MAYHEM AT MASTERTON | 12-13 FEBRUARY 2022
MAYHEM IN MASTERTON WHEN
two classes clash With 34,000 followers on Facebook, the Wild Bunch now has one of the biggest social media followings of any drag racing class in New Zealand. Not bad, considering their first race was less than three years ago. Thirty years ago, Chris Tynan and fellow members of the iconic class called Wild Bunch were an important part of the drag racing landscape, and left a lasting impression wherever they went. Amongst them was a young Ryan Sheldon who helped out wherever he could.
Wild Bunch racers Michael Franklin versus Mark Gapp. Photos/Graham Meiklejohn
Years passed but Ryan’s memories of the Wild Bunch never faded, and in 2018 he decided it was time to revive it.
the Wild Bunch and only holds three or four events in a season.
“A few of my mates had similar sorts of cars that are not necessarily competitive in the higher performance based classes. “We just wanted to get back to having fun, putting on a show, and go pretty fast along the way.” The first meeting of the Wild Bunch, held in April 2019 in Auckland, was a tester with just eight cars. This season Ryan expects to see 20 or more cars. Ryan is careful not to over-expose
“We don’t want to saturate the market. We want people to look forward and want to be at each of those select events.”
“Back in those days you made do with the parts you could find locally. Thirty years ago it was impossible to get parts from the United States because it was too costly and too time consuming.”
Luckily for Masterton Motorplex, it is going to host The Wild Bunch twice this season – at Dragstalgia on January 2nd and 3rd and Mayhem at Masterton on February 12th and 13th.
The Wild Bunch today is a specialist class with competitors having to meet certain criteria, the most obvious being that the cars need to have doors that open and close.
The original Wild Bunch were based on average road cars that were “modified on steroids” with whatever their owners could find, recalls Ryan.
What everyone is looking forward to this season is Mayhem At Masterton which will see the Mount Shop Wild Bunch come up against the Panhead Outlaw 71’s.
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18 Masterton Motorplex 2021/2022 Season
HIGH STREET NORTH, CARTERTON
