Summer Showdown (UK Northern Nats)

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Summer Showdown (UK Northern Nats) August 2 - 3

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Wild Bunch ResultsYork Summer Showdown2nd - 3rd August Wild Bunch Series Round 5. Real Steel Series Round 8.

This event was the York Summer Showdown at the UK Northern Nationals at York Dragway and it was the Round 5 of the Wild Bunch Series as well as Real Steel Series Round 8. There was a field of 7 Wild Bunch cars participating: 3 Altereds, 3 Slingshots and 1 Rear-engined dragster.

Wild Bunch Points
Pos	WB	Driver/Team	Car	Points
1	6	Chris Hartnell	Backdraft	10
2	25	Terry Clifford	Ratcatcher Resurrection	8
3	17	Scot Durrant	Tiki Munki	7
4	1	Team Cunning Plan	The Cunning Plan	6
5	44	Dave Rowlands	Destinys Angel	5
-	72	Sag Southworth	Daddy Cool	5
7	16	Mark Hartnell	Awesome 4-Some	2

Spot Prizes
	WB	Team/Driver	Car	Detail
Closest To Dial-In	6	Chris Hartnell	Backdraft	0.014 off
Best Reaction	17	Scot Durrant	Tiki Munki	0.204
Best Altered	44	Dave Rowlands	Destinys Angel
Best Slingshot	6	Chris Hartnell	Backdraft
Best Rear Engined Dragster	1	Team Cunning Plan	The Cunning Plan
Best Appearing Team	6	Chris Hartnell	Backdraft

Saturday The day started off dry and cool, though there were some clouds around. There was some rain around 11:30am, just after the first round of practice, and the track soon dried up. This was a practice day and all 6 drivers who were there on the Saturday got in all 4 runs. There had been improvements to the startline area, which included concrete pads, which enabled some good launches, and the track was well-prepped overall. Plus there was the usual warm Northern welcome, thanks to the folks at the PDRC! Sunday (Series Points Day) Sunday's weather started off in a similar way, with some more clouds. There was a very short delay for a few spots of rain before the first round, but this quickly dried, and another shower just before the second round. Again the track dried very quickly and remained as good as it was before the rain. The weather held for the rest of the day and we were able to run all 4 rounds of Wild Bunch action, with 6 out of the 7 drivers running all four rounds.
WB 1	saw another turn in the hotseat for Tony Smith in "The Cunning Plan" altered, running without the bodywork this weekend. Tony made 4 runs on the Saturday, including 11.514, 11.229, 11.263 and 11.378, most at around 109mph. The team dialled in at 11.26 for the rounds on Sunday. Tony began the day with an 11.442, followed by a slower 11.502. He then improved to an 11.201 and recorded his best pass of the weekend in the fourth round, an 11.162. This meant that he finished in 4th place overall. Tony was awarded the "Best Burnout" Spot Prize by the commentator for his whiteouts on the startline!! This means that the team is still leading in the Wild Bunch Series, with one round left to go! And fourth in the Real Steel Series with two rounds left to go.
WB 6	'Crazy' Chris Hartnell was fresh from a win at the Mini Showdown, and keen to build on his recent wheelying form. The team had a delayed start to the weekend, when their bus broke down on the drive way as they were due to hitch up for the trip! Luckily they were able to borrow a friend's van and make it to the event by the Friday night! Chris began Saturday with a wheels-up 9.100 @ 144.18mph, which remained the Top MPH for the Bunch for the weekend. He then put in three 9.0-second wheelying passes, with a 9.066, a 9.063 and a 9.092, showing promising consistency. The team dialled in at 9.07 for Sunday's rounds, and Chris opened his account with a 9.136 in the first round. He then posted a 9.109 in the second round and his York best of 9.044 @ 144.17mph in the third, which was low E.T. for the Bunch for the weekend. He finished the day with a 9.084, which was "Closest to Dial-in". These runs earned him the win for the event by a full three tenths over 2nd place! Chris was really chuffed to also win the "Best Slingshot" Spot Prize awarded by the commentator, and the team were also awarded the "Best Appearing Team" Spot Prize, and really enjoyed the 460-mile round trip up North! This moved Chris up from 8th in the Wild Bunch Series to 3rd! And improved his 3rd place in the Real Steel Series.
WB 16	Mark Hartnell was back in his "Awesome 4-Some" slingshot, after a few consistent 12.4-second runs on the newly rebuilt gearbox at the Mini Showdown. Mark had also changed the carbs again for this event, and bought a new electronic ignition unit after the previous one failed at the Mini event! He was still looking for some quick runs on the relatively new engine, at the track where he ran his 12.185 PB two years previously. He started Saturday with a promising run of 12.287 at a new Personal Best Speed of 109.94mph! The second run felt better, and Mark was finally rewarded with his first 11-second pass, a new PB of 11.907 @ 110.83mph! An overall improvement of .278 seconds! Congratulations, Mark! His third run was a backup 11.945 @ 109mph. But the fourth run of the day saw him break a half shaft after his best ever 60ft time, and he slowed to a 16.5, but still at 97mph! Later that day, Michael Murty kindly took a couple of Mark's half shafts and welded them up at his workshop, with Mark later grinding one to fit, thanks to Lee Gallimore's grinder. Mark installed this for Sunday's rounds and dialled in at 11.95. Unfortunately, due to having to grind off a fair bit to fit, and the nature of the launches, the shaft went again in the first round, with Mark slowing to a 20-second pass at 37mph. But Mark was really chuffed with the performance, and making it into the 11's! Fair play!
WB 17	saw Scot Durrant in the GAS Racing "Tiki Munki" Pinto-powered Ruby-bodied altered for his first drive at York, after Gina had done the honours last year! Scottie started with a checkout 14.354 @ 89mph on the Saturday. He then got real close to the 13's, with a 14.002 @ 90.71 mph on his second run, and recorded 14.119 and 14.107 on his other runs. The team then dialled in at 14.10 for Sunday's rounds. Scottie posted the "Best Reaction" of the day in the first round, a .204, on a run of 14.377. He then improved on each run, with a 14.175 in the second round, a 14.151 in the third and a 14.040 in the fourth, which earned him 3rd place overall. The team really enjoyed the weekend! They are still in 2nd place in the Wild Bunch Series, and are now sure to improve on last year's 7th place finish!
WB 25	Terry Clifford was back for the second time to York with his golden "Ratcatcher Resurrection" slingshot. He began Saturday with a 10.793 @ 121.25mph, followed by a consistent 10.805 @ 121.90mph. He then recorded a 10.752 and an 11.283, both at 119mph. The team chose a Dial-in of 10.78 for Sunday, and Terry posted a 10.936 for his opening bid. He then ran a 10.986 in the second round before improving to a 10.827 in the third and his best run of 10.732 in the fourth round. This earned him 2nd place overall, by a margin of just 6 thousandths over the 4 rounds! Terry and Ruth really enjoyed the weekend, and their best finish of the year so far! Well worth the 520-mile+ round trip! This moved Terry up from 7th place in the Wild Bunch Series to 4th place, and from 6th to 5th in the Real Steel Series.
WB 44	saw Dave Rowlands in the "Destiny's Angel" altered making his first ever trip to York! Dave began with a good checkout pass of 11.851 on the Saturday, and made improvements all weekend as he learned the track. He posted runs of 10.639 @ 104.38mph, 10.543 and 10.529, and the team dialled in at 10.53 for Sunday's rounds. Unfortunately the car lost fire on the start line in the first round, and when Dave got going again, he redlit! Then recorded an 11.666. Going back to the pits, the team suspected some trouble with the gearbox, but luckily this turned out to be a battery problem, which had affected the operation of the transbrake. They managed to sort this out, so were able to take part in the rest of the rounds! Dave then posted a 10.625 in the second round, and improved hugely to passes of 10.199 @ 107.12mph and 10.168 in the third and fourth rounds. Well done on these runs and getting a handle on the track, Dave! This improved Dave's current 2nd place in the Real Steel Series and meant he is now 5th in the Wild Bunch Series.
WB 72	saw the first outing of the season with Wild Bunch of Dave 'Sag' Southworth and family with their "Daddy Cool" rear-engined dragster, which was sporting a cool new silver paint job, with flames. Although they lived the closest, the team had the longest total time to get to the track, due to unfortunate double blowouts on their trailer, so they weren't able to get into the track until early Saturday evening! He dialled in blind at 9.99 for Sunday's rounds, having run a couple of 10.0s earlier in the year. Dave and the team were rewarded in the first round when he posted a strong 9.868, very near his PB. The strong performance did not stop there, as Sag then ran a new Personal Best E.T. of 9.736 in the second round! He blew this away again in the third round with an excellent 9.598 @ 134mph, and the whole team were over the moon! He recorded a 9.611 at a new Personal Best Speed of 137.23mph in the fourth round, and finished in 5th place overall! Many congratulations to Sag and family on a great day's racing, long overdue, and a great reward after 28 years of racing! Fair play and well-deserved! They were also awarded a surprise trophy by York Dragway, for 'Most Improved Performance' for Wild Bunch! Well done! A great showing, and glad to have them running with us!
It was a great weekend, with a good atmosphere, improved facilities, a great Bunch of people and two drivers running big PB's. Many thanks to the promoters, officials and marshalls for all their hard work and assistance. And big thanks to the PDRC for their organisation, and the prize money which is much appreciated by all the drivers! We are now looking forward to the “Open Sports Nationals” on 23rd – 25th August at Shakey! This will be Real Steel Series Round 9 and the Final of the Roy Wilding Nostalgia Race Cars Series, as well as the Final of the APIRA Series.