Easter Nats. 1979

Easter Internationals Results

Santa Pod Raceway

April 13th-16th 1979

Class	Winner	Time/Speed	Runner up	Time/Speed
Pro Fuel	Allan Herridge 'Alleygator'	6.72/203	Dave Lee Travis 'The Needle'	Broke
Funny Car	Ronnie Picardo 'The Force'	7.09/190	Owen Hayward 'Houndog'	8.71/205
Pro Comp	Dave Page 'Panic'	7.18/189	Gerry Andrews	7.35/190
Senior Altered	Lennart Ekering	9.44/143	Tony Merry 'Liquidator'	10.24/138
Middle Altered	Sue Coles 'Helzapoppin'	10.24	John Tebbutt	10.69
Junior Altered	Alan Loten 'Paranoia'	10.59/121 (new class record)	Richard Brooke	No data
Modified	Dave Stone 'Tender Trap'	10.90/128	Dave collis 'Frenzy'	No data
Super comp	Russ Carpenter 'Hepolite Glacier Grenade'	9.17/151	Sue Coles 'Helzapoppin'	10.17/137
Comp 1	Tony Merry 'Liquidator'	10.28/131	Geoff Martin 'The Oxford Builder'	12.48/108
Comp 2	Mick Hillier 'Pony Express'	11.57/119	Martin Ward 'DTV Chevette'	12.31/110
Comp 3	Peter Blake 'Sabbath'	11.13/125	Steve Tidswell 'Jeans E'	No data
Top Modified	Richard Wloszek 'Meanie Minor'	13.25	Jim Whiting	12.80
Modified 1	David Stables 'Bionic Beetle'	14.35/91	Derek Knight 'Pogas'	15.34/87
Production	Sylvia Hauser 'Mopar Missile II'	No data	Simon Paul	No data
Roadster	Geoff Baldwin	No data	Unknown	No data
Superbike	John Clift 'The Co-Respondent'	8.80/163	Chris Richards 'Spirit'	10.19/96
Top Bike	Peter wood 'Capella'	9.21/147	John Hobbs 'The Phil Read Hobbit'	9.43/146
Senior Bike	Jan Janssen	9.99/132	Rod Pallant 'The LA Hooker'	10.36/112
Middle bike	Keith Porter 'Stratum City Slicker'	No data	Unknown	No data
Junior Bike	Tom Vivian 'Tomfoolery II'	No data	Unknown	No data
Gas Bike	John Lloyd 'Freight Train'	9.70/135	Chris Russell 'Eastern Magic'	10.87/128
Pro Street Bike	Nigel Patrick 'Maelstrom'	9.41/143	Stuart Fernside	9.81/149
Street Bike	Pip Higham	10.23/135 (New class record)	Martin Hill 'Instyle'	12.20/125
Bike Bracket 1	John Clift 'The Co-Respondent'	8.73/161	Henk Vink 'Big Spender'	8.75

Notes

This was the first round of the European Pro Comp Championship.
There was a strong entry of Swedish competitors in various classes but they only had one elimination win, in Senior Altered. At one stage the Swedes were so baffled by the UK competitors cars performances that, just before the semi-finals, they insisted on a fuel check . No problems were discovered and all the British cars were declared legal.
Allan Herridge ran his first full pass in the new Alleygator rail and gained top spot in qualifying with a 6.71/217. He launched a blower skywards at the 3/4 mark on the semi-final run. It was a solo so he still made it through to the final.
Best time of the meeting was Dave Lee Travis in 'The Needle' Pro Fueler at 6.66/220. I remember him talking about it on Celebrity Squares not long after! He blew the motor in the final against Allan Herridge.
Funny Car final should have been Picardo (in the ex-Gene Snow Monza now renamed 'The Force') v Swede Anders Hazzlestrom.Hazzlestrom could not get his car running in time for the final so Hayward came back into the running as next quickest.
In the Street Bike class Pip Higham broke the existing class record three times in three days on his Texaco sponsored 1176cc Suzuki.
Bike Bracket 1. John Clift and Henk Vink tied for the top qualifying spot with identical 8.86/154 times.
Total prize fund for this meeting was estimated at around £10,000.
Also present was Bob Jarrett (now Showtime funny car boss) driving the Stripteaser altered.

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