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01:00

Top Fuel Exhibition session 2:

Gary Page 8.43/155.56 bye

A very strong launch then the tyres shook at about 200 feet. Gary pedalled and the car made a move, when Gary got back on the throttle the tyres went up in smoke. Knut Söderquist observed after Gary's run that those who hit trouble were hitting it at the same place.

Thomas Nataas 5.33/423.69 def. Micke Kågered 7.66/152.16

Micke was already on the way back from his burnout before Thomas got going, it was not clear from my position by the Tree what the problem was. Thomas pulled a short burnout and was back in time not to keep Micke waiting. The cars came past me like freight trains, very strong launches, Micke hit shake and the car moved about, and he got off the throttle at half track. Thomas hit shake but slapped the pedal and the car took off again, a superb pass which knocked the track record into next year.

Harlan Thompson no time, bye

When Harlan started the motor the fire crew leapt into action and sprayed C02 from their fire extinguishers, the back of the car completely disappeared into the gas cloud. On the restart Harlan pulled a hop rather than a burnout and then couldn't get reverse, so Knut signalled him to drive up the track.

Ali Aryan 7.19/189.33 bye

A very nice pass for Ali. Problems selecting first gear, many hands working around the engine and in the cockpit, but on the green the Bahrain Express hooked up and went. The car drifted to the left and almost took out the eighth mile reflectors at which point Ali was off the throttle but this was a planned half pass anyway. The centre line trip was explained by Knut who told us that when Ali pulled down his visor it was completely fogged. "He did well, I'm impressed!", said Knut.

Patrik Pers shut off, bye

Patrik had two attempts at this one. On the first try the engine fired but the car wasn't going anywhere, Alan Jackson and the team worked around the engine but it was not obvious what had gone wrong. On the restart the engine sounded as if it were misfiring, the revs never went up on the burnout and Patrik shut off.

Barry Sheavills no time, bye

The car seemed to hesitate a little off the line and the header flames went down and up again. To my ears the engine didn't sound right right until Barry hit shake and shut off at about 250 feet. The motor sounded hesitant all that way, although Barry told us that the run felt OK to him. It transpired that the drive shaft had been shaken out. No time was displayed on the scoreboard.

Siw Nystad didn't run in this session as she felt unwell; earlier on she told us that she had a headache. The car was actually brought down for this session but was then pulled out of the line-up.

Given the lateness of the hour we're going to call it a day now (thanks to those who have written telling me not to overdo it, I appreciate your concern). Today's pictures will be posted tomorrow morning, we have some nice shots which I hope you will think were worth waiting for. We will then bring you the racers' thoughts on today's second session when we go to the track late in the morning morning. See you then!

21:10

Here we go then, it's the first session of the Top Fuel Exhibition and we're here to bring you the results in association with American Car Imports.

Top Fuel Exhibition session 1:

The first session of Top Fuel was always going to be a pathfinder to give Alan Jackson, Rune Fjeld and Kenneth Lorentzon an indication of the track conditions. Alan is working on pure experience as his datalogger interface has failed. As a general observation, every single car stuck to the track, no-one went up in smoke and some cars hit shake which clever people tells me that more power could be applied. A big Well Done to the BIC track crew, and to Alan, Rune and Kenneth on making excellent tuning calls.

At time of writing we don't have the official results, these times and speeds are from the scoreboards which are positioned at about three quarter track and facing the main grandstand so pretty side on to me at the Tree. The below ETs and speeds are subject to change, although probably only decimal places, when we receive the official numbers. All speeds are in KMH.

Gary Page 9.59/146.78 def. Siw Nystad 11.87/99.89

Gary and Siw were held in stage for several seconds after staging. Both racers were pretty obviously under instruction to stay on the throttle for a second, as both shut off at about 90 to 100 feet. A very promising start with both cars sticking to the track.

Sean Moriarty of Motorsport News was standing next to me before these two started, he wasn't there any more when I turned round after the race! He took a big step back just as I told him he would. But to be fair it was his first ever Top Fuel experience and to be trackside when seeing TF for the first time is quite daunting.

Patrik Pers 9.69/125.61 bye

A very gentle, rather than aggressive, pedal from Patrick as he passed the Tree. He drove through shake and stayed on it to about 200 feet when the nitro flames started to turn yellow and there was a huge yellow nitro haze, maybe a blower belt broke - but if so then it stayed with the car.

Harlan Thompson 11.79/55.10 bye

A very, very short burnout by Harlan, the tyres barely striking. The car then didn't want to go into reverse but owner Knut Söderquist took hold of the dragster and shook it back and forth until the reverser engaged. The same story back on the start line as the car didn't want to go back into forward gear, at one point for team members were frantically pushing the dragster around as Harlan gesticulated from the cockpit. Finally into forward gear and a very strong launch indeed with huge header flames and a blast of hot air as Harlan passed me at the Tree. There were some sparks from the clutch and the tyres started to shake, then Harlan got off the throttle.

Barry Sheavills 8.37/171.26 def. Gary Page 10.18/139.00

It was Ali Aryan's car, but it transpires that it was in fact Gary Page driving after Ali didn't make the call at his pit. Of course we should have realised something was up since Ali would have taken a bye. Gary left first by quite some margin, I was right on the Tree line and I didn't see a red light, if you read this evening's first set of pit notes then Barry explains what happened. Gary got off the throttle at about 100 feet. Meanwhile the chase was on for Barry, pedalling for shake as the car made a move to the left. Barry eased off the throttle but wasn't entirely off it until the second half of the track.

Thomas Nataas 8.64/138.17 def. Micke Kågered 9.11/145.37

Thomas gated Micke at the Tree, a big holeshot. Both looked very strong indeed to 250 feet where they shut off more or less at the same moment. There were shake marks in Thomas' lane although these may still have been from Barry's run.

I'm now going to get the session's pictures off my camera (I won't be uploading them just yet) and then go to the TF pits to see what the racers have to say. Obviously with only one of me here instead of three of us the race reports will take priority if I don't have time to get back here and type up the notes - but they will appear at some point even if it is tomorrow morning.