THE sounds of Sinatra will reverberate around Croft Circuit this weekend as well as engines as ‘Ol’ Blue Eyes takes to the mic for the eighth annual edition of the retro-flavoured Croft Nostalgia Festival.

Wholeheartedly embracing its 1940s to 1970s theme, Croft Nostalgia Festival is one of the most popular events on the north-eastern social calendar, and the addition this year of ‘Frank Sinatra’ – in the form of sound-alike Jack Randle – will provide yet another compelling reason for visitors to get their groove on.

Ol’ Blue Eyes will be the headline act in the main marquee during the new-for-2017 tea dance from 2pm to 4pm on both tomorrow and Sunday afternoon. Meanwhile, the return of vintage harmony duo The Daisy Belles as well as George Formby impersonator and World War II ENSA performer Colin Bourdiec, who will reprise his regular compere role, ensures there will be musical magic all day long.

Saturday evening will see the party in full swing with Yorkshire-based sextet Jump, Jive & Wail performing for competitors and exhibitors, whilst spectators will have an extra incentive to enter into the spirit of the occasion and don period costume with ‘best-dressed’ prizes on both days.

On-track, iconic race cars from yesteryear will relive old duels, with classics from every era packing the paddock and offering visitors the opportunity to marvel over such classics as Jaguars, Ferraris and Mustangs amongst others.

Military buffs will not be left out either, with evocative World War II encampments, more than 100 jeeps and tanks, awe-inspiring aircraft engines and breath-taking aerial displays, including the mighty Avro Lancaster Bomber flying over Croft, as it did back in World War II with the Royal Canadian Air Force.

Adult admission for the weekend is still available and priced at just £14 for tomorrow and £20 on Sunday with a weekend ticket costing just £28. Accompanied children aged 15 and under will be admitted free of charge and car parking is also free. For further information call 01325 721815 or see www.croftcircuit.co.uk

REDCAR SG Petch Bears took on Workington Comets at South Bank last Thursday and came away with another victory.

The visitors had three-times British Champion and British GP winner Chris Harris as a guest rider, who happens to be the Redcar track record holder and as expected, Harris won the opening heat of the night in the fastest time of the meeting with Bears’ Ellis Perks and team-mate Jason Garrity third.

The points were split in the next four heats with wins for Bears’ Tobias Busch, Comets’ ex-Bear Ty Proctor, Thomas Jorgensen and another win for Harris leaving the points all square 15-15. In heat six, the home team started to turn up the pressure with a 5-1 win for Garrity ahead of Perks and Jorgensen whilst Bears’ Charles Wright won the next heat with Proctor second and Busch third giving a 4-2 to the Bears. This score was repeated in the next heat with a win for Perks and Danny Ayres third, split between Comets’ Australian rider Mason Campton.

Ben Barker scored his only win of the meeting for the Bears in heat nine with team-mate Jonas B Andersen second and Jorgensen third to make the scoreline now 33-21 to the Bears. In heat 10, Perks had a fall and Proctor was disqualified by the referee as being the cause of the accident but in the re-run Garrity won from Comets’ Matt Williamson, with Perks third.

As the Comets were now more than eight points behind, Harris opted to wear the tactical double points helmet colour whereby he promptly won to reduce the lead by six points although Busch limited the damaged with a second place. Proctor won the next heat with team-mate Rob Shuttleworth third, interspersed with Barker in second which reduced the Bears’ lead to nine points with three heats remaining.

In the next heat Garrity rode a brilliant race to beat Harris with Jorgensen third to split the points. Williamson had a fall in the next heat and Andersen was disqualified from the re-run, as the referee considered he was the cause of the incident leaving Busch to win the re-run ahead of Williamson and Shuttleworth. This result maintained Bears’ nine-point lead going into the final heat and although the Comets scored a 5-1 with a win for Proctor and Harris leading home Barker, the final scoreline made happy reading for the Bears fans winning the match 49-44

FORMER Grand Prix and World Superbike racer Simon Crafar returns to the North Yorkshire Road Racing Supporters Club this forthcoming Tuesday evening (8th August) when he takes part in the latest chat show to be held at the Golden Lion in Northallerton.

The Andorra-based New Zealander sensationally won the 1998 British GP on a 500cc Yamaha and nowadays runs a successful track day and tuition company. Recently, Crafar launched Motovudu - Dark Art of Performance - a book and DVD series that is an instructional guide to riding faster on-circuit.

Entry costs £10 for non-members (£5.00 members) with tickets available on the door from 7.30pm with the chat show starting at 8.00. More details at www.nyrrsc.net.