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20:00

Micke Kagered is the winner of the Pro Fuel Shootout. He said "After our first run, we knew we had a combination we could go down the track with. We dropped a blower belt about 100 metres before the finish line so we calculated that we would have run a 4.87 - 4.90. We are so pleased that we can go home winners. Before the Main Event we have a lot of show dates with the car and we will be on the road nearly every day. I am so grateful to Alan Jackson, who figured out everything and give him all credit for the win. We are looking forward to having Alan on the team with Goran "Emil" Edman as crew support to him."

Runner-up John Spuffard said, "We had the edge on him to past half track. I like racing Micke as we used to race at the Cannonball when he was running Top Methanol and we had a friendly rivalry. I feel we really have a grip on the motor, which did what it should do, and all eight cylinders kept alight. Until the clutch went after the eighth, it was really on one. If the clutch had held, we would have run a low five. It dug in at the start but when the clutch went, it blew the clutch out of the bottom and that lit the fuel vapours, which must have looked pretty. I set the fire bottles off and then deployed the chutes. When the clutch goes you can see the fire in the motor bay window in the cockpit. It lit up like a roman candle."

John Spuffard's crew chief Bob Jarrett said "It took us a couple of years to work it out but finally things are working in our favour and we're going in the right direction. We had a little setback but are pleased with what we achieved and learned where not to go. The car's performance is looking promising and is where we expected to be, one step closer to the four second pass that we want. It was the first time in ages that the car left the line running on eight cylinders. Our combination makes so much power, we had to take a lot of clutch out of it. We're happy with the motor and will be looking to put a little more clutch in next time."

17:00

Bert Englefield (Pro Mod) said after a wild ride in the '34 Ford Coupe, "The tyres shook off the line. The track is better than yesterday and the car didn't get up on its tyres. We'll be out again later."

John Spuffard (Nitro FC), who is in the final of the Pro Fuel Shootout said, "We are starting to run the numbers again. We backed it off to get it down the track and one cylinder went out on the run, causing the nitro haze. I clicked early and we were doing 223mph at the eighth and only 208mph at the finish line. Our problem last night was that the fire takes out things you can't anticipate and we were concerned about damage to the ignition system. It was only when we fired it up that we knew that it was still working. It will be great to win and we want to repeat."

Urs Erbacher (Top Fuel) said "We had bad tyre shake on the last run and blew out the head gaskets. We want to find a tuneup for European rounds and so will try to come out again today."

Alan Jackson, tuner for Micke Kagered's Top Fuel dragster team, the other car in the Pro Fuel Shootout final, said "We managed to get down the track this morning and found a sweet spot in tuning for the track conditions. We will leave it alone for the final. The condition of the motor was perfect, no cylinders went out and Micke lifted after 3.6 seconds on the pass.

15:00

Robert Joosten said "I was delighted with a 6.71/211 on my final licensing pass. We had some problems with the thrust bearing and the new part didn't fit so we made one. We were working to 5am in the morning. I was very pleased with the run. We were shut down for a problem on track and had a little difficulty restarting. But the run felt straight. We agreed that if it felt right, we would stay on it and it felt right to Broadway! Thanks to my previous experience I am now happy to focus on the finish line and would like to duplicate the run this afternoon without too many changes.

Frank Bennett (NFAA) said "We have done what we came to do by getting down the track. We are creeping up on the tuneup and our 7.2 earlier was on seven cylinders after a lead broke. Many thanks to all our supporters, including main sponsor Car Clinic and Konica Minolta."

Ian Turburville (Top Fuel Bike) said "We've had a long, hard weekend with niggling problems and while we are pleased we could make some passes, we are yet to make a full pass. We've got FIM Champion Roel Koedam in the first round."

Nick Davies of the Havoc Fuel Altered team said, "We had some problems yesterday and drove through the clutch on the first run. On the second pass the car got a bit squirelly on track, so we made a couple of changes. This resulted in us running a 7.42/185mph - so far, so good. The car is very stable at 185mph but we don't really want to run much faster than this. I would like to have a quicker ET by picking up the front end at the start. The car is pretty low maintenance as it is set up so soft; we are definitely not pushed for power. All the other fuel racers have been really helpful to us this weekend and we're grateful to them. Our crew have been tremendous: Rob Loaring, Nigel King and Steve Green, who's on loan to us while he finishes off the rebuild of his Cortina Mark I, due to be on track later in the season." Nick also said thanks to sponsors Allstar Performance and G-Max Fuels.

Tim Garlick is delighted with a string of NPBs this weekend, running as quick as 7.68 in the Super Mod Mark 3 Cortina. "The 334ci motor is based on a Rover but is a huge jump in development and we believe no-one else has got such a motor this highly tuned. We are really pushing the boundaries, and while we used up lots of parts last year, things have really come together. All the development work has been with ICE Automotive, who built the car with me. I would like to give a big thankyou to brothers Paul and Ricky Dawson, who carry out maintenance of the car - they are putting in a tremendous effort to keep us where we are." The motor has a single Dominator carb with nitrous and Lenco four speed. "I love Super Mod racing as it is one of the few heads up classes in racing and is designed to be affordable." The main sponsors are Rehm, a German welding manufacturer new to the UK market, which I am the distributor for."

Brendan Clancy's Super Gas Chevy Nova came to an abrupt halt in the first round of eliminations. "It launched, coughed and died", said Brendan. "The car broke its back axle and hopefully we can get it together for the next round of the championship at SCR", he said. "We are going after the Championship this year and were qualified third here. Our qualifying runs were all in the 9.9 range. The broken axle is a shame; we will take it apart and see whether it is gears or half shafts that need replacing.

Paul Marston and Gary Springfield are the two remaining members of the PMR stable still in competition and they are meeting one another in the quarter finals of Pro ET eliminations. "It had to happen sooner or later", said Paul, "All our cars have been competitive this weekend, but such is the level of competition, out of five we are the only two remaining. We broke a tailshaft on the gearbox of the Monza and I would like to thank Kenny Coleman for lending us a spare."

Ian Hook (Street Eliminator) said "We are pleased that we have got the handling right with the M/T Radial tyres. We had a nitrous wiring problem, which caused the nitrous not to come in properly. The main factor in our 8.4 sec run is chassis tuning, and we have hardly touched the power to take advantage of the new tyres. We are looking forward to racing Colin in round one. The radials were no problem in the cruise yesterday, which was in dry conditions."

Michael Lacey said "We're happy we're in the quarter finals of Pro ET and also ran a NPB 10.06." The car, which was built to the same spec as a Super Stock in NHRA, has been doing some great wheelies off the line. "Our car's sponsors are www.americannumberplates.com and www.yanktanks.co.uk. My company Alleyjax also sponsors UK National Championship sportsman classes too." Michael added that girlfriend Anna Metcalfe has had a good racing experience in her first weekend racing the Sportsman ET '06 Ford Mustang.

11:00

Ben Allum, Andy Carter's crew chief said, "We had a 50:50 call and eliminated one option yesterday, so we are trying the other today. The track's cold and it's hard to know how much grip the track will give. We know the grip is there on the startline as we are running good 60' times. We are here to test the setup and will therefore try another tuneup today."

Micke Kagered said, "Yesterday was not so good and I believe we have found what was wrong with the fuel management system. We do need to soften the clutch as well. Everything is now working well but the clutch is too aggressive. The slider valve is a good change as I had too much fuel on the start line on Saturday."

Urs Erbacher said, "Our half pass yesterday felt really good. I clicked it just before half-track as the car was running on four cylinders, the other four were out all the way. The problem is getting the timing so that all cylinders a alight. We have had to replace three cylinder sleeves - the damage is much less this time. We plan to run a full pass today and I hope it will be a four."

Rick Cooke (Super Pro ET) said "I would like to thank Ian Marshall and the startline crew for spotting an oil leak, caused by a broken seal on the output shaft. Had it happened further down the track I would have been in trouble."

Also in Super Pro ET, Pat Talbot's dragster had some between-rounds repair work to do. Husband and crew chief Stephen said, "Thanks to Martyn 'Sid' Jones for helping us, particularly as we are racing him in round two."

Ian Tubb was towed to the pits in the last qualifier last night and failed to show for round one. The double Super Pro ET Champion said "our converter broke on the second run after we put in the new trans and we think some debris may have got in it from the earlier trans explosion. Hopefully we can obtain a new converter before the Shakespeare Nationals in a fortnight's time. However, it's a specialist part and Jeff Bull is helping us obtain a spare. We broke out on both qualifying passes and are having to come from behind in this year's championship. We're not going to give up easily!"

Roel Koedam (Top Fuel Bike) said "Our first run yesterday, a 6.20, was really just a checkout. I shut off after 5.6s. The bike tends to spin the tyre after half track. We were pleased with that run. On the second run, the blower belt broke after only 0.3 sec. The problem today is the side wind, which may prevent us running a full pass Even on our 6.20, the wind blew us into the other lane after the finish line."

Gordon Smith said, "The motor spun a bearing on our run after lighting up the tyres. We have not done any serious damage though. We need to have a softer tuneup and clutch settings to get down the track."

Dave Wilson is delighted with the performance of the Nemesis dragster so far. "We spent a lot of time preparing it, moving the fuel tank, changing the weight distribution and getting it to work better. We applied the knowledge we have picked up in the last three years with the American Car Imports dragster. The problems we have had have all been small. We lost the rev counter on the first run when the cable came out, I couldn't see the shift light properly with my helmet design and the clutch pedal and handbrake were not quite right for me. On our second run, a 5.56, the tyres shook and I had to pedal it once, so it would have been a low 5.5 for sure. I'm sure the car has a 5.4 in it. It's for sale and it drives like a Cadillac."

Lawrie Gatehouse said "We are running all the cars on Monday morning except for Chaos, whose motor broke six valve springs on the warmup. We heard some chinking noises on the wind-down after the warmup. We hope to be out in the afternoon though. We have had to order motor parts in quantity to ensure we have sufficient, as delivery times can become extended during the season, and that is a considerable investment. We are very pleased with the showing this weekend with several cars running into the low sevens at over 180mph, and look forward to making full passes on all the cars when Tony Betts and Jim Usher have completed their observed runs.

09:00

Good morning and welcome to Monday's Pit Notes. It's clear skies and bright sunshine here and we've a busy day after round one of eliminations was held over from yesterday.

John Spuffard and his team had a busy evening after the Nitro Funny Car kicked a rod out of the side of the block. "There was a was a flash fire and that triggered the fire extinguisher bottles, which put it out, but it relit further down the shut-off area. Fortunately by that time, the fire crew had already reached us and they put it out. Our thanks go to the fire crew. They did their usual excellent job in putting the fire out, and it gives me confidence that they are always there when I need them." John, who is qualified no.2 in the Shootout, said that on the run the car spun the tyres again and he had to pedal once, but then went well until the engine problems set in. "That was expensive, and we are now down to our last engine", admitted John.

Kenneth Lorentzon said the Top Fuel team had experienced highs and lows this weekend, with Hakan Fallstrom's license sucess and Tommy Moller's car not being able to be fired on two occasions. "We are having a lot of problems with the ignition retard system which we are using and is a mandatory part in the NHRA. We have tried five boxes but we had some problems with the display so they are being difficult to set up; the result being that we were not getting ignition to start the car. We are in touch with MSD and are looking forward to working with Joe Pando, who will be over at the Main Event to help us."

Nigel Barker (Super Street Bike) ran his first seven yesterday evening and was delighted. "It's brilliant", he said. "We were struggling with the launch and for the last few runs, we've done more work on the clutch, taking it out, cleaning the plates, oiling it and reinstalling it. This has made the launch better on each run. I would like to thank Brad O'Connor - I couldn't have done it without his help. Also thanks to my team 'Diesel' Darren Gauntlett, Linda and Isa. A 'hello' goes to Danny who couldn't be here for this event."

Jamie Sneddon said after a the quickest Super Street Bike run ever, a 7.624, "There's actually more in it. We were on a learning curve last year and still got down to a 7.66. The track conditions were especially favourable for that run, so we don't know if we can back it up, but we are tuning the clutch and motor to do so. Thanks go to Jules"

Pat and Stephen Talbot (SUper Pro ET dragster said "We would like to thank our crew and Martyn Jones and his crew for stripping and rebuilding our torque converter last night after it sheared three bolts on our last qualifier. Thanks also to Wendy Baker and Paul Stubbings for the parts."