Funny Bike racer Chris Hall said after a first round 7.3 "That was the first proper run this weekend. We had electrical problems. The nitrous solenoid would not open on the run and there were two issues causing it which made it difficult to solve. We had to use a rich setting." The clutch casing contains no less than nineteen discs.

Funny Bike racer Kev Charman said "We are struggling for grip with our new Ken Cooper engine and have had to calm it down. We have been running 7.3s this weekend and have run 7.2 as our best." Kev runs eighteen clutch discs, nine steel and nine fibre. Kev and Chris meet in the final which is looking to be a close one.

Pro Stock Bike racer Richard Gipp has been here for the weekend after a tumble at the Easter Thunderball. He said "The plaster came off on Thursday and it still hurts a lot and the muscles are stiff. I hope to be back for the European Finals."

Super Street Bike racer Steve Venables came out victor over Walter Sprout after Walter accidently knocked the bike out of gear. Steve was not too happy with his run though. "The only good thing was a 0.03 light. Our 60ft time was worse; it got really loose at the top end and went over towards the wall and I had to come out of it. The clutch came in so hard it pulled the motor down and the tyre didn't spin."

NFAA racer Tony Betts was disappointed when he left before the tree was activated. "It felt a really good run with no shake but there was no time which is a shame. When the chute came out it was a bigger bang than when we ran 221mph. At least there was no damage and we will next be at the Open Sports Nationals."

NFAA racer Joe Bond has been running consistent and straight low sevens and just missed out on the final. "We had some problems with the valve train and changed it before today's first pass and that worked fine. We are creeping up again on times and hope we can make an impact on the championship at the end of the season." The final is Frank Bennett versus Dave Grabham with Joe and John Wright as third and fourth place run-off.

Super Pro ET racer Simon Rowland enjoyed his first weekend at the wheel of the Beovax car owned by Nick Good. "I reached the quarter finals and then slightly deep staged and rolled forward when I set the transbrake. This car is significantly quicker than my previous one. With that I was running 8.2 and my best over this weekend was 7.18. I hope Nick will ask me to share the driving and would love to be back in the car later this season."

VW Pro racer James Hodson races a VW Golf that to the casual viewer appears stock. He said "It is a standard Golf GTI bodyshell with six point cage by Wayne Allman of Intergalactic. The engine is a 1.8 with a turbo and a bit of nitrous which produces 470hp through the front wheels. The tyres are M&H slicks which are standard compound for drag racing but small enough to fit the wheel arches and I run them at low pressure, six psi. The suspension is uprated with new bushes and replacement coil over shocks." James won the class elimination and you can find out more at www.sub11motorsport.com.

Super Gas racer Jon Evans had an incredibly narrow margin of victory over Mark White in round one. "We were side by side right down the track, he was first by six inches and we both broke out; I won because he broke out by five ten thousandths more than me. It's exciting but can be a bit of a lottery. We have Frank Mason in the next round; there is history and we have both won against each other."

Pro Stock Bike racer Dave Beck, pictured with daughter Penelope, said "We are sneaking up on it. Our target is to win of course but also to go quicker. We have new parts and don't want to break anything so it is safer to run soft settings. I am taking a break from racing in the US this year and am talking about some US dates next year. Whether I race in the UEM depends on finances because registration is quite a big financial commitment.

Super Street Bike racer Walter Sprout from the US is having a great time, running a 7.58 in the second round before a semi final race with Steve Venables. "This is a beautiful place. We want to run 7.3s but I don't think this is achievable today because it is getting warmer. I run on a variety of tracks in the US, Gainesville, Valdosta, Commerce and Indy, and Santa Pod is as good as any of them. In Pro Street in the US you have to run 7.3 to be competitive and it is good to see Super Street flourishing here."

Top Fuel Bike racer Rene van den Berg said "We are testing a few changes here. We have a new sprocket and front forks. Our next race is Drachten and then we go to Finland for the UEM race. I have had some interesting runs between the wall and the centre line and have been getting steering practice."

Top Fuel Bike racer Ian Turburville is out of competition after suffering more engine damage. "We tuned it up earlier in the year to go quicker and faster but damaged the heads and other parts. We are now repairing parts that have been previously repaired and it is leaving some of them weak. Yesterday it let go big-time and smashed both cylinders. We will repair but we won't go quicker until we can afford new parts. But you can still make progress in other areas with weak parts by changing the tune-up." Turbo will next be running at the Truck Festival and Bulldog Bash, in demo mode.

Super Mod racer Tim Mugridge is happy with the performance in what is a surpisingly high corrected altitude figure of 1600-2000ft. "That has been affecting our times. At SCR we ran a 7.54 at sea level conditions and here have only been able to run a 7.61. It has affected the whole field. No-one was able to run a 7.5 yesterday."

Super Pro ET racer Karl Harrison was delighted with great leaps in his performance, running a breakout 7.32 in round one. "We changed the clutch settings and the blower overdrive and the car is really picking up from half track. On that run we only had two gears as we had lost third and it didn't hurt the ET. Our objective is to run down into the sixes and will try to run our first six at the Euro Finals." Karl has been also busy helping Steve Taylor with engine and gearbox rebuilds; Steve is absent attending his sister's wedding this weekend.

Super Pro ET racer John Everitt is looking forward to increasing his points lead after qualifying no.1 and getting through to a bye in round two as we type. Crewman Nigel Turner said "The air is so good it is easy to break out. We will run flat out in the bye run to see what it will do." In another important race for points, defending champion Rick Cooke and his last minute team of Simon Mitchell, Emma Turner and 'Chucky' beat Barry Giles in the first round. Another Super Pro snippet is that Vince Gibbs (broken main bearing cap), Simon Cooper (oil pressure) and Rick Garrett were unable to make the first round call.

Super Pro ET racer John Morris is a first round victor. "I had a good reaction time and the track is good. At the Main Event I got through to the finals with transmission problems. I didn't have time to take it out between rounds and nursed the throttle. Running in this class in my first year is tough but it's exciting and we're having fun."

Super Pro ET racer Dave Townsend took some time off for a rebuild which turned out to be five years. "The car ran in Super Gas and was consistent and near the top of the class. Ian Bishop and I built the full tube chassis and it is now tagged to 7.50s. The front end was replaced and is more splayed out with better shocks and a full funny car style roll cage; the car is now slammed to the floor. The engine is a brand new Ford 598cu in with 11.2 inches deck height and dynoed to 1100hp. The carbs are twin Holley 1050 Dominators with no gas." After only a couple of runs Dave ran an 8.14 at 158mph and he now wants to increase the speed by 10-15mph to its potential with borrowed carbs from Brendan Clancy. "The car cannot run in Super Mod as it has a dry sump.

Super Pro ET racer John Atkinson has been running consistent 8.8s in the Cortina Estate. "On our first run however the rotor arm fell off the distributor and thanks to Jeff Bull for lending us a spare rotor arm and distributor cap.

Super Mod racer Belinda Bull's crew chief and husband Jeff Bull who sponsors our Swap Meet is pleased the car is running new bests at every meeting. "We have been trying to get the chassis dialled in so that it leaves the line like a Pro Stock Truck. Chris Isaacs has helped teach us about adjusting it and it is amazing how little you need to change it to see results. We adjusted the font shocks a very small amount and the 60ft time went from 1.14 to 1.10 and our first round this morning was 1.09.

NFAA racer Tony Betts had a less fraught preparation for the Summernationals than for the Main Event when a new engine was required. "All was fine with the car after the Main Event which was a relief after the breakage we had at the Springspeed Nationals. Our main issue this weekend has been tyre shake; we are launching well and doing great 60ft times but then going into severe shake. Hopefully we can get rid of it and go into the final." The third run on Saturday was also plagued with shake and it could mean that we only get to see Venom once on race day.

Pro Mod racer Bert Englefield's team did a great job to repair the car in the two and a bit break between the Main Event and Summer Nationals. Bert said "Most of the work is on the right hand side of the car where we had to cut the sill and rear wheel arch out of a spare body and fit it with fibreglass to the rest of the body and thanks to team members Wayne and Rob for doing a great job. There was lots of metal work under the sill. Andy did that and the wheelie bar, header and front strut. Thanks also to Andy Robinson for sending and getting the strut back from the US and to Lee Child for a deal for M/T Tyres.

Pro Mod racer Andy Robinson was delighted with an off-the-trailer 6.14 and later a 6.17 at a booming 231mph speed after setting a new European record at the Main Event. He said "We like to be consistent. We stripped the engine after the Main Event and found no damage which was perfect and now it's back together and the setup works really well. In two weeks time we travel to Finland. It's going to be a tough year and we want to be consistent and also be the first in Europe to run a 6.0, but we have to balance those objectives. There are seven or eight cars that could be the first to run a 6.0 and chase my championship lead big-time. Christian Nystrom ran a 6.16 in testing last weekend. The atmosphere in the Pro Mod pits is fantastic but that all ends when the helmets go on. Where will the first 6.0 happen this season? I don't know it won't happen elsewhere, after Mats Eriksson ran 6.12 at Mantorp last year. If it doesn't happen before the Finals, I will be amazed if it doesn't happen there.

Pro Mod racer Graham Ellis was delighted with a 6.2818/226.62 in the right hand lane after a change to the rear end and a lot of work in trying new setups. "We leaned it out a bit but I have to say the better time is due to the new rear end ratio as it cost me �2,000. We had aborted runs yesterday which showed that we are still searching for the ideal setup. On that run it didn't shake at all. The mood in our pit has gone from down there to up here and that run did not cost us any parts." Later in the left lane the car slowed to a 6.63 at 216.

Amos Meekins, who heads up the scrutineering team at Santa Pod, is still walking on air after being taken for a 7.911/169.80 ride in the Two Seat Dragster. "I was having a conversation in the pits when Darren Prentice joined us", said Amos. "He told me that they had a problem with the dragster and they weren't sure whether they could run it. I said I would go and take a look at it. When I got there, Darren pointed at the firesuits and said "Choose one, you're going in it". It gave me a new perspective on the racing. The burnout scared me! It was a real kick up the backside off the start line and I thought the acceleration would tail off eventually but it never did. Jon Webster said to me "When you see the gantry then grab the steering wheel because you'll get a kick" so I did and when the parachute came out I thought my arms were going to be ripped off. Now I know why I do what I do.".

Amos and Jon Webster head off for the pass. "I've been working in Drag Racing for almost thirty years and it is my life. This is the first time I've been down the track and I only had fifteen minutes notice!"