National Finals 2012 - No. 3 qualifier & back to back 9.18's!

Mixed emotions this weekend, a great season is coming to an end!
And we end it with a fair amount of consistency and an unbroken car!!

SAT - the sun shone through the camper windows & we were going racing. 1st qualifier - we dialled 9.10 and ran 9.18. 2nd qualifier - we dialled 9.12 and ran 9.18! 3rd run - dialled 9.16, had a bit of a squirley run and finished Saturdays qualifying with a 9.53 which left us as no. 3 qualifier, best ever for us! Team spirits were high and we ended the season with Cassisi Chili, burgers & home made Strawberries & cream cake.
SUN - started a little grey and we had Bob Hawkins with fixed NOS in the 1st round of elims. We dialled the magic 9.18 and ran a 9.58 @130mph but took the 1st round as Bob had NOS problems again. We eagerly awaited round 2 against the Sting boys but not to be as down came the rain again.
Many congrats to our pit neighbours Team Gridlock who ended the season as WB1 again and many other championship wins.
We'll be back next year to beat those pesky Altereds!!!

Team LFR would like to thank all of their family & friends for their constant support that keeps us all going throughout the year, all of the track officials & Marshall's who provide great tracks for us to race on, all of the photographers for the great pics that we can't wait to get home to see, Med staff, particularly at Shaky, Wild Bunch racers & teams for giving us some great competition on the track & good friendships back in the pits, Chris & Claire for looking after all of the Wild Bunch & to all of the fans who come and chat to us at the tracks - can't wait to do it all again next year!!!!

Mark & Lynne would like to say a personal thank you to Steve, Anna, Rob (Marra 1) & Pete (Marra 2) for helping to make Team LFR  the great team that we are.

Hot Rod Drags 2012

We love this meeting & the sun was shining!
Race Car - check, matching Tot Rod - check, Ian's Chevy Truck - check - let's have some Nostalgic fun!
SAT - 1st run - we followed Crazy Chris, being pushed by the gorgeous Burb truck & accompanied by stunningly dressed Claire as back up girl, to do a good old fashioned push start & flag start. We put 12 psi in the tyres to spin the tyres off the start line. Surprisingly with new tyres & a good track we ran a 9.15 @ 142mph!
Claire did an amazing job as back up girl & Lynne has promised that she will pluck up the courage to do it with her next year.
2nd run - we dropped the tyres to 5.5psi and ran 9.32 @ 140mph! Should have left them at 12 psi!!
Nobody cares, we're having fun! Now for the cackle.
Once again BallBreaker was pushed down the pairing lanes by Ian's gorgeous truck to lots of applause from the packed stands. Lots of noise was made, fireworks were lit & everyone went to bed smiling & happy. What a great day.
SUN - lets play again!
1st run 9.10 @143mph - that'll do nicely. Lunch & a stroll around the trade stands for Team LFR.
2nd run was a repeat of Saturday morning following Crazy Chris & his great outfit to do another push start down the pairing lanes. Great response from the crowds again. We ran a 9.51 @ 141mph to a 8.96 @ 149mph from Chris but we didn't care. We'd had  a great weekend and we all went home with a warm & fuzzy feeling!

Open Sports - HailStones, Space Hoppers & Man Down!

NOT a typical race weekend!
SAT - We only managed 1 round of qualifying on Sat before the sky's turned very grey and down came the rain! It was heavy and lots of it! We ran a 9.81 on a 9.18 dial as we were suffering some fuel problems. No more racing today so lets do the next best thing - Space Hopper racing on the track of course with fuel masks, helmets & wellies! All was going well, Dads v Dads, Girls v Girls and then Chief v Space hopper and MAN DOWN! Steve was carried to the med centre where he produced what looked like a boiled egg stuck to his ankle! No more Olympics for us today. Thanks as always to the med centre staff who did a sterling job of looking after Steve. We are starting to think of them as the LFR med staff after the various team visits over the last 2 years!
SUN - weather looked better and we managed 2 runs, the 2nd of which caused a little argument back in the pits as Mark pulled a larger wheelie than (Lynne) he would have liked and crossed the centre line hence the run being disqualified. At least Marks Mom, Auntie, Dorset Horn Carole & GHGH  Val didn't see it!!!!!!!!!!!!! Bonus though, Mark was awarded 'Wildest Ride' trophy by C&C!
Back in the pits LFR & Team Gridlock staged their own version of the Olympics where Marra's (Marrows!) were used as batons in the relay, kids were carried on shoulders for the egg & spoon, Val flag started the races with Union Jacks & Mark & Dex ran a pushchair race! Good fun was had by all & kids went to bed happy full of sugar & rice crispy cakes! At least there wasn't any cheating was there Sarah (Howells) & Joe (Berwick)!
MON - Race Day
Weather was better than forecast so to round 1 of elims. Car hadn't run too well all weekend and we had Adz in the 1st so it should be close as he dialled 9.25 & we dialled 9.28. Sadly we had a problem & lost to Adz with a poor 12.13 @ 61mph. Fair play to Adz & we had had great fun partying with Team Gridlock this weekend. (Mark still mentions beating Adz in the space hopper & egg & spoon though!).
A mixed weekend of injury & car trouble but had a good old laugh, won a few Olympic medals & topped it all off with trophy for Best Appearing Team so still smiling!!