Putten short

We are having a lot of work to do in the Green Monster Team's workshop this week (not happy with the 3.5t result) so before I leave for some more dyno testing, a short report about Putten:
The facility again was prepared in an absolutely perfect manner and there was very little to complain about. Probably the fact the left hand track had gotten a little too much water in before, but the scraper and roller guys did a hell of a good job, preparing the track well for everybody.
Traction was there and the heavy clay took LOADS of tourque. As the competition went on, the track dried a little and things went back to normal.
4.5t mod was first class and pretty much all made it out the gate. Egbert Dros touched the sideline (whether it was a straight line is another discussion) and got a DQ for this day, which pretty much screwed up his Euro Cup season for now.
In the Pull Off there was no way past the Whispering Giant turbine machine, as the piston powered vehicles all either had a "low end tourque" problem or, in the case of Green Spirit, blew the rearend. The still new MPM Seaside Affair did an excellent 4th place finish in this tough field and showed they have the caliber to run in the Euro Cup.
After the dust had settled, the point standings of the class had been shaken up quite a bit and it looks like the last two pulls in Lubersac and Bettborn have quite some thrill still to offer!
After the heavy mods it was Mini and Semi time and I got the shock of my life: My camera only took 1/3 size pictures. On further inspection I found the 2nd mirror for the autofocus was hanging in the way between sensor and lens and not flipping up anymore, as it is supposed to. "Done for the rest of the year" I thought and very sadly left the track.
I wanted to shoot TWDs this time - but it looked like I was done shooting for quite a while.

Back in the truck I did some further inspection and figured I could lock the mirror and shoot in full manual mode. Totally sucks to shoot pulls without autofocus - but I wanted to give it a try anyways. So back to the track, just in time to shoot the Super Stocks. The pictures turned out to be 50 % trash and 50 % ok... oh well. I need a new camera.... god let it rain money!
Back to competition.
Bram de Pijper had a "new" European Maid out, which made a good start, but came to an hold with either a backfire or some ignition problems. The Green Muscleman was also running very well, but with the HP tires now mounted, it ran out of gear. The first distance in the Pull Off was laid down by Geoff Ashcroft on the old and trusty Red Alert with 97.31m. And that was about the last good distance of the british IH clan. Red Fever as well as Just Smokey both struggled with problems, and after Willem Veldhuizen set a new leading distance, it was clear it's still a "Long / Veldhuizen" engine war on the track for the top positions, with the dutch engines up front.
Several of the others were running very nicely, like Zapo, D'n Aerdvruter, Judgement Deere and Terminator, but they are all quite a bit behind the top. Still it was nice to see a class of 16 Super Stocks and Rob van der Waal back in the game with the Terminator. I think a big thank you goes to all the guys that have brought the class back to life in the last 2 - 3 years, when numbers were really down.
So time for the last two "big" classes, Pro Stock and 3.5t modified.
They had expected 28 Pro Stocks, but only 18 of them showed up. Still - they put on a hell of a show. 15 of them over the 90m mark and six of those out the gate! Sigma Power had a pretty serious turbo explosion on the line with quite some flame and fire out the exhaust - so he was going home with 0 points that day. The chance for the others to gain some points and get it all a little closer in the points.
The finish was close! Johanny Herlevi captured the victory just slightly ahead of a super running Rocky and the Caesar of her brother Matti. John Deere and Extreme Temptation finished on excellent 4th and 5th place and on spot number 6 we had a FORD! Edward Beukeveld with the Snoopy! I think if somebody would have told him before the season he'd be right with the top of the Euro Cup guys and fighting for the dutch title, he'd called the guys with the white dresses to bring the jacket with the long sleeves...
The 3.5t modified was a close battle between Lambada and the Rising Star in a 5 way Pull Off. Tire Speed was all that mattered here on the 2nd track. Whispering Giant didn't get enough bite in the track, Simple Irresistible had some misfiring problems, and the Judge, who managed a Full Pull with the two Griffons, unfortunatly blew a supercharger and couldn't join the Pull Off. Our little tractor was "best of the rest" on 6th position. Tough fighting in the dutch championships!