Steel City Charlie Dennis Round 2 - January 12th 2008

Photos by TAD Photography (Tracy)                                                                                    Report by TAD Photography (David)

The second round of the Charlie Dennis entertained the 600 spectators with high quality racing through out the night. Modified and Super Sedan was mixed with 3 Modifed’s and two Super Sedans, Super Street had 13 entries, Modified Bike had 8 entries and Street Challenge had 9 entries. All brackets were run in a round robin format.

           Graham Shiell in his supercharged Hemi Dodge Challenger was the top qualifier position in the Modified/ Super Sedan Bracket with a 5.596 – 126 mph. In second spot it was Bill Honan in the “Wasted Racing” Altered with a close 5.607. Third was David Murray also in a Altered with a 6.128, Robert Datson rounded out the field in his Torana in 5^th with a 6.933 et.

First round had top qualifier Graham Shiell on a solo 5.598 on a 5.4 DI, Bill Honan faced the Hot Rod of Paul Utting, on the tree it was Utting with a .09 RT to Honan’s .107 RT, but Utting’s Hot Rod had handling’s problems off the line allowing Honan an easy win. Last meetings finalists Robert Datson and David Murray were next but Datson’s Torana died while staging with an electrical problem’s with the fuel pump; this plagued him for the rest of the night.

The second round had Honan with a bye run. Next run was the Modifed’s of Utting and Murray pulling Identical 0.257 RT’s on the tree, but Utting Hot Rod got sideway at the 60ft mark giving Murray an easy win. Next it was the two Super Sedans , Datson had a big sleep on the line with a 1.896 reaction time but Shiell gave it away with red light at 5 thousands too quick.

 Third round was Bill Honan over the dying Torana of Datson with Honan running a 0.052 RT, 5.559 on a 5.50 dial in to go into the finals with a perfect 3 from 3. Paul Utting getting a bye run due to Graham Shiell pulling out as the Hemi was running lean and no way to get more fuel into the engine with its current setup. David Murray was also on a solo but both racers agreed to run as a pair for the spectators and Utting’s handling problems still not fixed had him again a bit sideways at the 60 ft mark. Murray with 3 wins was going into his second finals in a row.

Dave Murray had the start with a 0.156 RT to Bill Honan’s better 0.123 RT but right on the pedal Honan’s engine blew the dip stick out and putting oil under the slick making it a hairy ride for Honan. With a 6.131 on a 5.50 DI not going to catch Murray’s 6.239 on a 6.1 DI. Graham Shiell won the best presented car and crew award.   

Non club members are not eligible for the Charlie Dennis Series but eligible for the season bracket champion only.

Winner: David Murray

      Amy Palanca in her 454 powered HJ Holden lead the Super Street Bracket with a 7.283 for the top qualifiers position. Paul Russo in the Commodore Ute was second on a 7.351 and local Sam Azzopardi third on a 7.356, Kevin Fuss rounded out the field with the V8 powered Gemini on a 9.627. You know its going to be tough racing when 4 out of the 13 racers pull sub .100 reaction times and two racers red lighting to under 3 hundreds of a second in first round. The wins going to Kylie Wagener, Kenneth Grillet, Mick Ainsworth, Rodger Weste, Ricky Datson and Kevin Fuss.

  Second round had Paul Russo pull a perfect light with a .000 light on a solo run. The second round winners were Sam Azzopardi, Mick Ainsworth, Wayne Newlyn, Ricky Datson, Rebecca Gray, and Kenneth Grillet.

   Third round had Paul Russo pull a .009 light for a win, and not to be out done Wayne Newlyn pulled the second perfect .000 light for the bracket. The third round winners were Sam Azzopardi, Mick Ainsworth, Ricky Datson, Rebecca Gray, Amy Palanca. With only two racers getting 3 wins (6 other racers had 2 wins) it was Ricky Datson and Mick Ainsworth in an all HQ Holden’s final.

  Ricky Datson getting the start and a better reaction time 0.174 to a 0.223 on the tree with Datson holding it all the way to the line with a .073 over 7.873 to Ainsworth’s .044 over 7.434 and that’s a real close 2 hundreds at the line difference. Amy Palanca got a surprise at the end of night when she was awarded the “best burnout” trophy.  

Winner; Ricky Datson

                Modified Bike it was Robert Knox in the top qualifying position with a 6.64 on his ZX12R, the R1 Yamaha of Si Heaslip was second on a 6.961 and the Suzuki Hayabusa of Derrick Hughes third on a 7.084. Andy Zang had a qualifying run that he would rather forget. The Motor Guzzi getting its front wheel high in the air of his heavy bike and the bike getting all crossed up on the landing, Zang done an excellent job just staying on the bike. First round it was two Kawasaki’s facing each other and the ZX6 of Brenton Hoffmann running eleven thousands under with a 7.796 on a 7.807 DI to Robert Knox’s safe 6.887 on a 6.640 DI. The GPZ of Mark Habel red lighting with an early -.296 reaction time to give Si Heaslip a easy win. Chris Bernard was running his big 1800cc Suzuki street cruiser this meeting, and showed that even this bike can be turned into a strip weapon running a 7.576 on a 7.5 dial in with a reaction time of 0.054 for the win over the Motor Guzzi of Andy Zang.

     Second round winners were Robert Knox over Mark Habel. Si Heaslip over Alex Wicks. Derrick Hughes over Andy Zang. Chris Bernard over Brenton Hoffmann.

    Round three it was Alex Wicks over Robert Knox, Andy Zang over Si Heaslip. Derrick Hughes over Brenton Hoffmann and Chris Bernard with the bye run. With 4 riders on two wins it went on a count back of the third round to see who faced Chris Bernard on his cruiser with 3 wins. Alex Wicks had nearest to his dial in (0.008 over) to face Bernard in the final, but a 0.277 over 8.947 from Wicks was not going to cut it against the consistent Suzuki of Bernard running 0.113 over 7.543.

Points Season 2007 - 2008

Winner: Chris Bernard

           Whyalla’s Street Challenge had 9 entries (this bracket limited to the DDL 1/8^th mile et cut-off 7.70). It was the Corvette of Marion Rix in the top qualifying position with a 7.835, Second it was the HQ of Peter Frost with a 8.472, third it was the HT Holden of Brad Mathews on a 8.676, rounding out in ninth spot was last meetings winner Ron Matthews on a 10.502 in the Ford XR8.

   Marion Rix had a bye run in the first round and ran a 0.009 over 7.844 but tried too hard on the tree with a -0.066 red light. Peter Frost got a bye run due to the XR Ford of Brett Cooper failing on the line. Brad Mathews wasted a 0.006 over 8.682 to a red light giving the VU Holden Ute of Bradley Haines-Darby the win. Malcolm Mason in his VH Commodore was next to fall victim to a red light giving Barry Brooks an easy win. Ron Matthews was next with a good 0.114 reaction time over Terry Hoskins with a 0.175 but Hoskins running a closer to dial in with a 0.049 over 8.861 to Matthews 0.112 over 10.412 to give a very close 0.002 at the line difference to Hoskins 460ci Falcon.

    Second round it was Peter Frost with the bye run, Brad Mathews over Barry Brooks. Ron Matthews over a red lighting Malcolm Mason. Terry Hoskins with a bye run due too Brett Copper withdrawing from racing. Marion Rix over the break out of Bradley Haines-Darby.

    The third round it was Brad Mathews and Malcolm Mason both getting bye runs. Ron Matthews over Peter Frost & Terry Hoskins over Bradley Haines-Darby. Marion Rix over Barry Brooks. Two racers had 3 wins a piece so it was the Falcon of Terry Hoskins against the Corvette of Marion Rix. Hoskins got the better reaction time 0.121 to a 0.255 but an 8.772 breakout (0.040 under) handing the win to Vette of Marion Rix.

Points Season 2007 - 2008

Winner: Marion Rix

       The Charlie Dennis Memorial Trophy goes to the club member with the highest points over 3 meetings held over the racing season. Charlie Dennis tragically died at the Steel City Raceway track in the late 70’s. Charlie was one of the clubs founding members and this sports pioneers; he built most of his cars and the engines himself. The days of a concrete launch pad then onto compacted oiled dirt (can just see racers doing that one today!). One of Charlie’s cars can be seen in Dragster Australia Magazine “Stampede” on the renewal of  magazine’s subscription page most issues.

   For the 2007-2008 season two racers are tied on points with two meeting wins each, Ricky Datson and David Murray both on 375 points and Marion Rix with a win and semi finals place on 325 points in the 3^rd spot with one meeting remaining for the series.

           The Clubs next meeting is the final round of the ANDRA’s SA Division’s “Max Crane and Equipment Hire Tri-Series” on March 9^th. The final Charlie Dennis meeting is on the 10^th May 2008, this will be a day meeting..