The latest updates are at the top of the page. Click on your Browser's Refresh key to be sure of seeing the latest news. Click here to go back to the event index 21:30 Today's pictures are now available. You can view them via the Event Index page. 18:40 Martin Hill followed the Pro Fuel Shootout final and 3rd/4th run-off with a 6.1632/269.17 in the Fireforce 3 Jet FC. Talk about consistent ETs, is it the return of Jet ET? Final results:
Pro Fuel Shootout: Lex Joon 4.7880/274.59 def. Urs Erbacher 7.1930/100.00 Drama in the Super Pro ET final as Ashley Bell's roadster turned hard left and hit the guardrail right on the finish line. Ashley got himself out of the car and is A-OK.
Top Fuel Bike: Lorenz Staüble 7.4692/136.70 bye 17:05 Top Methanol final Freddy Fagerström shut off, Dave Wilson shut off
Derek Flynn followed up with another observed run in his Top Methanol Dragster. Again an excellent launch, 1.0279 to sixty feet but then the engine sounded laboured again, 8.1627/155.75. 16:55 Pro Fuel Shootout third/fourth place run-off John Spuffard 5.1159/305.98 def. Leif Helander 5.6459/266.31
16:30 Pro Fuel Shootout final Lex Joon 4.7880/274.59 def. Urs Erbacher 7.1930/100.00
16:20 MSA Pro Modified final Robert Joosten 12.7679/100.84 bye
16:15 Nostalgia Fuel Altered Association
16:10 Top Fuel Bike final Lorenz Staüble 7.4692/136.70 bye
15:35 Super Gas eliminations round 4 winners: Jon Morton 9.9150/143.25, Frank Mason staged (bye) 15:30 Real Steel Street Eliminator eliminations round 4 winners: Andy Frost 8.2532/186.57, Steve Pateman 8.5609/163.60 bye Another speed record for Andy Frost, well done Frosty! Junior Dragster eliminations round 4 winners: Nick Mugridge (7.90) 7.9639/75.77, Dan Giles (8.75) 8.8489/72.92 bye 15:25 Super Comp eliminations round 4 winners: Belinda Bull 8.9819/141.45, Pete Cresswell 8.9780/155.17 bye Comp Eliminator eliminations round 2 winners: Jonas Dantanus (7.81) 7.2241/189.92 VW Sportsman eliminations round 3 winners: Paul Herbert (13.57) 13.6140/90.51, Graham Fairhead (14.80) 14.7539/88.75 bye Sportsman ET eliminations round 3 winners: Anna Metcalfe (13.30) 13.8083/104.14, Martin Lewis (15.20) 15.2741/85.52 Super Street eliminations round 3 winners: Jenny Gustafsson 10.9359/126.72, Neil Grant 10.9260/132.78 bye 15:15 Wild Bunch eliminations round 2 winners: Darryl Howells (10.51) 10.7631/129.33 bye, Chris Hartnell (9.99) 10.2020/120.56 Pro ET eliminations round 4 winners: Steve Bolton (9.64) 9.5938/136.28, Rick McCann (10.24) 10.3459/117.47 15:10 Super Street Bike eliminations round 3 winners: Steve Venables 7.6858/189.92, Dave Smith 7.9001/186.61 9.50 Bike eliminations round 4 winners: Greg Skett 9.5269/147.08, Julian Harris 9.5532/140.10 14:55 Roger Goring was next up in the demo session, 6.2383/247.13 in the Firestorm Jet FC. Your reporter now has a short breather as Michel Kooy is putting on a show on his Jet Quad. 14:45 Martin Hill followed Top Methanol with a storming 6.167 at a big 270.88 in the Fireforce 3 Jet FC. Next up was Eric Teboul on his Rocket Bike, this run scheduled to be the first under full power. 3.9219/204.50 at half track and 5.9398/216.43 at the stripe. 14:30 MSA Pro Modified eliminations round 2: Robert Joosten 6.3710/224.77 def. Andy Robinson 10.5739/80.21
Gordon Appleton and Bert Englefield then paired up for test runs, very nice passes, 6.3360/221.82 for Gordon to 6.8622/208.25 for Bert. 14:30 Top Fuel Bike eliminations round 2: Lorenz Stauble 6.7369/206.58 def. Steve Carey 10.6972/91.94
14:25 Top Methanol eliminations round 1: Dave Wilson 5.55319/247.23 bye
Freddy Fagerström 5.9449/246.05 def. Steve Turner 5.9022/213.18
Derek Flynn 8.1851/156.19 bye (observed run)
14:10 Super Modified eliminations round 2 winners: Tim garlick 7.6788/175.20, Andy Kirk 7.6302/178.40 13:55 Super Pro ET eliminations round 4 winners: Ashley Bell (8.65) 8.7240/134.63, Martyn Jones (7.71) 7.7940/168.49 bye 13:50 VW Alternate Engine eliminations round 1 winners: Mark Skeen (13.54) 13.5728/99.36 VW Pro eliminations round 1 winners: Neil Ellis (11.60) 12.4421/111.58 bye, Glynn Morgan (12.40) 12.9051/101.53 13:45 Pro Stock Bike eliminations round 1 winners: Dave Beck 7.4081/176.90, Richard Gipp 7.7640/165.42 Comp Bike eliminations round 2 winners: Dave Peters 8.4552/125.30, 8.3499/153.15 Our good friend Benni Voss tells us that Sascha Brodbeck's 9.2662 pass in round one makes it the quickest Harley Destroyer in Europe. Well done Sascha! Funny Bike eliminations round 2 winners: Steve French 7.3871/174.43, Stu Chamberlain 8.9429/101.58 bye 13:35 Junior Dragster eliminations round 3 winners: Nick Mugridge (7.90) 7.9942/78.28, Dan Giles (8.75) 8.8612/72.10, Annalieze Gibb (12.90) 13.1661/46.39 bye Sportsman ET eliminations round 2 winners: Martin Lewis (15.20) 15.2148/80.94, Jon Turner (12.01) 12.1793/92.95 bye, Ian Jackson (14.00) 14.0170/86.84, Anna Metcalfe (13.30) 13.3672/100.43 13:30 Super Gas eliminations round 3 winners: Jon Morton 9.9482/144.17, Frank Mason 10.1181/114.87, Pete Cresswell 9.9898/133.99 bye VW Sportsman eliminations round 2 winners: Chris Bray (15.90) 15.9379/81.83, Graham Fairhead (14.80) 14.9100/77.71, Paul Herbert (13.50) 13.5840/96.57 bye 13:25 Real Steel Street Eliminator eliminations round 3 winners: Steve Pateman 8.6810/164.89, Andy Frost 8.4161/177.65, Colin Lazenby 8.0131/180.68 bye Steve Nash pulled a great wheelie in his new Cougar then tried to drive through spin and got very close to the guardrail. Already driving it like he hates it! A tremendous pass for Colin Lazenby, the first half of an ET record, well done Colin! Trackside conditions are 66.4 F, 45% humidity and 29.80 inches of air, track temperature is 88.3 F. 13:20 Super Street Bike eliminations round 2 winners: Steve Venables 7.6122/187.36, Graham Balchin 7.7400/188.37, Jamie Sneddon 7.7929/187.57, Dave Smith 7.6728/188.34 This is easily the quickest set of UK SSB eliminations ever, well done guys! 9.50 Bike eliminations round 3 winners: Greg Skett 9.5732/143.33, Julian Harris 9.5969/140.22, Richard Sawatzki 9.5949/129.32, Dave Burfitt 10.0580/106.43 13:10 Super Street eliminations round 2 winners: Neil Grant 10.9559/122.34, Chris Kenny 10.9230/110.01, Jenny Gustafsson 10.8949/128.56 13:00 Roger Goring followed the Pro Fuel Shootout and ran right on his Personal Best again, 6.1608/256.06 for the Firestorm Jet FC. 12:55 Pro Fuel Shootout round 3 (left lane first): Thomas Nataas 4.8990/304.23, Lex Joon 4.7500/274.34, Leif Helander 5.6220/259.84, Urs Erbacher 4.8331/308.12, Siw Nystad 9.8470/78.51, John Spuffard 5.4600/202.64, Håkan Fällström 8.5220/78.13 bye (observed run), Patrik Pers 6.2358/166.57 (observed run) Lex away first 0.1310 to 0.1360, Lex's sixty foot 0.8620, no shake at all, 3.1920/261.89 st half track, the MPM Oil car drifting towards the centre line all the way down until Lex corrected and shut off at 1200 feet. Andy Marrs of the timing crew tells us that Lex's 1000 foot time of 3.9781 is the quickest ever recorded in TF here at Santa Pod and the first three-second 1000 foot time. Andy thinks that Lex's incrementals equate to a 4.6. Thomas blackstriped the whole lane, 0.8922 to sixty feet and 3.3141/247.38 at half track, 4.1431 at 1000 feet, straight as you like and stayed on the throttle all the way to the finish line. Simultaneous greens for Leif and Urs, Urs away first 0.2219 to Leif's 0.4380, Urs' sixty foot time 0.8781 to Leif's 1.0089, 3.2700/252.53 at half track to Leif's 3.7929/212.26. A straight pass for Leif, no sign of shake, blackstriping a lot of the way and off the throttle a touch early, Urs drove through slight shake and blackstriped all the way, a puff of smoke at 1200 feet and it looked as if he had a cylinder out all the way. A tremendous RT for Siw, 0.0889 to 0.2050 for Spuff, Siw to sixty feet in 0.8820 to Spuff's 0.9038, Siw shut off at about 250 feet but from here it didn't look as if she had shake. Spuff hit shake at 300 feet, got to half track at 3.4740/236.72, a puff of smoke from the headers and a faint bang at 900 feet. Drama in Håkan's pass, 1.0871 to sixty feet and then a huge explosion at 300 feet which blew the body clean off the car and high into the air, the body did a couple of twists before landing in the old fire-up road alongside the track. Håkan is just fine, not sure the same can be said for the car. During the clean-up I had a quick word with Patrik. He told me that he definitely prefers Funny Car to Top Fuel but that FC and Pro Mod are about the same, the only real difference is that there is more time to react in a Pro Mod. Patrik explained that he was out of shape yesterday because the clutch can has its vent in the top and when he hit the throttle he got a faceful of clutch dust and couldn't see anything. Good-looking pass to start with this time though: 1.1467 to sixty feet, 3.8730/216.17 to half track, the car drifting to the right and then as Patrik started to straighten things out there was a bang and a flash of flame under the body and Patrik shut off at about 700 feet. Word came back from the top end that Patrik is fine. Scotch Rob on Patrik's team asked us to say a big Hello to his girlfriend Laura. Hello Laura! Final aggregates against index are:
It's Urs v Lex in the final. 12:05 Nostalgia Fuel Altered Association qualifying session 5 (left lane first): Joe Bond 7.8190/169.85 bye, Jim Usher shut off, Frank Bennett 7.0189/194.89, Clayton Round 6.9051/193.22, Bob Glassup 7.0489/188.42 bye Jim shut off on the line for a fluid leak so Joe took the bye, getting close to the guardrail but staying with it in true Altered style. An excellent match-up for Frank and Clayton, the quickest side-by-side pass in NFAA history and PBs for both, well done guys! Congratulations also to Bob Glassup on a great pass, there is a six in that car since the motor hesitated for a moment off the line. Great stuff. 11:55 MSA Pro Modified eliminations round 1: Gordon Appleton DQ left before lights ran, Ray White shut off
Andy Robinson 7.8859/126.76 bye, Bert Englefield no show
Robert Joosten 6.3639/224.98 bye
Trackside conditions are 62.1 F, 49% humidity and 29.77 inches of air; track temperature is 79.7 F. 11:45 Top Fuel Bike eliminations round 1: Lorenz Staüble 6.6958/208.52 def. Harry Van Schie 9.1770/153.49
Steve Carey 6.9820/194.10 bye, Ian Turburville shut off
11:40 Top Methanol qualifying session 5 (left lane first): Freddy Fagerström 10.3420/78.51, Steve Turner 5.9280/238.00, Derek Flynn 8.2030/155.05 (observed run) Trackside conditions at the start of this session were 62.6 F, 48% humidity and 29.77 inches of air; track temperature was 71.1 F. Freddy pulled a 300-foot burnout and then rolled to about 1319 feet. Freddy left first 0.1369 to 0.4630, 0.9898 to sixty feet, but hit shake and shut off. Steve got to sixty feet in 1.0342, blackstriped to about 330 feet and went straight and true to his first five, achieving his weekend's objective. Well done Steve! A nice pass for Derek, a couple of cylinders out but a good checkout of the rebuilt transmission. Qualifying standings after this session:
11:30 Super Comp eliminations round 3 winners: Dave Day 9.1962/148.17 bye, Pete Cresswell 8.9939/142.02, Belinda Bull 8.9039/159.63 Next up is today's first Pro session. 11:25 Super Pro ET eliminations round 3 winners: Ashley Bell (8.64) 8.7250/150.94, Spencer Tramm (8.64) 8.6579/150.06, Martyn Jones (7.75) 7.7339/162.53 11:10 Pro ET eliminations round 3 winners: Rick McCann (10.25) 10.2337/130.98, Paul Baynton (11.12) 11.1618/121.94, Steve Bolton (9.64) 9.8789/115.64, Jerry Smith (9.90) 9.8810/136.28 bye 11:05 Super Modified eliminations round 1 winners: Tim Garlick 7.7860/171.73, Andy Kirk 7.6690/179.30, Nigel Payne 7.9138/170.35, Rob Smallworth 7.6870/178.56 11:00 Wild Bunch eliminations round 1 winners: Ed Yates (9.30) 10.1907/141.97 bye, Darryl Howells (10.51) 10.5381/123.63, Chris Hartnell (9.50) 9.5031/no speed Comp Eliminator eliminations round 1 winners: Jonas Dantanus (7.81) 7.2261/189.89 bye, Paul Marston (8.12) 8.4260/147.90 Next up after Comp Eliminator was Steve Warner in the Two Seat Dragster taking Bob Day of the start line crew for an 8.2120/167.90 passenger ride. 10:50 Comp Bike eliminations round 1 winners: Al Young 8.8188/152.59 bye, Phil Leamon 8.3270/155.22, Sacha Brodbeck 9.2662/138.01, Dave Peters 7.7108/171.21 A new PB for Dave Peters by a huge margin, well done Dave! Funny Bike eliminations round 1 winners: Steve French 7.3809/173.14 bye, Dave Bailey 7.8819/158.29, Chris Hall 6.9411/188.41, Stu Chamberlain 7.7200/167.91 bye Chris Hall back into the sixes, well done Chris! 10:40 Junior Dragster eliminations round 2 winners: Annalieze Gibb (12.90) 13.1503/47.06, Rosie Hunt (10.93) 11.0212/56.16 bye, Nick Mugridge (7.90) 7.9160/80.92, Dan Giles (8.75) 8.7999/70.30, Anna Stanley (9.00) 8.9413/72.01 10:35 Super Gas eliminations round 2 winners: Stuart Morrice 10.1612/145.16, Tim Adam 10.0939/141.56, Pete Cresswell 9.9832/134.19, Jon Morton 12.1060/64.56, Frank Mason 10.0152/124.94 Trackside conditions are 60.1 F, 50% humidity and 29.74 inches of air, track temperature is 60.0 F. 10:30 Sportsman ET eliminations round 1 winners: Sandie Gibb (12.00) 13.2852/99.97 bye, Ian Jackson (14.00) 14.1870/99.76, Anna Metcalfe (13.30) 13.3019/103.65, Jon Turner (12.01) 12.0861/104.47, Lee Hollis (19.42) 19.4887/60.30, Martin Lewis (15.20) 15.264/86.38 bye, Ian Petrie (17.08) Nick Gay (14.30) 14.3182/96.75 bye 10:25 VW Sportsman eliminations round 1 winners: Graham Fairhead (14.80) 14.7719/89.47, Mark Malone (17.90) 18.2120/69.67, Jacob Bailey (16.15) 16.4618/83.36 bye, Chris Bray (15.90) 15.9069/87.56, Paul Herbert (13.50) 13.6712/95.94 bye 10:20 Real Steel Street Eliminator eliminations round 2 winners: Andy Frost 8.606/185.80, Jerry Charles 15.8821/82.70 bye, Steve Nash 8.4159/179.41, Steve Pateman 8.7482/162.39, Colin Lazenby 8.1241/178.51 bye A new speed record for Andy Frost, well done Frosty! Wilf Stacey's engine blew a huge cloud of smoke at about 1000 feet, nothing found on the track so hopefully that means nothing untoward with Wilf's car. 10:10 9.50 Bike eliminations round 2 winners: Julian Harris 9.5622/135.11, Steve Ashby 9.6717/144.76, Jason Macan 9.6672/138.80, Greg Skett 9.5959/148.60, Ed Smiley 13.5599/115.96, Richard Sawatzki 9.5228/131.57, Andy Burfitt 9.8801/149.91, Dave Burfitt 9.4632/144.14 bye 10:05 Super Street Bike eliminations round 1 winners: Nigel Barker 8.9459/173.08, Jamie Sneddon 7.6259/185.38, Steve Venables 7.6638/179.50, Graham Balchin 7.7930/189.01, Mark Watkins 8.2852/180.54, Dave Smith 7.6540/189.86 bye, Sean Mills 8.0981/165.52 Sean Mills of Big CC Racing has awarded Dave Smith with £250 for the first sub-7.5 second run. 10:00 Super Street eliminations round 1 winners: Charlie Chivers 10.9761/104.41, Neil Grant 10.9430/132.75 bye, Mark Watkins 10.7819/123.27 bye, Leigh Morris 10.9029/121.94, Jennifer Gustafsson 10.9261/122.86, Chris Kenny 10.9821/119.31 Simon has posted his first tranche of pit notes which you can access via the Event Index page. 9:55 Super Comp eliminations round 2 winners: Chris Isaacs 10.0460/107.60 bye, Pete Cresswell 8.9803/150.95, Dave Day 9.2200/128.56, Chris Johnson 9.0130/136.81, Belinda Bull 8.9199/155.03 Brian Pateman had a wild ride in his match-up against Chris Johnson as fluid got under one of his slicks and the Firebird snapped hard right and crossed lanes. Brian kept hold of the car and is quite OK. Trackside conditions are 59.2 F, 49% humidity and 29.74 inches of air; track temperature is 56.6 F 9:35 Super Pro ET eliminations round 2 winners: Martyn Jones (7.72) 7.7607/169.84, Spencer Tramm (8.61) 8.7640/134.72, Nigel Turner (8.40) 8.4780/155.17, Nick Spence (8.20) 8.2660/162.41, Paula Atkin (8.39) 8.3849/162.53, Ashley Bell (8.64) 8.6500/150.45 bye 9:20 Pro ET eliminations round 2 winners: Vic Amato (9.90) 9.9049/135.86, Nigel Green (11.70) 11.7339/109.44, Mick Howling (9.70) 9.8542/122.53, Steve Bolton (9.75) 9.6402/141.82, Jerry Smith (9.80) 9.9051/135.86, Rick McCann (10.25) 10.3398/113.07, Paul Baynton (11.10) 11.1508/121.99 bye 8:50 Good morning and welcome from Santa Pod Raceway for our coverage of eliminations at the Autotrader Easter Thunderball, brought to you in association with American Car Imports. The Webster Race Engineering/MPM Oil webcam is on-line and broadcasting a picture every sixty seconds. You can access the webcam via the Event Index page. The webcam has now been running for sixty eight hours without a break! It's another lovely day here, looking out of the window I can see one tiny cloud in a beautiful blue sky. The weather station gives the conditions outside as 56.8 F, 62% humidity and 29.74 inches of air. The traditional raceday Good Morning to our US correspondents Ed O'Connell and Kathy Hileman who are tuned in from Rye, New Hampshire. Hope you're having a good day, guys, and what a pity it's not a public holiday in the USA... Eliminations start at 9:00 with round two of Pro ET. The Pro sessions are scheduled for 11:30, 14:00 and 16:00. Stay tuned and as soon as the racing starts we'll be back with all the news. Reports and pictures ©Eurodragster.com |