Thursday at Veidec Nitro Festival 16:55 Today's last session of Stock/Superstock qualifying has seen a couple of changes to the top five. Pasi Mikkonen stays in the lead -0.944 with a 10.706/204.17, from Björn Bondesson 0.717 under at 9.933/213.36, Elina Manninen has improved still further to 0.706 under at 10.194/206.79, Jarmo Markkanen is now fourth and 0.693 under at 11.007/191.91, and Roger Johansson is fifth with his earlier -0.682 of 8.868/245.69. The top five of Street Bike has also changed a little, Mats Wuolo still ahead at 10.408/220.12, and now Tomas Ekblad is second at 10.417/197.22. Joakim Segerberg is third at 10.420/224.27 from Mattias Carlsson 10.471/198.23 and Jan Anders Svensson 10.481/213.64. The last class to run today was Super Gas Bike, whose top five didn't change. Lars Olov Eriksson leads at 9.510/236.14, from Dag Wagenius has come in at number two with a 9.574/237.39, Micke Berglund third at 9.585/231.07 from Dennis Holmgren at 9.590/194.72 and Peter Bjurstrom at 9.592/239.58. Stay tuned to the Svensk Dragracing web site and we will bring you all of the qualifying standings at the end of day one of the Veidec Nitro Festival, together with today's photo gallery. 16:30 Pasi Mikkonen must be enjoying himself mightily this afternoon, having gone yet further under his index in Stock/Superstock to hold onto his qualifying lead. Pasi is now -0.944 with a 10.706/204.17, from Björn Bondesson 0.717 under at 9.933/213.36, Elina Manninen -0.702 with a 10.198/205.31, Roger Johansson 0.682 below at 8.868/245.69 and Mats Backman improving to -0.676 at 11.474/183.68 to stay in fifth. We've now got the top five Super Gas Bike qualifiers in the 9.5s and some new names in the top five. Lars Olov Eriksson still leads with his 9.510/236.14 in the previous session, whilst Dag Wagenius has come in at number two with a 9.574/237.39, Micke Berglund is third at 9.585/231.07 from Dennis Holmgren at 9.590/194.72 and Peter Bjurstrom has taken over fifth at 9.592/239.58. No changes at all in Street Bike qualifying after the third session. Mats Wuolo leads at 10.408/220.12, from Joakim Segerberg at 10.420/224.27, Jan Anders Svensson and Anders Persson still both on 10.481 at 213.64 and 179.64 respectively, and Mattias Carlsson fifth at 10.512/196.41. Straight into the fourth cycle of Junior Dragster, and Sabina Jadersten now leads with a reaction time of 0.003 after Holley Glassup's earlier passes were disqualified. Mickael Norman is second at 0.005, Eivind Odegard third at 0.007, Linda Johansson fourth at 0.008 and Joran Andersen gets a look in at the top five at 0.013. In this session Holley put in a 'legal' pass in the 9.0s and her RT was 0.046. We now have 26 of 37 JDs under a 0.100 reaction time. It's as-you-were in Super Street after the fourth cycle. Tobba Jansson leads at 10.901/177.77, Dave Cherrett second at 10.903/174.16 from Lasse Koskinen 10.906/199.77, Janne Carlsson 10.911/197.91, and Torbjörn Johansson fifth at 10.917/181.10. We have had one change in the top five in Twinlab Super Gas. Harald Sturhan still eads at 9.901/220.74 from Håkan Mattson's 9.902/236.52, Anders Brandstrom has jumped up to third at 9.903/214.82, Pelle Eriksson is now fourth at 9.905/240.40 and Tirben Stenstrom fifth at 9.906/221.60. We've now got 18 of 28 in the 9.9s, the last being David Vegter at 9.998, Robert Joosten is in there at 9.967 and Tim Adam improved to 9.909. Jan Birkenes got a ticking off from the starter after burning out to sixty feet in his station wagon, the rules of course don't allow burnouts over the start line in SG. But we enjoyed it! Stay tuned as Stock/Superstock are now back out on the track for their fourth qualifier. 15:45 Björn Berg has held on to his lead in Comp Eliminator although he didn't make it to the start line in today's final session of Comp Eliminator, being pushed away when at the pairing lanes. Björn's 0.741-under 7.249/287.75 is followed by Micke Callin 0.682 under with a 7.798/279.82, Per Eriksson 0.673 under with a 7.747/271.36, Bruno Bader 0.559 below at 7.621/284.13 and Jackie Hansen 0.517 under at 7.663/283.11. Olle Nyhus had a go at the Tree with a wild burnout which brought a round of applause from everyone in race control, the Tree escaped damage as Olle pulled the car back just in time. No word on the problem with John Westberg's car at the top end. Further to the JD qualifying standings earlier, all of Holley Glassup's qualifying passes so far have been disqualified as she has run below the 8.90 JD index. However, as it happens an extra session of JD qualifying has been put into this afternoon's schedule since we are running way ahead of the timetable. Super Street and Super Gas will also have an additional session this afternoon. Stay tuned for more news from the third qualifying cycle. 14:30 We're now into today's final qualifying cycle, with a temperature at the start line of 25.2 C, 39% humidity and 1006 air pressure. At present the lead has changed hands again in Junior Dragster qualifying. It's Holley Glassup who is back on top with a 0.001 Reaction Time, a thousandth from taking Eurodragster's 650 SEK Perfect Light Award (which has been under serious threat today in several classes). Sabina Jadersten pulled another great light to take second at 0.003, Mikael Norman's 0.005 is now good for third, Eivind Odegard fourth at 0.007 and Linda Johansson fifth at 0.008. Having said all of this, we understand that the JD standings may change because Holley's qualifying passes have all been under the NDRS absolute JD index of 8.90 - Holley of course runs in JM/Advanced in England which has an index of 7.90. Stay tuned and we will let you know. Don't forget that full qualifying lists for every class will be available when qualifying has finished later on today. Tobba Jansson stole the Super Street lead away from Dave Cherrett with a 10.901/177.77 in the last-but-one pairing for today in Super Street qualifying. Dave is now second with his 10.903, Lasse Koskinen is now in the top five at 10.906/199.77 for third, Janne Carlsson fourth at 10.911/197.91, and Torbjörn Johansson fifth with his earlier 10.917/181.10. England's Bob Lees is sixth at 10.954/202.60. Twinlab Super Gas is led by Germany's Harald Sturhan for the second time today, with a superb 9.901/220.74 in the final session. Håkan Mattson was thus relegated to second with his earlier 9.902/236.52. Pelle Eriksson is third at 9.905/240.40, Torben Stenstrom took fourth in his first outing in Super Gas with his Anglia, 9.906/221.60, and Anders Branström is fifth at 9.912/210.06. We know that a lot of our Dutch friends are tuned in, you will be pleased to hear that Robert Joosten made it into the 9.9s in his last qualifier today, clocking 9.967/223.34; David Vegter has a quickest of 10.114 but was unfortunately pushed back from the start line in the last session, and England's Tim Adam is in there with a 9.928/229.94. We has an exciting last qualifying session in Super Comp for today, Aulis Hameenkorpi taking over the lead with an 8.903/237.94 in his very short-wheelbased altered. Linda Thun Tonseth jumped up the ladder to second with an 8.904/213.11, Paul Ingar Udtian's earlier 8.914/215.11 is good for third, Zane Llewellyn improved to an 8.923/242.34 for fourth and Markko Tossavainen is fifth at 8.924/252.52. Breakout of the day has to go to Jan Lundholm who clocked a very naughty 8.077/263.33 in this session. We're on a hold in Comp Eliminator qualifying as Johan Westberg's C/A doorslammer has disappeared in a cloud of smoke at the top end. Johan is OK but the guys are just checking out the track for scrap metal. We'll be back soon with more from qualifying cycle 3. 13:00 Björn Berg still leads Comp Eliminator with his earlier -0.741 although we didn't see him in this second session. Micke Callin stepped up to go 0.682 under at 7.798/279.82. Per Eriksson improved to 0.673 under at 7.747/271.36, whilst Bruno Bader improved just a touch to 0.559 under, 7.621/284.13. Mika Eloranta's 0.467-under 7.953/280.24 is still good for fifth place. We now have ten of twenty seven under index. In Stock/Superstock Pasi Mikkonen has gone even further under at -0.901, cementing his first place with a 10.749/204.07. Björn Bondesson has taken over second place 0.717 under at 9.933/213.26, Elina Manninen has improved to 0.702 under and is third at 10.198/205.31, Roger Johansson's earlier 8.868/245.69 at 0.682 under is fifth, and Matts Backman is fifth at 0.620 under, 11.530/183.01. Bo Nylund dropped a lot of oil at the top end but luckily was only cruising rather than under power, no word yet on what occurred; the track crew did a great clean-up job. There are now seventeen of twenty two under index. Mats Wuolo is still at the head of Street Bike qualifying with his earlier 10.408/220.12. Joakim Segerberg has improved to take over second place at 10.420/224.27, Jan Anders Svensson and Anders Persson are both on 10.481 at 213.64 and 179.64 respectively, and Mattias Carlsson's 10.512/196.41 from the first session is now good for fifth. It's all change at the top in Super Gas Bike as we now have three racers in the 9.5s. Lars Olov Eriksson has taken over the lead with a 9.510/236.14, Micke Berglund follows up at 9.585/231.07, Dennis Holmgren next at 9.590/194.72, Jessica Olsson 9.600/202.55 and Gabbi Nikolovska's 9.608/239.93 which was top after session one is now good for fifth. 12:00 The second cycle is in full swing, still a beautiful day at 23.4 C, 45% humidity and 1007 air pressure. The top twelve qualifiers in Junior Dragster are now all within 0.100. The lead changed hands a number of times in the second session, with just about everyone improving. Mikael Norman ended up on top at 0.005, from Eivind Oedegard at 0.007, Sabrina Jadersten at 0.029, Holley Glassup's 0.032 first round lead now good for fourth and Yvonne Bader fifth at 0.043. No change in the lead in Super Street, Dave Cherrett still up there at 10.903, Dave broke out in this session with a 10.88. Torbjorn Johansson is second at 10.917/181.10, followed by Tobba Jansson improving to 10.976/173.85, Rickard Persson also improving to 10.999/177.73 and Tomas Hagg just outside the 10.9s at 11.005/193.14. The top eight Twinlab Super Gas qualifiers are now in the 9.9s and there have been some changes at the top with Håkan Mattson taking over the lead with a 9.902/236.52. Anders Brandström has taken over second at 9.912/210.86, Harald Sturhan's first-round lead now third at 9.920/219.28, Jan Birkenes improving to 9.926/224.40 and Mats Lindkvist fifth at 9.937/229.96. We've now got fourteen of twenty seven Super Comp qualifiers in the 8.9s. Paul Ingar Udtian still leads at 8.914/215.11, Paul pulled a 0.003 RT in this session. Marko Tossavainen's earlier 8.924/252.52 is still good for second, but Kristina Hagglund has sneaked in to third place at 8.925/250.16 from Peder Haraldssan's 8.928/219.44 and Joar Rundhaug is now fifth at 8.931/205.05. Next up is Comp Eliminator, stay tuned for news. 11:00 The wild, wheelying doorslammers of Stock/Superstock were next out on the track in this first qualifying cycle. Pasi Mikkonen heads the show at no less than 0.739 under index at 10.911/204.10. Elina Manninen is 0.695 under at 10.205/205.46, Roger Johansson 0.682 under at a very rapid 8.868/245.69, Mats Backman 0.620 down at 11.530/183.01 and Jarmo Markkanen 0.603 under at 11.097/190.20. Fifteen of the twenty one qualifiers are under index and the vast majority pulled huge wheelstands! Bjorn Berg leads Competition Eliminator going a massive 0.741 under index at 7.249/287.75. Bjorn also earns points for his excellent crash helmet decoration, a very well-executed skull design. Per Eriksson is 0.583 under at 7.837/269.40, NDRS points leader Bruno Bader right up there 0.553 under at 7.627/287.01, Mika Eloranta 0.467 under at 7.953/280.24 and Per-Johan Arvidsson 0.398 under at 7.952/273.29. Currently the top eight qualifiers are under index. Michael Nord made an attempt at the Get Tog Club in the ex-Wikstrom Nova, heading for the guardrail in a wild burnout - I guess no-one told him that your reporter is in race control this weekend! But then maybe we didn't ought to tell him, it may be too tempting. Street Bike is led by Mats Wuolo just eight thousandths off the index at 10.408/220.12, with Mattias Carlsson second at 10.512/196.41, Joakin Segerberg just behind at 10.536/218.76, Richard Magnusson at 10.596/220.50 and Jan Anders Svensson at 10.620/209.53. Gabbi Nikolovska leads Super Gas Bike with a 9.608 on the 9.50 index. Anders Brink at 9.612, Dennis Holmgren at 9.623/207.52, Lars Olov Eriksson at 9.647/232.83 and Micke Berglund at 9.655/230.78 are the next four in a closely-bunched top five. One piece of news which we omitted to mention earlier was that Kim Reymond put in a test pass in the USA Autodele Top Fuel Dragster yesterday afternoon. Kim's burnout brought back memories of the late 1970s with glue lifting off the freshly-prepped track and cobwebbing behind the car, and the tyres went straight up in smoke on the hit. We're now into cycle two of today's three qualifiers. Stay tuned! 10:00 We're off and runing here at Mantorp Park under a beautiful summer sky. Right now it's 20.8 C on the start line, 63% humidity, and 1006 Mb air pressure. As ever we are enjoying the experience of seeing a lot of vehicles which are new to us, there are some very nice pieces out on the track and a very high level of presentation. The pairing lanes are packed solid and the cars and bikes just keep on coming. The first class out on track was Junior Dragster and England's Holley Glassup took the qualifying lead in the first session with a reaction time of 0.032 (where 0.000 is perfect). Martin Kretz is next up a 0.051, Eivind Oedegard is not far behind at 0.060, Julia Stott at 0.064, Lina Aberg 0.083 and Anjelica Lindberg at 0.093. The Brit invasion continued in Super Street as Dave Cherrett clocked 10.903/174.16 to take the lead, followed by Torbjorn Johansson at 10.917/181.10, Jenny Janse at 11.009/196.42 and Janne Carlsson at 11.014/197.28. There were a fair few breakouts in the first session but I am sure that with a baseline now set everyone will be bang-on next time out. Harald Sturhan leads Twinlab Super Gas at 9.920/219.28 from Mats Lindkvist 9.937/229.36, Bosse Hall 9.949/204.70, Oyvind Marheim 9.960/186.70 and Pelle Eriksson at 9.992/239.31. Interestingly given what happened in Super Street there weren't very many breakouts in SG, I guess a cautious attitude prevailing. Super Comp has been the most closely-contested class so far, the top eight in the 8.9s. Paul Ingar Udtian leads at 8.914/215.11, Markko Tossavainen next up at 8.924/252.52, Peter Haraldsson just behind at 8.928/219.44, Mikael Nilsson 8.948/245.23 and Kristina Hagglund at 8.958/249.02. England's Zane Llewellyn is eighth at 8.984/242.02. Stay tuned and we'll bring you the news from Stock/SS, Comp Eliminator, Street Bike and Super Gas Bike. 08:00 Good morning and welcome from Mantorp Park on a glorious summer day. Tog and Sharkman got here in one piece yesterday and we have hooked up with Christer to bring you all the action from the Veidec Nitro Festival. Qualifying starts at 9:00, stay tuned and we´ll be back shortly after that with the latest qualifying highlights.