Wild Bunch Summer Tour

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Wild Bunch Summer Tour August 12 - 13

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Wild Bunch Summer Tour at York Dragway
12th - 13th August 2000

This weekend was :-
The Wild Bunch Series Round 4
Custom Chrome Series Round 5
Roy Wilding Nostalgia Racecars Series Round 3
Rear Engine Dragsters Series Round 3
Midland Drag Racing Association Round 3 (members)

Event Results
Pos	WB	Driver/Team	Car	Points
1	28	Pete Loveridge	Herr X	10
2	4	Clayton Round	Shortshot	8
3	119	Andy Gosling	The Nutcracker	7
4	6	Chris Hartnell	Backdraft	6
5	27	Andrew Watson	Hot Tomato II	5
-	96	Tony Smith	The Cunning Plan	5
-	108	Andrew Wilcox	Firefighter	5
-	109	Paul Croston	B' Sting	5
-	117	Nigel King/Nick Grayston	Big Block Altered	5
10	425	Joe Stevens	Red Topolino	1

Spot Prizes
	WB	Team/Driver	Car	Detail
Best Reaction	96	Tony Smith	The Cunning Plan	0.539
Closest to Dial-in	28	Pete Loveridge	Herr X	0.009 off
Wildest Ride	6	Chris Hartnell	Backdraft
Best Turned Out Team	109	Croston Racing Team	B-Sting
Best Performing Car	4	Clayton Round	Shortshot

This was Wild Bunch Series Round 4, Custom Chrome Series Round 5, Roy Wilding Nostalgia Race Cars Series Round 3 (Final) for 2000, Rear-engine Dragsters Series Round 3 & Round 3 for members of the Midland Drag Racing Association, so it was worth the trip for many who had travelled 200+ miles! This was the first time the Wild Bunch had been to York Dragway as a class and we had a field of 10 cars + 2 guests (which included 4 york regulars!). Everyone was made very welcome by the Track Organisers, Promoter and Marshalls. Many thanks to all of them (and especially Cath Napier, Steve Murty and Mick Bettison) for all their assistance! All of the "Top 4" in the Wild Bunch points standings were present (WB 119, WB 4, WB 96 and WB 6). Team "Dog's Bollocks" with the "Nutcracker" (eventual 3rd place at York) and "Crazy" Chris Hartnell with "Backdraft" (4th place) were the first to arrive at 3:15 on Friday afternoon, closely followed by Pete Loveridge with the "Herr X" (1st place). Pete's and Chris' teams were also the last to leave at 11:15 on Monday morning!!!. Pete wins "Wildest Ride Home" for the loss of his trailer wheel on the motorway, near Sheffield - good driving once again, to control it!!. Several teams went out for RWYB passes on the track early Saturday, which was a new experience for many! And there were 3 further rounds for practice/t'n't.
WB 4	Clayton Round ran a 10.9 second pass in "Shortshot", not far off his best e.t.!
WB 6	Chris Hartnell went out for his first ever pass in "Backdraft" at York and ran the quarter in 9.673 @ 133.24 mph! Then slowed all the way to the top end where he was promptly told there was no 2nd return road! Oops!
WB 27	Andrew Watson was in his first outing with Wild Bunch this season in the "Hot Tomato II", and experienced problems with 3rd gear.
WB 28	Pete Loveridge ran a couple of 12's and an 11.9.
WB 29G	Tony Wynne-Jones kicked off round 1 with his brother, showing the newcomers the way to go!!.
WB 96	Tony Smith put in a few checkout passes with a bit of a wobble [no, he wasn't there!] - ran a couple of 14's and a 13 sec pass.
WB 99G	Mike Wynne-Jones was out in his yellow E-Type, with the running contest of English vs. American style with Tony's Red Corvette.
WB 108	Andrew Willcox put in several practice laps in the "Firefighter" r.e.d. and was one of the cleanest drivers at the track, due to staying in a hotel overnight!
WB 109	Barry Bohannon was taking his turn in the "B-Sting" altered and looked a bit shaken and stirred after the voyage down the return road. The team looked great as usual, picking up another "Best Appearing Team" spot prize; and Barry has now been dubbed "Wally" [Parks] due to his collection of smart-looking NHRA gear!
WB 117	Nigel King was driving the yellow/blue/white altered this weekend with the assistance of Nick.
WB 119	Andy Gosling was elected driver for "Nutcracker" and put in a couple of practice runs, one at 14.1 @ 95 mph, only to lose his fuel cap after the second - a search party of about 30 was formed (after the racing finally finished around 8:00 pm!!! - great to be able to run that long!). They combed both sides of the track, for about 1/2 hour to be told the good news that it had been found by the fire crew - back in business!!.
WB 425	New member Joe Stevens was out running with no crew doing passes in his 425 Olds powered red Topolino altered, unfortunately he later experienced no oil pressure and left to check out his engine. Hope to see him back out with the Wild Bunch soon!!
On Saturday, a vote was held and it was decided to run Sunday's rounds over the 1/8th mile, due to various track conditions and some cars experiencing a few handling problems. On Sunday, the first round was brought forward, due to suspected rain (which luckily never affected racing for more than about 10 minutes in the end). The Organisers and Marshalls were very accommodating and allowed us to change round times to suit. The dial-ins ranged from 6.10 to 10.75 for the 1/8th. Round 1 - Clayton Round was closest overall with a 7.037 on a 7.00 dial-in. Andrew Watson found 3rd gear to go nearly half a second under his dial-in and both Chris Hartnell and Andy Gosling were slightly quicker than theirs. Round 2 - Chris had a good reaction and ran his best 1/8th of the weekend with a 5.998 on a 6.10 dial-in, at 114 mph. Andrew Watson ran 0.7 under his dial-in. Pete Loveridge ran closest of the day with a 7.409 on a 7.40 dial-in and Nigel King had his best run of the event with a 6.879 on a 7.00 dial-in, unfortunately red-lighting in his eagerness! Both Barry and Andy Gosling had their best runs (7.920 and 8.705 respectively). Round 3 - Clayton had his best pass of the weekend (6.925), he also took "best performing car", and Pete was again closest for the round. Andrew Willcox had his best pass of the weekend (7.776). Round 4 - Pete had his best pass of the weekend with a 7.348, and Tony Smith had the "Best Reaction" of a .539 and his best run of a 7.886. Nigel had a wild ride with a wicked tyre-bouncing shutdown! The Wynne-Jones brothers were also competing in the PDRC rounds and Tony ran a best of 9.666 for the day, and Mike an 11.080. All WB drivers completed all 4 rounds and the prize presentation was held at the control tower, with Graham and Jerry Cookson (who had commentated) with Chris hobbling (due to bad back!) up the steps twice for 4th place and "Wildest Ride" for Saturday's 9.67, which had been lowest 1/4 e.t. until Steve Green ran 8.9 @ 155 mph!. Surprise of the day was for Pete Loveridge (who hadn't realised how close he was) taking 1st and putting himself firmly in the "Top 10"! Clayton and Andy kept up in the points with their 2nd & 3rd places. Great weekend!! Fair play to all the teams for making the trip and to the drivers for getting a handle on a new track, which is improving all the time! Thanks to all at York Dragway for their hospitality and help!! We hope to be back up again!