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02:35

Top Fuel Exhibition session 4:

Harlan Thompson 5.238/417.64 bye

Harlan ran at just after 23:00 as he had to get to the airport for his flight. This was an absolutely tremendous pass, 0.942 to sixty feet and 3.535/371.64 at half track before shutting off at 4.6 seconds which tuner Alan Jackson thought would have been about 1000 feet. No sign of shake, the candles lit all the way until Harlan shut off. This run was identical to Micke Kågered's earlier 5.238 to equal the track record.

Barry Sheavills 5.805/268.38 bye

0.570 reaction and 0.878 to sixty feet. It sounded as if Barry was feathering the throttle from about 200 feet onwards as the engine note went up and down. The car started to move to the right and hit one of the eighth mile reflectors at 3.503/359.76, and Barry got off the throttle.

Patrik Pers 5.608/305.18

0.772 reaction and 0.914 to sixty feet, a brief pedal at about 400 feet and under power to half track, 3.503/359.76. Patrik got off the throttle at about 1000 feet. His team were rightly jubilant with this pass!

Siw Nystad 7.857/163.48 bye

0.737 reaction and 0.941 to sixty feet, suddenly at about 300 feet there was a bang and a ball of flame. Siw got off the throttle but the engine was still running so it was pretty obviously nothing serious, 3.997 at a slowing 229.42 at half track. Kenneth Loretnzon and Rob Inglis at trackside with me were of the opinion that it was only a blower relief panel.

Micke Kågered and Thomas Nataas were all set to pair up but the race officials decided that as it would take a long time to clean Siw's lane we would go to single lane running.

Micke Kågered 5.145/432.87 bye

Not for Micke sharing the track record. A storming pass, 0.911 to sixty feet and 3.459/374.58 at half track, no pedalling for shake, candles lit and on the power to just about the finish line. The crowd rose to their feet and applauded Micke long and loud. Could Thomas spoil Micke's party?

Thomas Nataas 6.486/216.87 bye

...and the answer was no he couldn't. This run took two attempts as the Batmobil would not start at the first time of asking. Problem solved, car started and Thomas clocked a relatively lazy 1.007 to sixty feet, a pedal at about 200 feet, another pedal just before half track (3.959/295.55) and the candles went out.

Ali Aryan did not run as he is still in Pro Mod eliminations and is concentrating on that.

As I type the Top Fuel racers have paraded in front of the grandstand to the cheers of the crowd, and rightly so. Track Manager Martin Whittaker told us that the King had had a fantastic evening too.

A big Well Done to the drivers, to Alan Jackson and Rune Fjeld, to their crews who have worked their butts off all week, and a big Well Done to Knut Söderquist for putting it all together and a big Thank You for inviting Eurodragster.com along to cover the event.

We're now going to complete today's pictures so hit refresh on the Gallery page every so often and we'll get those shots posted as soon as we can.

21:45

Thanks to a very helpful chap on the timing crew we have more data for this session.

Top Fuel Exhibition session 3:

Harlan Thompson 6.537/208.86 def. Siw Nystad 8.022/149.60

Harlan got away first 0.553 to 0.691 and had the much better sixty foot time 0.881 to 0.934. Siw's candles went out at about 250 feet, pretty obviously shake-related. Harlan stayed with it to half track and then got off the gas. It was a straight, clean-looking run for Harlan up to that point but from the start line and directly behind the car it was difficult to see if there was any problem. Gary Page will be driving Harlan's car in the next round as Harlan has to leave to catch his flight home.

Barry Sheavills broke

There was a bang from Barry's motor at the end of his burnout. I would have said a blower relief panel gave out but the engine stopped quite abruptly which isn't usually the case with blower panels. Here's hoping it was nothing more serious.

Patrik Pers 7.709/128.15 bye

This one was over at half track. 0.998 reaction and 0.969 to sixty feet. Patrik pedalled for shake and the tyres looked to bite for a moment, as Patrik got off the throttle a second time his chutes came out.

Micke Kågered 5.238/408.77 def. Thomas Nataas 5.522/338.36

Saving the best 'til last in this session, a tremendous race and a new track ET record for Micke. Thomas was away first 0.521 to 0.635 but Micke had the better sixty foot time 0.937 to 0.948. Thomas briefly pedalled for shake at the usual place, 200 feet or so, and Micke was past him, his headers staying lit to about 1100 feet. Thomas' slicks hooked up again at the pedal and then he shut off at about 1000 feet.

Ali Aryan will be running in the next session as he is also contesting the Pro Mod Championship here this evening. No less a person than the King of Bahrain is coming along to watch Ali in the Top Fueller in the next session. Gary Page did not run in this session because his dragster's rear end is broken but as mentioned above he will be driving Harlan's car in session 4.

There won't be any more pit notes today, as time is going to get tight to do both the session 4 results and today's pictures before returning to the hotel (I have a 5:30 start in the morning to fly home). So stay tuned and we will bring you the session 4 report in a couple of hours (maybe more as one of the Pro Mods has just crashed) followed as quickly as possible by today's Gallery. It's all go here!