Super Street Bike racer Wayne Saunders said "It's quite windy at the finish line, blowing from right to left. We are having to tune for the available grip. Our game plan is to dip into the sevens. Others have more experience and we struggled last year, but I feel we are better prepared and expect to run a 7.8. But in qualifying we were happy to run first because seeing the others spin their tyres might have put me off."

Pro ET and Super Comp racer Paul Brown is at his first event at SCR with the help of new sponsor Dunster House. Paul's mother Lesley said "We are really enjoying the weekend and were pleased with qualifying fourth in Pro ET and third in Super Comp. The car is running well." Paul won the first round in both classes before defeat in round no.2.

Pro ET racer Gordon Northway pulled off his first no.1 qualifier position in the class but was defeated in round one of eliminations. He said "We were happy with the no.1 qualifier and are enjoying racing." Gordon supports the Multiple Sclerosis Trust and more details are at the team's web site at www.racing4multiplesclerosis.com.

Pro ET racer Billy Gane spent the weekend nursing a broken engine after hearing bottom end knocking. "My only qualifying pass was a 16.8, there was no power and when I got off the power I heard it knock." We will stage for points in round one and then try to repair it for the Main Event"

Super Pro ET racer Barry Giles also suffered meachanical issues as the gearbox was once again the source of problems. Son Daniel said "At Easter the box broke and we found a valve preventing it going into gear. We rebuilt it and it seemed fine. But when we made our first pass yesterday the problem re-emerged and the car wouldn't go into first. We cleaned the valve body and rebuilt it overnight and we think it is working fine now." Barry however was defeated in round one.

Super Pro ET racer Nigel Turner was joined by brother Phil. Nigel said "The car is going faster and faster and we can't understand why as we have not changed anything as we want to know how the car runs under different weather and track conditions. We ran an 8.30 on an 8.41 in qualifying so have dialled in 8.27" An 8.52 was still sufficient to get Nigel through to round 2.

Super Pro ET racer Bob Doyle is at his first race of the year following non-appearance before Easter of cylinder heads refreshed in the US. He said "We have got gremlins with the ignition timing and valve train and need to find the problem. We can't do much diagnostic work here at the track and can only run it at idle in the workshop so we may need to get a new system to solve it for sure." Bob and Tracy are joined by Peter Lane for the third year and said "Peter likes working with us so much he is delaying building his new car."

Pro Stock Bike racer Len Paget said "We are ready to go and will run it out the back door to see what it will do. In Hungary we suffered breakage of �2 parts at the UEM meeting and are happy to run mid sevens here. The new chassis and four-link system is working well with the adjustable shock absorber, but we need to get the engine in the sweet spot. I would like to run 7.2s at the Main Event but the competition are throwing a lot of money and parts at it." The adjustable shock absorber is a new piece of technology that is also used on Graham Dance's Super Street Bike and helps to fine tune the weight transfer.

Super Twin Fuel racer Shawn Rodman has suffered electrical problems which have prevented him running this weekend. He said "We thought we found the problem but it backfired on the startup and I don't know if it there is damage from that. So we will go home and work on it. I was happy to run a personal best of 7.73 at Easter and am excited to be in UEM Super Twin at the Main Event. The bike has run a best of 7.23 and my objective is to step up and qualify. I am looking to get more experience so will be running Top Fuel Bike in the ACU championship as well as UEM Super Twin in the UK."

Super Mod racer Andy Hone has run consistent times between both tracks over the years. "We don't make many changes on the car between the tracks. We can make a little tyre shake at both but can get it under control. The car is near its sweet spot so we try not to vary the adjustments too much. The engine has been the same for some time apart from the rods and today's first pass will be the car's 99th run with that engine." At the Main Event where Super Mod will not be running, Fred will be helping on Nick Davies and Rob Loaring's Pro Mod team.

Outlaw Anglia racer Paul Wright is racing at SCR for the first time since the 2008 Hot Rod Drags. He said "The only change we made is the grommet that takes the fuel line through the bulkhead." Paul is busy with the race car, administering Outlaw Anglia as a class and Crew Chief on Brian Payne's Street Eliminator Mustang. "I will be running Outlaw Anglia at meetings that don't clash with Street Eliminator". Paul's car was originally built for Barry Shuter who ran it a few times and then Dale Giles who owned it for 18 months before Paul bought it in 2004. Paul said "I put in a new short motor and uprated the rear suspension and got the chassis tagged to 7.5s. I run the blower overdrive at 38% to get enough boost and will be looking to get a new one sometime." Paul qualified no.1 with a 7.905/179 but lost to Colin Millar in round 2 after a wild pass.

Junior Drag Bike co-ordinator Sharron Collier is delighted with the development of the class into a dozen competitors with a shared canopy and great team atmosphere between both competitors and parents. She said "As well as the racing the social side after hours is great fun and we lay down ground rules like no pushbikes. The class has two birthdays this weekend, Jasmine Cordelle who is 12 and Josh Webb who is 17 - Happy Birthday to them. On the minus side we had our first exclusion for running too quick (Jack Wildeman went under his 12.90 index twice) and they are all trying so hard not to break out. There are three or four more planning to come in and the easy logistics and low cost are attracting interest. Some of the bikes will be able to run Super Twin ET with a 500cc engine capable of being fitted with changed brackets."

Pro ET racer Ian Brown won the Eurodragster.com/Cotsweld Race Cars Perfect Light Award yesterday. He said "I am over the moon at winning it as we are running a limited season due to shortage of funds and working on our new car. We will be doing Ladies That Launch and Open Sports Nationals as well. My wife Ozzie will be racing the car at Ladies That Launch." Also in competition in the car is Harrison Brown who told us "I run Super Street because I prefer heads-up starts. We had the engine refreshed by Real Steel and the car is running well."

Sportsman ET racers Sara and Steve Unsworth, racing as Team Gecko, have a new gearbox in their Mustang. Steve, racing at this event said "The old box broke at Bug Jam and we had to spend the last few races of the year running the car without reverse gear. The rest of the car is the same but we have run our first twelves here with a 12.92 and 12.98." The team are also running Nigel Holland's Mustang as a rolling sales advert for that car and Sara qualified no.1 at Easter with it. The team welcome new sponsors Herring Plant Hire and ESQ Bookkeeping.

VW Pro racer Phil Norman restores VWs out of his base in Croydon, Surrey and details of his work are on the web site www.brickfieldautos.com. Phil qualified no.1 with a +0.039 12.239/108.83 and defeated Sam Young in the final.

9.50 Bike racers, Eurodragster.com sponsor Fred Furlong and son Paul suffered problems at the last event with Paul's clutch drying out wit the wrong oil type. Here, he has improved his launches and reaction times. Like Easter they met in Eliminations. Before the match Paul said "It's different racing Dad. I go better against him and feel less nervous." Fred said "It's no different to any other race. In fact I don't mind if Paul wins and I might even be less competitive against him." This may or may not have been psychology, but Fred won with a 9.51.

9.50 Bike racer Phil Steele started drag racing in 1974 for three seasons and in the 80s took up sprinting and events at Avon Park with the Midland Drag Racing Association. He is now Secretary of the National Sprint Association's Southern Branch, which runs at SCR three times a year. He said "I was persuaded by Clive Mechaell to take up drag racing again and am running this Kawasaki ZX12R which was owned by Keith Parnell and named Parny Express. The bike is stock apart from a small dose of nitrous and a trick Mick Hand hydraulically activated clutch." Phil's association with Keith Parnell and Mick Hand includes their work in restoring Keith's Rouge et Noir 2 which Keith and Mick ran with Angus McPhail as McCoy Dynamics.

Super Street Bike racer Mick Templeman came off his bike at 170mph yesterday and only sustained a scratch on one elbow thanks to his leathers that held up superbly. He said "I was in the right hand lane against Steve Venables and it was a close run. The front end was still light under acceleration and the wind took it out from under me - it was like being on ice. I went through the beams in 8.8s on my back without the bike." Other Super Street Bike racers are contributing to the rebuild and the engine and gearbox are salvageable. Mick has a spare bike at home which he will use at the Main Event.

9.50 Bike racer Jemma Venables broke out both in qualifying and eliminations. "I don't like slowing down but I was off the throttle well before the finish line and was only doing 120mph, but the 60ft time was good", she said. Father Steve has been testing his old Super Street Bike recently - will this be for Jemma to move up a class? "It will be a back-up bike. I have removed 80lb in weight and changed the weight distribution. Although it ran a seven, there were a few problems so we don't know when it will be out," Steve said.

Shakespeare County Raceway Media Centre officer Dawn Watson presented an engraved portrait of '70s Pontiac-engined altered Fire Injun to the car's crewman Roy Fursman. Roy said "It's my first time here since 1979 and Jason Smith and I used to run the car at Midland Drag Racing Association meetings. The car came to a sad end in November 1977 at a meeting that Dorset Horn also crashed so it's good to see Dick Sharp here in it again." Dawn runs MissB Products Glass Engraving and Photography and does engraving on the trophies presented at the end of the meeting.