9.50 Bike racer Eddy Smiley has borrowed dad Tony's Suzuki GSXR and rode it into the no.1 spot after two sessions. "My engine seized at a rwyb earlier in the year and rode this bike for the first time at the Springspeed Nationals to 9.9s. The bike was wheelying or bogging off the line but I have now got the revs right and we have placed straps on the front forks which prevent the front end from lifting. The other bike runs the numbers as well. We are waiting for parts so I hope we will both be racing later in the season."

Supertwin Gas racer Les Harris suffered a nail in his slick in the first qualifying session. "My wife Lynn whose birthday it is today spotted it before we ran. Unfortunately you can't repair slicks, so I had to put a new �140 one on the bike for the second session and qualified. I backed the clutch off because the traction is so good after the Main Event and was pleased with the result."

Supertwin Gas racer Dave Jones woke up this morning to find posters like this stuck to his truck. He also received a note saying 'Jonesy, next time you're mine. I'm going to walk a lot slower. Mr A Pheasant.' Dave said 'I think it might be a wind up - the Norfolk postcode partly gave it away but all the NAST are suspects.' Without a pheasant in sight today, Dave qualified no.1 and recorded a PB sixty foot time.

Super Street bike racer Stefan Schannarwiler is here from Switzerland on his Hellvetic Express bought from Paul 'Grumpy' Watson. He said "We have now figured out the start completely with the revs and seating position. This is my first turbo bike, the previous one was nitrous and only my second weekend racing it. We are only running one bar on the turbo and not having any boost in first gear." Stefan's time was 8.1763 which was good for fourteenth in the sixteen bike field.

Super Street Bike racer Thomas Granica from Germany (pictured left, with Paul Watson) came with the objective of achieving settings that would enable the bike to run sevens consistently on a good track. "We have not done a lot of work on the dyno and prefer to use this just to set up the baseline on the engine and turbo. What really matters is getting down the track with the chassis, clutch and engine working as a combination. The chassis in Super Street Bike is very important. The rider is still important with consistent shift points but the bike has to be consistent." Thomas is no. 11 with a 7.92.

Super Street Bike racer Garry Bowe is at no.5 "and struggling with grip. We changed the setup for the first session and had to put it back to the old settings to get in the field. I ran a 7.79 with wheelspin between 200 and 300ft. To be competitive we have to find a couple of extra tenths in the first 300ft.

Super Street Bike racer Brad O'Connor was cagey about what he does to the bike between meetings and his crewman admitted "It would take forever to tell you". Like most other riders, Brad was spinning the tyre in the first session and improved to a 7.90 in the second session which put him at no.9 in the field. Brad designs and produces his own electronic products through his company BTC Motronics.

Comp Bike racer Bob Brooks ran his best on the latest bike, a 7.969. He said "The bike runs on rails. We are not going to be greedy, we want to run quicker without breaking anything. Our objective for this meeting was a seven and we have achieved that. It was fun running in Top Fuel Bike at the Main Event. Since then we have put in new valves, changed the seating, made adjustments to the combustino chamber, modified the gear shift system and put a new back tyre on, all in two weeks."

Funny Bike racer Gary Jones (pictured right with co-owner Dave Friend) said "We are back after enormous carnage at SCR. We had a bearing failure which cost a box, clutch case and oil pump which all cost �3,500 to replace. It was the third time we broke a bearing. We moved from a seven bore to ten bore bearing to spread the load and made the clutch less aggressive, but the shifts go from 11,500rpm to 8,000 which gives a huge torque surge. We have a stronger clutch case made from billet aluminium but want to get the engine reliable before we use it. This morning we ran our best 60ft ever so we are moving forward. The bike has a six at 200mph in it, it is just so difficult getting it out because it is all our own work rather than imported. Our personal best is a 7.4 and we want to improve on that and get over 190mph this weekend.

Funny Bike racer Dave Holland suffered tyre shake off the line which was captured on video by the team. "We didn't get data earlier. We did do a lot of testing and are getting close to what we want and getting the bike to stick to the track. Pictured is a 'spy shot' of Dave's new Super Street bike and he said he is planning to make a return to the class he ran around 1997-98. "Super Street bikes have come a long way in technology and performance and Funny Bikes are notoriously hard to maintain. We may test this season depending how the Funny Bike goes and if that goes well we will put the Funny Bike up for sale or swap."

NFAA racer John Wright was unable to make the third session due to fuel and oil pressure issues. Lawrie Gatehouse said after a 6.51/220 "It was a nice speed and there is more to come. We wanted to get to the other end and not come out of the hole too hard. We didn't know whether the chutes would come out because they are in a bit of a dead area air-wise. But they didn't come out simply because John could not reach the lever. In the event he stopped on the brakes with a bit of smoke and about six inches from the field. We were able to move the lever so that means we can run 240mph and not worry about stopping the car."

NFAA racer Dave Grabham said "A big Thank You to my crew TC, Arthur and Robbie who put the car together while I was swanning around in France. I had an offer I couldn't refuse to take World Ward Two Jeeps and a pickup to the D-Day anniversary in Normandy." It's Dave's wife Hils' 40th birthday next Thursday and we bought her a ride in Santa Pod's two seater dragster to celebrate. We only told her about it this morning."

NFAA racer Jon Best is doing licensing this weekend in his Topolino altered Felsted, Best and Lotsabeera. Jon said "We had a brake problem and needed to replace the master cylinder which we borrowed. I co-own the car and supplied the engine gearbox and clutch which is the same setup as my slingshot dragster. The chassis is from Wendy Baker's Timewarp which I bought last year and updated over the winter. I first planned to run a fuel altered in December; the slingshot is having paint chrome and signwriting done. I will sell it at the end of the year to build a hemi to replace the current motor which is a 426cu in Chevy with 8-71 fuel pump and 19 gallon fuel" The plan is for a launch today and half pass tomorrow.

NFAA racer Frank Bennett said after two 6.6 passes "The first was a full pass to get data. We changed the fuel system to turn off the high speed lean-out and it fattened up in third gear." The last run had a terminal speed of 174mph which indicates lots more to come.

AMA Pro Street Bike world #2 Walter Sprout is here from the USA riding Steve Mead's Super Street Bike. In testing yesterday Walter made four runs: one checkout pass and three easy-looking 7.6s. "I've always wanted to come here and run my bike", said Walter (left, with Steve Mead and Phil Steele). "Steve happened to have a golden opportunity. It's a great track but it has a camber - you probably saw me take a hard left. Steve's bike is completely different to mine - it all works very well but it is different. I'm very much looking forward to being in competition; I am racing on my US licence but had to join Santa Pod Racers Club". Walter said that AMA Pro Street Bike is almost the same as Super Street Bike save that bikes must have headlights and tail lights and three inch ground clearance.

Funny Bike racer Dave Bailey has had to withdraw after suffering engine damage in testing yesterday, when he ran 7.16. "I have detonated pistons", said Dave. "It went from being too lean and melting everything to being too rich and detonating everything. It didn't even have much nitrous in. Maybe that's the problem - I need more nitrous!"

Super Gas racer Conrad Stanley is about to put the championship-winning Firebird for sale and what could be a better advert than running 9.901 in the first qualifying session. Conrad said "We are looking for something a but quicker and still with doors. We have been spending time looking at Racing Junk and this will be a great car for anyone looking to race in Super Gas or Super Comp."

Pro ET racer Simon Innes is running his Plymouth Barracuda that he bought from Jon Webster. "I did the Paul Marston driver training in 2007-8 and ran at the 2008 National Finals in the Vega and then bought this. The car didn't need much work, just exhaust wrapping, a new oil cooler and filter." The car is taxed and MOT'd and runs treaded M/T Sportsman Pros. Simon is planning to change to slicks next time and is considering moving to Super Street after buying some new speed parts. The car has a stall convertor which acts as a rev limiter on the line and to leave at the ideal rpm. Simon comes from a racing family as his uncle the late David Tomaschuk raced the ex-Barry Giles Tequila Sunrise Jag engined altered renamed Wholesaler at the end of the Eighties.

Pro ET racer Chris Bishop is brother of fellow racer Kim Bishop and uncle of wheelie king Mark Bishop. The Bishop family first got involved in the sport in the 1970s as crew on the Top Fuel Dragster of Trevor Young, and with Sam Freeman and Vic Hammond who have returned to the sport after being active in its earlier years. This 100E called Split Decision (referring to the paint job) is almost wholly self-built apart from the Armour Fabrications roll cage. Chris said "After all those years as crew I thought it was time I got one myself and my first race in the car was in 2008. For this year I have rebuilt the engine which is a 360 Chrysler with a stroker crank which takes it up to 408cu in." The trans is a 727 Torqueflite with a Ford rear end. This morning's times were a 10.79 and 10.77 on a 10.7.

Pro ET racer Marius 'Mo' Blackburn had to miss the first two Pro ET events at SPR. Co-owner Chris Gray (pictured front) said "The car has been in the truck since before Easter and we haven't managed to get here so it is good to be here to have a play." The altered's engine is a Ford 351 Cleveland with a single Dominator carb and Transmission Specialities Powerglide trans in a Hauser chassis assembled by the team. Chris's drag racing history goes back to the legendary 1964 DragFest at Blackbushe where he was a spectator. The team have been racing since 1984.

Super Pro Pat Talbot has withdrawn with a broker rocker arm (pictured). Stephen Talbot said "The rocker arm broke and sadly we don't have a spare. It is a semi custom part from the US so we are not sure when we will be back. We were hoping to switch the nitrous system on in August."

Super Pro ET racer John Everitt has been helped by Simon Mitchell of Mitchulle Autobodies. After winning the Eurodragster.com/Gold RV Perfect ET award he said "The breather drain from the engine had a bolt head stripped by accident on the end of the chassis rail and we had to clean up a new bolt and tig weld it into the chassis. Simon will be making his debut in his Boneshaker altered next year. Pictured are the ladies of the crew, from left to right, Emma Turner, Misty-Anne Phillips, Maxine Everitt and Eurodragster.com staff member Kirstie.

Congratulations to Super Pro ET racer Nigel Turner and Emma on their wedding last weekend. Fittingly for a drag racing couple the rings were supplied by John Everitt. Emma joked "This is our honeymoon, although Nigel is taking a year out of racing he is crewing on the Alien. In November we're off to the US to see the NHRA races at Las Vegas and Pomona." On a sadder note, many of the Super Pro ET field are carrying a 'For Karl' message in support of Karl Hulland a friend of John Everitt and known to many racers, who is seriously ill.

Super Pro ET racer Ashley Bell shut off after the first burnout and it was bad news. This valve stem shows what happens when the motor hurts itself. When we passed the heads hadn't come off but it was not expected to be pretty. "It's like Woolworths in there", joked his crew chief Snappy, "There's a lot of pick n' mix. The engine is probably running on four and a half cylinders and we will have to go back to Fred Flintstone pedal power for the rest of the event. The only good news is that we didn't stop the racing and didn't put any oil down."

Super Pro ET racer Rick Garrett imported this beautiful Dodge Dart from the US where it had been constructed by Advanced Chassis of Ohio with a tube chassis for a street class. "This is my second season with this car having been racing on and off for over twenty years and recently taken time out." Rick replaced the engine to a Koffel B-1 of 604cu in and the trans to an Abruzzi Racing Transmissions Glide. The car has been on the dyno at 960hp and 886 lb/ft of torque without nitrous. The vehicle is still street registered and when it runs eights, a move to Street Eliminator will be considered.

Super Pro ET racer Mark Flavell's weekend came to a premature end when the Saab Funny Car's engine broke badly on the burnout. Crew Chief Craig Owens said "We lost the blower yesterday and Ian Kerr helped to bring a spare down from the team's Cleveland base. The parts arrived at 4pm and we worked hard to fit them in time to get a run. However we missed the cut-off time by ten minutes. This morning the engine ran fine in the pits. After the burnout we were shut down for an oil leak which we thought we had cured. When we got back to the pits there were tell-tale lumps in the oil pan which turned out to be bits of a rod. The block split as well so it is an expensive weekend. We were offered an engine by Nick Good and have a spare at home but we will go home now and work to get the car back on track for the next event."