Qualifying. A return to Warwickshire and Shakespeare County Raceway for the Super Mods as the first annual Shakespeare Nationals was conducted. An extremely depleted field of three cars were all that arrived for duty, with the damage sustained by a number of other competitiors at previous events really taking it's toll. Despite this fact being coupled with soaring temperatures some great racing was achieved. With Kev Perkins again in the hot seat of the Ellis Racing Olds and the Chevy lump all repaired after the Big Bang The car was back on form to notch up a 7.805 @ just 166 mph. After a slight scare when the Lenco transmission jumped out of high gear the Bickel built Cutlass was well sorted for eliminations. It was back to the 7 second zone for Andy Hone and the F&M Racing squad as the Gleeson Wright Scorpio progressed to a 7.983 @ 169.80 mph. Andy Kirk and the team had been busy during the extended break and a revamped Rat Fink™ emerged from Andy Robinson Race Cars with just days to spare. With a totally new rear suspension setup to get aquainted with, an off the trailer 8.200 had become an 8.115 @ 171 mph by the close of play on Saturday. Final qualifying positions were as follows: .
Kev Perkins was drawn out of the hat by SMRA track rep, Barbara Kirk to receive the £50 qualifying bonus from Obsession Motorsports. Eliminations Round 1 Kev Perkins used a bye run to card another stout 7 second pass by virtue of his number one qualifying berth. The other first round clash saw Andy Hone against Andy Kirk. Although the Kirk Motorsport gang were 2-0 up so far this year they were still struggling to get a decent launch out of the Camaro. Andy Kirk got a big jump on the tree, but with a return to form for Fred and the team it was to no avail as the big Ford marched on through with a 7.95 to a lose out 8.08. Final Due to the low car count, Kev Perkins and Andy Hone lined up for the final after a somewhat abbreviated arrival procedure. Andy gave it his best shot but unbeknown to the team the crankshaft in the Big Block lump was buckling under the strain. A losing 8.034 @ 160.47 mph was the outcome as Kev stormed to a 7.756 and a huge 178.09 mph. A win for Ellis Racing was the last thing the rival teams wanted as a first round loss for Andy Kirk set up a commanding lead for them. With another two cars on the cards for the Summer Nats. maybe someone can stop the Ellis juggernaut running away with it............? |
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