Super Series 1
Saturday (qualifying)

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19:50

Today's pictures are now available from the raceday update index page.

See you tomorrow!

18:45

It's been a great day's qualifying here at Shakespeare County Raceway. Here are the top two qualifiers in each class:

Top Methanol: 1. Rob Turner 6.169/180.00, 2. Doug Bond 6.409/196.51
Pro Mod: Nick Davies 7.029/196.51
Super Comp (8.90): 1. Jon Webster 8.915/147.06, 2. Dave Day 9.108/150.50
Super Gas (9.90): 1. Frank Mason 9.900/139.75, 2. Jon Webster 9.902/145.63
Super Street (10.90): 1. Martin Green 10.921/121.95, 2. Lee Huxley 10.925/123.29
Super Pro ET (own dial-in): 1. Nick Stephenson +0.004 (8.654/162.45), 2. Steve Green +0.040 (8.690/156.79)
Pro ET (own dial-in): 1. Mark Ramplee +0.010 (11.640/115.98), 2. Dave Baldwin +0.019 (11.699/116.58)
Sportsman ET (own dial-in): 1. Bob Main +0.018 (13.468/102.04), 2. Neil L'Alouette +0.039 (13.339/99.12)
Super Street Rover (11.00): 1. Steve Good +0.856 (11.856/95.14), 2. Steve Law +0.876 11.876/122.62
Outlaw Anglia: 1. Bob Hancox 10.762/124.65, 2. Pete Moore 11.532/119.05
Wild Bunch (own dial-in): 1. Colin Aldred +0.116 (11.316/120.00), 2. Mark Coulsell +0.295 (11.395/83.33)
Junior Dragster (reaction time): 1. Johnny Walker 0.502, 2. Paul Lindley-Allen 0.518
Supertwin Street: 1. Steven Piper 10.874/126.05, 2. Nigel Mason 11.509/118.73
Supertwin Gas: 1. John Floyd 9.527/136.78, 2. Andy Freer 10.402/123.29
Supertwin Modified: 1. Dave Bartz 10.875/123.63, 2. Barry Gregory 11.804/111.39
Supertwin Fuel: 1. Ian Carruthers 11.438/110.57, 2. John Williamson 12.302/115.09
10.90 Bike: 1. Paul Hambridge 10.979/127.84, 2. Darren Winnard 10.996/122.62
9.90 Bike: 1. Geoff Connor 9.909/146.10, 2. Craig Mallabone 9.965/146.10
Super Street Bike: 1. Mark Watkins 8.683/169.17, 2. Tony Clark 8.711/170.45
Comp Bike: 1. Dave Wells 12.541/73.17, 2. Phil Leamon 14.102/105.39
Pro Stock Bike: 1. Chris Hope 7.678/176.47, 2. Richard Gipp 7.866/170.45
Funny Bike: 1. Chris Hall 7.386/180.00, 2. Steve French 7.605/172.41

We will shortly be posting pictures of today's action, stay tuned!

17:15

Rob Turner has just made his qualifying pass, a strong burnout followed by a storming first eighth then Rob backed out of it. Your reporter was standing at the concrete/asphalt transition at about sixty feet; Rob went across it full-bore at a great rate of knots - I would say he never noticed that it was there! A superb run of 6.169/180.00 which augurs very well for Turner Racing's weekend.

Open practice is now well underway, we'll be back later with qualifying standings and pictures of today's action.

16:45

Still a beautiful day here in Warwickshire, scheduled qualifying is near its end today with an hour or so of open practice to go after that.

Only one car turned out for the second Top Methanol session, Doug Bond running a 6.409/196.51. We understand that Rob Turner is planning to put in a qualifying pass shortly.

John Floyd's first try at backing up his new 2-stroke world record didn't go quite to plan, shutting down on the start line to check the motor and then firing back up and running 9.835. But he has another two days for back-ups yet.

Frank Mason has secured first place in Super Gas with a perfect 9.900. There have been a lot of break-outs today, track announcer John Price's theory that everyone is having a play today could be right!

Nick Davies put in a pass of 7.029/200.00 in his Pro Mod. A very easy, even languid, pass: I would say a checkout.

Rob Turner has just pulled around the corner in his TMD, we'll be back soon with news of his run.

14:30

Qualifying is continuing apace here at Shakespeare County. They got through one entire cycle of qualifying in two hours and we are now well in to the second cycle.

Everyone sat out the first round of Top Methanol qualifying, we're not really surprised since the Methanol guys all had their engines apart this morning, and Rob Turner said that they might sit out a round whilst more rubber was laid on the track.

Supertwin Top Gas racer John Floyd has just wiped out Jerry Collier's world 2-stroke record with a pass of 9.527/136.78, congratulations to John. On the evidence of the last run, he will have no problem at all backing up that record.

Dave and Sarah Day are having a busy Saturday, they are both driving the "Double Trouble" roadster, Dave in Super Comp and Sarah in Super Gas. Dave is currently sitting in the burnout box alongside Job Webster's roadster...9.108 against Jon's 8.919.

We'll be back later with more qualifying news.

11:30

Well hi there, and thanks for joining us at Shakespeare County Raceway for our Super Series 1 coverage, brought to you in association with e-manumit.com and High Performance Heaven.

We're a little behind schedule this morning because it hammered down with rain for a large part of last night. The track crew have done a great job to get the track dried and prepped and we're almost ready for action. We have had several sightings of the legendary yellow orb in the sky, yes folks the sun is out at a UK drag race. The weather forecast is great for all three days of the race.

Super Pro ET racer Martyn Jones arrived here at 8:50 this morning having left Amsterdam (where he is currently living and working) at 4:50 - not bad going! That's got to be good for a long-distance prize, and definitely a lot more fun than last week when on the return journey to Amsterdam from Santa Pod Martyn arrived at the check-in with three minutes to spare.

Nigel Payne is making what is scheduled to be his last outing in Paula Marshall's "Highlander" car; his new car should be ready for the next race. Paula is looking forward to getting back in the car.

Top Methanol Dragster racer Rob Turner tells us that he has a new, taller first gear on his Netcall-sponsored car, one of the aims is to shift gear past the transition from the concrete to asphalt at about sixty feet. "It was too low anyway", he said, "this new gear is what they're running in the States". Rob also said that they had several different designs for the new car's paintjob, and the colour scheme now on the car was influenced by Bob Panella's colour scheme in the USA.

Also in the Top Methanol pits is the Nemesis TMD. Dave Wilson is putting together the car's new rear end which was found in the USA by Andy Robinson and rushed to the UK by Express Freight Services. When we last passed, Dave was doing some complex-looking measurements with some sort of loading gauge. Martin Canto's TMD is next to them, the pit a hive of activity - just looks like normal activity to us though, putting the engine together.

Pro Stock Bike racer Len Paget has made a few mods to his Hayabusa-bodied Pro Stock Bike, and he has a spare engine tucked away in his van. "You don't come to a race without a spare engine", he said. The Hayabusa body, which was Len's own work, has attacted considerable attention. "It's the first seven-second Hayabusa anywhere and it's British", said fellow racer, Super Street Bike's Graham Dance.

Super Pro ET racer Steve Green says that his Nitrous system is OK now after some spectacular double burps at the last couple of events. "I don't know what it was but I fixed it", he said. "We're using some new nitrous jets, now it doesn't hurt anything. It occasionally coughs to remind me that I have to do something".

Nick Davies is all on his own in Pro Mod this weekend. He is not absolutely sure what his plan is for this weekend. "Are there any Pro Mod Bikes here? I'll match race one", he said. When told that Ken Cooper's PMB is now running in Funny Bike, Nick replied "Maybe I'll enter Funny Bike!".

Both Fuel Funny Cars turned up this morning. Shockwave Crew Chief Dave Bryant has had a thrash and a half this week after blowing a motor at Santa Pod last week. "We did the heads, we did the cranskhaft, we totally destroyed it. I must say thanks to the Showtime team for all of their help this week". The Shockwave car will be running with a new piston and rod combination this weekend.

The DJB Showtime FC has another clutch in place after a huge explosion in the final of the Pro Fuel Shootout last week. We understand that the clutch dragged on the way into stage, overheating and all but liquifying one of the floaters which then gave way on the pass.

We've had round one of Junior Dragster qualifying and Johnny Walker leads the field with an astounding, near-perfect 0.502 reaction time. Katie Gibbs ran a near-index 8.909. We've also had the first passes by the Wild Bunch, Angie Wilding going half a second under her dial-in in the ex-Oberg dragster, and Chris Hartnell putting in a great 9.7 pass in the Backdraft slinghot - one of your reporter's favourite cars.

Qualifying is well underway now, we'll be back later on.