Sunday proved to be the most productive day, with a total of four further qualifying rounds.

With the dizzy re-set we headed down for the first pass of the day at 10:45. Following our good run yesterday, we decided to be brave and dial in a little higher at 9.72. The Belle responded with a too quick 9.67. Heading out for the 2nd round at one o'clock we moved the dial in back down to 9.63 and managed to break out again with a 9.57. After the run we chatted to Craig and Alex who had come to watch for the day and we forgot to pick up the timing ticket. A few minutes later and a rather excited Claire came to congratulate us, but we where unsure why until she informed us that we had just run our first pass over 140; 140.07mph to be exact. Lot's of jumping, hugging and squealing ensued!

The Belle of the ball....

Monday.....

After two days of very different weather we were looking forward to at least one pass. Being an elimination style event, we could be knocked out after the first round and be headed home before tea...

As it was, we had qualified 5th, which put us against No.1 qualifier, Crazy Chris in the Backdraft slingshot.

We paired up against Chris, who had been running back down in the eights on Sunday. We dialled in at 9.45, the logic being that if we broke out, then at least it would be a new PB!

When the lights turned green they blasted down the track and Helen had a slight lead away from the lights. Chris chased her down hard, but couldn't quite catch her and Helen was through to the next round!

Helen and Hartnell Senior in qualifying round 2..

It may be blurry but it's the only photo of the 1st round we have!

But before we could even get to the first round, the weather was against us. Several showers through the morning meant that the track was being continually dampened and then dried.

The weather finally held out long enough to get the first round of competition started in the early afternoon.

Once back to the pits we had a very showbiz "reveal" as Helen slowly uncovered the timing tickets,  and there they were, 2 new personal bests, a 9.46 for Helen and a 9.22 for Sarah in Destiny's Angel. Well done girls! (but we broke out again!)

So, in a last ditch attempt to get a better qualifying position we dialled in a very low 9.40 and ran a 9.49 at 139mph in the last round. Phew!

Fegan has nothing on Team Twisted.... (child labour... it's the best!)

Find out when we're next racing......

Our big time fan, Alex, had popped by to see us. (and she brought dad, Craig too...)

Ooooo! Double rainbow!! (we just fixed a girls car at Warwick services...)

But, it was not to be.. the heavens opened again and after a couple of very heavy downpours the event was rained off just before 5pm.

In order to decide the points for the Real Steel Series, the 1st to 4th places were then decided by "closest to dial in" in the first round. We were lucky enough to get third place which was enough to ensure we had won the APIRA Championship which had been run over three rounds at Shakespeare County Raceway, Helen had a very happy face on as this was her first championship win!

So, we packed up in the rain as rather happy campers and headed home, looking forward to the culmination of the remaining three series at the National Finals at the end of September. (and also looking forward to a warm comfy bed....)

With the weather playing along the third run took place shortly after 3pm and we again lowered our dial in, this time to 9.52. Helen was running against Sarah and when the cars shot down the track, the crews had difficulty reading the timing boards due to the bright sunshine, but it looked like a pair of great passes. On the tow back to the pits Helen picked up both the timing tickets without reading them.