Super Street Bike racer Nigel Barker has a new Hays clutch bought from Steve Mead. He said "I am very pleased with a 1.29 60ft time and am getting the chassis setup and boost settings tuned to get the best out of it. With a baseline tuneup I ran 7.8 and am getting Brad O'Connor to help develop the settings. Apart from some issues with gearboxes this is my third meeting with good reliability and the bike running smoothly and cleanly.

Super Street Bike racer Dave Holland was delighted to be no.1 qualifier. He said "Wayne and I set a development programme for the bikes and are sharing data and getting input from BTC. So far the programme has come together nicely and we will tune the bike to realise its potential - there is a lot more to come."

Super Street Bike racer Wayne Saunders suffered a top end departure from his bike at the Main Event. "There was a cross wind, I had a handling issue and when I applied the brakes the front end washed out and the bike turned right. The bike is less damaged than I thought it would be and will definitely be ready by Hockenheim, but I'm not sure I will have enough movement in my knee to be able to ride. So far my recovery has gone well though."

Super Street Bike racer Thomas Granica has had directional problems. "My bike is sensitive to wind and on the first two passes went to the left and I had to lift. On the third pass I was shut off for a water leak. It was down to a loose fitting on the previous run which leaked out when I leant over for the burnout, but I have no complaint as it was a safety issue. I plan to do a full pass and run straight on the final qualifying session."

Super Street Bike racer Gary Drury is in development mode after new equipment on his repainted bike which he has had since 2005. "I have put a side mounted rather than front mounted blower and this is my first meeting with it. There is a wiring problem which is causing the engine to behave as if it had a rev limiter on it and the boost is getting stuck. The rocker cover was leaking oil and removing it on this type of bike is a big job. The clutch is a Hays but the ECU is standard and that is a limiting factor. Otherwise it has the latest equipment - AMS1000 boost controller and turbo intercooler." Gary said thanks go to Stuart Crane of Warpspeed Racing for the mechanical upgrade and his brother's company JE Drury Coachworks for the paintwork.

Super Street Bike racer Stephen Mead is struggling with the headwind and side wind. "To compensate I turned the wheel 100 thou to the right but it was too much and I almost went into the wall. My best ET is a 7.54 but it could go 30s with some development - the main area is the boost." Stephen who is a UK distributor for Hays clutches, is supported by Lucas Oil.

Super Street Bike racer Dave Smith had a problem with a rattle which brought his day to a premature end. "I don't want to run the bike any more until I have found what is causing it", he said . "I spent over £2500 on engine parts after the Main Event and am not happy with two substandard passes and a best of 8.1 here. So we will tear the engine down tonight."

9.50 Bike racer Brendan Young who reached the age of 17 on 13 June gained his racing licence today after observed runs of 18.17, 12.01 and 10.89/121mph. "I haven't got a road licence but have been to the track with my Dad Alan for years and really enjoyed riding the bike on the track." Brendan's bike is Richard Gipp's old Super Street bike with a normally aspirated 1170cc engine.

Comp Bike racer Alan Young has this new bike at the track which will be out later in the season. Alan said "It has my old Outlaw Busa engine and a new Stuart Crane chassis. Rick Stubbins of Protek Racing put it together. The bike was designed to run in the UEM Funny Bike cup but will now run in Comp Bike. It has a lot of Super Street Bike technology with a Hays slider clutch and a similar turbo with intercooler. The bike is self starting with a push button on the handlebars. The 11" slick should ensure good grip." At this event Alan is riding Richard Gipp's Comp bike to get used to the handling of these machines.

Topspeed Automotive racer Alan Williamson (pictured right with son Todd, wife June and crewman Ian) is having "a brilliant weekend. We are not near our full potential but have had so much breakages over running the truck for over two years we are taking it easy first time out this season." Alan hopes to approach the mid to low nines with his 540cu in Procharger-boosted '54 Chevy Stepside pickup. "We are running the engine rich and just getting from A to B is a bonus. We will creep up on it. Massive thanks to June and Ian and also to Splinter and Mark Lamoude who have gone well beyond the call of duty to help me. Thanks also to Penn Autos for preparing the TH400 gearbox." The pickup's engine produces almost 1000hp on a rolling road and has pipe ducting through the cab with a charge cooler in the pickup bed.

Topspeed Automotive class sponsor and racer and Eurodragster.com sponsor Bill McDermid is "trying to get the car to go well. After the Main Event the shop was so busy I had no time to work on the car but it is reliable. It did its best ever 60ft time. I am selling Hoosier tyres and will fit a set to run more quickly. Sponsoring Street Eliminator has brought a lot of extra drag racing business to my company and we are displaying some examples of the aftermarket performance and racing equipment that we sell at our shop."

Pro Modified racer Roger Moore had to miss the final session with engine damage. "It's the first time in five meetings we have missed a qualifying round. We suffered a broken rocker and also the bearings need to come off the bottom end. We also don't want to deprive the crew of an opportunity of lying under the oil sump to remove it." Roger said the team is missing crew member Martin Tilley who is in Canada and tuned into the webcam from 4am local time. Roger said "Launching is our issue. The acceleration is slowing too much after the initial launch - we have had so few runs we are looking forward to solving that." In the interests of losing weight Roger and Dave have switched to carbon nitrous bottles, but the car is still 150lb over weight.

Pro Modified racer Nick Davies (pictured right) is now getting the Superbird down the track after a change in the strategy. I.C.E. partner Rob Loaring said "We have reduced the boost on the startline as it was going into tyre spin off the line. It is bogging but with more boost we are getting tyre shake further down the track. So we are gradually ramping the boost up to go quicker. Since Easter we have only changed oil and the plugs once, as we were not stressing the engine much but in three runs time we will change the rods as a precaution.

Pro Modified racer and Eurodragster.com sponsor Graham Ellis said "We have too much power and have been aggessive with the setup. We want to run a 6.0 or 5.9 and what has bitten us today is trying different equipment. For tomorrow we will revert to the old things as we didn't get enough track time to develop the car with the new pieces. For tomorrow we will soften the setup to get down the track."

Pro Modified racer Mick Payne is returning the week after engine damage suffered at Easter. "We virtually destroyed the engine and had to get the block repaired. Thanks to Dave Milam (pictured right) for going through the engine and helping get it back together after the valaves arrived on Tuesday. I am pleased the car is solidly in the sevens - they are not as forgiving as other cars and in some respects, it is all or nothing. As a new car to me it is taking me time to get used to it. I am used to the engine though as the block was used by Tony Boden back in the early 80s. We are short of electronic feedback and need more Racepak sensors in the car."

Pro Modified racer Wayne Nicholson is no.1 qualifier with a 6.67/211. "We are running our Brad Anderson engine easy whereas to run this hard we were pushing the Chevy engine. The chassis can take more power but we are creeping up and chipping away rather than trying to take big steps. There has been no damage and we are able to do standard between-rounds maintenance." There was some disagreement as to the target time with Kev Slyfield (PB 6.52) on the team; other members were unanimous that the target should be 6.51. Pictured is hard-working crew chief Dennis Watton.

Pro Modified racer Andy Wright is becoming more and more comfortable with driving the BA racing '38 Ford. He had a minor problem yesterday when punching 3rd gear idling down the track caused the trans to lock up, shutting the engine off and spinning the car round at low speed. He said "I wasn't concerned, not was Bert (car owner and driver at FIA events Bert Englefield). Andy's best so far is 7.12/195 and his aim this weekend is to run a six as well as accumulating points for the team.

Pro Modified racer Steve Hall suffered engine damage on his burnout at Easter which prevented him re-licensing the black 'Vette. He said "We had the block repaired by my crew chief Steve Large and machined by Dave Milam. We checked the crank which was ok and replaced rods and pistons. I did my half pass yesterday and need to run two 7.4s to licence, but we are taking it carefully and not being risky."

Super Street racer Chris Perkins is in a family team with brother Tom as other driver and Dad Mark as owner and crew chief. Mark said "I had a Street Eliminator Mustang for two years with Chris and Tom as my crew. After looking for another car I bought Colin Millar's old Outlaw Anglia turnkey at the end of 2010. The engine is a 502cu in GM crate motor producing 502hp and I have taken the nitrous kit off for reliability as we don't need the extra power for Super Street." Chris's licensing took place earlier this year. He said "I passed my driving test on Wednesday and got my race license at the Webster Race Engineering test day two days later." Mark finished "The car ran a 10.4 at the test day, so now all we need to do is tune the throttle stop and get Tom licensed. Thanks to Webster Race Engineering and Topspeed Automotive who helped us yesterday with a split front tyre."

Super Twin Gas racer Dave Smart from Calne in Wiltshire runs this supercharged Suzuki SV1000 built by JHS Racing in Bristol. Dyno work comes from MK Dyno.

Super Twin Gas racer Les Harris now has a two bike team with partner Tara. This is their third consecutive weekend of track time as the second round of the NAST championship was at SCR on 11/12 June and Tara made practice runs there and at the NSA meeting at Honington last weekend. For Les's account of these events and news about John Hobbs and the legendary twin engined Hobbit, to be seen at Dragstalgia, see the Supertwins web site.

Super Street Bike racer Garry Bowe had a nightmare journer to SPR with the 270 miles from Wigton taking no less than 24 hours. He said "At around the 200 mile mark the van's engine blew up and from 7:30pm until 4am were on four different AA wagons getting us home. We then spent an hour switching everything to a different van (Garry owns five, just in case...) and got to the track with enough time for three hours sleep before we got ready to make our practise run." After an engine rebuild following the Main Event, the bike did not let Garry down and went down the track in 7.8s on its first pass.

Super Street Bike racer Graham Balchin has a shirt with the inscription 'Rider'. Some might question this following a mountain bike incident that left him with torn shoulder ligaments. "Steve, Neil and I like doing mountain biking for relaxation and I stepped off big time going down a hill. I ended up in casualty at 4am. The doctor hasn't told me when I can ride again. I can't at this event but should be back in time for the Shakey August meet.", he said. With Wayne Saunders also recovering following his spill at the Main Event, it means that two of the top three in the championship will not be scoring points here.

8.50 Bike racer Phil Bloomfield is at his first event since Easter. He said "We left the same settings on which were good for an 8.50 at Easter. However with the cooler air yesterday the bike just wanted to wheelie. So we have taken some boost out for today." The result was a 8.65, good for no. three after two rounds. Phil's bike is a new Hayabusa following running a R1 turbo in Straightliners for four years. "It has a Velocity Stage 3 turbo kit with forged pistons and rods and MTC multi-stage billet clutch, but without the Motec systems that Super Street Bikes have. I was able to run 8.50 with only half boost at Easter."

Super Pro ET racer Martyn "Sid" Jones is still suffering from new car gremlins following problems at the Main Event. "I had to get some rocker stands repaired and also a brand new brake master cylinder broke. Then the gears in the planetary reverser failed after the revs were too high and a tooth broke off causing the rest of the gears on the reverser to be stripped. The problem is currently with the idle. It runs too fast, two cylinders are going out while others are two hot and there is probably a leak in the inlet manifold that doesn't help with the boost the PSI blower is making." Despite a work move to Frankfurt shortly, Sid plans to attend the Euro Finals and some test sessions to get the car down the track.

Super Pro ET racer Vince Gibbs is "Really happy to be back racing." At the Main Event the Nosferatu team had a new nose arrive only three days before the event and thanks go to Hauser Racing who helped with building the frame under it and also chassis modifications. He said "We missed Friday, sprayed the front with aerosols and then suffered with downtime so our first run was on Sunday morning, the last qualifying session. We qualified 23rd but lost in the first round to John Atkinson who is a great racer. We had no breakage so we were happy." Vince said that as the sole owner now he has had to take some power out of the car to run reliably in Super Pro ET. Also in the winter season he got his stencils out to paint skulls on the rocker cover and blower belt guard.

Super Pro ET racer Simon Rowland (pictured left) is driving the NG Racing dragster at this event following a year out of the seat. "I was pleased to have a 7.02 straight off the trailer. We had the blower restriped so there is lots of power there." This morning the fuel system was running rich and cylinders were going out so the car was put on a half pass to prevent possible damage. The team have been joined by Dave Catton (pictured right) and a second dragster is planned for the end of the season, currently on its way over from the US. "It's a 235in wheelbase with four link and a 555 cu in Dayton engine running alcohol which should produce seven second passes", he said. Over the winter NG Racing signed a three year sponsorship deal with Beovax Computer Services.

Pro ET and Super Comp racer Paul Brown suffered a snapped gear on the end of his distributor cap. He said "It let go in the burnout yesterday and I missed the first sessions. We will reseal it and will see how it does." The repair worked and Paul is now qualified for both his classes.

Super Gas racer Dan Page is racing the Panic Racing Firebird, still for sale, in Pro ET after engine problems with the Super Gas/Pro ET Nova. "We found the sump full of swarf after the Main Event when it wouldn't go as quick as I needed it to. Somehow the moving parts of the engine are eating themselves and depositing the waste in the sump. So we will give the engine a summer refresh at Jeff Bull's." The Firebird was brought out of storage in order to assist Dan in the Pro ET Championship where he is in third position currently. Dan is also helping stepdad Jon Morton with his Camaro, transbrake issues causing the team some headaches this morning.

Pro ET racer Rick McCann and Carla, Dave and Christine from the Heaven & Hell as well team had an enjoyable trip to Tierp Arena for the Sweden Internationals, where Rick was running in a large Stock/Super Stock field. Carla said "It was a great race and we were made to feel welcome. We had some problems on the way with two punctures on the trailer but it was so good we have convinced another UK team to attend with us next year, when we hope to attend Alastaro as well."

Pro ET racer Roy Walker's wife's 1950 Plymouth Suburban wagon is for sale at a very reasonable price. It is the only one in the country and in superb condition. Interested parties should call Roy's business Complete Autocare on 01933 228787.

Roy Walker's new Ventora was inspired by two motives - the need to go faster and Roy's daughter wanting to drive the Mark 1 Cortina when she reaches the minimum age of 16 for holding an MSA license. The Ventora is based on a body modified by Wayne Allman for the moulds taken for Andy Frost's Red Victor 3. This was finished and sandblasted by Roy who also removed the rear vents. It was then finished and sprayed by Darryl and the pattern applied by Airbrush Perfections in Hinckley. The chassis is by Geof Hauser and the engine is out of the Cortina and untouched. Being 2400lb lighter, the car is much quicker and handles a lot better. Best time to date is 9.48 and Roy is "really enjoying it." Plans for the future are a bigger engine to run in Super Pro ET.

Pro ET racer Phil Toppin and many others at this event are wishing Happy Birthday and Get Well Soon to Big John Byrne who is ill in hospital. Phil said "John told me he is gutted he can't be here today. Everyone else breaks their car, but I break my crew. Thanks to everyone who has rallied around helping pushing the car."

Pro ET racer Lee Huxley said that Team Dark Horse have suffered problems at the last two events. "We had to change gearboxes at the Main Event and put a new lifter in the engine, then when we got home we found the prop had twisted. Now the axle bearings are shot. Geof Hauser has offered to tighten the pinion but we need new gears. It was hurt on the first qualifier when I lifted off and it whined, so at least I am qualified." Lee was able to return in the third session.

Super Pro ET racer Dave Gibbons has returned after a 27 year layoff with Rough Diamond. Period features such as the rollcage-mounted spoiler and original Custom Car lettering make this a car to look at for a Nostalgic feeling. Dave has not lost his touch as at his first event back, he became no.1 qualifier in the class.

Super Modified racer Peter Thompson escaped totally unhurt from a 140mph crash involving contact with right and left hand walls. Peter said "Thanks to the crew for getting me out so quickly. The accident happened very suddenly - there was water under my back tyres and I was suddenly a passenger and didn't have any time to save it. The second hit seemed harder and my back was slightly tweaked when I got out but I checked out fine at the medical centre. The chassis, by Chris Isaacs held up and Chris, there's more work coming for you. I will be back, but whether it is in this car or this year is debatable."