It was back to Santa Pod for round 2 of the 2010 Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator Championship where the class were guests of the VWDRC at the Big Bang VW camper festival.

An initial entry of 11 was reduced to just 8 after withdrawals. Qualifying was split into Saturday and Sunday sessions with the cruise taking place in between. Despite a huge wheelie Ian Hook took provisional pole with an 8.67 but was then pushed back to third after both Steve Pateman (8.1) and Brian Payne (8.66) bettered his effort. Richard Billings was again DNQd when alternator problems prevented him going on the cruise.

After a spell of rain on Sunday morning the track was very challenging and this was reflected in Hook’s rolling burnout as he took on Alex McIntosh. But his luck was in as it was McIntosh’s turn to wheelie, the front end climbing at least 5 times during until he was forced to back the Mustang down. Pateman took out a red-lighting Ron Haslett but the Calibra was not well, popping, banging and belching black smoke from mid-track. It was Ford vs. Chevy time as Ray Comer (Camaro) took on Payne (Mustang). The Chevy driver strapped a huge holeshot on Payne, the Camaro well ahead at 60 foot. But the lightweight missile clawed him back with an impressive 8.74, beating Comer’s 9.28 by less than two tenths. The final ‘race’ saw Mark Todd proceed gingerly up the track as all was not well with the Pontiac.

Todd’s problems were sufficient for him to withdraw allowing Pateman to solo into the final despite continuing issues with the Calibra. The second semi-final featured rookie Payne and championship leader Hook. Another zero light saw Hook out first but the hot rod’s tyres spun immediately allowing Payne to pass him by the 60-foot mark. But then the Mustang too lost traction just as Hook brought the ’34 under control and brought in the gas. He overhauled Payne to take the win 9.58 to 10.25.

Both Hook and Pateman had their concerns as they pulled into stage for the Final – Hook’s lack of traction didn’t bode well for the first half of the track whilst Pateman’s 2^nd gear maladies meant the back half of the run was his concern, At the green Pateman took 2/100ths off Hook and then stretched his lead. The hot rod driver once again spun the wheels but had them under control quickly and held the gap constant until the 1/8 when the Vauxhall hatchback reverted to its diesel impressions. Behind all the black smoke Hook passed the 5-time champion to take his second victory of the season and stretch his championship lead to 460 points.

Click here for the points after Round 2