2008 FHRA Nitro Nationals
Sunday (eliminations) report by Christer Abrahamson


The latest updates are at the top of the page. Click on your Browser's Refresh key to be sure of seeing the latest news.


This report is being written in real time at Alastaro. Post-session results are available on the FHRA pages at www.fhra.fi (cars) and Dragrace.fi (bikes).

15:50

Pro Stock Bike Final

W Fredrik Fredlund 7.44 283
Ulf �gge 7.38 293
Great race! Reaction time won that for Fredrik.

Super Twin Final

W Svein Olav Rolfstad 6.72 332
Hans Olav Olstad 6.92 330
Another good dragrace! Rolfstad had a little more power and was first to the line!

Top Fuel Bike Final

W Ian King 6.47 347
Rickard Gustavsson 7.67 202
Even until app 200 meters where Ian took off and Rickard lost power.

Pro Mod Final

Micke Lindahl
W Patrik Wikstr�m 6.66 352
Micke seemed to have no gear as the light turned green. He then just shut it off. Patrik had no problem winning that!

Pro Stock Final

W Jimmy �lund 6.88 322
Tommy Leindahl 6.95
Jimmy slightly quicker than Tommy and the it was just Jimmy doing his thing!

Top Methanol Funny Car Final

W Ulf Leanders 5.69 401
Jarmo Kuutniemi 6.94 300
Jarmo got into tyre shake almost immediately and when Ulf runs a 5.69 in the other lane the outcome was clear

Top Methanol Dragster Final

Timo Habermann 6.42 254
W Peter Sch�fer 5.54 415
Peter had a little tyre shake but it didn�t seem to slow him down. A bang from Timo's car half way and he slowed down leaving the way for Peter!

Top Fuel Final

W Lex Joon 5.00 425
Micke K�gered 6.54 212
Both cars lit tires but Lex managed to take the win!

13:30

Pro Modified Semi Finals

W Patrik Wikstr�m 6.43 356
Marko Lantto 6.70 348
Patrik just was the stronger one here!

W Micke Lindahl 6.19 356
Robert Joosten 11.65 121
Robert shaking the tires directly from start line. Micke once again did a good straight run.

13:00

Top Methanol Funny Car Semi Finals

W Ulf Leanders 5.75 393 bye
Fishtailed quite a lot from 200 meters.

W Jarmo Kuutniemi 5.92 346
Dan Larsen 5.94 394
Jarmo first out. Dan run into tyre shake at 100 meters. Jarmo lost burstplate at 380 meters.

Top Methanol Dragster Semi Finals

W Timo Habermann 5.64 397
Rob Turner No show
Word says Rob had to change engine after last run.

W Peter Sch�fer 6.39 241
Dave Wilson No show
Peter clicked off early.

12:45

Pro Stock Bike Semi Finals

W Ulf �gge 7.48 293 bye

W Fredrik Fredlund 7.39 286
Martin Bishop 7.55 282
Good race!

Super Twin Semi Finals

W Svein Olav Rolfstad 6.75 332
Lorenz St�uble 6.76 335
Fantastic side by side race! Slightly better reaction time from Svein

Per Bengtsson 8.50 181
W Hans Olav Olstad 6.68 334
Side by side until half track where Per lost it.

Top Fuel Bike Semi Finals

W Ian King 6.44 346
Miko Rajaniemi
Ian had a straight good run to 6.44! Miko lost power from starting line.

Peter Andersson-Str�m 7.29 304
W Rickard Gustafsson 6.60 377
Good racing! Rickard first out, Peter was ahead at 100 meters where he had to let off. Went on again, but Rickard first to the line!

Pro Stock Semi Finals

W Tommy Leindahl 6.94 319
Eero Knihtil� 6.93 321
Tommy won that one on reaction at the tree!

W Jimmy �lund 6.84 323
Magnus Hansson 6.99 319
Magnus was slightly out of the groove for a while. Jimmy ran straight all the way.

Top Fuel Semi Finals

W Micke K�gered 6.32 219
Andy Carter 8.81 170
Andy went up in smoke almost from line and clicked off. Micke stormed until 1/2 track where there were flames from engine (not from exhaust that is!) and rolled to win.

W Lex Joon 5.19 337
Urs Erbacher 6.29 239
Urs smoked tires quickly and went close to center line and lost blower belt. Lex lost blower belt at 300 meters.

11:30

Top Methanol Funny Car round 1

W Ulf Leanders 5.78 340
Danny Bellio 11.43
Ulf on a straight good looking run. Danny had to struggle and finally let off throttle.

Leif Andreasson 5.93 393
W Jarmo Kuutniemi 5.91 364
Jarmo away first. Leif worked hard to get the car go straight.

W Dan Larsen 6.22 388
Arvid Gr�dem No show
Dan Larsen likes to thank everyone that helped him trough the night, cleaning engine, frame end patching up the body!

Top Methanol Dragster round 1

Dennis Habermann 6.62 341
W Timo Habermann 5.62 393
No doubt here, Timo was ahead all the way.

W Rob Turner 5,82 386
Krister Johansson 6.11 231
Both cars side by side at first. Krister dropped cylinders halftrack and switched off.

W Peter Sch�fer 5.69 404
Arto H�yla 5.85 371
It was Peter from start.

W Dave Wilson 5.56 410
Paul Ingar Udtian 7.12 219
Dave seems to have found a little bit of the secrets to get A-fuellers to go! Paul Ingar had tyre shake at app 75 metres and got out of the black groove.

Pro Mod round 2

W Patrik Wikstr�m 7.34 269
Jari Par�n red 8.63 221

Micke Nord 7.72 212
W Marko Lantto 6.49 349 Micke steged slightly to the right of the black grooves. He lost traction and it was all Marko's!

W Robert Joosten 6.29 349
Marc Meihuizen 14.30
Marc shook hard from line and shut off. Robert also shook and was close to wall. Still managed 6.29 to win.

W Micke Lindahl 6.17 358
Bruno Bader 6.33 352
The Lindahl twins are doing another straight problem free run this time to 6.17 and the win!

10:45

Top Fuel round 1

W Micke K�gered 5.25 491
Jari Halinen No time recorded
Jari went up in smoke at 60 foot. Micke had a huge fireball around engine at 300 meters. Track crew checked track and found no oil.

W Urs Erbacher 5.29 433
Tommi Haapanen 11.64 91
Tommi having trouble getting out of reverse and Urs stood already wating. When Tommi got back the team waved him in staged very quicly. On green Tommi had an engine bang at app 60 foot. Urs had his share of fire from engine just before finish line.

W Lex Joon 5.02 377
Janne Ahonen
Janne did no burnout at all and very slowly rolled into stage. Just idled out 2 meters on green. Lex run to victory looked very solid and clean. There is some kind of liquid sprayed on Lex lane the last 75 meters.

J�ran Pers�ker 5.20 376
W Andy Carter 4.79 465
Andys 60 foot time 0.839! Good run from both cars. Andy just had so much more power!

Pro Stock Bike round 1

W Ulf �gge 7.49 289
Miia-Maria Vepsalainen red

W Fredrik Fredlund 7.41 287
Chris Hope No Show

Richard Gipp 7.83 274
W Martin Bishop 7.47 279
Great reaction time for Gipp but didn�t win the race.

Super Twin round 1

W Lorenz St�uble 6.54 344
Harri Piesensalmi No Show
Great bye run!

G�nter Sohn
W Sven Olav Rolfstad 6.78 327
G�nter Sohn shut of after burnout

W Per Bengtsson 6.90 269
Jukka Kuuru No Show
Per shut of 50 meters before finish line

W Hans Olav Olstad 6.93 305
Tommy M�ller
Tommy lost power after 75 meters. Hans Olav did a very straight un-dramatic run to 6.93

Top Fuel Bike round 1

W Ian King 6.48 353
Bye

Kai Selk�maa No Show
W Miko Rajaniemi No Time recorded
Mikos bike just stooped when he let go of clutch

Asko M��tt� red
W Rickard Gustavsson 8.52 239

W Peter Andersson-Str�m 7.51 258
Otto Knebl 8.76 246
Peter fishtailed violently at tha last 100 meters

Pro Stock round 1

Michael Malmgren
W Eero Knihtil� 7.61 229
Both drivers waited for a looong while to stage. Michael lost traction at start line. Eero had to let off a couple of times as his car waved the tail a lot!

W Jimmy �lund 6.89 320
Kenneth S�derstr�m 10.19 143
Kenneth was very late from tree.

W Magnus Hansson 6.90 319
Adam Flamholc 8.57 178
Adam lost traction at about halftrack and let off.

We are on hold for a few raindrops. The sky doesn�t look at all like it's going to rain for long. (Doesn�t look like its going to rain at all actually!)

Richard Sundblom 7.86 210
W Tommy Leindahl 7.17 218
Richard changed to left lane in the last minute. Both drivers struggling to have the cars to go straight. Tommy even popped the chutes before finish line and still managed to win!

9:45

Round 1 Pro Mod

Roger Johansson 10.97
W Patrik Wikstr�m 6.35
Patrik was really quick out from green and that won him the race.

Andy Robinson Red
W Marko Lantto 6.66 344
Andy left before tree was activated!

Mats Eriksson
W Micke Nord 6.54 348
Both cars was drifting and sliding. Mats got almost sideways and had to shut off before hitting the wall.

W Marc Meihuizen 6.39 302
Kristian Nystr�m 6.42 353
Both cars left straight, Marc drifted slowly towards the wall at 300 and lifted for a short while. He was still able to make it. Very close race!

W Robert Joosten 6.17 370
Micke Gullqvist 7.16 233
Robert just left and took win with a fantastic ET and top speed!

W Micke Lindahl 6.30 351
Seppo Saapola 9.53 156
Seppo got tireshake rather early on the run. Lindahl twins have a fantastic string of good runs this weekend!

W Bruno Bader 6.30 353
Freddy Fagerstr�m 6.52 353
Freddy was fishtailing a lot at top end but never gave up. Bruno just run straight and easy to the win!

Urban Johansson 10.37 136
W Jari Par�n 7.98 238
Both cars suffered from tireshake, but Jari let off earlier and managed to get back in shape and run for win. Urban stayed on it a little bit longer and start waving the rear end too much to get the car back in shape before Jari was way passed him.

8:45

Good morning from eliminations day here at Alastaro and FHRA Nitro Nats. The weather changed yesterday evening from hot to a bit chilly. It is sunny this morning but the temperature has dropped drastically to about 15 degrees.

I would like to thank you all for kind words about the almost-live-report. I'm really trying hard to keep up with typing and bring you a little bit of the excitement here at the track! I feel a bit sorry for you that couldn�t make it here! One of them is Hobbe that is tuned in from Singapore, Hi Hobbe!

There was a lot of activity in the pit area rather late. Dan Larsen had team members from Arvid Gr�dem, the Leanders bros, Fast Freddy and some others trying to patch his body together while his own crew worked on the engine (thanks to Lex Joon for the picture).

There is a lot of really interesting Sportsman racing going on in the NDRS and the Finnish classes, so I do wish I had the skills of "Master Tog" to keep up with all the classes, but I simply can't do it!

The first round of eliminations in FIA/UEM is scheduled for 11.


Reports and pictures ©Eurodragster.com