2001 Index
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Season Opener April 21 - 22
Season Opener 200121st - 22nd April 2001This was not a points round for any championships
The first run-what-you-brung of the season started off well with a field of 16 Wild Bunch cars.
Most teams were shaking off the cobwebs and getting back into the swing of things, while others were trying out
new things on their cars. We also welcomed 2 newcomers to the Wild Bunch, Chris Bennett, WB 17, with his injected
slingshot, and Paul Harvey, WB 131, with the Ex-"Locomotion" Rear-engine dragster. The weather was great on
Saturday, even down to T-shirts (!) but unfortunately rain stopped play after 2:00 Sunday. At least it gave most teams
time for a good few test n' tune passes!!
| The Field | ||||
| Pos | WB | Driver | Car | Points |
| - | 1 | Dogs Bollocks Racing | Nutcracker | - |
| - | 3 | Tony Smith | The Cunning Plan | - |
| - | 4 | Chris Hartnell | Backdraft | - |
| - | 7 | Roy Wilding | Hemi Hunter | - |
| - | 11 | Clive Bush | Good Fun Dragster | - |
| - | 17 | Chris Bennett | Cheeky Monkey | - |
| - | 28 | Pete Loveridge | Herr X | - |
| - | 53 | Pete Watkins | Sixpack | - |
| - | 56 | Dogs Bollocks Racing | Ram Raider | - |
| - | 58 | Tony Froome | Sundance III | - |
| - | 67 | Darryl Howells | Jolly Boys Outing | - |
| - | 91 | Ian Hanson | Red Blown Altered | - |
| - | 102 | Steve Goode | Wobble | - |
| - | 109 | Paul Croston | B-Sting | - |
| - | 112 | Pete Radcliffe | Burning Desire | - |
| - | 131 | Paul Harvey | Ex-Locomotion | - |
| Spot Prizes | ||||
| WB | Team/Driver | Car | Detail | |
| Best Reaction | 4 | Chris Hartnel | Backdraft | .555 |
| Fastest M.P.H. | 58 | Tony Froome | Sundance III | 149.01 |
| Quickest E.T. | 58 | Tony Froome | Sundance III | 9.155 |
| Best Team | 109 | Croston Racing | B-Sting | - |
| Best Altered | 91 | Ian Hanson | Blown Red Altered | - |
| Best Dragster /Radical | 131 | Paul Harvey | Ex-Locomotion | - |
| Best Slingshot | 7 | Roy Wilding | Hemi Hunter | - |
| WB1 | The winners in Wild Bunch Series last year, Dogs Bollocks Racing were back in the "Nutcracker". This event it was the turn of Andy Gosling and Ray Ford to drive. They made quite a few passes, mostly in the 14's, and were really chuffed to be wearing the #1 on the little 4-pot-powered slingshot! |
| WB3 | Tony Smith had got his trailer painted to match the car, and is still working on putting a new chassis in "The Cunning Plan", which he acquired from the "Dorset Horn" team. He had a very hairy ride in the lane next to Bob with the yellow Bedford van. They narrowly missed each other and only good driving from both averted a collision. (Bob later showed round a picture of his very squirrely donut-style tyretracks, so they had been lucky!). Tony's best for the weekend was a 12.64 @ 99 mph. |
| WB4 | Chris Hartnell was back out in "Backdraft" and put in 3 good reaction times, taking the Spot Prize for "Best Reaction" with a .555. He was debuting his new Talbot Express camper bus which he and Claire had been converting for the last 2 months (rumour has it that they even overslept til 9:30 on the Sunday morning!). Chris started with a straight-off-the-trailer 9.785 followed by a 9.48 and a 9.471, all @ 133 mph. WB 7 Roy Wilding was back in the "Hemi Hunter" and did two brilliant smoky burnouts, after having fixed a broken fuel pump on Saturday night. He ran a 10.1 and the blower belt came off. Sounded great and Roy's really beginning to get a handle on it, taking the "Best Slingshot" Spot Prize for his beautiful lime green and flamed machine. Watch out for some real good times soon! |
| WB11 | Clive Bush has now really got to grips with the Ex-"Chariot of Fire" slingshot and is burning out and running well. He ran a Personal Best of 11.441 @ 107 mph. |
| WB17 | Chris Bennett was debuting his slingshot and trying to get the injection system to work (with some help from 'Crazy Chris' and others). They didn't make a run, but diagnosed that the system needs altering, so they'll be back out real soon. |
| WB28 | Pete Loveridge was running regular 11's in the "Herr X" slingshot. He was relaxed and really enjoying being back out again. |
| WB53 | Pete Watkins was out in his "Sixpack" Rear-engine dragster after no runs at all last year. He ran a Personal Best of 10.89 before the supercharger unfortunately seized. But you could tell he was really starting to enjoy his racing!! |
| WB56 | Ed Yates ran his Personal Best of a 10.461 in the "Ram Raider" slingshot; and Sarah Howells had her first run in the car for 2 years, a steady 20-second pass, but rain stopped a further quicker run! Fair play Sarah! She'll be back out in the car again soon. |
| WB58 | Tony Froome was running with the "Sundance III" in yellow primer, hopefully awaiting sponsorship. He had rebuilt the engine with many new parts over the winter and was promising to run 8's again but just missed out with some good low 9's, and taking "Quickest E.T." and "Fastest MPH" Spot Prizes with his 9.15 and 149 mph respectively. |
| WB67 | Darryl Howells ran a weekend best of a 12.633 @ 110 mph, just getting back into the groove. |
| WB91 | Ian Hanson was doing good strong burnouts, and running his Big Block Blown red altered in the high 9's. He still has a bit more tuning to do. He took the "Best Altered" Spot Prize for his immaculately well-turned out vehicle. |
| WB102 | Steve Goode also had a new Talbot Express bus, with awning, and as he was about to run Chris H, he had some problem in the staging lane, and left on Saturday to fix it. |
| WB109 | Paul Croston did a red-lighting checkout pass of 13.624 @ 91 mph before changing half-shafts, etc in the pits (what a nightmare the team had doing this!). He then ran 14.62 and 14.30 testing out the new set-up, while "B-Sting" team member Barry Bohannon turned his hand (or should I say voice!) to commentating. And a great job he did too! Barry should be a regular feature this year up in the tower while the Wild Bunch rounds are taking place. The team took the "Beat Team" Spot Prize for all their hard work and well-turned out appearance, as usual! |
| WB112 | Pete Radcliffe in the "Burning Desire" altered had TWO runs this weekend - one on each day!! Fair play after a couple of years struggling with various problems in the pits! He ran a tentative 11.8 and a 10.9, but was still having a few cam problems, but will hopefully sort them out soon. Congratulations and Good Luck to him, daughter Fay and the whole team! |
| WB131 | Paul Harvey made quite a few runs in the Ex-"Locomotion" Rear-engine dragster, including a strong-looking 10.669 @ 128 mph, getting to grips with the car. He took the "Best Radical/Dragster" Spot Prize for his efforts. |