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11:30

Steph Milam was faced with a welding job after an engine mount shook free on the launch yesterday. "We aborted the run after I rolled the lights and then had horrendous trye shake", said Steph, "We bought a lot of parts to come back - block, clutch, rods, pistons. The only thing that was undamaged at Easter was the clutch can and we also had sufficient spare parts to repair the Lenco". Steph tested at the Mopar Euronationals with two 6.7s and a 6.8. "We were disappointed with those times and found a problem with the magneto and were hoping to get back to the low sixes. We have also put on new Hoosier tyres. So we hopefully will be out again tomorrow morning." Thanks go to sponsors Torco, Pro Seal and Abaca Graphics.

Some quick notes: both nitro NFAA entries succombed to motor damage, John Wright's Chaos suffering the worst with block, rod and pistons, whereas Tony Betts' Venom had a dropped valve at the far end of the track.

OUr best wishes for a speedy recovery go to Mark Flavell, who suffered bruising when he was run over by his Super Pro dragster in the fire up road. Mark was able to stay at the track but had an early night, missing the 40th birthday party of team member Steve Metcalfe - happy birthday Steve and have a good day today.

On the Street Eliminator scene, the sight and sound of the 13 cars going out on the cruise in the dark was awesome. All returned but we understand that Andy Frost may have had some overheating and he and the team were working on the car until quite late. Jon Webster is present only as a spectator having suffered turbo damage at the Euro Finals.

9.50 Bike has been a success and the champion Andy Bird from Team Breakout was celebrating with other team members Geoff Conner, Chris Jones, and Shaun Spiers. The other members of the team have Hayabusas and Andy has held onto the trusted GSXR 1216cc. "I don't feel under the slightest pressure to get a Hayabusa for next year", he said". "We rebuilt the motor before the start of the season and did work on the gearbox to ensure that we had a consistently performing bike. We have also put on a new Kehin carb and reprofiled cam which has helped the bike to produce 168hp on the dyno". The team admitted the transition to 9.50 bike has not been an easy one. "We needed the change though as factory bikes are getting faster and faster", said Geoff Conner, "You can't really call it an entry level class any more though - you need to spend money to get the bike to be competitive". Andy said the key point in the championship was his win at the Shakespeare Nationals. "It was my first win and it felt incredible. I then won over a field of over 30 bikes at the Euro Finals. Next year I want to back the championship up but it is going to be incredibly competitive now that everyone is getting dialled in to the 9.50 index. There are a lot of up and coming riders like Eddie Smiley who can run right on the index". Andy thanks sponsors Teknic Leathers, all of Team Breakout and his grandfather Don Robins for their support.

Ian "Rush" Carruthers has a new Super Twin Fuel bike painted in the team colours previously seen on son Jake's Junior Bike and ran a 8.872 for no.1 spot. "It's only our second full meeting with the bike", he said. "The clutch was far too soft last time out and we are now starting to tighten it up. Our motor is a Delkrom Harley based block that I bought from Ian Turburville and it runs injected nitro at 92% with a B&J two-speed and a 12" slick". Rush mentioned that Super Twin Fuel bikes will be on the increase for 2007 with Steve Clutterbuck likely to return and new bikes from Peter "Sledgehammer" LeGro and others in addition to Wendy Clutterbuck and Chris Stebbings' entries this year.

Clayton Round was delighted to run the best time in the NFAA of 7.2 yesterday. "I am leading the championship but am only 10 points ahead of Frank Bennett", said Clayton, "and he won his race so it's very close. I am really over the moon as the car has cost us so little to run over two years. It would be nice to get a bigger blower and try to run a six but we need to be conscious of budgets and if there is a choice we will prefer to spend the money on maintenance and freshening the motor over the winter".

Incidentally, Lindsay Deuchar who was chatting to Clayton, still has his five second TMD for sale which can be seen on Eurodragster's Swap meet pages.

As we post we are about to go into eliminations and the sweet smell of track glue is in the air. Stay tuned to our live report for developments, while your pit reporter gets to grips with the points.