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We had many more racers at the Peak Performance Day although still very few who will be competing next weekend.

Top Methanol Dragster racer Dave Wilson made a couple of runs. The first in the early afternoon ended very quickly as the Silverline dragster's rear tyres lit up at the hit. Grumpy got off the throttle immediately then gave it a blip and the car twitched to the left. Before the second run there was a long delay before staging whilst Crew Chief David Wilson had a long look at something on the left of the car in the cockpit area (what he was doing was obscured from my view), then some gesturing and Grumpy staged. A better launch but off the throttle before half track, possibly because of all the fuel burned before staging, 9.699/84.58.

Also for the Pros Ian King made one attempt at a run on the Imperial Wizard Top Fuel Bike. After pushing back from the burnout the team were obviously unhappy with something and Ian shut it off before staging, we didn't see him again after that.

Steve Hall, Mick Payne and Andy Wright were making licencing passes in Pro Mod, Andy in Bert Englefield's car which he is due to drive at the VP Racing Fuels National Finals. Steve's first run in the blown-alcohol 'Vette was a launch, 1.226 to sixty feet and then shut off, 15.303/70.83 at the stripe. On his second pass the motor stopped dead before staging and then Steve shut off before making a third pass. Mick's first pass in his blown-alcohol Camaro was a very wayward 10.337/86.18 with a creditable 1.1678 sixty foot time. Mick clocked a best of 8.693/94.50 but was shut off before staging on two subsequent attempts. Andy hit shake at the hit on his first run, 1.307 sixty foot time and 13.342/78.83 at the stripe. Subsequent runs netted Andy 9.419/107.04 and 9.017/94.89, the latter run particularly looking good until shut off before half track.

Representing Super Pro ET were Barry Giles, Nick Good, Rick Garrett, Jayne Kay and Robin Orthodoxou. Barry's first run was 7.686/172.36 followed by 7.591/174.34, both of these with the tiniest of red lights. Nick made a couple of passes, the first featuring a spectacular combination of tyre shake and a big wheelie; Nick was off the throttle before half track and clocked 8.967/89.38. The second run again featured a big wheelie only without the shake, Nick stayed with it and clocked 6.901/190.48. Rick's first run of the day in his Skyline was 9.212/119.91 then 11.655/75.53 - the car did not sound right and the team didn't look too happy.

Jayne shut off early on her first pass and from where I was sat the car showed every appearance of having broken the blower belt. The second run was 9.134/138.21. We understand that Jayne is launching in second gear for the time being and the launch does indeed look very gentle, I would guess that the eight-second passes will be a breeze on a first gear launch. Robin's first run of the day was 7.233/180.64, we believe a PB, then 7.235/175.00

Pro ET racer Mike Lacey of Eurodragster.com sponsor ModUrStang was one of the first to run today with a 9.319/143.88 which must be pretty close to a PB if not a PB. Mike's subsequent passes were 9.453/142.45 and 9.373/144.29. Also for Pro ET, Keith Herbert got his money's worth with runs of 11.038/119.15, 11.019/119.17, 11.036/119.14, 10.993/118.86 10.977/119.18, 10.924/119.46 and 10.948/119.46.

Super Mod action came courtesy of Belinda Bull and Rob Smallworth. Belinda opened her account with a 7.550/179.92 followed by 7.577/180.63 with a 0.004 red, then 7.591/179.96. Rob didn't make the start line on his first run, the Chevy moved to the start line garage whilst Martin Hill ran, then he put in a run of 7.779/177.05 followed by a 7.741/177.11.

Amongst the undoubted stars of the day were the Super Street Bike racers. Peak Performance Days often attract a good number of SSBs and this one was no exception. It was great to see Gary Drury back on track with his Turboosa, it has been a fair time since we last saw him. Gary's first couple of runs were checkouts of 9.392/149.65 and 9.211/144.76, then he started to turn it up with an 8.602/167.31 after which the ambulance went speeding down the shutdown area. It transpired that Gary had had a brake problem and ended up in the field at the end of the shutdown area. Gary was quite OK but no word came back on the state of the bike. Graham Dance started with an 8.647/182.02 then he too turned up the wick, 8.009/164.86 followed by 7.761/185.06 and 7.652/185.01 which is certainly a best for his turbo set-up. The sevens continued with a 7.678/186.61 and 7.750/185.75. Wayne Saunders was heading the right was with runs of 7.766/192.96 and then 7.705 at a huge 197.15 but a puff of smoke in the shutdown area betrayed a head gasket failure and Wayne went home after that.

Steve Mead had a fantastic day wiping out his PB. He opened with a 7.646/188.93 then two consistent passes of 7.758/185.05 and 7.781/184.25 followed by a couple of mid-eights then a cracking 7.549/191.34 for the Lucas Oils-sponsored racer. It was a good day too for Garry Bowe, opening his account with a 7.751/182.81, slightly slowing to 7.980/151.67 then turning it up again 7.561/184.32, 7.656/173.72 and 7.617/176.40 and finishing the day with another 7.5 at 7.566/184.31. Chris Reed was still suffering problems and managed a best of 8.411/167.29. Graham Balchin again had former Top Fuel Bike racer Brian Johnson in attendance working on new clutch set-ups. Graham's rear tyre blazed on his first run then he put in passes of 7.870/189.74 and 7.860/192.14. The clutch was pretty obviously starting to do the job as Graham followed these runs with a 7.639/191.26 and 7.552/194.63. 8.50 Bike racer Martin Wilson started the day with a 9.175/169.80 then went back into the eights at 8.831/169.18, 8.676/171.74 and 8.824/169.17.

Aforementioned Eurodragster.com sponsor Martin Hill made one pass in the afternoon for the remaining VW Action spectators, a cracking 5.986/260.49. Also in exhibition were the Supercharged Outlaws and we had some PBs with Ian Hanson clocking a stellar 7.330/181.26 from the '53 'Vette, which we think is a PB, and Brian Gandy a tremendous 7.524/182.83 from his altered - and believe me he took a looong way round so there is a lot to come from his gorgeous car. Sam Freeman also clocked a best in Vic Hammond's slingshot, 7.638/173.06. Lee Gallimore's best run of the day was 7.447/181.40 and Paul Watts 9.235/146.26 which must be somewhere near a PB. Dave McKenzie put in one run in the Thing and clocked 10.345/89.07. Adz Price clocked a best of 10.791/124.20 in his very tidy Wild Bunch altered.

Finally a mention for Max Marston, son of Paul and Sam of Eurodragster.com sponsor and regular news contributor Paul Marston Racing. Max put in several runs in one of Santa Pod's Junior Dragster pulling a best RT of 0.136 and best ET and a best run of 16.467/35.77. Harry Gibson in Santa Pod's Junior Funny Car also made several passes and clocked a best of 8.056/83.00.

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We'll be back on Wednesday with a live report from the Pro Peak Performance Day.