Super Series Springnationals
Sunday (qualifying)

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Final qualifying

Fuel Funny Car: 1. John Spuffard 5.574/227.27, 2. Gary Page 6.037/229.59, 3. Gordon Smith 8.229/101.58, 4. Smax Smith 9.017/93.36

Top Methanol: 1. Dave Wilson 5.840/226.13, 2. Rob Turner 5.863/233.16, 3. Lex Joon 6.075/227.27, 4. Steph Milam 6.864/209.30, 5. Doug Bond 6.911/167.29

The top two qualifiers in all other classes are as follow:

Super Pro ET (own dial-in): 1. Martyn Jones +0.002 7.572/175.78, 2. Mick Cheley +0.037 8.637/157.34
Pro ET (own dial-in): 1. Carla Pitau +0.006 10.486/130.43, 2. Brian Huxley +0.006 10.926/122.62
Sportsman ET (own dial-in): 1. Darren Hulkes +0.000 12.670/105.63, 2. Al Platt +0.006 13.496/104.17
Super Comp (8.90): 1. Martin Curbishley 8.935/146.10, 2. Tim Adam 8.959/146.58
Super Gas (9.90): 1. Pete Creswell 9.902/145.63, 2. Frank Mason 9.914/140.19
Super Street (10.90): 1. Leigh Morris 10.900/123.63, 2. Bob Lees 10.904/120.97
Junior Dragster (Reaction Time): 1. Ronan Heatley-Smith 0.524, 2. Tom Watts 0.561
Super Modified: 1. Danny Cockerill 7.978/173.08, 2. Rob Smallworth 7.978/172.41
Custom Car Street Eliminator (subject to cruise): 1. John Sleath 8.861/164.84, 2. Steve Neimantas 9.014/156.25
Outlaw Anglia: 1. Paul Hensher 8.668/153.50, 2. Cliff Griffin 10.800/125.00
Wild Bunch (own dial-in): 1. Tony Smith +0.022 12.422/110.84, 2. Tom Coe +0.023 11.473/113.64

Top Fuel Bike: Steve Woollatt 6.983/197.37
Funny Bike: 1. Tim Blakemore 7.354/165.44, 2. Neil Midgley 7.360/162.45
Pro Stock Bike: 1. Nick Pepper 7.763/174.42, 2. Martin Bishop 7.763/171.10
Super Street Bike: 1. Tony Clark 8.325/175.10, 2. Graham Dance 8.727/167.91
Comp Bike: 1. Klaus Sarembe 8.270/155.71, 2. Klaus Brinkmann 8.302/154.64
9.90 Bike: 1. Dave Hall 9.922/143.77, 2. Jamie Sneddon 9.954/132.74
10.90 Bike: 1. Sandra Chaplain 10.956/120.64, 2. Lewis Honey 10.963/111.11
Supertwin Gas: 1. Ric Davies 9.907/129.68, 2. Sefton Whitlock 9.970/127.48
Supertwin Modified: 1. Dave Bartz 10.705/133.53, 2. Nigel Mason 10.736/128.57
Supertwin Street: 1. Les Harris 11.016/123.63, 2. Dave Jones 11.040/120.00

If you're coming along tomorrow then keep an eye out for Wild Bunch racer Johnny Hall who brought the house down today with a couple of wild rides in his nicely-turned-out slingshot. On his first pass Johnny left wheels-up and then went way out of shape, everyone here is still wondering how he missed a head-on into the guardrail, a superb driving job. On the second pass, another wheels-up launch heading for the Tree. Again a great driving job from Johnny kept him in his lane.

Also keep an eye out for Nick Daniels' new paintjob on his Superwtin Gas bike. Not for nothing is he called 'Shaggy' and if you like your Scooby Doo then be sure to visit Nick's pit.

We'll be back at the end of tomorrow with all the news from the Springnationals.

17:00

The final round of Top Methanol qualifying was contested by Rob Turner, Lex Joon and Steph Milam. Rob Turner took a bye, turning up the wick a little to a nice 5.863/233.16 with a twitch at the top end. Lex and Steph matched up, a paired bunrnout and then solid passes from both drivers, Steph with a consistent 6.887/208.33 and Lex with a 6.355/198.24 which looked a lot quicker than that.

Gary Page and Smax Smith contested the final round of Fuel Funny Car qualifying. Gary shot down the track to the North Herts Engineering's best time so far at 6.037/229.59 whilst Smax was on what looked like a planned squirt recording 9.017/93.36.

Stay tuned and we'll bring you the final qualifying standings very shortly.

15:30

The third round of Top Methanol qualifying was contested by Steph Milam, Rob Turner and Lex Joon. Steph Milam went first with a fine, straight rewrite of her personal best with a 6.864 at 209.30. Rob Turner and Lex Joon then matched up, great burnouts and excellent hard passes for both racers, Lex resetting the TMFC track record at 6.075/227.27 and Rob putting in a consistent 5.953/234.38. Dave Wilson didn't appear and Crew Chief Andy Bissett said that they may not appear until tomorrow's eliminations.

All four Fuel Funny cars turned out for their second (of three) qualifying session. First up were Gary Page and John Spuffard, great burnouts from both racers and then on the green they left together, Gary getting off the throttle after a hard launch, a planned squirt, recording 8.774/98.64. Spuff weaved left and right in a cloud of nitro haze, weaving left and right and shutting off before the finish line to record 5.574/227.27. Unbeknown to any of us at trackside, Spuff had some sort of problem at the top end as pieces of the Avenger body, metal and restraint straps were found on the shutdown area. We understand that the Showtime team are now on their way back to base to pick up the body from the spare FC, whilst a new block is being put in the chassis.

In the second pairing, Smiths Gordon and Smax lined up and there was plenty of drama in this match-up. Great burnouts from both racers as usual. Gordon pulled forward to the start line and was all set whilst Smax's crew chief Robin Moore seemed to have a problem getting the burnout rev limiter off. Gordon moved into pre-stage and waited still longer but eventually moved into stage and Smax was bulbed. The inevitable result of the wait for Gordon as he hit shake, pedalled and then drifted towards the centre line, the tyres lighting up as Gordon hit the throttle again. Gordon recorded 8.229/101.58, no time for Smax.

11:00

Good morning and welcome from Shakespeare County Raceway for the second day of our Springnationals coverage, brought to you in association with American Car Imports. It's a nice spring day and the track looks just great. The plan for today is a complete cycle of qualifying and then the first round of eliminations in Pro ET, Sportsman ET and 9.90 Bike followed by more qualifying for Top Methaol, Funny Car and Super Modified.

We have got problems with the phone line here so after this posting we will be back right at the end of today with qualifying standings and the day's highlights. Pictures will be posted when we get home tomorrow night.

Wild Bunch racer Mark Turton told us that he was suffering only an achey leg after his top end crash yesterday. "The car's a lot worse off than I am!", he said. "It was only my second pass of the season. I changed into second at the eighth, but it seemed to go into neutral. I tried to knock it back into second. Then it went sideways and I found the parachute in my lap and I thought 'What is the parachute doing in my lap?'!". Mark added his huge thanks to the FAST crew who came to his rescue. "They got there so quickly", he said.

We spoke to Fuel FC racer John Spuffard about his early departure in yesterday's qualifier against Gordon Smith. The Showtime team run to a strict schedule on their passes and time was running out. "We were running on the edge", said Spuff. "I thought I saw the lights start to run. If I'd have sat in stage much longer it would have gone bang so I had to go or shut it off. The clutch was hot, the engine was getting hot with not much fuel left - in fact I had two gallons of fuel left in the tank after the run". Gordon Smith's problem after starting up turned out to be with the latching of the body.

Fellow Fuel FC racer Gary Page was straining at the leash this morning waiting for the 10:30 engine start deadline. "We ran it on gas yesterday", he said. "We just had to check the fuel pressure with the new oil. It's amazing how good this Triple R is". Gary said that the North Herts Engineering team would probably put in a 1000-foot pass first time out today.

Tune back later and we'll bring you the highlights at the end of the day.