Ulf Leanders' crew chief, brother Jorgen said after a 6.213 run "We have a problem getting the wheel speed off the line and need to put more power and more clutch in the tuneup. The 60 foot time was fine but after that was no fun". Nevertheless the car provides excellent coverage for main sponsors Ironcad.

Leif Andreasson, pictured in sponsor ESAB's promotional trailer for their welding products, said "I was expecting a 5.83 so having run that I think we now have a handle over the setup after a miscue and DNQ at the Main Event. We moved weight around the car and this has made a difference. The car still has its own life and its behaviour can change between rounds."

Tommy Leindahl was really pleased to be the only Pro Stocker to run a six in the right lane which proved tricky for the class. "It's our first run after crashing at Sundsvall against Magnus Hansson in the final (he also runs Reher Morrision engines). We took the car to Mats Eriksson for major chassis repairs and he made some great suggestions about extra tubing between the suspension uprights front and rear. We have also remade the car's firewall and interior in chrome moly which is mandatory for 2008. It felt really good and we short shifted to avoid the bump in third."

Timo Habermann (above, pictured right with brother Dennis) ran a personal best speed of 385kph. "The best thing is the car is handling consistently and running 1.00 60 foot times. Our next target is to run a 5.7." Werner added that Timo's reaction times have been below 0.01 for the previous three runs.

Eurodragster.com news page sponsor Derek Flynn ran a new personal best ET of 6.38 with his new BAE motor. "This was a full pass and thanks to the Vegter Brothers from Holland for the loan of their roots blower and to Dave Wilson for help with the initial tuneup. Next time I plan to launch with more rpm and use the transbrake and hope it doesn't unsettle the car." A five may not be on the cards for this event, but Derek said that his ponytail may see a pair of scissors if it does happen.

Andy Robinson's team were delighted with a 6.250 for a new track record. Pictured in the far lane against Urban Johansson in today's qualifying round, Jerry Clayton said "It actually helped that the track was not glued after the previous rain storm. The Pro Mod cars tended to stick to the track better today than Pro Stockers. It was a clean run and the engine is in good condition. The track will be even better tomorrow and we hope to see some teens this event".

Seppo Saapola (near lane) ran a personal best 6.30 but at the cost of a finish line engine explosion and the car flying over the gravel trap. Let's hope he will be back on track soon.

Urs Erbacher said his run was from a "Perfect set-up for this track. We want to be no.1 qualifier and think we can do this as the right hand lane looks better than the left lane we ran in. Glenn (Mikres) has given us a tuneup that has really worked well and has given my team the confidence to tune the car for themselves." Crew chief Horst Pauli added "The data looks perfect and it's difficult to know what we could do better than try to repeat."

Thomas Nataas (above) said "We are happy that we are the right side of the ladder. If it rains tomorrow we are ok for Sunday. The motor is fine and there is no damage; the small oil spill in the shutdown area was from an oil pan gasket. We will step up tomorrow."

Siw Nystad, was disappointed that she was unable to run in the first Top Fuel qualifying session due to a leaking air bottle. "At Alastaro I went up in smoke in the qualifying pass and suffered the worst tyre shake I have ever had against Urs. I want the crowd tomorrow to do a Sunshine dance."

Ben Allum, crew chief for Janne Ahonen (above) said "I would like to dedicate our race to my friend Richard Shipwith who has made a miraculous recovery from a heart attack and is thankfully on his way to full health. Thanks also to Richard and Aileen in Scotland for their continued support. We are extremely pleased with Janne's pass and have done exactly what we planned to do. The car has responded well to Eddie's (Corr) and my tuning calls with Janne as driver." Janne added "I am happy with the car and am enjoying Top Fuel. There's a lot to learn but thankfully I am with a good team."

Tommi Haapanen (near lane) said after his personal best run of 4.924 "That was a storming pass, unbelievable. The setup is good; we have just made minor changes to the combination and there were no little problems. I even lifted at 350m. This is great after our disappointing performance at Alastaro."

Hans Knuters' '41 Willys Pro Mod has the Tazmanian Devil emblazoned on its side (above). Hans ran the car with nitrous in Top Doorslammer in 2006 and has made the move to blowers for 2007 with a K-11 Kobelco and Oddy's motor. The chassis is by Tommy Mauney and best time to date is a 6.43 at Sundsvall. "We had a clutch problem at Alastaro and hope to fix it here", said Hans.

Michael Nord is racing an identical Mustang Pro Mod to team owner Roger Johansson. "There's lots of different things to think about moving from blower to nitrous", he said. "The 60' launch in Malmo went well; we will use Roger's data here and hope to get into the 6.3s."

Driver of the Green Goblin Pro Mod(above (right), pictured with Simon) qualified no. 3 in Finland and was to race Gordon Appleton in round 2 but it was rained off. "The track was good off the start line in Finland and I am really happy with our new chassis; let's see how we do with a cold track here", he said.

Andy Robinson (pictured left with his crew) qualified no.1 in Finland with a 6.34 and defeated Tami Brander in round one with a 6.30. "We were lucky that the race was called before the second round was concluded as a wire came off and we failed to start against Roger Johansson", said Andy. Andy is championship leader but only nine points separate the top five and any one of ten could win the championship.

Adam Flamholc's two car Pro Stock team Glueharbour(above) runs out of Malmo as his home track and has run 4.4s in the eighth. At a recent 8-car Pro Stock Shootout at Sundsvall, Adam ran 6.94 and defeated Kenneth Soderstrom in the first round, going out in the semi final when problems set in against Tommy Leindahl. He said "We are aiming to win."

Team mate Michael Callin has also moved up from Competition Eliminator this year and runs a Firebird. "We had four runs at Malmo and two at Alastaro", he said. "The car was built in 1998 and run most recently by Rune Berg but only has 100 runs on it as it has been in storage. We use Steve Schmidt engines."

Krystian Nyström of team Alho & Lädemaa (above) runs a Tim McAmis-built Ford THunderbird which was owned amongst others by "Animal" Jim Feurer. "I bought it in 2005 and ran nitrous for one year but have now gone the blower route and will update it as funds allow", he said. "I qualified 14th in Alastaro but lost only by four hundredths to Urban Johansson who had traction problems - it was my first FIA race and my best is 6.71."

Urban Johansson qualified no. 2 in Finland. "After beating Krystian Nyström, we were to go against Bruno Bader but the race was then called".

Dan Larsen (above) of Eurodragster.com home and news page sponsors Dansk Auto Hi Fi said "We qualified with a 5.96 in Alastaro and went out to Leif Andreasson in the first round in a close race, 5.92 to his 5.88. We seem to run better at tracks which have less traction than others. After the weather here, that could favour us", he said.

Jonas Staflund (TMFC) has rebuilt his engine with a Keith Black bottom end. "We are in a transition year. We ran at Piteå and will run here and try to get sponsorship for the tour next year. As well as sponsors de Walt, a new name on the car is Brokk, manufacturers of remote-controlled demolition robots.