Super Series 3
Sunday (eliminations)

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16:30

We're all done here at Shakespeare County Raceway. Here are the final results in all classes:

Super Pro ET: Steve Green 8.749/146.58 (8.65) def. Pat Talbot 7.724/173.07 (7.69)
Pro ET: Brian Huxley 10.917/120.64 (10.80) def. Al Golding 10.104/115.98 (10.80) breakout
Sportsman ET: Al Platt 13.811/102.50 (13.65) def. Chevy Llewellyn 13.593/97.40 (13.70) red light
Super Comp (8.90): Phil Bennett 9.087/127.11 def. Shaun Lathan 9.154/146.11
Super Gas (9.90): Tim Adam 9.938/146.11 def. Frank Mason 10.020/134.32
Super Street (10.90): Leigh Morris 10.959/118.42 def. Bob Lees 11.006/115.97
Junior Dragster: Phill Cook 8.689/76.01 (8.60) def. Tom Watts 16.149/36.26 red light
Custom Car Street Eliminator: Steve Pateman 9.072/167.92 def. Jeff Meads 9.792/105.63
Super Street Rover (11.00): Steve Law 11.512/119.04 def. Steve Richards 12.158/117.19
Outlaw Anglia: Jeff Meads 9.048/154.11 def. Rob Stone 37.779/12.82 crossed centre line
Wild Bunch: Chris Hartnell 9.415/133.14 (9.44) lesser breakout def. Darren Howells 12.328/99.99 (12.85) breakout

Funny Bike: Chris Hall 9.421/99.34, Neil Diggens broke
Pro Stock Bike: Paul King 8.158/158.45, Dave Beck broke
Comp Bike: Helen Curran 8.044/161.86, Mick Pitfield no show
Super Street Bike: Dave Bailey 8.842/160.72 def. Mark Pointer 8.815/160.71
9.90 Bike: Jamie Sneddon 9.773/133.53, Rachel Pattison broke
10.90 Bike: Darren Winnard 10.954/110.02 def. Fred Furlong 11.178/127.48
Supertwin Fuel: Dave Witts 9.486/149.99 def. John Williamson 11.018/131.58
Supertwin Gas: Jerry Collier 9.712/131.97 def. Ric Davies 9.859/128.93
Supertwin Modified: Lynn Mason-Roe 10.602/136.37 def. Dave Bartz 10.680/134.72
Supertwin Street: Les Harris 11.227/127.11 def. Hazel Williamson 12.235/115.39

Doug Ripley put in another observed run in his TMFC, a very nicely controlled run to 330 feet, 13.154/59.44

Because of our phone line woes, today's pictures are going to be posted later on this evening, so check back in a few hours for those.

That's the end of Super Series 3, we hope that you have enjoyed our coverage even though it has been curtailed somewhat by rain and stroppy phone lines. Your reporters this weekend were Tog and Sharkman of Eurodragster.com, pictures by Sharkman and Tog of Eurodragster.com.

Thanks for their help this weekend to: Wayne and Simon of the tech crew; Richard Warburton; all the APIRA officials; Bruno, Sophie and the FAST team; APIRA Press Officer Jerry Cookson; Terry and Tina Gibbs; and track announcer John Price.

Eurodragster's next live coverage will be from the Cannonball at Santa Pod Raceway at the end of June, our next live coverage from Shakespeare County Raceway will be from Super Series 4 over the August Bank Holiday weekend. See you then!

14:15

Pro Mod champion Nick Davies has put in a couple of passes in John McIntyre's Super Comp altered. His first pass was an 8.88 second bye in the first round of Super Comp and then he was in competition against Phil Bennett. In the second round, Nick redlit handing the win to Phil. Nick is driving Johnny Mac's car to get experience of a non-sprung altered as he and business partner Rob Loaring are currently working on a replica of the T-Rat Fuel Altered. Nick appeared to have his hands a little full in the shutdown area for a brief time after his first pass, so there's some experience for him.

Because of the uncertainty over the weather, the racing has been pushed through very quickly and we have just finished our semi-finals. Tune back in an hour or so and we should have some final results for you.

13:30

Things are stacking up a little for us on the reporting front, as we found out at SPR the other week until you don't have top end displays you don't realise how much you miss them; the same applies here as a generator problem means that we have no scoreboards.

Doug Ripley put in his first observed run in the CC Racing TMFC. Doug pulled a nice burnout and then took a gentle launch, the car heading left towards the guardrail but Doug got it straight again and idled down the track.

Ian Hook has had a busy weekend, running in both Custom Car Street Eliminator and Pro ET, he made it through to the second round of Pro ET but just went out on a redlight, although a 10.005 at just over 140 mph shows that the hybrid engine is holding out nicely.

Chris Hall is getting back to his usual form with a great 7.34/178 in the second round of Funny Bike.

Stay tuned

11:50

If you get the chance, check out the new paintjob on Ken Cooper's Pro Mod Bike - absolutely superb. We were all set to go and get a startline shot next round but Ken has just gone out to Mike Chislett in the first round, the bike didn't sound at all healthy.

We've just heard from Mick Cheley's crew chief about his non-appearance in Super Pro ET this weekend, Steve tells us that Mick's engine is severely damaged, and that Mick hopes to be back for Super Series 4.

Eliminations are continuing apace here...and that was a bit of a stupid thing for me to say as just as I started to type this sentence it has started to rain. Stay tuned.

11:20

Congratulations to Super Street racer Bob Lees who has just become the latest winner of the Eurodragster Perfect Light Award with a 0.500 Reaction Time in the first round of eliminations. Bob is now £100 richer, well done to him.

10:30

Good morning and welcome back to Shakespeare County Raceway. It's cloudy and none too warm, but it's dry and we're all set for eliminations. We're suffering the vagaries of a recalcitrant phone line this weekend but Wayne and Simon of APIRA's tech crew have as usual gone beyond the call of duty to help keep things moving; thanks guys.

A couple of hellos this morning, firstly the usual greetings to our US corresponsdents Ed O'Connell and Kathy Hileman in New Hampshire, and another greeting to Steve Young whom we understand now possesses the Western world's entire supply of paracetamol after his birthday celebrations yesterday. Also a big thank you to our friends and sponsors at Talbot Racing for restorative tinctures last night and breakfast this morning.

Pairings have been set on emergency qualifying since we lost the whole day to the weather yesterday. Different classes have different rules, but the main methods of establishing pairings in this situation are out-of-the-hat and qualifying performance at the last two meetings.

We took our customary turn around the pits, although we suspect that we may have been a little early since a lot of racers were still abed. But here's what we found out together with some notes from last night.

Pro Stock Bike racer Len Paget has made a very quick return to competition. He has not had the best of luck this season with his Hayabusa-engined bike. "It's in one bit", said Len. "I really wanted a pass yesterday to test the transmission. The main engine is back together but the test engine is in the bike at the moment. If the transmission is OK then I'll put the main engine in". Len is very grateful to Suzuki and to Rob Wilshire for the supply of engines.

Supertwin Modified racer and world record holder Tim Boutle is looking for ten-second passes on his CX650. "There is more in the bike", he said. "I can only use the nitrous to the middle of second gear, I can't use it at all in third - the front end lifts. I've put five kilogrammes of weight on the front axle."

The B'Sting Wild Bunch team are without their mascot, a toy bee (duh), after it was kidnapped by their fellow Wild Bunch racers Team Nutcracker. The bee is reportedly strung up in the Nutcracker pit with gaffa tape over its mouth.

Super Street Bike racer Paul Wing is running in 9.90 Bike today. He was desperate to test the bike and was bumped out of the SSB field, so he did the next best thing. "There is a new carb on the bike which Paul built himself", said Crew Chief Ian Ball. "The bike kept stalling after the burnout, but we think that it is OK now. We need to test it so Paul wants ro tun 9.90."

Funny Bike racer Chris 'Cannon' Hannam isn't worried about emergency qualifying even though he is up against champion Chris hall in round one. "My best runs are usually the first pass down the track anyway!", he said. "The bike's right, it sounds good, if the track's there we'll be fine. I'm all fired up because we didn't run yesterday! We really want to race because we're near the top of the points."

Pro Stock Bike racer Martin Bishop is similarly unconcerned about his qualifying position. "I'm on the right side of the ladder!", he said. "The bike's making more horsepower now."

Carl Wadkin-Snaith has the engine from his wife's street bike in his Supertwin Modified bike The Fang, which is being ridden by his son Dominic. "We need to get Dominic as many runs down the track as we can", said Carl. "He's only been to the eighth-mile under power so far. The main engine is seized so we've got some work to do there, and we have a blower coming". Carl's daughter will be old enough to race next year, after which there could be some interesting discussions in the household about whose turn it is!

Supertwin Gas racer Jerry Collier is hoping to repeat his 9.5-second performance at the recent Test and Tune, and so reset his own world record. "You can't set records at a test", he said, "but the 9.5 was very easy on the bike so hopefuly I'll do it again. I'm working on the clutch programme and there is more to go yet."

Fellow Jade Racing team member Ric Davis has changed the power jets and made changes to the fuel system. "We make the changes to my bike and then to Ric's bike", said Jerry. "It proves that my times are not a fluke".

The third member of Jade Racing, Barrie Gregory, has had his bike painted by Ric Davies. "Barry is well on his way up a steep learning curve", said Jerry. "It's a new bike for Barrie and it takes time to learn. He's getting more consistent 60-foot times - and he's having a lot of fun this year!".

We're now well into eliminations, stay tuned and we'll bring you all the news.


Reports and pictures ©Eurodragster.com