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Halloween Bonfire Burn-Up '09 |
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Sunday, 01 November 2009 00:00 |
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Traditionally the last event of the Outlaw Flat Four Season has been as much about having a get together with friends as it has been about the racing and this years Halloween Bonfire Burn-Up at Shakespeare County Raceway was no exception to this.
By the time you get into October it's always going to be a little hit and miss with the weather, even more so at the November end of things but it's always worth a shot just in case there's a last PB to be had or maybe a chance for a little more set up information information or maybe just a chance to catch up with everyone over a few beers on the Saturday night before packing up for winter. As well as club members we also had a couple of guests join us for the weekend so everything was set for a good weekend out on track so long as the weather played ball.
  
Heavy rain on Friday night didn't bode well for the weekends racing but come Saturday morning it was dry so it looked like we were on for a good day's racing. Because it was relatively cool and due to the amount of rain overnight it took a little while to get the track dry and then prep it but the track opened early afternoon and everyone headed out to the pairing lanes. With just a few more passes to be had people were pretty much running all out but a stopage in the afternoon reduced track time a little so when it and came the last run of the day the track was past its best. Nethertheless people got a couple of passes in which is much better than it could have been all things considered. From an Outlaw Flat Four perspective run of the day probably went to Jim Smith who's final pass of the day saw the Bug pointed at the barrier not once but twice. In some ways it was a scary run but having emerged with the car unscathed Jim looked pretty pleased as it seems the car is now hooked up and ready to go. As is often the case sometimes it takes a while to put things together and get a car right but on the evidence of this pass it looks as if Jim's going to be running hard in 2010. By the time the track had closed it's probably fair to say that everyone had had a pretty good day and thanks go to the track staff for getting the track in order despite difficult conditions and a little anti-freeze!
Saturday evening was all about taking time out and chilling out over food courtesy of Carol Newbury and crew who as ever put on a top spread. After food it was time to watch this seasons DVD and everyone gatherered around a laptop (!) since the projector had been left 'at home'. It's not for us to comment on the content of the DVD but thanks go to Helen and David from Quartemilehigh as well as Paul Venners who between them have done an awesome job of the production. As well as the DVD we all got to say Happy Birthday to Mr Keene who despite being another year older isn't showing any signs of slowing down just yet.
Sunday morning sadly wasn't so good and high winds saw horizontal rain soaking through the site, and there wasn't anything to be done other than to call it. This of course meant that the CHP Ashes weren't run as planned which is a pity as we were looking forward to a little grudge racing with the cars of the Pro Street Drag Series but there's nothing you can do about the weather. Away from the MSA series we'd like to spend more time in 2010 racing other groups of like minded people so we're sure we'll get another shot at the Ashes sometime soon. So that was that, an excellent weekend despite the weather trying it's best to ruin it. Additional photos of the event can be found on Jeni Long's Yawning Cat Photography site, The Acceleration Archive and Eurodragster.
  
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