Super Series 3
Saturday (qualifying)

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20:30

Today's pictures are now available on from the Raceday Update index page.

European Top Gas qualifying finished as follows: 1. Nol van Zwieten 8.747/150.00, 2. Marc Klessens 8.887/144.23, 3. Herman Jolink 9.869/126.05, 4. Gunter Retsch 9.922/146.10, 5. Job Heezen 16.802/50.45

The top two qualifiers in all other classes were as follow.

Super Comp (8.90): 1. Tim Adam 8.903/148.51, 2. Steve Harrington 8.941/148.51
Super Gas (9.90): 1. Martin Curbishley 9.914/138.46, 2. Frank Mason 9.916/139.32
Super Street (10.90): 1. Brian Huxley 10.911/123.97, 2. Cliff Puddle 10.923/123.63
Super Pro ET (own dial-in): 1. Mick Kemp +0.052 (8.352/157.89), 2. Martyn Jones +0.066 (7.966/167.91)
Pro ET (own dial-in): 1. Steve Wells +0.002 (11.072/116.28), 2. Dave Baldwin +0.012 (11.712/116.88)
Sportsman ET (own dial-in): 1. Paul Voyce +0.002 (17.502/82.87), 2. Neil L'Alouette +0.050 (13.350/98.25)
Custom Car Street Eliminator: 1. Jeff Meads 9.561/148.51, 2. John Sleath 9.832/150.00
Super Street Rover (11.00): 1. Steve Good 11.139/125.00, 2. Martin Moore 11.3333/120.97
Outlaw Anglia: 1. Rob Stone 9.797/136.36, 2. Bob Hancox 9.885/132.74
Wild Bunch (own dial-in): 1. Chris Hartnell +0.016 (9.416/133.93), 2. Martin Holgate +0.018 (10.918/122.28)
Junior Dragster (Reaction Time): 1. Katie Gibbs 0.515, 2. Jonathan Bond 0.571

Top Fuel Bike: 1. Ian King 7.242/189.87, 2. Steve Woollatt 7.938/190.68
Pro Stock Bike: 1. Dave Beck 7.671/173.08, 2. Chris Hope 7.764/169.17
Funny Bike: 1. Chris Hall 7.316/181.45, 2. Stephen French 7.569/173.08
Comp Bike: 1. Eddie Galvin 9.646/135.14, 2. Tim Whetton 9.824/142.86
Super Street Bike: 1. Graham Dance 8.489/171.76, 2. Tony Clark 8.496/170.45
9.90 Bike: 1. Geoff Connor 9.944/127.84, 2. Craig Mallabone 9.987/150.00
10.90 Bike: 1. Ady Reade 10.930/117.19, 2. Paul Hambidge 10.947/115.09
Super Twin Gas: 1. Jerry Collier 9.819/131.20, 2. Richard Davis 10.029/127.84
Super Twin Modified: 1. Bart Salentyn 10.214/135.14, 2. Mark van den Boeer 10.594/127.12
Super Twin Street: 1. Steven Piper 10.582/133.14, 2. Les Harris 10.871/125.35

That's all for today, we're off for some grub. We'll be back tomorrow with the latest from the pits.

18:15

Congratulations to Holland's Job Heezen who ran an astounding 8.164/158.45 in the open practice session, this is the quickest and fastest run in European Top Gas, but not a record since it was in practice. But it's looking great for tomorrow.

Roger Goring put in a 900-foot pass of 6.640/196.51, the flame show beforehand was quite something, everyone in race control got a free roasting. An astounding pass and again looking very good for tomorrow.

Jon Hogarth is quickly getting to grips with his new Super Comp 'Vette, running 8.606 in the open practice session.

Qualifying is still being ratified, we'll be back with the qualifying and today's pictures later on. Stay tuned.

17:30

Qualifying has now finished after a short rain break and we're into an open practice session. We'll bring you the first and second placings in each class as soon as they have been ratified, in the usual manner.

Roger Goring has just put in a checkout pass in the Firestorm Jet FC. An awesome smoke and flame show followed by a 7.71/134.73, shut off before half track. What was interesting was that Roger went with the Tree, not building it up and leaving in his own time like most jet cars. It's looking good for Roger's first full pass which he will hopefully be able to get in before the 6 o'clock curfew.

Dave Beck has taken over top spot in Pro Stock Bike with a pass of 7.671, a clean and straight run. Dave Holland put in his first pass on the ex-Jay Regan bike, recording 8.326/156.25. Dave looked like he'd been riding the bike for ages and no doubt Jay will tweak it a bit before the next pass.

Steve Woollatt hit tyre shake again on his Top Fuel Bike, but got back on it to clock 7.951/190.68. Ian King had a belt break off the line, maybe a blower belt, and stopped about twenty feet out.

Jeff Meads improved his number one standing in CCSE with a great pass of 9.561. Brian Waskett has had trouble with his car and hasn't made a pass down the track - I guess this discounts him from the cruise tonight and tomorrow's eliminations.

Glenn Dumont had another go in Nick Davies' Oldsmobile, shutting off after the burnout.

Stay tuned and we'll bring you the qualifying standings as soon as they have been ratified.

14:30

Hi there and welcome back. Qualifying is going OK but we are a way behind after a couple of incidents. There's been a lot of action in the bike fields, some of it for the wrong reason. Nol van Zwieten of Holland is qualified number one in European Top Gas with a run of 8.747/150.00 but Nol parted company with the bike in the shutdown area. We understand that that Nol is OK apart from a minor ankle injury but he has been taken to hospital for a routine check-over. The bike is likewise hardly damaged.

Jean-Yves Vetsch of France had a scare in Funny Bike qualifying when his engine exploded under him at 1000 feet. The engine made an "ooooh, I'm dying" noise and then blew. Cannon, aka Chris Hannam, in the other lane was drifting towards the centre line but when he saw or heard Jean-Yves' engine go he wrenched the bike back into his lane, not before hitting the top end timing reflectors though. Both Jean-Yves and Cannon are A-OK.

Dave Beck put in a checkout pass on Jay Regan's Pro Mod Bike, which has been purchased by Super Street Bike racer Dave Holland. Becky put in a great pass of 7.276/181.45, we understand that Dave Holland is now to take over on the bike.

Graham Dance leads Super Street Bike with a great pass of 8.4469/171.00, looked and sounded like the bike had been detuned and so there is more to come. Chris Hope leads Pro Stock Bike with a pass of 7.764, whilst Chris Hall leads Funny Bike, if you discount Becky's checkout pass, at 7.316.

Ian King leads Top Fuel Bike with a run of 7.242/189.87, Steve Woollatt recorded 12.083/76.74 hitting tyre shake at 50 feet. It looked as if Steve's bike bounced back down when it wheelied on the launch, then up, then down and so on - difficult to tell if this was cause or effect of the tyre shake.

Martin Curbishley leads Super Gas qualifying at 9.914, although Frank Mason is right behind him at 9.916. Custom Car Street Eliminator is led by Jeff Meads at 9.748/141.07.

Glenn Dumont has put in his first pass in Nick Davies' Oldsmobile Pro Mod which he is driving in the Super Modified demonstration this weekend. A 60-foot squirt was followed by a run to about 200 feet, Glenn keeping the car straight through a wheele at launch, recording 16.456/42.10.

Qualifying continues at frantic pace, stay tuned and we'll be back with more later on.

10:30

Good morning and welcome from Shakespeare County Raceway for our coverage of day one of Super Series 3, brought to you in association with e-manumit.com and High Performance Heaven. It's a warm and dry morning, the track has just about recovered from a hideous downpour yesterday evening and the marshalls and officials have been called to their positions. The pits are full to bursting with race cars and bikes and the fire-up lane is full.

You will remember on Eurodragster News the other day we mentioned the Channel 4 programme Scrapheap Challenge which was filming here yesterday. Sharkman was here and walked down to the track to see what was going on only for a TV guy to tell him that it was TV-only and that he shouldn't be there. So we don't know how the Scrapheap Challenge went, I guess we'll just have to wait for the programme.

An auspicious return to drag racing for Fay and Paul Fischer of Eurodragster sponsors Speedflow. If you've been following their story on Eurodragster News recently you will know that they have had a real nightmare season this year, with several problems preventing their return. They're here now and they have crew, so they're all set. But a little bird tells us that a child walked up to their dragster in the pits last night and asked "Is that a Junior Dragster or a real one?".

Wild Bunch racer "Crazy" Chris Hartnell is looking forward to the weekend with his Backdraft slingshot. "The car's going really well, no worries at all", he said. "The track is awesome at every Super Series event. It's fun fun fun!". Chris is selling his truck and trailer unit as he has a new artic unit lined up, which has sleeping and living accommodation as well as more room for the dragster.

Fellow Wild Bunch racer Tony Smith, who races the Cunning Plan mini-van, was working on the jets on his engine. "We tried to run it on methanol during the week and couldn't start it", he said. The precision adjustments to the jets included blowing through them.

In the Super Street pits we came across Team Top Banana co-driver Brian Huxley breakfasting on, appropriately, a banana. "I'm eating my reaction time", he said.

Super Pro ET team Talbot Racing crew chief Stephen Talbot was looking to change the chips on his dragster. "Talbot Racing have never revved above 8000", he said, "but it's OK because Koffel (the engine builder) revs his engine to 9200. Six hundred cubes - or rather 599.8 cubes - are meant to rev that high".

We have the European Top Gas racers with here this weekend; it is the fourth round of their Championship which starts in Denmark and visits Sweden and Germany. Current Champion Job Heezen's season is coming together after damaging his engine in testing earlier this year. "Harleys don't run at high revs", he said. "We've made some changes and now we can rev it as high as we want, but then other things go wrong. But it's going in the right direction now, we've picked up seven miles per hour on our top speed from last year". Job has only made two quarter-mile passes so far this year since the quarter-mile race in Denmark was affected by rain and the other dates have been eighth-mile. He holds the record of 8.41 over the quarter and he is quietly confident of beating that mark here this weekend.

Two new cars are attracting a lot of attention in the pits this weekend. The first is Jon Hogart's stunning new Super Comp 'Vette. It is very low, purple and orange with a great flame job, and looks like a Pro Mod. "The general idea was that it looked like a Pro Mod", confirmed Jon. The car took two years to build, and is almost all Jon and Sharon's own work. "Andy Robinson provided the back axle, it's a 532-inch Jeff Bull alcohol engine, and the body is a Hairy Glass original. The rear suspension is a little different from normal, it's based on Scotty Cannon's suspension from his Studebaker Pro Mod, and it's the only one in the country. The engine has split Dominators on alcohol which is a little different. It's a whole new ball game". Naturally Jon can't wait to get on the track to make his observed runs. "I'm dying to have a go", he said.

At the other end of the pits, Roger Goring's Firestorm Jet Funny Car is drawing admirers. This will be Roger's first chance at quarter-mile passes, and just like Jon Hogarth, he can't wait to get going. "I'm hoping to pick the speed up. I've brought enough fuel to run all day!", he said. "I will be closing the show today but I hope that I'll get to run earlier too". We'll be taking a closer look at Roger's car tonight - he has promised/threatened to put Tog in his firesuit, sit him in the car, and put the body down. We'll report back on that.

Qualifying is now well underway, tune back later for the latest developments.