Not entirely successful

The weekend started off looking pretty good - on arrival we discovered there were more entries in comp bike which meant we would have a full field. Then in the first round of qualification, the new clutch showed real signs of getting the 60ft times sorted and gave us a best ever 1.24 60ft on what was really the first correctly set up pass on that clutch. The rest of the run was reasonable too, and we qualified 1st with an 8.05. The engine had a slight missfire and i shifted into 2nd gear too soon by mistake so it wasn't perfect by any means. So a great opening run by all accounts!

The next run was where it all went pete tong. It sounded odd when Stuart started it, but i thought i'd try the burnout and see if it clears, it burnt out just fine and i let it roll up to the line. As the revs returned to tickover and i moved towards the beams i noticed it sounding a bit unusual, a definite knocking noise. I thought about just switching it off but the incentive to get another run got the better of me and i decided to go for it. It left ok but was headed slightly left so i rolled the throttle a bit and at 3.4 seconds into the run it made some unusual noises, followed by some destructive noises, a complete lack of power and then a bang followed my the death drone.
Back in the pits it didn't look good, there were chunks of casing missing, and the number 3 cyl spark plug was difficult to remove and the electrode was bent completely over. Shining a torch down the plug hole i could quite clearly see the crank. Not good!
It looks like the little end of the rod has given up. There was no sign at all of a piston, pin or rings, just a smashed up barrel, and a bent and broken rod. The 4 valves of that cylinder looked pretty messed up too.

That was the end of racing for us then, but we did at least remain number 1 qualifier and will come away still with the points lead as once again no racing took place on the final day due to the weather.
the question now will be can we cobble together another engine or make repairs in time for the next round in just 6 weeks time.