Super Series 1
Monday (race day)

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18:20

Mark Watkins was awarded the win in the Super Street Bike final after Tony Clark was adjudged to have hit the timing gear. The confusion arose because Mark Watkins was drifting towards the centre all the way down the track, and Tony Clark veered across the track at the top end.

Andy Frost put in another observed run in the Canto TMD, a great pass of 7.041/162.45.

We have now posted pictures of today's action, they are available from the raceday update index page.

That, then is the end of our coverage of Super Series 1, brought to you in association with e-manumit.com and High Performance Heaven, to whom grateful thanks.

Your reporters were Tog and Sharkman of Eurodragster.com, all pictures by Sharkman. Thanks for their help this weekend to: Wayne, Simon and Ozzy of the tech crew; the APIRA officials; Bruno and the FAST team; APIRA Press Officer Jerry Cookson and John Andrews in the SCR Press Office; to Terry and Tina Gibbs; and to track announcer John Price for putting up with us. Thanks also to Roger Gorringe for sharing news.

17:00

A fairy-tale finish of astounding proportions for the Nemesis team as Dave Wilson made the final call by a tweak and then beat Rob Turner, 6.436/219.51 to 6.439/210.28. Dave pulled a huge holeshot on Rob and held onto the lead all the way down the track. Rob's car appeared to shake a few hundred feet out but Rob was not giving in for anything.

We will shortly be posting today's pictures and hopefully the adjudicated result of the Super Street Bike final. Stay tuned.

16:50

We've had the final round of the Funny Car Shootout, and a stupendous result for Gordon Smith, kicking his personal best out of sight, 5.792/211.27! Well done guys! Spuff was also on a good one but started to smoke the tyres in the second eighth, he tried his best to pedal it but eventually got out of it to record 6.487/150.00

Showtime Crew Chief Bob Jarrett came over to tell us that this makes Gordon's the quickest transmission car outside the USA - Don Prudhomme ran in the 5.6s with a two-speed. Super Series promoter Terry Gibbs announced himself more than satisfied with the Funny Car Shootout, "They promised us a show, and we got it!" he said.

The Nemesis TMD team had to change an engine after their short bye in round one. As I type the car is reported on its way to the fire-up road - stay tuned for the result of the Top Methanol final.

The results of all other finals were as follow:

Super Pro ET: Andy Hone 8.609/148.51 def. Pat Talbot 7.965/158.45
Super Comp: Alex Nicol 8.925/152.54 def. Zane Llewellyn 8.892/143.77
Super Gas: Brendan Clancy 9.921/115.38 def. Kev Moore 9.897/135.14
Super Street: Dave Billadeau 11.250/99.56 def. Lee Huxley broke
Pro ET: Rob Faulkner 10.280/123.29 def. Mark Ramplee 11.628/116.88
Sportsman ET: Chris Hodgkins 16.704/68.29 def. Paul Hudson broke
Junior Dragster: Phill Cook 9.072/70.64 def. Jack Hewitt 9.082/68.49
Super Street Rover: Steve Law 11.226/122.28 def. Steve Good 11.079/121.29
Outlaw Anglia: Bob Hancox 9.984/127.48 def. Rob Stone 10.456/128.21 red light
Wild Bunch: Angela Wilding 11.634/90.73 def. Mark Coulsell 11.894/92.98
Pro Stock Bike: Chris Hope 7.700/169.81 def. Len Paget 8.083/160.71
Funny Bike: Chris Hall 7.421/179.28 def. Steve French 7.570/169.17
Comp Bike: Barry Holland 11.923/108.43 def. Dave Wells 14.801/92.40
Super Street Bike: Mark Watkins v Tony Clark, result TBC (one bike hit timing gear, adjudication to follow)
9.90 Bike: Jamie Sneddon 9.931/135.14 def. Pete Cameron 10.049/142.41
10.90 Bike: Paul Hambridge 10.902/123.63 def. Sandra Chaplain 10.846/120.64
Super Twin Fuel: Steve Clutterbuck 9.702/130.43 def. Ian Carruthers 9.999/131.20
Super Twin Gas: Andy Freer 10.124/126.76 was unopposed
Super Twin Modified: Dave Bartz 11.802/113.07 def. Barrie Gregory 12.176/109.22
Super Twin Street: Steve Piper 10.892/121.62 def. Nigel Mason 11.307/118.13

14:20

John Spuffard won the second round of the Funny Car Shootout, which took place without any distractions of the civil aviation kind. Storming burnouts were followed by a great race. Gordon Smith whacked the throttle of his FC a couple of times before the lights ran, but Spuff wasn't having any of it and waited for the green. Both cars started to smoke the tyres in the second eighth, Spuff stayed on it to record a superb 5.517/239.36, Gordon running 6.173/201.79.

In Top Methanol, number one qualifier Dave Wilson took a bye, on the power for about three hundred feet to clock 8.872/93.56. Rob Turner smashed the track record with a run of 5.805/212.26, off the power just before the finish line. The car skated a little but Rob kept in all together. In the other lane Doug Bond recorded another new personal best - his second of the weekend - at 6.388/189.05, the crew very happy with that one.

Andy Frost made another observed run in the Canto TMD, 8.602/103.45.

John Floyd lost the chance to back up what would have been a world record when the bike broke on the burnout. Commiserations, Floydy.

Nick Davies is also on the wars, the transmission breaking on an exhibition run in his Oldsmobile Pro Mod.

We've reached the semi-finals of most classes, stay tuned for the final results.

11:00

Good morning from, yet again, a sunny and warm Shakespeare County Raceway. It's a beautiful day and we're all set for another day's hard racing.

Today sees two runs by the Fuel Funny Cars. Gordon Smith's crew had a thrash last night replacing a camshaft, their pit was a hive of activity until gone eleven. The blower belt came off the engine on yesterday's pass, but stayed inside the body so none of us knew about it at the time.

In Top Methanol, Dave Wilson has a bye whilst Rob Turner and Doug Bond slug it out. Doug Bond lifted the blower on his last pass yesterday and so the Shell Racing team also had a hard night. Crew Chief Martyn Hannis told us that he thought that the problem may have been caused by valves not closing fast enough. The team have changed the fuel pump and Martyn says that new valves and springs will be on order immediately after the race. Fellow TM competitors Nemesis Racing have made some changes to the fuel system, although they were very pleased with Dave Wilson's five-second qualifier.

Germany's Klaus Sarembe says that he and colleague Klaus Brinkmann are enjoying their first ever visit to Shakespeare County Raceway. He also confirmed that they both went home to Germany after the Thunderball and then came back. "We had to go home for work, and to pick up some dry clothes - and get some money!" he said.

Fellow SSB competitor Matt Nixon has a plan to bear SSB Champion Graham Dance, whom he faces in round one of competition. "I've got to put my Pro Stock Bike engine in", he said.

Funny Bike competitor Chris Hannam is very happy with his 7.47 pass on his ex-MRE Funny Bike, after suffering teething troubles. "We had an air pipe blow out, and then when we turned it up a bit a wire came off the off-switch", he said. The bike was bought from Chris' good friend Jay Regan, and Chris has already put in passes in the 7.7s in the USA. "It's the fastest Suzuki Funny Bike in the world, and the third fastest Funny Bike on the planet", he said. "It's run in the 6.7s and been over two hundred miles an hour, and has run 4.32 at 174 over the eighth mile. We believe that we could take the European record - on a good day, on a good track, who knows? The bike is capable of cleaning up, but the rider isn't! We're still learning to work as a team, hopefully it will come together through the year". We had a very extensive chat with Chris about his Funny Bike; we will work it up into a news item in the next couple of days.

We're currently stopped in the middle of Super Street for an oildown - we'll be back later with news from eliminations.