The opening round of the 2016 ACU Championships kick off at the Festival of Power meeting at Santa Pod Raceway. The three day meeting takes place over the Easter holiday starting on the Friday 25th to the Sunday 27th March.
Top Fuel Bike
Rene Van Den Berg won his second ACU Top Fuel Bike title last year will be hoping that he doesn’t suffer from the crankshaft issues he had last year. He ran personal best figures of 6.574-222.26mph at the European Finals. Nick Milburn finished second in the championship last year. He recorded his first six-second pass (6.819) at the National Finals, which he went on to win the event, his first ACU event win. He also recorded his first 200 plus mph (206.19) at the European Finals. Multi-time ACU Top Fuel Bike Champion is going back to his 2014 clutch settings for 2016 and is hoping to dip into the 6.1sec bracket. Chris Hannam debut his new American built V Twin in the USA last year. This will be the first time the bike has run in the UK.
Funny bike.
Dave Peters won the ACU Funny bike Championship for the first time last season after twenty years of drag racing. He will be facing three riders whose machines have run in the six-second zone. ACU speed record holder Lorcan Parnell has run 6.845 at 203.49mph. The speed record is 200.53mph and that may change in 2016. Filippos Papafilippou has run 6.549-206.01mph and has a stunning new paintjob on the bike for this year. Glenn Borg has run 6.98 in Malta on ex Papafilippou General Lee bike. Former 2014 ACU Comp Bike Champion Allan Davies is back hoping to win the championship after finishing second to Peters. Dark Horse for the championship is Phil Crossley who debut his self -built bike at mid-season. He won the National Finals (his first ACU event win) and ran best figures of 7.346-177.83mph with a soft set up, more to come in 2016.
Comp Bike.
Another rider who won his first ACU Championship was Kevin Osman. He hurt his motor at the final round last year. He has the run close to the speed record (192.89mph) with a speed of 191.39mph. Eddy Smiley finished runner up in his first season in Comp Bike with best figures of 7.836-178.48mph. Paul Hambridge had his best ever season (third) and ran a 7.7sec at 179.93mph. Mick Winyard is another man to watch out for 7.924-182.52mph. Tony Clark and Phil Leamon make a welcome return to the class.
Super Street Bike.
Garry Bowe had a superb season last year winning both the ACU and European FIM Super Street Bike titles. Bowe set new et and speed records last year 7.073-207.12mph. ACU runner up Chris Reed had his best ever finish last year and will be hoping to go one step higher this season. Former champion Steve Venables recorded the first six-second pass by a Super Street Bike in the UK and Europe during the European Finals 6.950-212.84mph. Other riders to look out for are Richard Stubbins, Pete Field, Alex Hope and Daniel Lencses.
Report by Steven Moxley.