Ian Turboville  

S&S Sure Shot, the saga continues!

I thought I had everything covered with the bike serviced and prepared for the Summernationals at Santa Pod Raceway, I even sent my entry in on time to avoid the penalty. Oh well, you know how it goes, couldn't be that simple could it?

The Wednesday before the race the rear wheel bearing on my 4x4 went so I tried to get a new one, ha! No one had one so I phoned everyone in the county and eventually one company phoned back and said they had one so I booked it in with fellow drag racer Shaun Lathan to get it replaced. Turns out the dip-sticks had a front wheel bearing which left us high and dry on a ramp with no back end in the car and no bearing. That's when we noticed the cracked leaf springs...........oh crap! I frantically phoned all my so called mates but no one was willing to lend me a tow car for the weekend, great. Stress levels were biginning to max out around now. Shaun eventually sourced a bearing and fitted it in the nick of time and another local company slotted me in to fix the springs.

This was all last thing on Friday afternoon and I paid the price, around £500 in all, my will was being sapped at an expediential rate, as we say around these parts. The car was back for 3-30pm and then I had to load everything by myself and get to the Pod. Guess what, yup, it pissed it down all the time I was loading. Finally made the track at 11.30 pm to find Rush had saved me a pit space, my hero! I parked up and collapsed in a heap wondering what I was going to do for crew the next day, things didn't look good.

Saturday dawned bright and sunny and I remembered it was my birthday, twenty one again, hooray! A couple of mates turned up to give general support and then Chris Powell from Steve Wollatts team pitched in to help the much harassed Rush, who was crewing for three teams again, bloody star that man.

All I wanted to do was a nine for my birthday and bugger me that's just what I did! Try as we may though we couldn't get the bike to launch off the line. I decided it was not down to the tune but the clutch so we worked on that. I ended up second qualifier and got to the line on a scorching hot Sunday morning to face Dave witts in the first round, the air was bad but the track was fantastic. We fired the bike and it didn't sound right, as soon as I touched the throttle it died so I motioned to the starter that I was out, stagefright syndrome again? Nah, turns out it was just a duff battery, killed by the old Harley vibes! We replaced it and were told that we could put in a quick pass as a birthday present so we did, thanks Darren.

All went well and the weekend was deemed a success after all that aggrevation. The Saturday night celebrations were very civilised and we all had fun without getting too trashed for the eliminations so thanks to everyone that turned up for a glass of bubbly and a slice of cake, supplied by Barry Gregory's team, and to the girls for that special card.

I was amazed when I stopped for a second during the Sunday panic to realise just who was in my pit and had to sit and take it all in. Chris Powell had departed Saturday evening only to be replaced by Barry Sheavills and Rune Fjelds top mechanic, Ben Allum! Ben was a great help and keen to learn more about bikes. He has a nitrous GSXR1100 for the road and spent a lot of time crewing for top-fuel drag boats in the USA so knows his stuff. It was Ben and Terry that showed me the ropes whilst helping Rune out last year. Barry was doing a great job all weekend lending moral support (drinking my beer so I wasn't tempted) and it was nice to see my old crew chief Terry Dutton for a brief moment. Fellow NAST racer, Chris Stebbing, is improving by leaps and bounds but Dave and John had terrible luck so things are still open in the NAST championship. Overall I get a good feeling about the whole race scene so far this year and hope it gets even healthier. One thing is for sure, it aint getting any cheaper!!!

See you all at Shakespeare County Raceway for the BULLDOG BASH, 8-10 August. TURBO

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