Super Series 1
Monday

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19:30

Today's pictures have now been posted, and are available from the Raceday Update index page.

That's the end of our coverage of Super Series 1, thanks for tuning in and staying with us throughout the race. Your reporters and photographers this weekend were Tog and Sharkman of Eurodragster.com. Thanks for their help this weekend to: Wayne, Simon and Ozzy of the tech crew; Scott Talbot; Richard Warburton; all the APIRA officials; Bruno, Sophie and the FAST team; APIRA Press Officer Jerry Cookson; Terry and Tina Gibbs; track announcer John Price; and Dave Alexander.

Eurodragster's next event coverage is on the weekend of 19th-20th May when we are reporting on events at two tracks: Super Series 2 here at Shakespeare County Raceway and the pre-Main Event Pro Test and RWYB at Santa Pod Raceway. See you then!

17:50

It's been a great day's racing here at Shakespeare County Raceway. Here are the final results in all classes.

Fuel Funny Car: John Spuffard 5.564/281.25 def. Gordon Smith 14.366/73.41
Top Methanol: Rob Turner 6.484/218.45 def. Doug Bond 6.411/186.72 red light
Super Pro ET: Fay Fischer 7.973/163.64 (7.97) def. Martyn Jones 7.572/173.75 breakout (7.58)
Pro ET: Ray Guy 10.751/113.54 (10.54) def. Al Golding 9.251/144.23 (9.05)
Sportsman ET: Al Platt 13.780/102.97 (13.50) def. Gareth Mogford 14.307/108.96 red light (12.55)
Super Comp: Tim Adam 9.039/147.54 def Shaun Lathan NTR red light
Super Gas: Frank Mason 9.930/135.85 def. Tim Adam 9.811/144.23 breakout
Super Street: Lee Huxley 10.953/117.19 def. Anne Peck 10.912/121.62
Junior Dragster: Joe Bond 16.086/37.56 (15.90) def. Tom Watts 15.649/35.16 (15.10)
Custom Car Street Eliminator: John Sleath 9.451/149.50 def. Steve Pateman NTR red light
Wild Bunch: Chris Hartnell 9.308/133.14 (9.32) lesser breakout def. Mark Coulsell 10.424/117.19 breakout
Super Street Rover: Steve Law 11.546/99.56 def. Steve Richards 15.891/82.72

Top Fuel Bike: Ian King NTR def. Steve Woollatt 7.014/195.65
Funny Bike: Dave Holland 7.635/168.54 def. Chris Hannam 8.450/126.76
Competition Bike: Helen Curran 8.170/157.34 def. Andy Newcombe 8.774/153.58
Pro Stock Bike: Dave Beck 7.636/171.10 def. Martin Bishop 8.106/164.23
Super Street Bike: Dave Bailey 8.912/159.01 def. Tony Clark 8.978/166.05
9.90 Bike: Paul Watson 9.872/136.87 def. Sean Biddlecombe 10.202/136.36 red light
10.90 Bike: Darren Winnard 11.056/108.70 def. Sandra Chaplain 11.375/125.00
Supertwin Fuel: Dave Witts 14.146/85.23 bye (Jamie Millership broke)
Supertwin Gas: Jerry Collier 9.797/132.35 def. Rich Davis 10.063/126.40
Supertwin Modified: Simon Hodgson 10.638/130.43 def. Dave Bartz 15.938/73.65
Supertwin Street: Les Harris 11.277/123.29 def. John O'Sullivan 11.678/110.02

We're currently working on today's pictures, stay tuned.

17:30

An absolutely astounding performance from the Showtime team in the Fuel FC final as John Spuffard runs the fastest ever terminal speed by a Fuel Funny Car in Europe, and by a long way too. John didn't put a foot wrong in the final which was over as soon as the lights ran, Gordon Smith broke off the line and Spuff hurtled down the track, a great full pass recording 5.564 at an astounding 281.15 miles per hour, and the lead in the UK Fuel Funny Car Championship. Gordon idled down the track to clock 14.366/73.41.

The Top Methanol final was also over on the start line, Doug Bond pulling a red light and handing victory to Rob Turner, 6.484/218.45 to Doug's quicker but fouling 6.411/186.72.

Roger Goring put in a superb flame and smoke show and then a launch in the Firestorm Jet FC, going to about 200 feet and then the jet went out with a pop.

Come back in about twenty minutes and we'll have all the final results.

16:00

We're flying through eliminations now, but with an hour left before the curfew it's really going to be a close thing.

Also a close thing was Dave Wilson's appearance in the latest round of Top Methanol. After some damage earlier on, the Nemesis team rebuilt the engine and then discovered on the warm-up that reverse gear wouldn't engage. The gearbox was taken from the Krypton dragster and put into the Nemesis car, and the team appeared in the pairing lanes with minutes to spare. Dave was first up against Doug Bond; Doug burnt out first and then Dave pulled round the burnout box, forgoing his burnout. On the green Dave left a shade early, handing Doug the win, but even without the burnout Dave still recorde 6.019/225 to Doug's winning 6.932/142.41.

Rob Turner had the second round bye and looked to be going for it for lane choice. However Rob's tyres started to shake off the line and he backed out to a 12.966/56.32. So it's Turner v Bond in the final.

The outcome of the earlier TFB final between Ian King and Steve Wollatt stood as a victory for Ian King; Steve Woollatt acknowledged that Ian had got there first (good on you, Steve) and it was confirmed by the top end track crew. Ian King and Steve Woollatt paired up again a little while ago, Steve took an easy 7.029/189.87 win after Ian King's rear tyre went up in smoke and he backed out at a 12.948/60.57.

We're into the semis finals of most classes now, stay with us and we'll be back with the results as soon as we can after the finish.

14:50

We've had a couple of frightening incidents on consecutive passes here at SCR both in Super Comp but neither, we're pleased to say, resulting in injury or even much in the way damage to the vehicles. The first was Brian Pateman who got out of shape in a race against Shaun Lathan, Brian corrected and then the car went the other way, then he corrected and so on into a pendulum effect until the car spun out on the finish line, two complete revolutions and backwards into the grass. Brian was straight out of the car and is perfectly OK, as your reporter was able to confirm for himself having just spoken to him. "I'm fine", he said.

On the very next race we had a more or less identical incident as Paul Marston got out of shape in the PT Bruiser, another pendulum effect and then spinning out at the top end, staying upright and getting it stopped with a great driving job. Paul likewise is perfectly OK as is the car.

The first round of Fuel Funny Car consisted of two bye runs since Smax ultimately didn't make the call, although we hear that he will be out later on. John Spuffard and Gordon Smith ran side-by-side, thue usual great burnouts then Spuff went into kill mode on the run. John's tyres shook briefly between the Tree and about 120 feet and then he blackstriped the entire rest of the lane, pedalling once briefly on the way down, recording a superb 5.660/258.62. Meanwhile Gordon Smith was going great guns off the line but then backed out of it at about half-track to record 6.829/153.58.

So the final of Fuel FC is John Spuffard v Gordon Smith, and as we say we're expecting to see Smax put in a pass as well later on.

Would you believe that Super Street Bike racer Graham Dance made it back into the field, not for nothing do they call this guy 'Houdini', Graham into the field as first alternate after Mark Pointer broke. And Graham is into round two after winning his first race against Paul Carter. Tony Clark is still the class of the field in SSB though, having run 8.668 in the first round.

Steve Pateman has run another two consecutive eight-second passes in CCSE today, and no-one appears to be able to get near him. In Super Pro ET we had a re-run between Martyn Jones and new boy Paul Davies after Martyn's stage light flickered on and off as the lights ran and he was inadvertently bulbed; unfortunately on the re-run Paul Davies' engine wouldn't start and so Martyn went through, again running within a hundredth of his dial-in.

Still no word on the outcome of the Top Fuel bike match-up earlier although Steve Woollatt's crew chief told us that they were going to have a pit bike race to settle it!

We're approaching semi-finals here now, and Top Methanol cars are in the fire-up road, call back soon and we'll bring you the latest news.

13:10

Congratulations to Super Street racer Bob Doignie of Team Flying Doctor who has won the Eurodragster Perfect Light Award with a 0.500 light in the first round. Nice one Bob, who is £75 richer.

With a field size of two, we have just had the final of Top Fuel Bike although we are not 100% sure about the outcome. Steve Woollatt got a holeshot on Ian King who then shot down the track on what looked like a very quick and fast pass indeed. The win light came on in Ian's lane, but no time or speed were displayed. No word yet from the race officials, stay tuned.

11:50

We've just had the first round of Top Methanol. First up was Dave Wilson who put in a 7.880/120.32 bye. Dave had a cylinder out and a burst plate blew at half-track.

Then we had a pair of races. Rob Turner took on newly-qualified Wendy Baker; great burnouts from both racers and then consternation as Wendy overstaged whilst Rob was already in stage with revs climbing. Rob waited patiently whilst Wendy backed up and re-staged, then on the green Rob was long gone, a solid 6.048/233.16 whilst Wendy hit problems and backed off to 14.256/48.23.

The second match-up was between Doug Bond and Darryl Bradford. This was a great race with Darryl getting a good holeshot on Doug, 0.44 reaction time in his first ever race must have been very sweet for Darryl. Doug soon caught Darryl and got there first, 6.453/211.27 whilst the Canto Consultancy car started to spew oil at half-track, leaving a trail from half-track to the finish line but still recording 6.728/185.19.

We're currently down for clean-up, come back soon and we'll let you know how things go.

10:55

Hi there and welcome back to Shakespeare County Raceway on day three of Super Series 1. It is a glorious spring day, hardly a cloud in the sky, and a cool breeze. So we have a warm track and cool air, which promises great things.

The customary good morning to our US correspondents Ed and Kathy, and the customary thanks for hospitality; this time to Jade Racing, the Canto Consultancy Top Methanol team, and again to the Firestorm Jet Funny Car team - your reporter can particularly recommend the mulled tomatoes.

The pits are a hive of activity this morning; we had a stroll round and had a few words with those racers who weren't elbow deep in work.

We had a shock in Super Street Bike as ACU Champion Graham Dance failed to qualify. The ACU classes have gone back to qualified fields this year and Graham found himself ninth for an eight-bike field. "When you get four attempts and don't get it right, you don't deserve to qualify", he said. Graham will be providing colour commentary during today's SSB rounds. Fellow SSB racer Matt Nixon was happy to be in the field. "I outqualified Graham Dance!", he said, although he has drawn number one qualifier Tony Clark in round one.

Funny Bike racer Steve French was similarly philosophical about his DNQ. "You can't run an eleven in Funny Bike and expect to qualify", he said. Steve had problems on a qualifying pass yesterday, blowing a hole in a nitrous line. "I was hauling off the start line, but when I shifted to second the line blew."

Steve Turner thinks that he is on top of the skating which has affected Rob's Top Methanol Dragster this weekend. "The blower was making 450 psi at half-track", he said. "We're on top of it now, and everything is clean, so we should be in the fives tomorrow."

Roger Goring was very happy with his half-track checkout yesterday. "It left very hard", he said. Bruno of the FAST team, who holds on to the Tree when jets run, said that it hurt! Roger should get at least two runs today and with a couple of minor adjustments made should get in some full passes. A happy birthday to Roger's good friend Ken who is here with the Firestorm team today.

Smax Smith and his team thrashed for almost the entire night putting his singed Fuel FC back together, and it's all in one piece this morning. "We worked until six o'clock and then went to bed", said Smax, "but the adrenaline was still running and I got up at six because I thought there's no point in lying awake, just go and do it!". Smax talked us through yesterday's fire. "I saw the flash and felt the heat", he said, "but I didn't know it was blazing. I had both hands pulling on the fire levers. It took me so long to get out because I wanted to be sure that the fire bottles had worked, I didn't want to get out and watch it burn to the ground!". Smax suffered a slightly singed face and went to the medical centre to ensure that he hadn't inhaled any fumes. The car has a new engine and clutch, and some of the wiring has been re-done. Smax thinks that the fire was caused by teflon from the blower sticking a valve open.

Fellow Fuel FC racer Al Bates is out of competition today, with a damaged bearing. Meanwhile Gordon Smith tells us that the Shockwave team will be taking a little power out of the engine and adding weight to the clutch. "We need to pull the motor down a bit", said Gordon. "The car wants to run five fifties but we can't let it use all the power that it's making."

Super Pro ET racer Mark Flavell asked us to say a big thank you to Tim Hines for his gearbox. Mark suffered damage to his own gearbox and Tim stepped in. The dragster ran two 8.3s on the trot with Tim's gearbox so we don't know whether Tim will be getting it back!

Fellow Super Pro team Talbot Racing have, unusually for them, had a thrash. The team who pride themselves on their laid-back approach to racing hit problems with Pat Talbot's dragster. The staunchly Mopar team have a Mopar engine and a non-Mopar gearbox - guess what broke. "I hate Chevys!" said crew chief Stephen Talbot.

Super Comp racer Paul Marston has been getting to know his PT Bruiser. "We put in one run yesterday, and then we took the top end apart", he said. "The best way to learn is by preventative maintenance, and there is a lot to learn about Swedish Pro Stock motors!".

Custom Car Street Eliminator racer Steve Pateman was understandably pleased about his historic eight-second pass yesterday, although he didn't know at first what had happened. "It felt good off the start line but I've had runs like that before where you think it's a good one until you get back to the pits. But after that run Thomas came running towards me grinning like a Cheshire cat! It's been a long time coming!"

Fellow CCSE racer Ian Hook is having to take it very gently this weekend. "I know we can get into the eights, but we're babying it off the line at the moment. We ran 144 mph on a ten-second pass yesterday, so we know the power is there. We just have to get it onto the track."

Wild Bunch racer Tony Smith is out of competition after blowing the engine of his Cunning Plan Minivan in the fire-up road. We had a look at the engine and it is in pieces. "I heard a tinkle as Tony went to rev it", said his crew chief, "and I told him to shut it off. But by then it was too late, when we got back to the pits we saw that lot!". Tont has all the spare parts for a rebuild with the exception of a cam which he is hoping is undamaged.

Funny Bike racer Chris Hannam has changed cylinder heads on his Funny Bike. "We've backed it down, when we start to run consistently then we will start to turn it back up again", said Cannon. "There's enough in it to get to the final - I'd like to race Ken Cooper because we've both been under pressure".

Eliminations have now started, stay tuned and we'll bring you more news soon.