Well our season ended on a bit of a low but I want to start by thanking Al Jackson, Knut and especially my crew of Stuart and Richard Mcdonald, Ian Pellant, Scotch Rob, Paul Townsend, Belfast Ray, Wee Al and "the hippies" for giving me a car worthy of retaining my championship - we had by far the strongest car at Santa Pod finals but we struggled in qualifying with bad tyres leaving us #8 - as a precaution we also changed the clutch. Believing Andy Carter would run his record 4.83 again, Alan stepped up the car and we were on just that - we ran 3.22 to the 1/8th - quicker than Micke Kågared's 4.84 in Sweden. A snapped blower belt after 3.9 secs robbed us of low ET and top speed of the meeting. It was all academic as knowing Andy to be capable of running 4.83, I wasn't giving anything on the tree but I ended up giving the lot with a big fat cherry!!!! So sorry to Micke here as he gave me set of good tires and as a team mate, he needed me to take Andy out to win the title. It was really a disappointing end to my season in the UK, but we were trying hard!

Looking back over the season we struggled at the Main Event, as getting sponsorship so late in the season meant we had to build a complete car from scratch at the track, missing out on proper qualifying then again drawing Andy in the 1st round to set the quickest side by side run in Europe, the first 4 sec run for that car, and also the 2nd fastest car of the weekend, losing by 0.07s with a 4.96 after beating Andy off the line.

Off to Finland we ran a 5.03 - 2nd fastest again - but in the semis after a massive lead, we hit a bump and the engine hit only 8500rpm but a rod strangely exited the block. Arguably I should have "pedalled" it but damned if you do and damned if you don't sometimes. I don't think the motor should have expired anyhow, but we coasted through to lose by 0.06s.

In Sweden, we were part of the quickest qualifying field in European history but redlit any chances of strutting our stuff!

In norway we were awesome - no 1 qualifier, with a new personal best of 4.88, but in the semis again with a massive lead on another 4.8 run, the blower belt snapped and we coasted to a lose by 0.03s.

In Hockenheim, we were no 1 qualifier with 1 session to go, which we had to sit out with limited funds. Getting down that tricky track with no damage was a feat unto itself. However the tires, it transpires, were going away and they "lit on the hit" even with the brakes on, so points weren't forthcoming here either.

The finals were awesome. We could have set a new record had things been different, but not taking anything away from Andy Carter - their crew did a fine job and we wish them well and hope they enjoy Monaco.

My final tribute is to the fans - thanks for ALL of your support throughout my 12 years racing in UK. We made £1150 for Promise Dreams with fans signing the car.

You were there with me when I ran the '35 Chevy altered to Euorope's fastest 6.92s@203 mph, running my nitro funny car to Europe's 2nd fastest speed of 265mph and of course my championship win in my rookie year last year, 4.89s@303.14 mph. Thanks gang - you are the best.

We were gonna try the Fans Fueler idea start of season when Promise came on board at the eleventh hour, so good luck to Barry Sheavills on his quest. We may follow suit - you never know. But whatever you all do, be happy and support the sport we all love.

Full revs
Smax

Off to Canada. Zooooooooooooommmmmmmmmmmmmm.

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