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19:00

For Joran Persåker it was a day of ups and downs, running a 5.24 in his newly-acquired ex-Peter Knight car and then being bumped out of the field two pairs later. He said "The car felt good but I think we lost some boost on the inlet manifold which lost some power. We also had a slight problem with the body panels being a little loose and the windshield cracking. The car feels good and Peter Knight did a great deal to help us get the car here for the race, but we have a lot of work to do to make it fully competitive and are thinking of sitting out the rest of the year so that we have plenty of time to work on it and then come back and do better. Most aspects of the car need some work and we need to buy sufficient tools of the right type to work on it with and build up our spare parts inventory.

Tommi Haapanen is pleased to be in the Top Fuel field after a multi-year layoff. "This was the first time we went all the way down the track", he said. "We won't put any more power or clutch in it for tomorrow as I don't think the track will take it. I was very happy with my 0.098 reaction time. The 60ft time of 0.953 and eighth of 3.47 show that we were very soft, but we will continue with the conservative approach against Tommy Möller in round one."

Fredde Fagerström is faced with a need to borrow parts and rebuild his motor to make Pro Mod eliminations tomorrow. He said "We broke a lifter and the crank and will as a minimum need to borrow these so that we can run." As we spoke, the block was being ground to remove some imperfections caused by the damage. "If the block is unusable, Micke Lindahl has offered us the loan of his spare motor which we are grateful for. We broke the lifter on the burnout for the third session and ran a 6.50 on seven cylinders. This is the same motor that we ran a 6.28 with intesting at Santa Pod last year but this is the second crank we have had to replace in two weeks, and that's expensive. We were pleased with the performance earlier in the season and ran a 6.30/223mph at Gardermoen".

Gordon Appleton said "We missed the third session run as we were shut off for an oil leak, but were happy with the 6.38 in the second session yesterday. We think the order at the top might swap round in the final session". At the end of qualifying Gordon went from 2nd to 4th with improvements from Micke Gullqvist and Mikael Lindahl.

Mikael Lindahl improved today and was happy. "We had problems with a new blower to find the right clutch setup", he said. "We first changed the four-link setup and tightened up the clutch to give more bite. However, the tuneup has been producing strong power at lower rpm and we have produced better results with a softer clutch setting and have run a big speed of 353kph. We are using the 20% overdrive for the first time this race. We did use a two-step, but it bit us at the track that we crashed at. The tyres spun and we shifted into second at 10,000rpm and the car then hooked and went right. So we have gone back to launching conventionally".

15:00

Stig Neergard (Top Fuel) was very pleased with his 5.904 third qualifier. "There were no problems, we planned to run a 1000' shut-off on that run and then run a full pass in hte final session. There were no problems with the car on that pass or yesterday's. We want to qualify for eliminations", he said. Stig is helped by Tommy Rostgaard, Tim Jund, Rene Jespersen, Thomas Lund Damelsen, Ulrick Back, Kenni Neergard, Søren Jensen and Thomas Hald. Main sponsors are Hammer Sport Service aps, Holbrook Performance Parts and Silkeborg. Stig's website is www.topfuel.dk.

Leif Andreasson (TMFC) said "We are running well this weekend and after a 5.884. We want to step up on power in the final qualifier and keep the same clutch settings. On the second run we stepped up too much. The car in the left lane feels good but in the right lane it reacts to the bumps and unsettles the chassis". Leif is entertaining 50-100 people from Kamasa Tools and 100 people from ESAB over the weekend, along with senior people from the Swedish armed forces.

Rene Hersland said "We were up in smoke after 250m which has never happened to us before. The new clutch is giving a lot of power to the wheels but we are one of few teams running a two element rear wing rather than three element and we are still limited on the amount of wing angle." Rene reported no mechanical issues.

Håkan Nilsson said "On my run this morning the car launched well and felt good and stable until 1000ft when the blower belt broke. We have put a new blower on for this afternoon and made changes to the fuel and clutch settings to better Micke's time."

Tommy Möller is also putting a new blower on for the final qualifying session to try to run that elusive (for this weekend) four. "Our next run is in the left side lane which is the better one and we are aiming for 4.8". He added that both cars had run cleanly in the 5.0s this morning.

Niclas Andersson (Pro Mod) said "We are going quicker and quicker each round. The car drives like a Cadillac in both lanes and all is well mechanically. We are running in 12 races with the car this year including Pro Mod and Top Doorslammer championships. We will run at the Euro Finals and then our final appearance this year will be at Meca Raceway. This is a great team and I have really enjoyed my first year in Pro Mod. We are thinking about buying a hemi motor for next year to step the performance up".

Micke Gullavist (Pro Mod) said after his 6.37 run, "The car took off quite slowly and then accelerated hard then in second gear the power curve is quite uneven, then in 3rd gear the revs came down too low and the clutch slipped. This was our first full run - we had to lift on the previous 6.6 - and I think we might have under-estimated the track yesterday".

Urban Johnasson said "The run this morning felt good and there was just a little shake. It was slightly slower than our previous runs so we are going back to our old clutch and suspension settings in the final session to see how we do with these. It's a case of so far, so good this weekend".

Rookie Pro Stock driver Jan Palmqvist said "We are pleased with performance of the car this year and ran a best of 7.309/303kph so far at Alastaro. The car is basically the same as last year when it made its debut. We ran it in more local races in classes where we could get as many practise runs as possible such as Comp Eliminator and Top Doorslammer, with a smaller engine and Lenco gearbox. During the winter we updated to a Liberty five speed box with new bellhousing and drive shaft and a larger Volvo marine motor (the block being manufactured by Chevrolet). We also put longer wheelie bars on, for which we had to modify the chassis. Our body is all-steel and 50kg too heavy as a result, but I have good links with Volvo and hope to get a new fibreglass body based on the latest C70 model that has a retractable roof (but not on my car!).

Jan said "The main name on the body is Snowball, my own company. It manufactures motorsport products of all types with CNC machines, including chassis, four link suspension setups, wheelie bars and front suspension. It is my dream to own a speed shop where the customer can buy everything from a screw to an entire racecar. We are starting building a new industrial unit in the next month of 1,250sq.m/12,000 sq.ft.

Kenneth Soderstrom said after running a best of 7.123, "We are disappointed with the weekend so far. We need to find more speed and also the tyres have been spinning off the line with our clutch settings. We have changed the four link settings and hope that will help". After a near miss when Tommy Lindahl came over into his lane, Kenneth said, "I was not worried because we were not in eliminations, Tommy only cam over the centre line by a few inches and in any case we were running on seven cylinders on that run so there wasn't going to be a problem".

Rickard Gustavsson is top of the Top Fuel Bike standings with a 6.72 after the final session. We spoke to tuning adviser Korry Hogan from the US just before that run. Korry said "Rickard ran his best 60ft time ever of 1.09 on his previous run and we are fine tuning the bike. I got to know Rickard by e-mail and at the end of 2005 sold him my Funny Bike, which I had run successfully in the AMA Prostar series to two Championships. The best time I ran with this bike was 6.47/217 . The bike has a Koenig frame and a turbocharged methanol injection 1327cc Suzuki motor.

This season, Korry is acclimatising to Top Fuel Bike with an inline blown nitro four cylinder machine owned by Mike Dryden. "I have only run the bike three times and my best time is a shut-off 6.50. There is a lot less work on the Funny Bike than on a Top Fuel Bike". Although Korry runs the AMA Prostar series based mainly in east and southeast states, he lives in Colorado. "Our closest race is 17 hours travel and the furthest is 36 hours", he said.

10:30

Good morning and welcome to Saturday's pit notes at the Veidec Nitro Festival. Your pit reporter has survived his birthday celebrations and we're all raring to go once again!

Our first stop was Micke Kågered whose rig is closest to race control and the press centre. Micke is driving both his methanol funny car and Top Fueler here this weekend and is enjoying the double duty. "It's not so bad", he said. "It's been four years since I drove the funny car and it's not so easy to get used to it again as it's so different from driving a fueler. It's fun to drive and also more exciting than driving the fueler. I will have a shift light on the car which will make the gear changing easier today". Micke is currently qualified fifth with a 6.02.

On his Top Fuel pass of 5.058, qualifying him 2nd, Micke said "I was really pleased with that and hope the conditions will improve to allow us to run a 4.8s pass. The problems that we had at the Main Event have been solved; we traced it to a malfunctioning fuel pump. The track will be better with more runs but there could be some showers later, it has been raining in Linkopping, 15 minutes drive from here".

Ulf Leanders (TMFC) said after a 5.96 qualifier, "We should have run faster on that run; we ran the first session with our old clutch discs and put new ones in for the second run. It takes a run or two to get to know how the new discs perform but now we have the data and we can see there was some slight slippage - it felt a smooth run". Velocity Performance Group team mate Martin Linqvist suffered a broken crank pulley on his first 6.557 run and missed the second session, but will be ready for this morning's session.

Arvid Grødem said of his 6.276, "We are doing the can-can, but that doesn't win races! This is my first time in the driving seat this year and we are trying to find the right tune-up. The car seemed to know I was back in it as it responded with tyre shake. We had a problem with our trailer and are grateful to Pro Mod racer Terje Håkonsen for the loan of his - he suffered a fire in his car at Alastaro and is here with us this weekend. I am also grateful to Hans Kadi for repairing our body which had several cracks in it at the end of last season." Arvid says he is planning to also race at Gardermoen, Hockenheim, and the Euro Finals.

Eurodragster home and news sponsor Dan Larsen (TMFC) said "We suffered tyre shake on our runs and had a best of 5.99. The air is bad for power and we have tried to make up for that in clutch settings. We hope the air is better today and then we can be less aggressive with the clutch settings."

Jorgen Jonsson is delighted with being no. 1 qualifier in TMFC after Friday. "We are enjoying the weekend. We ran Alastaro and Mantorp only last year, so I have been out of the car for a year. I can use full throttle now; I wasn't quite able to get the pedal all the way last year and the team were threatening to cut my leg off!" Jorgen and the team including tuner Peter Karlssan are a little unsure of their plans for the remainder of the season but hope to run at Hockenheim. The team's main sponsors are Bridgstone.

Jonas Staflund suffered a broken crank on the burnout of the second session which destroyed most of the engine below the camshaft. The block is damaged beyond repair. Crewman Anders Ingelsson said "This is game over for this year. We bought this motor to get used to the class and have budgeted for a replacement, but not before the start of 2007. We just needed five more runs on it for this race and for a demo at Sunsvall." Jonas said "It's a real shame as we are still qualified". "We had a great time at the Kamasa Tools Mechanic Challenge and many people have come to see us in the pits to say how much they enjoyed the event."

Andy Carter and Ben Allum were not too downcast after ending up in the 9th spot after one day of Top Fuel qualifying. "We don't want to say what the problem is but we will definitely give it our best today," they said. They said the air is also quite poor today.

Lorenz Stauble was delighted with being no. 1 qualifier in Super Twin with a 6.85. "The second run was the better one, in the left lane. We had tyre spin all the way down but I didn't lift and the bike went straight. The right lane is more tricky and on the first run had tyre spin after 60ft and short-shifted, then the bike got close to the wall and I had to get off the throttle. It will be hard to improve on the time today. The bike is working fine".

Urs Erbacher reported that there was a clutch problem on the second session which resulted in it being aborted after the burnout. "The lever broke when I tried to get it into reverse", Urs said, "But we are fully ready this morning".

The Erbacher Racing team is joined for this and other races this season by American former Fuel driver and crew chief Glenn Mikres. He said "I was pleased with the first run. Everything went as it was planned - we ran it soft and it only dropped one cylinder down the track. I hope that with the cloud cover today, conditions will be better for four second runs. I am very impressed with the quality of the racing here and believe that Europe has moved ahead of Australia in the number of cars racing. I am semi-retired now and generally work for teams if I like the deal. I went to the Denver NHRA meeting as I am around drag racing people all the time", he said. Glenn's last major position was with Kalitta Motorsports. He took the Streivectic-sponsored car to Australia with Scott Kalitta at the end of 2005 and raced it and then sold it to an Australian team.

He continued "I really enjoy working with Urs's team and will do those races I can for the rest of the season. It is more challenging working in Europe and Australia than the US as not all the teams have the latest equipment and the tracks don't have as good traction as the US - also there is less track time. In a way you're racing the track rather than your competitor. The last time I worked in Europe was in 1991 and the competition has grown tremendously in the meantime.

In Pro Mod, Robert Koper's team mate Edwin Elzinga said "We're so pleased we ran our first six-second pass yesterday. After four years of trying different settings and the car going left or right after the launch we have finally found a setting where it launches straight and we want to keep it like that and improve further. We have a very good motor bought from Roger Johansson".

Seppo Saapola said "We are not selling our equipment because we want to go Top Fuel! We ran a 6.8 here with tyre shake and will maybe improve but I feel that to step up and be competitive in Pro Mod we will need to get a new car. So our plan is to get a new car for next year and I have yet to decide whether it is to be imported from the US or built by a European constructor". Team Saapola's main sponsors are Tarpaulin.fi and Finnlink.

Sverre Kahrs ran a 6.70/334.92kph, good for 13th in the Pro Mod field and a personal best. He said "We haven't raced since 2004 and bought the car from Tommy Mauney in 2003; it had been raced by Steve Cossis in the US mainly on eighth mile tracks. Its best quarter mile time in the US was a 6.3. We will just run at Mantorp and Gardermoen this season as our sponsorship is from our own businesses, Sverre Kahrs Racing (speed shop) and team mate Torbjøn Eriksen's Anlegg & Transport.

Andy Robinson was quite happy with a 6.41 and no. 3 position but he believes he can improve if he traces the source of a mysterious misfire that has plagued the team for some time. "We have replaced most of the ignition system - anything that is red has been changed, and I hope that will sort the problem out", he said.

Mats Eriksson, whose Green Goblin Pro Mod broke a ring and pinion on the press day, suffered bad tyre shake in the second session that resulted in a 1am finish replacing a broken tie-rod. "I have put a two-step on the engine", he said. This is a device that electronically sets the engine revs on the start line at an optimal setting, rather than being on the rev limiter which often causes misfiring. This in turn allows more power for a harder launch. Mats said "The throttle foot goes down earlier to set this and I still need to get used to that otherwise I will red-light, but the car visibly launched harder than ever before".

Congratulations go in Pro Mod to Ulf Rapp who has run his first six ever, a 6.96 and another six later.