Jimmy Ålund (above) was delighted to have won Pro Stock. "We finally got the chance to race instead of just qualify," he said. The car is running good and although we lost lane choice for the final, it didn't hurt us."

Anders Larsson (Pro Stock Bike) was pleased to have won against a non-appearing Tom Tindahnn, but was less than happy with his performance which was in the 7.5s in the eliminations. "We had a new motor and whilst we went well yesterday, we had small issues with it and will go back to the old reliable engine for Gardermoen. We will take the win any way we can to score points but Tom is the man and he is on his game."

Top Methanol Dragster winner Dave Wilson said, "It was a close thing at the top end, but we were in front and that was good enough for the win. The win margin was 0.0377 seconds. Peter had a good light as I did the previous round. It's been a day of trials and tribulations. We lost the ignition in second gear in the semi-final and had to coast the rest of the way. Paul Ingar passed me at the gantry and it would not have been good to be beaten by the car I sold to him. We changed every component in the ignition system that we could and the old girl ran a 5.48 in the final, back where she should have been. It was an important win but a difficult one. We are about 40 points in front compared to 13 when we got here so we still need the Finals to sew it up. It's too early to say, but it would be our fifth which no-one has done in a row before in the FIA. It might look easy but I can tell you it's not. When we struggle with a little problem we know it could become a big issue

Congratulations to Dave who has become a grandfather for the second time to Hayden Barker who was born at a weight of 7lb 12oz this afternoon.

Pro Mod runner-up Andy Robinson said, "The last few races have been tight and it was really close against Micke in the final. I didn't know who had won after we drove down the track but we are still leading the FIA points. It's been a good race and a great weekend after all the rain. The championship is down to the last race and quite a few racers could win it."




After his accident yesterday Richard Sunblom (Pro Stock) told Eurodragster.com that his parachutes didn't come out on his final qualifying run. "I just touched the brakes and the car just turned and rolled. Fortunately I have no injuries apart from a large bruise on my left arm, but the car is in pretty bad shape."

Ian King (Top Fuel Bike) said that in the final he had a lot of tyre shake. Every time it shook I shifted early but it pulled the engine down and this broke the drive belt and blew the burst panel in the blower. There was also some valve damage from the motor over-revving. However we did record our best ever 60ft time of 1.08 "

Roel Koedam said "This is my first win in Super Twin and I'm happy for the team. We're still tuning the bike and the settings are pretty soft, but they were too much for the track. I spun the tyre but so did Lorentz. So for the championship I have an appointment with Lo next weekend." Pictured is team owner and British Drag Racing Hall of Fame 2007 inductee Ton Pels.

Pro Mod winner Micke Gullquist said "We have been struggling since Alastaro where we played around with the fuel system and got into trouble. We sorted it out and every round we did better. Before the Finals we might test at Malmo&ounl;."

Leif Andreasson (above right, pictured with crew member Lars Pettersson) said "We looked like the Air Force today. The car ran well, the crew were fantastic, sponsors great, race and track really excellent. This is the best track we have ever had at Mantorp and it produced the best ever TMFC 60ft time in Europe of 0.93 and still went down the track.

Martin Bishop (Pro Stock Bike) said, "It's been a pretty good weekend. We changed the fuel from VP 110 Unleaded to VP SV05 and had to create a new baseline. We did that and went 7.52, which is nearer to where we wanted to be."

Per Bengtsson said "We are here for testing and have tried some completely different setups here and at Gardermoen where we made 7 passes. Up until the last run, the bike would run about the same regardless of the changes we made and it was lazy off the line. On the last run it left much harder than expected and I shut it off so I think we have found something."

New eighth mile track record holder Peter Svensson (pictured with brother and crewchief Sören) said "The race went much better than we hoped. It is our first race since September 1998 and have changed a lot on the bike: new MSD 44 ignition, fuel management system, manifolds and clutch. The engine was made by us. In the 1990s we raced in the U.S. for two years but funds ran out and we tried to sell the bike. As funds built up we thought more and more about running it, so we are here and will be at Gardermoen too."

Joachim Riemer (Super Twin) said "We have found a good baseline and are now on the right path. We had to search after the first two races but are happy now. We will race at Gardermoen and Santa Pod as I am in the top three of the points and any one of us can get the championship."

Anders "Charley" Karling has displayed his new bike but it wasn't quite ready to race "We have been working 15 to 17 hour days, seven days a week and I have been helped by Hans Bjorkman (who was with Lars Wahlberg's team) who has stayed with us for six weeks. My team mates Christian and Mats helpled, and there have been 5000 hours put into the bike. The main change is that it is going to be easier to maintain and makes more use of Top Fuel technology, for instance it's high gear only, has a clutch cannon and 8" clutch, dual 44 amp magnetos and ignition retard system. The crank is from Jim MacLure Racing but the rest was made by us: the chassis, motor plates, drive, cylinders and transmission. Ironcad who sponsor the bike helped a lot on the design and I am looking to race the complete UEM series next year and test at this year's Finals.

Michael Malmgren's race came to a premature conclusion when a small part failed. "A switch broke and this gave us 700rpm more on the startline and the car wouldn't stay under control. I had the fastest car here this weekend and two hundredths difference in reaction meant that I would have only needed to run a 6.97 to win." Marcus Bowen, who has been a crew chief for Mark Pawuk and Ron Krisher, has been with the team this weekend.

Mats Eriksson said "I was pleased with my performance this weekend but don't knowwhy I slowed against Andy. It was alright to be beaten by him but I will take him next time. I have one more run to do this weekend, for the Swedish championship where I am third."

Dave Wilson won what was for him a controversial matchup. Grumpy said "We were unaware that we had to race the starter as well as the other racer and the start sequence in the rules was not followed. Both cars needed to be in pre-stage and after Derek had gone in my stage light came on instantaneously after the pre-stage, which was down to me. But my revs were still down and the lights ran quickly. The car also went into the kitty litter at the far end as the car didn't slow and I didn't want to risk the bend. But at least we won the race."

Peter Schofer's team are pleased with a 5.57 qualifier and low ET of the first round against Timo Habermann. "We are looking to repeat and have lane choice against Rob Turner in the next round."

Rob Turner (above) said the team had a major thrash on after the first round win against Arto Hoyla. "We put a rod out and need to change some pistons", he said. Sadly they didn't make the call and Peter Schofer ran a single in the semi.

Kenneth Soderstrom said "We are pleased to be in the field but had to run close to our personal best of 6.97 to do so." Details on Keneth's racing operation and business are at www.spm-motor.se.

Magnus Hansson said "The track has been difficult for us this weekend and we also had motor problems and didn't get into the field until the last pass. I was happy to win the Pro Stock Shootout at Sundsvall."

Andy Carter, pictured with Karsten (left) and Per Andersen (right), said "The car's fine after another 4.73 and we want to repeat. We are chasing the points and want to keep up, so any changes will be small. The track has been fantastic and it's not often you get a track in Europe that can take the power like this one. The Mantorp Park staff have done a fantastic job in organising the event and my congratulations to them."

Norbert Kuno was fourth alternate and then came into the field and beat Marko Lantto in the first round. "You can't get points as an alternate which is a shame, but you can be bad for the other guys in the championship if you put them out. It's important to get track time and we want to have step up from our 6.38 personal best. But small things went wrong for us yesterday. Thanks go to Marko Lantto and his team offering their help to us - it's really appreciated."

Jorgen Leanders, crew chief for Ulf Leanders (pictured) said after defeating Arvid Grødem, "That was lucky for us as he red-lit and we shook the tyres badly and he would have beat us. We had a small crack in one of the headers but have fixed it."

Dan Larsen said "We are making normal service on the car but had very bad tyre shake and every time I could not see, I shifted gear, which is not ideal. We have to do something dragstic against Leif Andreasson in the semi final."

Fredde Fagerstrom said "The car was ok but there was bad tyre shake and we're not getting rid of it, although we do have lane choice. The car becomes unbalanced along the track."

Orjan Gustavsson (above) (Pro Stock Bike) said "We had huge clutch slip on our second run but less in the first run and we're in the field at third. We want to go quicker and the bike is capable of a high 7.2s here." He is helped by team members Peringe and Jonas and the Bertie Bassett figure in the team's pit is their mascot.

Gordon Appleton said after losing to Micke Gullquist, "We have been struggling to get down the track without tyre shake but have been making terrific power, but rattling the tyres at the top of first gear. We tree'd him and otherwise had him covered. It was a repeat of our matchup in the second round last year, but we'll get him back at the Finals."

Andy Robinson (above, examining data from his run) said after defeating Hans Knuters "We're on our way and just pleased to get that first round past us. I just drove it down the track but all races are tight these days."

Roger Johansson, pictured grinding clutch discs, said "I'm very happy. We've been working on the tuneup and have now found something. It's the first time both cars are through to the second round and both are running well. I'm pleased too with Michael Nord's driving this weekend."

Micke Gullquist (above) said "Last night was a better run but the car rolled out of stage. I don't think it will be a problem to run quicker against Roger as we have a lot of power, but he is quicker on the tree. We will let him go and catch him before the finish line."

Tommi Haapanen was delighted to have won against Urs Erbacher. "I've just spoken to my father who's unwell and he's pleased with me winning that round. I'm really happy with the consistency of the car and believe me, we will only make tiny changes."

Rune Fjeld (above, watching a Top Fuel matchup from his pit area) has one of his stable through to round two, Thomas Nataas. Thomas said "We want to run consistently but that one took a piston and a burst panel on the blower."

After a race of the 2006 Pro Mod Champion being defeated by the 2005 Champion, Patrik Wikström said "We did step up against Urban but are still in test mode. The car responded well."