2009 SIDECAR IMBA
24th May 2009
Report by Tim Tighe
Planning for the 2009 IMBA Sidecar event began last June at Wolves club meetings. The bitter disappointment of the 2008 IMBA, which was a total washout on the Sunday despite a gloriously sunny day on the Saturday, was soon forgotten and the club forged ahead with plans for 2009.

Although the club had not received official word that they would be running the 2009 GB Sidecar round, plans began to form, just in case. Mike Penn and Malk Palmer spearheaded the assault with full backing of every club member. The 2009 season saw the size of the club decrease significantly from 47 riding members to just 32, putting more pressure on to run such a big event.

Wolves members and a host of social members, family and friends rallied round and gave 100% effort to make this year a success. The acquisition of a hospitality trailer, which would act as the focal point for the officials of the meeting was a big boost. Fully stickered-up it really looked the business.
Additionally E-Bay provided the club with a 42” monitor and a new PC which had a slide show running throughout the day and also live feeds to the AMCA lap scoring truck to show qualifying times and positions, plus all the race info you could ever want.

Wolves Press Officer Vanessa Tighe ran the techie side of things and it all worked seamlessly. A huge firework display on Saturday evening really wowed the crowds and the two young ladies from Spearmint Rhino did the same on Sunday.

More than a mile of catch fencing was used around the track and the usual watering system, usual for Wolves that is, with eight ex-Fire Service pumps supplying miles of high-pressure hoses around the track, was in place and functioning perfectly. Following two dust plagued rounds of the AMCA Championship, the pressure really was on for Wolves to deliver and they did it to perfection.

The track itself had the addition of a 50’ table-top jump where virtually all the spectators could see the action and had been graded and regarded to bring the riding surface to its best. Wolves Club has more than its fair share of straight-talking, no-nonsense, abrasive, big-mouthed, ‘undesireable’ members (and I include myself in that) and from the outside looking in it is a wonder that anything ever gets done. But it does and in style.
What makes Wolves so successful is that there are some arguments, which are forgotten about as soon as they finish and the members move on to the next task. They are solid to the core, with no dead wood to bother about and truly are ‘All for one and one for all’.

The 2009 GB Sidecar IMBA was spectacular, possibly the best AMCA meeting to date, because all the small details were taken care of and, even more importantly, Wolves members are proud of what they can achieve when given the opportunity.

If there was an AMCA Hall of Fame for clubs, Wolverhampton & District Auto Club would surely be in it, the club has once again raised the bar on what can be done with a few quid and plenty of time and effort.

On top of all the hard work, Wolves was rewarded with a TV crew who will be getting the whole show onto the Extreme Channel  in the next few weeks.