Super Series 5
Saturday (qualifying)

The latest updates are at the top. Click on your Browser's Reload button periodically to be sure of picking up the latest news. Click here to go back to the race update index.

21:30

Qualifying:
Here are the top two qualifiers in each class at the end of qualifying for Super Series 5 (please note that Custom Car may change depending on the cruise):

Super Modified: 1. Danny Cockerill 8.030/172.41, Graham Ellis 8.167/169.17
Super Pro ET (own dial-in): 1. Martyn Jones +0.009 (7.589/174.42), 2. Mick Cheley +0.029 (8.829/155.17)
Pro ET (own dial-in): 1. Malcom Motler +0.038 (11.058/118.73), 2. Andy Williams +0.044 (10.144/130.81)
Sportsman ET (own dial-in): 1. Paul Voyce +0.008 (14.508/95.14), 2. Ian Jackson +0.053 (14.453/93.17)
Super Comp (8.90): 1. Phil Bennett 8.926/133.93, 2. Shaun Lathan 9.085/148.03
Super Gas (9.90): 1. Martin Curbishley 9.910/138.04, 2. Frank Mason 9.911/138.04
Super Street (10.90): 1. Bob Lees 10.917/122.95, 2. Lee Huxley 10.918/120.97
Super Street Rover (11.00): 1. Steve Good 11.312/119.05, 2. Paul Brackley 11.376/124.65
Junior Dragster (reaction time): 1. Jonathan Bond 0.529, 2. Holley Mitchell 0.536
Custom Car Street Eliminator: 1. Jeff Meads 9.083/152.54, 2. John Sleath 9.163/160.14
Outlaw Anglia: 1. Cliff Griffin 11.12/93.36, 2. Gary Malin 11.922/117.80
Wild Bunch (own dial-in): Chris Hartnell +0.020 (9.370/133.93), 2. Mark Cousell +0.022 (10.822/121.95)

Funny Bike: 1. Tim Blakemore 7.149/180.72, 2. Steve French 7.405/177.17
Pro Stock Bike: 1. Dave Beck 7.545/176.47, 2. Chris Hope 7.564/179.28
Competition Bike: 1. Helen Curran 8.078/161.29, 2. Lee Baxendale 8.529/152.54
Super Street Bike: 1. Tony Clark 8.215/173.08, 2. Graham Dance 8.481/177.17
9.90 Bike: 1. Pete Cameron 9.930/143.31, 2. Paul Valentine 9.984/137.20
10.90 Bike: 1. Dave Stanley 10.920/111.39, 2. Fred Furlong 10.934/124.65
Supertwin Fuel: 1. John Williamson 9.049/120.64, 2. David Witts 10.181/134.73
Supertwin Gas: 1. Jerry Collier 9.574/133.93, 2. Rick Davis 10.455/127.12
Supertwin Modified: 1. Lynn Mason-Roe 10.707/138.46, 2. Simon Hodgson 10.910/134.73
Supertwin Street: 1. Les Harris 10.944/127.84, 2. Dave Jones 10.96/124.65


Well its been a day of thrills and spills here at Super Series 5. The weather played a part as a light drizzle delayed the start of qualifying and then returned in the afternoon to further delay things, but despite this we still managed to get through two qualifying runs for each class. The first cycle of qualifying saw Dave Potter claim the Eurodragster perfect money with a 0.500 light in Pro ET, congratulations to Dave for that. Also in the first session Dale Reardon suffered a huge nitrous explosion on the startline that shattered the hood scoop and sent part of it 60 or 70 feet in the air. Dale was unhurt and returned for the second session sans bonnet, staged the car right over to the side of the lane and idled to a 17 second pass in order to qualify. Not so lucky was Rob Stone who stopped after the burnout with a big puddle of oil under the Outlaw Anglia. Rob didn't show for the second session.

Super Modified put on another great show here today with long smokey burnouts and exciting side by side racing. Rob Smallworth grabbed an early advantage with an 8.19 in the first qualifier before getting bumped in the second session by Danny Cockerill who, after another huge burnout, laid down an 8.03 to snatch the top spot away and by Graham Ellis who carded an 8.16 with the Olds Cutlass to bump Rob and the 55 Chevy down to third.

Steve Neimantas has had a successful debut with the blown Aston Martin, running a 60 foot pass before clicking off at half track to a 10.50 and then putting in a very easy looking 9.77 @ 151mph on his first full pass. Neil Midgley didn't have quite such a successful debut on the ex Chris Hannam funnybike, the bike making a move to the left off the line and Neil being forced to shut it down, but he couldn't avoid gently knocking over the 330 foot timing gear. The second qualifier saw Neil come down the pairing lanes but not actually fire the bike up, some mechanical gremlin appearing to strike in the staging area.

Another person with apparent problems was Custom Car points leader Steve Pateman. Steve was shut down and pushed back in the first qualifier after the shearing oil pump drive and didn't make the call for the second qualifier leaving him DNQ'd. Whilst Steve had a big lead in the championship this certainly gives Jeff Meads and the chasing pack some hope.

The low point of today without a doubt was Sarah Jane Head parting company with her Competition bike about half way down the shutdown area after a 8.7 second, 150mph pass. The safety crews were immediately on the scene. Sarah was alert and talking to the medics at the scene and was then transported to the local hospital. Initial reports from the paramedics indicate Sarah has a fractured wrist and some broken ribs. We are sure you will all join us in wishing Sarah a speedy recovery.

Staying with the bikes there have been some strong performances as well, Tim Blakemore heading up funnybike with an effortless looking 7.14 second pass and in Pro Stock Bike Chris Hope and Dave Beck put on a great show in the first qualifying session as they ran side by side 7.50's, Chris Hope's 7.56 getting there just ahead of Dave Beck's 7.55 in what must be one of the quickest side by side Pro Stock Bike races seen here at Shakespeare County.

Finally for today, congratulations go out to Jerry Collier and the Jade Racing team who have, by our reckoning (and thus, at the moment unofficially), broken their own world record for a normally aspirated slick and wheelie bar equipped RD400 with a 9.574 pass in the first session and a 9.668 in the second qualifier which by our calculations is just within 1% and enough to provide back up to the 9.574 by 0.001 of a second!

Sharkman is now off round the pits to see what he can find out and will hopefully bring that news to you with a report before racing starts tomorrow morning.

09:30

Good morning and welcome to Shakespeare County Raceway for the final of the Super Series championship for 2001, Super Series 5. Even with just Sharkman in attendance the tradition continues with morning hello's, today going out to Richard Green who is once again stuck at work and most unusually for a race report, a big hello to Eurodragster's very own Tog and our US correspondent Ed who are currently on special assignment at the Goodguys nostalgia race in Las Vegas! Hope you are having fun Guys.

The weather here today is overcast, but dry but at the moment the track is damp from some overnight drizzle. The jet drier is already out and as Bruno and the crew were busy putting the final preparation and gluing in place when Sharkman arrived yesterday afternoon, once its dry it should be a good racing surface. The pits filled up gradually yesterday evening so it was difficult to find to many people to speak to, but Sharkman did manage to collar a few people and grab a few words, here's what people had to say.

On two wheels the big news is, as you may have seen earlier in the week on www.kingracing.com, the return to action of Neil Midgley. As you may remember Neil walked away basically unscathed from a shutdown area get off at the season opening Thunderball at Santa Pod. Neil makes his return to Funnybike this weekend, but not on his old bike. He has struck a deal with Chris "Cannon" Hannam to buy the MRE funnybike that Chris has been campaigning. The bike has previously run into the 6.80's in the US and Cannon, who is staying on with the team in a team manager/advisor role, is aiming to see the bike firmly into the sixes on this side of the pond and also has an eye on both the ACU and European Funnybike records. He is aware though that it won't happen overnight. " To start with I have told Neil to stay with it for as long as he feels comfortable with it." says Cannon. " The bike is quite capable of running 6's, but its Neil's first time back in the saddle since his get off at Easter plus this bike has a slider clutch where as Neil's previous bike had a traditional clutch leaver so thats something else for Neil to get used to. It will run sixes, but we aren't expecting to see those kind of numbers this weekend." Eurodragster will be following Neil's progress with interest and will keep you posted with how he gets on.

Still on two wheels, the Norfolk Hooligans Mark Pointer and Graham Dance arrived early on Friday and had this to say for themselves. Graham is still chasing the national championship, but he admits that Tony Clark is in the pole position at the moment. Graham has worked out that his best chance is to start resetting some national records for the bonus points they bring and this weekend has his eyes firmly set on the mph record which he reset at the previous meeting here. According to Graham "The plan is to run the first qualifier sensibly to get into the field and then really go for it on the 2nd and 3rd passes. I've got my biggest nitrous jets with me, I've never used jets that big before, we'll stick them in and see what happens! If we can we would really like to break the 180mph barrier this weekend."

Meanwhile Big Chief Hooligan himself, Mark Pointer, has been making changes to try and re find the 8.50 second form who showed earlier in the year. In order to try and find more consistency Mark has made some changes to his nitrous system and its triggers. His aim this weekend is to try and reset his personal best of 8.53.

On 4 wheels most of the talk in the pits is of one car. Steve Neimantas is making his debut this weekend with his blown Aston Martin. The car is still not completely finished with the front end needing painting, but its still a stunning looking piece of kit with a stonking great blower that looks higher than the roofline of the car! The blower sits atop a 576ci motor and is destined, if all goes according to plan, to run in Custom Car. This weekend however Steve will be entering Pro ET in order to do his licensing runs and get a feel for the new car. Although he's entered Pro ET the car will be running on treaded tyre's, very much in Street trim, the only things obviously missing being number plates and a tax disc.

This weekend marks what could be Frank Mason's final appearance at a Super Series event as he has taken the decision to put the multi championship winning Super Gas car up for sale. Frank is hoping to go out on a high by winning the event and hasn't given up hope of the Super Series Championship with Tim Adam 280 points ahead of him. If anybody is interested in purchasing this proven race winning car, make sure you check out the advert in the Cars for sale section of Eurodragster's Swap Meet.

Finally for this opening report Eurodragster spoke with Nigel Payne, who's glorious '62 Vette is one of 10 cars entered in Super Modified this weekend. Nigel is optimistic of some better times from the Vette this weekend as it is a lot cooler than last time the class ran which means more oxygen in the air for the motor to burn. "Unlike the nitrous cars who effectively produce their own atmosphere, us normally aspirated cars are far more dependant on the weather conditions for making horsepower. With the air asw it is we are hopeful of running into the 8.30's. 8.35's with decent reaction times should be enough to go some rounds.

Well thats it for now as racing is about to start. Unfortunately with only one staff member here the next update will not be until after racing finishes. The plan is post a summary of the days action and the number 1 and 2 qualifers in each class as soon as possible after racing finishes. Unfortunately we are still battling the phone line here so we will not be posting any photo's until Sharkman returns home. The photo's should be available by midday on Monday.