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UK Open Nationals May 29 - 30

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York Spring Shootout29 May - 30 MayPoints awarded for Wild Bunch Series Round 2, Real Steel Series Round 3 and Roy Wilding Nostalgia Racecars Series Round 1
This weekend was a RWYB event, the York UK Spring Nationals, our “Spring Shootout”. It was Wild Bunch Series Round 2 as well as Real Steel Series Round 3 and Roy Wilding Nostalgia Race Cars Series Round 1 and there were Spot Prizes. We had a field of 11 Wild Bunch cars, including: 5 Slingshots, 5 Altereds and 1 Rear-engine dragster  
Event Participants
Position WB Driver Car Points
1 1 Tony Smith The Cunning Plan 10
2 28 Pete/Gav Loveridge Herr X 8
3 6 Chris Hartnell Backdraft 7
4 147 Sid Slattery Destiny 6
5 2 Joe Stevens Back in Black 5
- 3 Mike Cresswell Living the Dream 5
- 76 Steven Field The Black Pig 5
8 44 Sarah Howells Destinys Angel 4
9 80 Mike D & Linda W-J Traspasser 3
10 38 Helen Smythe Hell's Belle 2
- 72 Sag Southworth Daddy Cool 2
Spot Prizes
WBTeam/DriverCarDetail
Closest To Dial-In 28 Pete Loveridge Herr X .011 Off
Best Burnout 1 Tony Smith The Cunning Plan
Best Altered 38 Helen Smythe Hell's Belle
Best Slingshot 6 Chris Hartnell Backdraft
Best Dragster/Radical 1 Tony Smith The Cunning Plan
Best Appearing Team 38 Team Twisted Hell's Belle
Wildest Ride 76 Steve Field The Black Pig
Sunday was a practice day and the weather was warm and dry! Most drivers had between 3 and 5 runs. Monday was also warm and dry! Two racers ran Personal Best E.T.'s, with 1 other racer running a Personal Best speed!!
WB 1 Tony Smith was currently running second in the Wild Bunch Series with “The Cunning Plan” altered. He made 5 passes on the Sunday, with two mid 12's, a low 12, an 11.975 and a weekend best of 11.663 @ 110.43 mph, looking for a handle on a Dial-in. He dialled in at 11.85 for Monday, and ran an 11.994 in the first round. He ran better in the second and third rounds, recording an 11.815 and an 11.863, just .013 off his Dial. He remained in the 11.8's for the fourth round, posting an 11.893 and taking the event win, being an average of just .059 off over all the rounds. Tony had been doing some real smoky burnouts, prompting the commentary team to announce “Now it's Tony time” when he fired up for a run! He won the “Best Burnout” for these exploits, and as a surprise bonus, the “Best Dragster/Radical” Spot Prize!! And to boot, he has now moved into first place in all 3 Series!! A great weekend for Tony! Well rewarded for the nearly 600-mile round trip!! Congratulations Tony!
WB 2 Joe Stevens had come straight from Santa Pod on Sunday night, after having competed in the Main Event with his “Back in Black” altered! He put in an early checkout pass Monday, running a mid-11, and dialled in at 10.80 for Monday's rounds. On his first round run, he recorded a 10.824 @ 128.48 mph, a great start to the day! On his second round, however, he posted an 11.624 and then an 11.094 on his third, finally running a great 10.570 in the fourth round to finish in 5th place overall.
WB 3 Mike Cresswell was running in the “Living the Dream” slingshot. He made 5 runs on Sunday, with a couple of low 12's, an 11.906, and a weekend's best of 11.607 @ 110.59 mph. He dialled in at 11.75 Monday, and ran a troubled 13.041 in the first round. He followed this with a much better 11.866 @ 111.41 mph in the second round, and his closest of the day, an 11.657 in the third. He ended with an 11.954 in the fourth round, to finish in 6th place overall.
WB 6 “Crazy” Chris Hartnell was raring to go in the “Backdraft” slingshot. He had 3 runs on Sunday, beginning with a 9.917 @ 146.29 mph, and followed by a stunning 9.082 @ 148.07 mph, with a wheels-up launch, his second best time ever! He later lost traction off the line again, smoking the tyres to a 9.906 @ 147.20 mph. He dialled in at 9.35 for Monday's rounds, and started well with a 9.459 @ 147.68 mph. He then ran a 9.583 in the second round, and a day's best of 9.410 @ 148.19 mph in the third, his second fastest speed ever and his best at York, and ended with a 9.465 in the fourth round, with his 7th run of the weekend over 145 mph. He finished in 3rd place overall, and was also awarded the “Best Slingshot” Spot Prize. Fair play to Chris on his great performance, and his best result since last June!
WB 28 Pete & Gavyn Loveridge were running the “Herr X” slingshot, and started well on Sunday, with first Pete running a 10.696, and then Gavyn running a 10.657. Pete was back in the car on the third run, and posted a new Personal Best E.T. of 10.430 @ 124.22 mph! They dialled in at 10.65 for Monday and started with a strong 10.580 @ 125.10 mph in the first round. They then ran a 10.802 in the second, and Gavyn went on to record his Personal Best E.T. of 10.386 @ 124.96 mph in the third round! Pete finished the day with a great 10.661, which earnt him the “Closest to Dial-in” award, being just .011 off! With their consistency over the weekend, the pair finished in a great 2nd place overall! Congratulations to all the team on a really strong performance!
WB 38 Helen Smythe was running the Team Twisted “Hell's Belle” altered, supported by a crew of hubby Dean and Mum Christine, plus those 2 cheeky bears in new personalised teamwear!! Helen recorded a weekend best of 13.409 @ 90.49 mph on her first run Sunday and put in a checkout pass of 14.532 on her second run. She dialled in at 13.76 for Monday's rounds. She recorded a 14.612 in the first round, and the car was experiencing some carb-flooding problems due to conditions, so the team decided to sit the day out, not wanting to cause any damage. Helen and the gang had obviously made a good impression, as their lovely car was awarded the “Best Altered” Spot Prize! And for their smart, professional appearance and beautiful co-ordinated purple uniforms and matching theme throughout the team, they were awarded the “Best Appearing Team” Spot Prize for the second event in a row! Well done to all of them!
WB 44 Sarah Howells was running Bernie Nicholas’ “Destiny's Angel” altered for the first time at York and was the current leader of both the Wild Bunch and Real Steel Series. She made 3 passes on Sunday, with a weekend's best of 11.189. She dialled in at 11.35 Monday, and unfortunately red-lit in the first round. She then recorded an 11.928 in the second and an 11.432 in the third, not far from Dial-in, and picking up some useful points to add to her tally, and kept her as high as 2nd place in both Series. Fair play, Sarah!
WB 72 was the first outing this year for Dave ‘Sag’ Southworth in the “Daddy Cool” Rear-engined dragster. His first pass of the day Sunday, was a really good 10.226 @ 107.41 mph. He had some problems on his second run and made a slowing pass. He dialled in at 9.80 for Sunday, hoping to cure the problems, but put in a 13.862, and later discovered some loss of compression in one cylinder. We hope the team can get that fixed and come back out soon! Great to see them all with the Bunch!
WB 76 Steve Field was running “The Black Pig” altered, and started off well with a 10.780 @ 120.11 mph on Sunday. His next run produced a slower E.T. but resulted in his Personal Best speed of 131.18 mph, his first trip into the 130's! Congratulations, Steve! One of these runs had resulted in quite a hairy moment at the top end, and Steve was awarded the “Wildest Ride” trophy for this! He later ran an 11.644 @ 126 mph and then dialled in at 10.70 on Monday. He posted runs of 11.054, 11.151, 11.282 @ 130.89 mph and 11.188 in the four rounds, and finished in 7th place overall, and was pleased with the car's performance over the weekend. It sure is sounding strong now!
WB 80 Mike Davies and Linda White-Jones were running their “Trespasser” slingshot for its first Wild Bunch meeting of the year. On Mike's first run Sunday, he ran very near his best time, with a 12.271 @ 105.61 mph. He later ran a 14.5, with a gear selector problem. Linda took over the driving duties for Monday, and dialled in at 13.20. She recorded a 14.205 in the first round, with more gearbox problems, causing her to miss the second round. The team made a temporary repair for the third round, with Linda running a 14.708, but unfortunately the gearbox gremlins saw them sidelined for the rest of the day. Mike, Linda and son Adam were all sporting some brilliant new T-shirts with a wicked cartoon of the “Trespasser” on the back, really cool! Hope to see them all back out very soon!
WB 147 Sid Slattery was running his Jag-powered “Destiny” slingshot, after some promising runs at the last event at Shakey. He ran a 12.328 and a 13.661 on the Sunday and dialled in at 12.50 for Monday. He carded a 12.222 in the first round and a stronger 11.940 in the second, and followed these with a 12.423 @ 111.42 mph and a 12.816 in the third and fourth rounds, making a total of 6 runs for the weekend, with the car running well throughout. Sid earnt a well-deserved 4th place, his first WB Top 4 finish! Congratulations to Sid and all the team, and hope it's the first of many!
All in all a very good weekend, with good weather and lots of runs! Many thanks as always to all of the track crew and officials for all their hard work throughout, and to everyone at the track for their hospitality. The next event is the “Shakespeare Nationals” at Shakey on 18th & 19th June, the first leg of ‘three in a row’, with the Pod “Summer Nationals” the following week, and the “Nostalgia Nationals” at Shakey the week after! So looking forward to some great racing this month!