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Power Nationals 14-15 June 2003Shakespeare County RacewayEntrants
Qualifying Saturdays qualifying ran like clockwork, even allowing for open practice that Pete & Gary took advantage of. After the 2 official qualifying sessions it looked like this:
Eliminations 1st Round OA3 Cliff Griffin v OA65 Gary McCormack Cliff knew he was up against it after Gary ran a p.b. of 9.84/136mph in practice. But even his 2/10'ths holeshot he couldn't cover Gary's outstanding 9.44/141mph (p.b.) with a valiant 2nd place 10.20/132mph. 1st Round OA16 Pete Ashworth v OA590 Aidan Kenny Pete & crew had been having trouble keeping Dayglo Twister 3 on the straight & narrow. But with another 4-bar setting dialled in, Pete was taking no prisoners with a low 1.3 60ft, he recorded a p.b. of 9.39/139mph. Aidan (who was also competing in Pro Et.) ran low et of his OA rounds 11.62/115mph 1st Round OA1 Rob Stone v OA73 Jim Isaacs Rob & Jim met up in the 1st round as they did at the Excitement Nationals . Rob launched hard to record 10.30/128mph to beat Jim's 12.19/99mph. 1st Round OA2 Paul Hensher - bye Paul put in another storming pass 8.91/155mph on his bye run. Semi-Final OA16 Pete Ashworth v OA1 Rob Stone Pete was happy with the handling after the first round & recorded low 60 ft of the meet, on his way to a winning with yet another p.b. 9.26/140mph to Rob's impressive 9.77/137mph Semi-Final OA2 Paul Hensher v OA65 Gary McCormack Paul lost fire during his trademark rolling burnout, & his experience saved it turning into a more serious problem, recognising what later proved to be a broken pushrod. Gary after waiting patiently, progressed into the next round unchallenged 10.11/111mph FINAL OA16 Pete Ashworth v OA65 Gary McCormack This was a testament to both drivers that two of the newest combinations progressed to the Final. Pete left 1st, stayed in front, & nearly straight running 9.82/138mph to Gary's runner-up 9.90/136mph
Congratulations to Pete, & Gary. Thanks to Lee & co for a great event. |