NFAA Race Report - The Open Sport Nationals 2009

[BennettRacing]

A mixed weekend for the Class, Friday being lost to two rain showers, allowing few cars to test run.

On Saturday we lost 4 hours before our first call-out due to a major oil down, leaving time for only one pass instead of two.
Frank Bennett carded 6.793, whilst most others struggled for grip or got tyre shake. The Xtreme Topolino got oh-so- close to the Armco, but just avoided contact. Venom was sidelined with a late discovery of a blower malfunction. Jon Best ran a great full pass, 6.711/209.32, in the Felstead, Best and Lotsabeera nitro burner, to gain his full licence. Due to another left hand lane oildown, only the spectator lane was available for safety reasons, so some pairings became solo’s, unfortunately.

The final qualifying session was at 1.00 on Sunday and 4 pairs fought for the right to be in the Finals shoot-out.
Venom outran Relentless with a wheel carrying 6.902 to a 7.42 from Frank, who got tyre shake causing the chute to deploy at 500 ft. The Mob beat Chaos 8.07 to 8.92, neither run being pretty, with John Wright getting close to the centre-line and lifting off. Xtreme ran against Nuthin’ Fancy, but past the lights Bob experienced severe bouncing causing a front ‘A‘ Arm to shear and a front wheel to depart, pulling him directly across Joe’s path. Quick reactions from Joe as he swung hard right and took to the field, but breaking the lower frame rail in the process – tough luck.

Clayton Round, back after a long absence with new parts in the ‘T’, was 2 seconds off their best, leaving the win to Dave Grabbham, who had a wild, use-all-the-lane ride to record his forwarding progress.

So the final 4 were set. For the 3rd and 4th spots, Clayton was paired against John Wright, Chaos left hard and ran their best-of-the-meet, 6.773 with a 1000ft click-off, to a loosing 7.097 from the Rebel ‘T’.

The Final was a disappointment, Freddy’s Revenge being shut down after the burnout due to a small oil leak, leaving Frank to solo for a win. A little lucky for the Relentless Team as they lost two gears on the pass, with an off-the pace 7.201, but a win is a win and you take whatever you can get in this unpredictable Class.