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UK Northern Nationals August 6 - 7

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York Summer Showdown6th August - 7th AugustPoints awarded for the Wild Bunch Series Round 5, Roy Wilding Nostalgia Racecars Series Round 3 & the Real Steel Series Round 7
This weekend was a RWYB event, the York UK Northern Nationals, our “Summer Showdown”. It was Wild Bunch Series Round 5 as well as Real Steel Series Round 7 and Roy Wilding Nostalgia Race Cars Series Round 3 and there were Spot Prizes. We had a field of 9 Wild Bunch cars, including: 4 Slingshots, 3 Altereds, 1 Radical and 1 Rear-engine dragster
Event Participants
Position WB Driver Car Points
1 3 Mike Cresswell Living the Dream 10
2 6 Chris Hartnell Backdraft 8
3 147 Sid Slattery Destiny 7
4 2 Joe Stevens Back in Black 6
5 28 Pete/Gav Loveridge Herr X 5
- 29 Tony Wynne-Jones Welsh Raider 2 5
- 72 Sag Southworth Daddy Cool 5
8 38 Helen Smythe Hell's Belle 3
9 76 Steven Field The Black Pig 2
Spot Prizes
WBTeam/DriverCarDetail
Closest To Dial-In 72 Sag Southworth Daddy Cool .002 Off
Best Burnout 3 Joe Stevens Back In Black
Best Altered 76 Steve Field The Black Pig
Best Slingshot 147 Sid Slattery Destiny
Best Dragster/Radical 72 Sag Southworth Daddy Cool
Best Appearing Team 38 Team Twisted Hell's Belle
Saturday was a practice day and the weather was cool and cloudy. The Wild Bunch raced in a group, and most drivers had 4 runs. There was a torrential downpour on Saturday night, but only a few puddles remained in the pits by morning. Sunday was also cool and cloudy with just 5 minutes stoppage for light drizzle and all 4 rounds were completed. One racer ran a York Personal Best E.T. and one other racer ran a Personal Best speed for York!
WB 2 Smokin Joe Stevens was running his Back in Black altered! He made 3 runs on Saturday, an 11.339, a 10.658 @ 126.55 mph and a 10.874. He dialled in at 10.90 for Sunday's rounds and on his first round run, he eclipsed this with a 10.383 @ 126.03 mph, running far better than he had thought! On his second round, he got nearer the mark when he ran an 11.049. He then posted a 10.680 and a 10.600 in the third and fourth rounds, and finished in 4th place overall. On Sunday's runs, Joe had been performing some very smoky burnouts and was rewarded with the Best Burnout Spot Prize.
WB 3 Psycho Mikey Cresswell was having fun in the Living the Dream slingshot. He missed the first run Saturday, with a core plug leak, but managed to get this fixed, and made 3 passes that day within just over a tenth of each other, an 11.226, an 11.280 and an 11.343, which was promising for Sunday's rounds. He dialled in at 11.24, and carded an 11.434 in the first round, then a closer 11.346 in the second. He recorded an 11.367 in the third round and an 11.396 in the fourth, with all four runs being within a tenth of each other. With this good consistency, Mike emerged the winner and was really pleased with how the car ran over the weekend. Well done Mike!! This win has moved him up to 2nd place in both the Wild Bunch and Real Steel Series, so fair play, Mikey!
WB 6 Crazy Chris Hartnell was looking forward to some more 140mph+ runs in the Backdraft slingshot. He had 4 runs on Saturday, beginning with an experimental 10.447 @ 144.05 mph, then followed by a 9.674, then an improved 9.616 @ 147.74 mph, and a 9.723, again at 147 mph. He dialled in at 9.62 for Sunday's rounds, and started slowly with a 10.016. He then recorded a 9.804 in the second round, and a 9.796 in the third, then posted a weekend's best of 9.477 @ 146.13 mph in the fourth round. Chris finished in 2nd place overall, and was very pleased with the result, which has seen him take the lead in the Roy Wilding Nostalgia Race Cars Series.
WB 28 Pete & Gavyn Loveridge were sharing the driving in their Herr X slingshot, and started well on Saturday, with first Pete running a 10.814 @ 121.79 mph, and then Gavyn running a 10.714 @ 123.14 mph. They had a slight problem on the third run, recording a 12.135, but then got everything sorted to record an 11.023 on the fourth run of the day. They dialled in at 10.65 and Pete went out and posted a great 10.60 @ 123.99 mph in the first round, the closest of the Bunch in that round! Unfortunately, the second round saw Gavyn redlighting, and slowing to a 16-second pass. Pete was back in for the third round and posted a 10.732, and Gavyn recorded the car's best time of the weekend, a 10.489, in the fourth round. The car looked strong all weekend, and the pair had a great time at York.
WB 29 Tony Wynne-Jones was running his beautiful Welsh Raider II Radical Corvette, and still tuning the new engine. Tony put in 4 passes on Saturday, varying from a misfiring 15.315, to a 13.792, and then improved runs of 12.554 and 12.562 @ 106.86 mph. He dialled in at 12.35 for Sunday, and began with a 14.123, suffering more misfiring problems. He put in a better 13.728 in the second round, but then had some more problems posting a 14.135 and a 14.311 in the third and fourth rounds, to finish in 6th place overall. Tony was pleased to have completed all the rounds on Sunday, and will hopefully sort out the tuning glitches before the next event. Best of luck, Tony!
WB 38 Helen Smythe was back at York running the Team Twisted Hell's Belle altered, supported by a crew of hubby Dean and Mum Christine, plus their Pooky and Penny mascots of course!! They were the furthest travelled Bunchers at this event!! Helen made 3 passes on Saturday, starting with a 12.447, then a 13.193, and then a better 12.231 @ 80.88 mph. She dialled in at 12.30 for Sunday, and was all set to go in the fire-up road for the first round, when the altered would not start! The team took the car back to the pits and fixed a minor problem, only to then find that the starter motor would not work! Crew chief Dean worked on the problem but could not get it fixed for the second round but, not ones to give up, they kept trying, and made it in the nick of time for Round 3, just getting the last body panels on in time to join the end of the Wild Bunch queue! Helen then recorded a 12.311, so close to her Dial-in!! She went on to run a weekend best of 12.010 @ 82.97 mph, her Personal Best E.T. for York Dragway! Fair Play to the whole team - they really earned their points for that one! To top this they were awarded the Best Appearing Team Spot Prize so were really pleased with that!!
WB 72 was the second event with the Wild Bunch this year for Dave ‘Sag’ Southworth in the Daddy Cool Rear-engined dragster. On Saturday, he was making some 1/8th mile checkout passes, after fixing an engine problem earlier this season. He dialled in at 10.30 for Sunday, hoping to start with another pass just short of the quarter. He ran a 10.813 in the first round, and was then planning to go for full passes. In the second round, he went out and ran a great 10.298 @ 104.37 mph, just 2 thousandths off his Dial-in!! This earnt him the Closest to Dial-in Spot Prize for the Bunch, so well done, SAG! The car had run strong to the eighth, but then had a misfire, so the team were working on this to try and cure it. Sag recorded an 11.046 in the third round, but then was back on form again for the fourth, recording another strong 10.292 @ 115.64 mph, only 8 thousandths off! He finished in 5th place overall, and was awarded the Best Dragster/Radical Spot Prize by the commentary team. Congratulations, Sag, and glad to have you running with the Bunch!!
WB 76 Steve Field was running his and Lesley's The Black Pig altered, and started with an 11.075 on Saturday, with a York Personal Best Speed of 136.27 mph! He then improved to a 10.953 and a 10.908, and finished the day with an 11.133, all over 130 mph. Steve and Lesley shared their pit tent with the Bunch for a film show on Saturday night, a video by Jeff and Bill of the SNS team of the day's racing, plus a viewing of Sid's history with his Destiny slingshot, so thanks to them for the hospitality, and for the shelter from the huge downpour! Steve dialled in at 11.00 even for Sunday's rounds, and started strongly with a 10.939 @ 130.21 mph. Unfortunately the car suffered a broken steering arm on this run, but thankfully, Steve was perfectly fine and so was the altered, albeit temporarily stranded at the top end of the track! This meant that the team were sidelined for the rest of the day, but they are sure to get that fixed really quickly and be back out for the next event! The car made a good impression on the commentators, and was awarded the Best Altered Spot Prize, so this was some consolation for the pair!
WB 147 Sizzlin Sid Slattery was running his beautiful Jag-powered Destiny slingshot, after some good runs at the last event at Shakey. He made 4 runs on Saturday, all within two tenths of each other: 11.286, 11.144, 11.317 and 11.312 @ 118.50 mph. He dialled in at 11.26 for Sunday and started with his best run of the weekend, an 11.129. He then carded an 11.790, but improved again with an 11.365 in the third round, and an 11.499 in the fourth. The car ran well throughout the weekend and Sid finished in 3rd place, one step up from his placing at the York May event! He then became Buzzin Sid as he also won the Best Slingshot Spot Prize for his lovely car, and a good performance! Congratulations to Sid and all the team, who really enjoyed the weekend!
At this event the Wild Bunch were a small but happy band, and all the teams had a great time! A very good weekend, where the weather was on our side and we had lots of runs! We were also treated to some more good Northern hospitality! Many thanks as always to the hardworking track crew and officials for all their help, and being so accommodating and welcoming!! Many thanks also to the PDRC for the prize money they gave us for the event – much appreciated!! And congratulations to all the drivers and teams, a really great and fun weekend, so well done to all the Bunch for another great show!

We’re now really looking forward to the Allstar Nationals at Shakey on August 27th – 29th ! This should be a really exciting event with lots of action going on both on and off the track! Hope to see you there!