After another week of bad weather, the rain in the morning of August 3rd halted
proceedings until around mid-day. But when the sun came out the attendance
rose to around 500 in the afternoon. Because the SANTA POD HIJACK was a
scooter only day there would be less waiting in queues compared to a normal
Run What Ya Brung in which both cars and bikes alike take it in turns to
race up the strip. The beauty about this event though was that it gave
plenty of opportunity for first-timers to try out their drag racing skills
and for veterans to hone their technique.
One after another went the quarter mile speed freaks, meanwhile the pits
were a hive of activity as the spot checks, jetting and roller swapping took
place during intervals. Darren Hawkins travelled down from Glasgow to race his 240cc Nitrous'd Lambretta. While Koen Haentjens and
Inne Meys from ScooterTuning.net came from Belgium for a
taste of the action bringing with them a custom 70cc Hebo sprinter carried
in bits in the boot of their car. Madcap NOS kit developer's Barry Giles and
Dave Friend from SCCC Scooter Zone entered into the spirit of things with
their laughing gas powered Peugeot Speedfight, but the day was no laughing
matter for these guys as a crash meant a trip to hospital was on the cards
(not the first time either)! When the NOS kicked in a few
meters off the starting line, the bike started to climb, but unlike a four
stroke which will just shut the gas off, the two stroke motor on the
Speedfight tends to run on a bit more when there's gas in the crankcase. So
there Dave was on his arse and off to the menders in Bedford. Dave laughs it
all off though and the scoot has since been named 'Frankenfighter' - "every
time this scoot's been to a race track, we've been to an A & E department
nearby, it seems that we're doing a tour of Britain via A & E's!" says Dave.
"I must say though we had a great day out, but a very sore evening in".
With around a 100 scooterists taking part in the actual racing it wasn't
until late afternoon that the timing tickets were gathered and the trophies
awarded to the winners. Winner of the 125-250cc automatic class was Joe
Elliot who, with the help of PM Tuning seems to be making leaps and bounds
this year. 13.962 @ 76.77 mph is Joe's fastest time to date on his Avgas
fueled 172cc kitted Italjet Dragster. Meanwhile Stuart Owen who consistently
achieves 100 mph runs on a 237cc Lambretta also set a new personal best at
Santa Pod with a 12.96 @ 99.3 mph thus winning first place in the sprint
class. The Belgian's made a worthwhile trip to Santa Pod too with Koen
Haentjens winning first place in the 50-120cc automatic class with a 16.075
@ 60.46 mph.
It's fair to say the day was a resounding success and plans are already
afoot for next year's hijack which, thanks to Santa Pod, will evolve into a
two-day affair with camping and live music in the offing as an added
attraction. For those of you who couldn't or didn't make it to Santa Pod
this year for one reason or another, well, you missed out on what was perhaps THE
scooter drag race event of the year, suffice to say don't miss out next year!
RESULTS:
QUICKEST 1/4 MILE AUTOMATIC
50-120cc Class
| Koen Haentjens |
Hebo 70cc Sprinter |
16.075 @ 60.46 mph |
| Darren Blackburn |
Piaggio Zip 70cc |
16.382 @ 77.14 mph |
| Stuart Watson |
Peugeot Trekker 100cc |
22.862 @ 51.33 mph |
125-250cc Class
| Joe Elliot |
Italjet Dragster 172cc |
13.962 @ 86 mph |
| Paul Robinson |
Italjet Dragster 172cc |
16.387 @ 73.47 mph |
| Daniel McGeary |
Gilera Runner 172cc |
16.482 @ 75.08 mph |
| Tom Wright |
Gilera Runner 172cc |
16.645 @ 74.06 mph |
| Richard Haywood |
Italjet Dragster 172cc |
17.072 @ 72.31 mph
|
| Lee Baker |
Gilera Runner 172cc |
18.093 @ 68.26 mph
|
QUICKEST 1/4 MILE GEARED
Street class (upto 200cc)
| Dean Percival |
Lambretta GP 200cc |
14.900 @ 85.40 mph |
| Antonio Meneghetti |
Lambretta TS1 200cc |
15.392 @ 81.09 mph |
| Harry Barlow |
Vespa 167cc |
17.646 @ 72.98 mph |
Street class (205-350cc)
| Charlie Edmonds |
Lambretta GP 350cc |
13.76 @ 96.09 mph |
| Ciro Affronti |
Lambretta 205cc |
16.25 @ 78 mph |
| Nick Paolucci |
Vespa 210cc |
16.761 @ 75.24 mph |
| Mark Head |
Lambretta 225cc |
16.850 @ 75.35 mph |
| Darren Hawkins |
Vespa 210cc |
17.720 @ 73.07 mph |
| Barry Murphy |
Lambretta TS1 225cc |
18.163 @ 73.07 mph |
| Andrew Shepherd |
Lambretta |
18.563 @ 79.00 mph |
| Andrew Shepherd |
Vespa 50cc short frame |
21.109 @ 61.89 mph |
Sprint Class
| Stuart Owen |
Lambretta 237cc |
12.96 @ 99.3 mph |
| Ryan Saxelby |
Lambretta 237cc |
13.2 @ 98 mph |
| Richard Baker |
Lambretta 230cc |
13.512 @ 95.93 mph |
QUICKEST 1/4 MILE NITROUS
| Darren Hawkins |
NOS Lambretta TS1 240cc |
13.869 @ 92.15 mph |
| Ian Sim |
NOS Italjet Dragster 172cc |
15.574 @ 83.66 mph |
| Barry Giles |
NOS Peugeot Speedfight 100cc |
16.37 @ 80.90 mph |
| Dave Friend |
NOS Motohispania 70cc |
17.65 @ 75 mph |
X-RACE QUICKEST 1/8 MILE AUTOMATIC
| Joe Elliot |
Italjet Dragster 172cc |
8.542 @ 76.77 mph |
| Koen Haentjens |
Hebo 70cc Sprinter |
9.234 @ 66.51 mph |
| Ian Sim |
NOS Italjet Dragster 172cc |
9.928 @ 72.79 mph |
| Paul Robinson |
Italjet Dragster 172cc |
9.951 @ 65.43 mph |
| Darren Blackburn |
Piaggio Zip 70cc |
9.983 @ 67.72 mph |
| Daniel McGeary |
Gilera Runner 172cc |
10.106 @ 64.70 mph |
| Richard Haywood |
Italjet Dragster 172cc |
10.112 @ 61.84 mph |
| Tom Wright |
Gilera Runner 172cc |
10.203 @ 64.49 mph |
| Barry Giles |
NOS Peugeot Speedfight 100cc |
10.49 @ 71.20 mph |
| Dave Friend |
NOS Motohispania 70cc |
10.87 @ 67.64 mph |
| Stuart Watson |
Peugeot Trekker 100cc |
13.609 @ 48.24 mph |
X-RACE QUICKEST 1/8 MILE GEARED
| Stuart Owen |
Lambretta 237cc |
8.13 @ 82.56 mph |
| Richard Baker |
Lambretta 230cc |
8.527 @ 80.91 mph |
| Darren Hawkins |
NOS Lambretta TS1 240cc |
8.587 @ 77.38 mph |
| Charlie Edmonds |
Lambretta GP 350cc |
8.796 @ 83.18 mph |
| Dean Percival |
Lambretta GP 225cc |
9.268 @ 71.71 mph |
| Nick Paolucci |
Vespa 210cc |
10.333 @ 62.96 mph |
| Mark Head |
Lambretta 225cc |
10.525 @ 65.90 mph |
| Harry Barlow |
Vespa 167cc |
11.004 @ 60.56 mph |
| Darren Hawkins |
Vespa 210cc |
11.142 @ 61.24 mph |
| Barry Murphy |
Lambretta TS1 225cc |
11.536 @ 61.89 mphmph |
| Andrew Shepherd |
Lambretta |
12.325 @ 65.36 mph |
| Andrew Shepherd |
Vespa 50cc |
13.236 @ 51.44 mph |
N.B. Results are based on times submitted at the end of the competition. Not everyone submitted their times or were present at the end of the competition.
For comparison, check out the times from the SANTA POD HIJACK 2001.
