  The possible occurence of highly deformed configurations is investigated in
the $^{40}$Ca and $^{56}$Ni di-nuclear systems as formed in the
$^{28}$Si+$^{12}$C,$^{28}$Si reactions by using the properties of emitted light
charged particles. Inclusive as well as exclusive data of the heavy fragments
and their associated light charged particles have been collected by using the
{\sc ICARE} charged particle multidetector array. The data are analysed by
Monte Carlo CASCADE statistical-model calculations using a consistent set of
parameters with spin-dependent level densities. Significant deformation effects
at high spin are observed as well as an unexpected large $^{8}$Be cluster
emission of a binary nature.
