The Cannonball
Friday (qualifying)

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20:45

Here are the top two qualifier in each class at the end of day ones qualifying for the Cannonball:

British Top Methanol: 1. Rob Turner 5.895/238.85, 2. Doug Ripley 10.583/76.47
Super Pro ET (own dial-in): 1. Martyn Jones +0.000 (7.680/170.89), 2. Steve Green +0.013 (8.663/153.06)
Pro ET (own dial-in): 1. Stephen Talbot +0.003 (10.283/129.42), 2. Rick McCann +0.007 (11.077/121.60)
Sportsman ET (own dial-in): 1. Robert Main +0.023 (13.643/98.16), 2. Al Platt +0.026 (13.776/101.75)
Super Comp (8.90): 1. Brian Pateman 8.917/150.36, 2. Phil Bennett 8.95/133.51
Super Gas (9.90): 1. Martin Curbishley 9.914/136.81, 2. Tim Adam 9.920/143.83
Super Street (10.90): 1. Bob Doignie 10.901/107.18, 2. Leigh Morris 10.906/122.28
Custom Car Street Eliminator: 1. Steve Pateman 8.721/167.42, 2. Jeff Meads 8.924/156.02
VW Pro (own dial in): 1. Nigel Green +0.210 (11.510/112.03), 2. Jim Smith +0.233 (10.883/121.47)
VW Sportsman (own dial in): 1. Stephen Lee +0.079 (15.479/74.52), 2. Neil Davies +0.085 (17.185/73.41)
Junior Dragster (reaction time): 1. Tom Watts 0.512, 2. Nicholas Mugridge 0.534

Top Fuel Bike: 1. Brian Johnson 6.547/198.69
Funny Bike: 1. Tim Blakemore 7.459/162.93, 2. Chris Hannam 7.595/167.75
Pro Stock Bike: 1. Dave Beck 7.687/172.96, 2. Alan Cook 8.191/161.24
Competition Bike: 1. David Hughes 9.837/134.55, 2. Sarah Jane Head 9.897/138.68
Super Street Bike: 1. Tony Clark 8.395/169.09, 2. Graham Dance 8.527/166.95
9.90 Bike: 1. Paul Newman 9.957/135.70, 2. Jamie Sneddon 9.978/113.04
10.90 Bike: 1. Darren Winnard 10.901/126.89, 2. Fred Furlong 10.940/125.06

19:45
Well the weather has stayed on our side and we have got through 4 sessions of sportsman qualifying plus one session for Top Fuel Bike and Top Methanol. In Top Fuel Bike only Brian Johnson came out but he soon showed that the problems of the Main Event were behind him as he shut off very early to a 6.54 @ 198mph, there is obviously a lot more to come from BJ this weekend.

In British Top Methanol only 4 of the cars actually made the first session, Doug Ripley first out trying to complete the 3rd and final run for his license but the car headed towards the centre line and Doug was forced to abort the run. Next up was Steph Milam, the car having had some work done on it since the last meeting to improve the visibility from the cockpit. The car never really seemed to get up on the RPM on the startline and Steph leaned the car out and shut it off before 330 feet. To round the session off we had Dave Wilson and Rob Turner pull round side by side and after two storming burnouts Dave Wilson hit violent tyre shake which forced him to shut off while in the other lane Rob Turner put in a storming run of 5.89 to take the number one spot.

In the sportsman classes it has once again been Custom Car that has grabbed most of the attention as Jeff Meads came oh so close to the eights in the first session with a 9.000 pass but he didn't have to wait too long for another qualifier and a hard launch followed by a straight run saw an 8.92 @ 156mph on the scoreboards for Jeff. Barry George also had a good session as he ran a 9.76 personal best in the P100 pick up. Having tried unsuccessfully to get Jeff Meads to pair up with him for the third qualifying run in an attempt to get side by side eights, Steve Pateman used the run to reaffirm his position at the top of the pile with an 8.75, which he used to back up his final run of the day, an 8.72 to set yet another new ET record.

Todays pictures are now available from the Raceday Update index page. We'll be back as soon as possible with the provisional numbers one and two qualifiers from each class from day one here at the Cannonball.

14:15
A wander round the pits has revealed that despite the best efforts of the wind, the race teams seem to have triumphed and got their awnings secured down. With that out the way we were able to grab a few words with some of the riders and drivers.

Barry Sheavills is here with his top fuel car and is looking forward to racing this weekend. Although the proposed match race with Damon Hill is not now happening Barry tells me he will be racing a formula one car this weekend and is looking forward to it. He also confirmed that if the conditions are right he will certainly be looking to put that magically 300mph speed on the Santa Pod scoreboards.

In the Showtime pits the team are busy with routine maintenance jobs, but crew chief Bob Jarrett took time out to give us the low down on the weekend. "We are using the tune up from the last run at Shakespeare County as a base line to work from. That wasn't a perfect pass by any means as the car was driving through the clutch all the way and dropped a cylinder at the top end, but it gives us a good starting point." Bob went on to reveal that the car is sporting an all new motor that has never been fired up before and a refreshed blower as well which should produce a bit more power.

Those of you that have been following the trials and tribulations of Lindsay Deuchar on Eurodragster's news page will be pleased to hear that the team have managed to get the block machined in time and are here this weekend ready to do battle. Lindsay is planning to do a launch and shift into second gear in the first session to just test everything out. Elsewhere in the Top Methanol pits Dave Wilson said that he and the team are "ready to go as soon as we are called" and it was the same story in Rob Turners pit although brother Steve revealed that they are "sneaking up" on the tune up as they get to know the car. "We are finding that the car likes it when we are more agressive with the tune up so thats the direction we are going in."

Finally we caught up with one of our Top Methanol Funnycars, here for the Cannonball run this weekend. Dezsoe Krivan has again made the journey from Switzerland to be here after a successful Main Event where the car ran down to a 6.02. Dezsoe says that "The tune up for that 6.02 was so safe. We didn't hurt anything which is really good as what I have has to last me all year!" Dezsoe is hoping to continue on the improvements made at the Main Event and is hoping to "put on a good show for the fans and maybe get that 5 second timing ticket."

Well the call has just gone out for the first classes to assemble in the pairing lanes ready for qualifying to get underway, join us again at the close of racing for qualifying positions and todays pictures.

11:55
Good morning and welcome to what is an overcast and breezy Santa Pod Raceway for what will be the first day of this years Cannonball. The pits are gradually filling up although those racers that are already here can look forward to getting numerous qualifying runs in this afternoon. All the fuel funnycar teams are already in the pits, three of the teams doing battle to erect their awnings in the strong wind!

The top methanol pits are a little bit more established with most teams already set up and working hard on preparing the race cars ready for their first qualifying session which is scheduled for 17:30 this afternoon. Unfortunately with everybody busy setting up its not been possible to get to speak to many of the drivers, but rst assured they won't escape us all weekend!

Its also a similar story in the sportsman pits as people are still arriving and setting up ready for qualifying which is scheduled to start around 13:30 for sportsman classes. One welcome return to the sportsman pits is the wonderfully named "Earsplittenloudenboomer" camaro of Peter Lane. Peter is making his reurn to competition this weekend after a long break. All is not going well though as Peter attended Tuesday's press day here to get some shakedown passes on the car but in the process of doing that he "fried the transmission". Peter is very grateful to Dave Gadney for the loan of his transmission to enable Peter to compete this weekend.

Also attending press day were Stuart and Anne Peck with the Rat Rage Super Street Car. Stuart tells us that the 60' times for the car were down on normal, but he's not worried as Tuesday was very hot and he thinks this, combined with some "over enthusiastic" burnouts actually got the tyres too hot!

We are going to take another stroll round the pits to see if we can collar a few more people to speak to, hopefully we will bring you another update soon. Qualifying and photo's will be available after teh end of todays action as usual.