bike action returns to the Summernationals event after being off the calendar for the last few years. Reigning ACU Top Fuel Bike Champion Rene Van Den Berg leads the championship after one round. Berg recorded a personal best speed of 224.77mph at the Main Event. Multi-time ACU Top Fuel Bike Champion Steve Woollatt is second in the championship and reached the semi-final of the Main Event. Chris Hannam made his UK debut of his new V Twin powered bike and ran a best to date of 7.386-177mph to reach the semi-finals of SuperTwins at the Main Event.
Funny Bike.
After running back to back personal best et’s at the Springspeed Nationals Phil Crossley leads the championship coming into the Summernationals by 70 points ahead of Eric Richard who also ran back to back personal best et’s at the Main Event in the European FIM Championships. Allan Davies is 20 points behind Richard. Lorcan Parnell will be hoping to find the six-second tune up for the event as will Filippos Papafilippou. Stuart Crane and Dale Leeks will be testing their bikes ready for Hockenheim. Making a welcome return to the ACU Funny Bike Championship is Shaun Branch. He last competed in the Championship in 2007.
Pro Stock Bike.
This is the first round of the 2016 ACU Pro Stock Bike Championship and Reigning ACU Champion Alex Hope will be hoping to continue his winning form after winning his first European FIM event last month at Santa Pod. Former ACU Pro Stock Bike Champion Len Paget will be hoping to find the 7.3 tune up he had last year on his four-valve motor. Newcomer to Pro Stock Bike is Patrick Kras riding a Buell. Kras will be hoping to run his first seven-second pass at the event.
Comp Bike.
Eddy Smiley has a 25 point lead over Mark Hope and Mick Winyard tied for second place. Reigning ACU Comp Bike Champion Kevin Osman is a further 65 points behind. Dave Batcheler will be hoping to get down the track on the ex Phil Crossley bike. Sean Mills and Tony Clark make their first appearances of the season.
Super Street Bike.
Steve Venables stunned the crowd at the Main Event last month running 6.935 at Santa Pod. He leads by 110 points ahead of Nigel Barker who has a new combination for his bike this year (intercoolers). Last years number runner up in the championship Chris Reed is 85 points behind Barker. Other rider’s to look out for are Reigning ACU Super Street Bike Champion Garry Bowe ran 7.039 last month. Pete Field ran a personal best 7.157 as did Richard Hann 7.320 and Rudi Zorzi 7.411-198.13mph.
Report by Steven Moxley.