August 25th/26th |
Supernationals SPR. In Pro Fuel qualifying, Clive Skilton crossed the finish line at 210 mph as a front tyre blew sending him into the guardrail in the shutdown area. Clive was OK but the car wasn’t. In the eliminations, Mike Hutcherson had a bye due to the non-appearance of Skilton, and the Houndog car ran 6.96/194.53, the first six second pass by any Houndog car. In the other semi, Dennis Priddle ran 6.61/196.46 as Pete Crane in Stormbringer slowed to a 7.23/168 due to a blown head gasket. It was Priddle all the way in the final with a 6.60/209.21 run as Houndog trailed with 7.50/146.84. In Funny Car, Allan Herridge in Stardust soloed to a 7.09/199.2. In the other semi, Dennis Priddle took an easy 8.21/171.82 win as Owen Hayward in Houndog went in to an almost vertical wheelstand off the line and had to click it off. Herridge took the final round win in a new track FC ET record of 6.81/195.69 as Priddle slowed to a losing 8.02/155.72. Top Dragster winner was Gerry Andrews in Hemi Hunter with a solo semi win and a final round victory over Alan Blount. Malcolm Olley in the Pink Panther took the final of Senior Dragster as Martin Rowatt lost fire. John Whitmore took the Middle title defeating Keith Elliott in the final, and Steve Martyn was the Junior winner. Due to breakages, there were just two cars in Top Comp. Tee Rat ran a solo best ever 7.71/187, and in the final, Dave Stone’s sideways 9.38/180 clocking was too strong for Mike Hall’s 9.90/139. Senior Comp winner was Dave Page in Panic, and Pete Skinner in Midas Mist won Middle as Bob Messent fouled in Stripteaser. Pat Hart took the Junior title beating John Annear. Pro Stock was a best of three between Colin Mullan and Gary Goggin, and it was the Heavy car of Mullan that took it 2-1. In Top bike first round, John Hobbs 9.47 beat Bob Webster 9.54, Tony Weedon 9.76 overcame John Clift 9.86, Mick Butler 9.41 downed Keith Parnell 9.65 and Brian Smith lost fire as Jeff Byne sheared a rear wheel spindle at 120 mph locking the wheel completely but coming to a safe halt. In the semis, Byne beat a chain breaking Hobbs, and Butler ran a PB 9.24/151 to down Weedon. Byne pulled a holeshot to take the final with 9.50 to Butler’s quicker but losing 9.47. Pete Smith defeated Mick Warne to take the Senior win. Middle winner was Ray Law and Pete Molloy took the Junior title. Terry Revill ran 11.95/112 to defeat Dave Rawlins in the final of Street bike. (Clive Rooms)
Re. the writing off of Clive Skiltons Castrol sponsored rear engined fuel dragster when he hit the barrier, it emerged that another racer, Ollie Burn, had paid Skilton £3000 for the car just hours before. It was repaired and re-appeared in 1975 as the Liz & Ollie car. SPR published a notice in their programme asking weekend campers not to go into the woods behind the camping area for firewood as this was private property. Strange that they should want to do this as SPR supplied the campers with free wood to burn!
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