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DRAG RACING - Weekly Blog 18th January – Competition Meeting A horrible rainy day at Meremere, the decision was made to wait it out until lunchtime and hope the weather forecast was right and it started to clear. The day didn’t disappoint and the day turned bright and hot. Jack was staging well for the day and managed very quick reaction times – unfortunately on the road to the quarter finals he popped a red light just breaking the beam 0.02 seconds too fast. Chad had a very successful day in terms of speed and took the car down the track at its fastest time yet – a happy chappy at the end of the day. A few rounds of grudge racing were underway and the rain came again, a sure sign to pack up and make the long journey home.

2nd January – Summer Nationals As usual Taupo’s weather gave us all a bit of a scare in the morning and we had a few showers that threatened the day. Racing was delayed for about an hour and with 30 Junior Dragsters registered for racing, it was going to be a great day for all. Jack and Chad took their place in staging, but on the way to the starting line Jack had a gearbox problem that put him out for the entire day. Chad managed to get a few rounds in before being put out by a very experience teenager – he was happy though, the car was running about 4 seconds quicker than normal with his new motor. The boys spent the rest of the day on the tow vehicle – making sure all the juniors made it back to their pitting area after each race. Medals were given out to all who stayed for prize giving for their participation in the day, and the top 3 walked away with trophies, prizes and prize money for what was an outstanding effort in a huge field of cars.

6th/7th December 2008 - Northern Nationals 21 Junior Dragsters turned out for this weekend event at Meremere – qualifying on Saturday and eliminations on Sunday. Due to a smaller field turn out for the track, a few classes were given an extra qualifying run on Sunday morning and as luck would have it this included Junior Dragsters. The boys always appreciate extra seat time. So DYO times were set and the rounds began. The boys were doing very well but Chad was too eager in the 3rd round and red lit against his opponent. Chad was determined that a teenager would be hard to beat and wanted to have a great reaction time off of the line – shame he left on the first orange! Jack continued on and managed a respectable 4th for the day. After serious racing had ended for the boys they took the opportunity to take part in the exhibition class set up for grudge racing until the days end. Next event is at Taupo International Dragway – 2nd January.

8th November 2008 - Competition Meeting, Taupo International Dragway The first competition meeting of the Drag Racing Calendar was a beautiful clear day – Jack & Chad were nervous but excited to be racing again. The first couple of qualifying passes re-familiarized the boys with the routines of staging and reaction to the lights going green to send them down the track for their 1/8 mile run. They both managed a first round win and were on their way to having a great result for Team Eagle Automotive. Both boys reached the semi-finals, and were seeded to race each other for this run (assuring a place in the final for a black car). When the lights went green, both were similar in reaction time coming of the start line – but Jack managed a closer run to his dial-in-time (e.t), taking out the win over his younger brother. Jack was unfortunately beaten in the last run, he had a very time-accurate run on his e.t, but his slower reaction time off the start line secured the win for his older opponent. They had a great day of racing, securing 2nd and 3rd for the day.

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