Super Series 4
Sunday (qualifying)



For Dave Grady

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19:00

Today's pictures have now been posted. You can get to them from the race update index page.

Here are the top two qualifiers in each class (and the entire list in TM):

Top Methanol: 1. Dave Wilson 5.837/236.84, 2. Doug Bond 6.330/167.29, 3. Rob Turner 6.716/165.44, 4. Andy Frost 6.868/198.24.
Pro Modified: Gordon Appleton 7.235/193.13, Bill Weston DNQ
Super Comp (8.90): 1. Alex Nicol 8.905/154.64, 2. John McIntyre 8.918/151.52
Super Gas (9.90): 1. Tim Adam 9.929/146.10, 2. Kev Moore 9.932/139.75
Super Street (10.90): 1. Brian Huxley 10.900/119.36, 2. Alan Didwell 10.913/122.62
Super Pro ET (own dial-in): 1. Glynn Robinson +0.046 (8.846/155.17), 2. Jon Webster +0.163 (7.623/176.47)
Pro ET (own dial-in): 1. Mark Ramplee +0.009 (11.639/115.09), 2. Jim Smith +0.014 (11.214/120.97)
Sportsman ET (own dial-in): 1. Neil L'Alouette +0.013 (13.333/98.90), 2. Derek Annable +0.049 (16.049/90.18)
Super Street Rover (11.00): 1. Steve Good 11.173/125.00, 2. Martin Moore 11.379/121.29
Outlaw Anglia: 1. Rob Stone 9.831/136.78, 2. Al O'Connor 9.969/132.35
Wild Bunch (own dial-in): 1. Mark Coulsell +0.086 (11.486/113.07), 2. Chris Hartnell +0.090 (9.490/133.53)
Custom Car Street Eliminator: 1. Jeff Meads 9.247/150.00, 2. Steve Pateman 9.310/152.54
Junior Dragster: 1. Katie Gibbs 0.526, 2. Joe Bond 0.542
Pro Stock Bike: 1. Dave Beck 7.525/172.41, 2. Chris Hope 7.610/179.28
Funny Bike: 1. Chris Hall 7.352/180.00, 2. Ken Cooper 7.564/175.10
Super Street Bike: 1. Tony Clark 8.257/178.57, 2. Graham Dance 8.421/166.67
Comp Bike: 1. Martin Peck 8.347/158.45, 2. Tim Whetton 9.312/155.71
9.90 Bike: 1. Jamie Sneddon 10.031/137.20, 2. Paul Ellingham 10.057/117.49
10.90 Bike: 1. Ady Reade 10.952/122.95, 2. Dan Birch 11.009/113.07
Supertwin Fuel: 1. Ben Beneke 9.494/102.51, 2. John Williamson 10.172/144.69
Supertwin Modified: 1. Lyn Mason-Roe 11.075/127.48, 2. Wayne Larson 11.398/102.51
Supertwin Street: 1. Steve Piper 10.693/133.53, 2. Les Harris 10.817/122.62
Supertwin Gas: 1. Jerry Collier 9.765/131.58, 2. Ric Davies 10.030/128.21

So that's the end of Sunday and what a great day it's been. We'll be back tomorrow with the news from the pits, join us then.

17:10

Allan Bates put in a superb, long burnout in the Fuel FC, but then the engine died with a bang. We understand that Alan's knee hit the magneto kill switch in the tight confines of the cockpit.

Stay tuned and we'll bring you the qualifying standings, and post today's pictures.

16:30

So onto the rest of today's qualifying highlights. Gordon Appleton and Bill Weston both had unsuccessful qualifying attempts but for differing reasons. Gordon pulled a huge burnout, Bill taking things a lot easier. On the green Gordon was long gone, a good-looking pass, but no time or speed were displayed. Gordon's chutes didn't open and he didn't quite make the turnout at the end of the shutdown area. The car put a couple of wheels on the grass at the end of the track but wasn't damaged and Gordon is quite OK. In the other lane, Bill Weston launched and then there was a huge nitrous burp, the scoop thrown up in the air after being blown badly out of shape. Bill got the car stopped and the fire crew were on the spot before he stopped rolling.

Tony Clark set a new track record speed at just over 178 miles per hour on his Super Street Bike; if he manages to back it up then this should be a new ACU record. Tony's ET was 8.257 which cemented his number one qualifying spot.

Not a highlight but a piece of good news is that Ceri Visick is A-OK after tagging the guardrail on a qualifying run on her Pro Stock Bike. The bike suffered very minor damage indeed and Ceri was unhurt.

We had new track records in Pro Stock Bike as Dave Beck recorded 7.525 in qualifying, and Chris Hope clocked a top end speed of 179.28. Richard Gipp also got into the sevens on a much improved pass of 7.884/170.45.

Ian King put in a great 6.994/193.13 test pass on his Top Fuel Bike. Also going great guns on a bike was Chris Hall who took the number one spot in Funny Bike with a pass of 7.52/180.00.

Jim Seward put in an eight-second half pass in his Harry The Spider Fuel Altered, it sounded good and looked good.

Martin Hill wowed the crowd with a superb 6.205/257.14 in the Fireforce 2 Jet FC, Martin makes these low times and high speeds appear effortless. The flame and smoke show was spectacular as usual and the afterburner made little screaming noises at the end of each pop. Great stuff.

Allan Bates is towing down to the start area in the North Herts Engineering Fuel FC, stay tuned and we'll let you know how the run goes.

16:00

It's been a fast and furious day here at Shakespeare County Raceway, with a short rain delay and a major oildown the rest of qualifying has been stopped - we have had two complete cycles - and we are now into open practice. Let's bring you up to date on what's been going on here.

The first headline is a new track record in Top Fuel Dragster. The first of the match-ups between Barry Sheavills and Andy Carter was spectacular. Both Barry and Andy pulled great burnouts. On the green Andy was gone, shooting down the track absolutely arrow-straight to a 5.222 at 255.68, both track records here in Top Fuel. Barry's tyres went up in smoke not far off the line and he slowed to a 10.200/76.79.

In Fuel Funny Car, John Spuffard and Gordon Smith came out for the first match race after Tony Betts' and Allan Bates' cars broke during warmups in the pits. Both drivers pulled great, long burnouts and then we started looking in the skies above the shutdown area just in case the local comedian tried to land his plane there again this time. Green and both cars shot down the track, Spuff was on and off the pedal as the tyres shook, the car going way out of shape but Spuff did a great driving job to keep in his lane, getting there first at 6.163/236.84. In the other lane Gordon Smith ran his promised three-quarter pass, recording 6.362/184.43.

The second MSA Top Methanol qualifier saw all four drivers come out. The first pairing was between Rob Turner and Doug Bond. Rob pulled his usual long burnout whilst Doug took it a lot easier with a short chirp. On the green, Rob's dragster seemed to leave the line slower than is normal, but picked up after the concrete/asphalt transition, we would guess a soft clutch setting. Rob recorded 6.716/165.44, meanwhile Doug's chute deployed before the 900 feet marker and he recorded 6.330/167.29.

The second pairing was between Dave Wilson and Andy Frost. Dave pulled a huge burnout, Andy took it conservatively. When the lights ran, Dave Wilson was away, as he came past your reporter at about seventy feet the tyres were shaking but Dave drove through it and was visibly accelerating very hard towards the finish line, clocking 5.837/236.84 and stamping his authority on the number one spot - and it won't have harmed Dave's Championship run. Andy recorded 6.868/198, a short while ago he was up here in race control and he said that he was not at all happy with the pass. But he's in the field and that's what counts.

So subject to official ratification, MSA Top Methanol qualifying stands as follows. 1. Dave Wilson 5.837/236.84, 2. Doug Bond 6.330/167.29, 3. Rob Turner 6.716/165.44, 4. Andy Frost 6.868/198.24.

Tune in in a few minutes and we'll bring you up to date on all of today's other qualifying highlights.

11:00

Good morning and welcome to Shakespeare County Raceway on a beautiful morning, sunny and warm. Thanks for joining us. The pairing lanes are filling up ready for qualifying, the paramedics are on their way to their positions and we're almost ready for kick-off.

The track is in pristine condition. Super Gas racer Craig Gibbs told us this morning that the start line was great, he recorded his best-ever sixty foot time yesterday. He has just this moment walked into race control and said that he almost lost his shoes on the start line a couple of minutes ago.

Super Pro ET racer Steve Johnson got way out of shape in his qualifying pass yesterday, he is reported as saying that the length of Armco which he got a good look at needs a lick of paint. Also in Super Pro ET, Andy Hone has taken his Scorpio home as he blew his engine during his burnout yesterday. We understand that Andy expects to be back quite quickly, though.

Funny Bike racer Steve French told us that the air was quite bad yesterday. "I ran the same ET as I did at the last race, but the speed was ten miles per hour down", he said. "Almost everyone was ten miles per hour down and that was just down to the air".

Supertwin Gas racer Jerry Collier was happy with his off-the-trailer nine-second run yesterday. "We're dead chuffed", he said. "We tried a few things out and still ran a nine, and today we're going to try a few more things out, and if we still run a nine then we'll be pleased. But a nine out of the van is great, because the clutch wasn't set properly. Jerry has sponsors Red Line Oil and Lizzie's Laundry of Nottingham visiting this weekend and so is determined to put on a good show for them.

Fellow Supertwin Gas racer David Hirst is having better luck after a bad start to the season. "I built a new motor and the settings were totally different", he said. "It's getting better now, back to where it was with the old engine. I went a bit too far with the settings yesterday - it was a bit rich at the bottom end and leaned out at the top. It's been reliable though - time was when if I took it home and it was still running, then it was a successful race!".

Super Comp racer John McIntyre has returned to racing this weekend but gave us all a fright when he went through the top end trailing smoke from the engine. It turns out that the engine blew both head gaskets. "It was chuffing like a steam train", said John. "One gasket blew at the eighth, and then the other one went at about a thousand feet". John showed me the left side head gasket and it looked as if it had been pulled apart with a pair of pliers. "It could have been worse", said John.

Stuart in the Shockwave Fuel FC pit asked us to tell Sue that he is behaving himself. Your reporter can confirm this, Stuart was last seen tucking into a breakfast roll. Shockwave driver Gordon Smith told us that the car has a new engine. "It's a different combination from our last appearance here", he said. "In effect it's last year's combination. We have new fuel pumps and so we can drop the fuel volume. We also found that we had the wrong camshaft in the engine. Today we're planning to run a half or three-quarter pass, if it goes OK then I'll hang with it, but we're not trying to prove anything today. I like running here, and it'll be nice to beat up on Spuff again!"

Andy Carter said that the Top Fueller shook badly on his pass yesterday. "I was meant to go to half track but I had to get off it", he said. Andy rolled straight into stage, and blamed himself. "I messed up", he said, "but I just relaxed and put the car on the high side, and went in my own time."

We're now into qualifying, and in Custom Car Street Eliminator the personal bests are falling like dominoes. Steve Nash recorded a 9.770, and Ian Hook an astounding improvement on his PB, already reset yesterday, 9.415. Steve Pateman ran a terminal speed of 152.54 mph which if backed up will be a new CCSE record. Jeff Meads also improved to a 9.247 - all of these from street-legal cars let's not forget.

Wendy Baker in her Northern Star slingshot and Crazy Chris Hartnell in the Backdraft slingshot were drawn against one another in Wild Bunch qualifying, all of a sudden it looked like the sixties out there. Identical dial-ins of 9.40 were set but a great match-up was thwarted when Wendy went way out of shape and almost hit the Tree.

Qualifying is continuing apace, stay tuned for the latest from Shakespeare County Raceway.