2008 NitrolympX
Saturday (qualifying)
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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. Click here to go back to the event index 1:45 We have now posted Saturday's on-track pictures, which you can view via the Event Index page. Because it is so late we have not added captions, however there are seventy pictures instead of the usual thirty. We need some sleep so the off-track shots will have to wait. Tune back in the morning and we'll have all the news from eliminations. The track is due to open at 9:45. 21:55 Fuel Funny Car Shootout session 2: Left lane Thomas Nataas 10.029/131.35, right lane John Spuffard 10.013/136.26
21:15 Another match race for Tony Morris, this time against a Hummer. Another seven-second head start and even closer this time, 15.149/142.69 for the Hummer to 8.407/253.18 for Tony and the Hummer there first by 0.2 seconds. 21:10 Top Fuel Dragster demonstrations: Gary Page 7.156/201.89 bye
Micke Kågered 7.593/178.17 bye, Risto Poutiainen 6.265/208.38 bye, Lex Joon 4.905/387.94 bye, Andy Carter 5.004/376.86 def. Urs Erbacher 5.757/220.70 20:50 Junior Dragster eliminations round 1 winners: Karin Winter (14.37) 14.485/67.18, Sascha Winter (9.01) 9.246/110.71, Jill Kemp (13.95) 13.939/72.20, Noah Stutz (9.21) 9.288/111.02, Rhiannon Bellenie (10.50) 10.592/95.16, Niklas Andersson (8.25) 8.216/128.69 bye, Pirmin Schmid (11.50) 11.669/85.01, William Andersson (9.10) 9.234/103.15, Jason Engalage (15.28) 15.349/65.01, Thomas Weikum (8.80) 9.015/111.92, Lena Romahn (8.80) 8.917/118.19 Next up are the Top Fuel Dragster demonstrations commencing with the two-seater Top Fueller driven by Gary Page and with fan Michael Bohnert in the passenger seat. 20:25 One of the features of the Night Show was a race between a Race Quad and ex-pat UK racer Tony Morris in Eric Pflug's Super Comp Dragster. Chunky gave the Quad just under seven seconds' head start and was only 0.5845 behind at the line, 14.271/144.69 for the Quad to Tony's 8.392/253.15. 20:00 Nitro Bike Thunder session 2: Despite what we said earlier it's not entirely clear how this Shootout is going to work so we'll give you the times for this session and when we've got official word on the set-up we'll put up the numbers in the right format:
Ian's good, but a 242.67 mph terminal speed is I guess a front-wheel-down-in-the-traps job. Kai's run was looking good, 1.076 to sixty feet but he took out the eighth-mile timing reflectors. Next up is the first elements of the Night Show but we have Round 1 of Junior Dragster coming up at 20:45. To enjoy the Night Show keep an eye on the webcam. 19:20 FIA Pro Modified eliminations round 1: Marko Lantto 7.820/267.53 def. Patrick Wikström no time
Marc Meihuizen 6.249/367.24 bye, Robert Koper shut off
Rolf Amman 6.645/347.72 bye, Roger Johansson shut off
Micke Lindahl 6.339/372.91 def. Torsten Kath 6.798/328.33
Mats Eriksson 6.166/362.52 def. Kristian Nyström 6.533/348.00
Micke Gullqvist 6.225/371.19 def. Freddy Fagerström 6.761/361.86
Urban Johansson 6.155/375.36 def. Micke Nord 6.388/353.67
Norbert Kuno 6.359/365.14 def. Henri Joosten 6.620/332.71
Next up is Nitro Bike Thunder which is scheduled for 19:45. 17:16 We are now on a break until 19:00, when we will have the first rounds of Pro Mod and Junior Dragster, then the second round of Nitro Bike Thunder, followed by the legendary Night Show. 17:15 Super Street Bike eliminations round 1 winners: Steve Venables 7.503/319.73, Garry Bowe 8.037/282.01, Graham Balchin 7.793/312.83, Graham Dance 7.992/280.30, Dave Smith 7.736/300.74, Thomas Granica 9.794/147.51 bye, Richard Stubbins 7.740/300.41, Sean Mills 8.037/295.27, Chris Reed 8.436/285.38, Phil Wood 8.267/288.33, Peter Feige 9.275/252.57, Scott Baldwin 7.814/300.12, Ondrez Klymciw 8.891/259.32, Martin Klug 9.223/253.48 17:00 Super Gas eliminations round 1 winners: Jan Hardekopf 9.859/219.14 bye, Guido Uhlir 9.957/217.87, Robert Jongen 9.903/198.53, Bert Gorselitz 9.980/222.94, Robert Gassner 10.076/216.69, Werner Zudrell 9.959/208.26, Stefan Eisenhauer 10.150/207.46, Casa van de Mosselaar 10.473/171.85, Juergen Schubert 9.965/230.66, Konrad Bayer 9.872/222.44, Oscar Scappocin 10.001/208.04, Ove Kroeger 8.496/249.46 bye, Thomias Guenther 9.908/221.26, Patrick Geng 9.909/197.92 bye 16:55 Public Race eliminations round 1 winners: Gerhard Dold 12.390/169.45, Markus Stegbauer 12.883/158.21, Hans Niesner 12.076/158.05, Joerg Dieckmann 12.394/155.36, Christian Frei 12.994/142.01, Volker Heldt 12.265/182.06, Lutz Schaere 12.341/166.07, Alexander Zernik 12.438/148.35, Markus Himmler 12.303/140.19, Martin Weikum 11.888/147.30, Thomas Helmbrecht 12.348/124.51, Markus Ochsner 12.096/172.69, Manuel Kreiter 19.489/86.25 bye 16:40 Pro Bike qualifying top five after session 3:
I do believe a new Personal Best for Len Paget to consolidate his #1 spot, well done Len! In the next pairing Kev Charman moved up to #2 spot. An improvement for Philippe Runget but he stayed in place. 16:35 Supertwin Top Gas qualifying top five after session 3:
16:25 Harley V-Rod Destroyer Cup qualifying top five after session 2:
Sascha Brodbeck improved but stayed in place. 16:20 Comp Eliminator qualifying top five after session 3:
Klaus Meier improved against index but stayed in #5 spot at that point. Dennis Habermann similarly improved buy stayed in second. Rene Meierhofer came into the top five at #3. 15:55 Super Comp qualifying top five after session 3:
An improvement for Fred Hanssen in the first pairing, but he stayed in place. Next pair, André Mueller came in to the top five at #3. 15:50 FIA Top Top Fuel Dragster qualifying session 3 (left lane first): Lex Joon 4.827/455.09 bye, Jari Halinen 6.024/281.90 bye, Stig Neergaard 5.106/400.92, Andy Carter 4.943/394.44, Micke Kågered 10.951/132.67 bye, Urs Erbacher 4.909/474.05 bye A tremendous pass from Lex to start the session, into #1 spot blackstriping the length of his lane, maybe off the throttle just a touch early judging by the terminal speed. Next up Jari, #8 before the run so the most vulnerable to being bumped out by Janne. A pretty good pass up to about 100 feet where the tyres started to smoke, Jari pedalled and then the tyres started to blaze but Jari stayed on the throttle and the car disappeared into a cloud of smoke, I think we were all waiting for the bang but it didn't happen and Jari eventually shut off. Andy's next chance to back up his 506.79 for a new European speed record, not this time as Andy shut off early but all eyes were on Stig as his engine started to smoke and then there was a ball of flame. The safety crews chased Stig down and he is quite OK, a look through the binoculars revealed the car stopped on the shutdown area with the chutes already wrapped around the rear wing. Stig's dragster recovered Micke was next up on a bye. Some consternation around the cockpit before Micke staged, Goran calling Alan Jackson over and Alan saying that whatever it was was OK. A sixty foot squirt, 0.904 and off the throttle. Urs took a bye, a sold run for the hot conditions, no sign of shake and on the throttle to about 1100 feet. Tommi Haapanen was here but went back to the pits. Final qualifying standings:
15:25 FIA Top Methanol Funny Car qualifying session 3 (left lane first): Ulf Leanders 5.774/401.59 bye, Arvid Grødem 5.837/385.42, Jarmo Kuutniemi 9.604/147.89, Leif Andréasson 5.943/390.82 bye, Danny Bellio 27.220/no speed, Dan Larsen 5.896/400.11 Ulf left it late again but it was worth waiting for, a straight pass with no sign of shake, into #1 spot to strengthen his repeat Championship chances. Arvid left it late too but a new Personal Best and #2 spot, nice one Arvid! Jarmo's tyres went up in smoke at the hit, he pedalled once and tried again but the car went out of shape so he got off the throttle. Leif next on a bye, a nice pass with no shake, improving his ET but staying in #4 spot. Danny's tyres went up in smoke at the hit and his engine zinged, he eventually rolled to a halt in the top end speed trap. A great pass from Dan, finding his old form at just the right moment, into #4 spot. Final qualifying standings:
15:10 FIA Top Methanol Dragster qualifying session 3 (left lane first): Timo Habermann 5.464/414.85 bye, Dave Wilson 5.549/424.25 bye, Rob Turner 5.557/380.55, Peter Schöfer 5.572/415.33 Timo into #1 spot with a picture-perfect run and a new Personal Best, and a World Record for a Whipple blower, well done Timo! Grumpy next up with his first shot at backing up a European speed record of 425.25 (264.24 mph). And back it up he did and moved up to #2 spot, that was with a pedal, well done Grumpy! A nice match-up between Peter and and Rob, Peter with a visible holeshot, Rob trying hard to chase him down and taking #3 spot, Peter improving but ending up in #4. Final qualifying standings:
15:00 FIA Pro Modified qualifying session 2 (left lane first): Marc Meuhuizen 22.172/53.28 bye, Jürgen Schomann shut off, Bruno Bader 6.779/347.84 bye, Marco Maurischat no time bye, Urban Johansson shut off, Henri Joosten 7.195/329.03 bye, Robert Koper 6.624/340.80, Robert Joosten 6.982/352.58, Ingo Rolla 7.213/283.00 DQ, Torsten Kath 7.289/296.19, Micke Lindahl 6.309/386.51, Terje Håkonsen 7.153/319.59, Freddy Fagerström 6.684/357.92 bye, Patrick Wikströ 6.430/358.75, Peter Ritscher no time, Marko Lantto 16.05/105.21, Kristian Nyström 6.475/348.79, Micke Nord 6.461/355.06, Rolf Amman 6.615/352.92, Roger Johansson 6.695/347.00, Mats Eriksson 13.041/101.59, Norbert Kuno 6.916/276.66, Micke Gullqvist 6.317/372.27 Marc's tyres went up in smoke at the hit. Jürgen shut off just before staging. Bruno took the bye, hit shake and pedalled but got himself into the top sixteen. Another twitchy burnout for Marco, the car turning right and getting close to the wall, Marco then rolled the beams whilst staging and got no time. Urban again shut off after his burnout and was pushed back, Henri took the bye and no improvement so he is spectating tomorrow. Robert J hit shake, pedalled and tried again but the tyres smoked, it wasn't enough and the Championship leader is watching from the grandstand tomorrow. Robert K ran a Personal Best and got himself into tonight's first round, well done Robert! A straight run for Torsten, Ingo's Anenger started to move around its lane and then crossed lanes just before the finish line, punting the top end reflectors into the air so the time and speed are doubtful. From here it looked pretty close between Ingo and Torsten. The next question was whether Championship #2 Micke L could take advantage of Robert J's misfortune, going into the run Micke was not qualified. A five hundred-foot burnout from Terje had the crowd on its feet. Micke wasn't mucking about on this one, into #2 spot and the first half of a new European speed record, 240.17 mph, well done Micke! Terje tried to drive through shake but couldn't get it to stick and he spectaties tomorrow. Freddy next with a huge burnout getting the crowd going then a long, long wheelie and moving left and right all the way down, moving up a couple of places. Peter drove up the track after his burnout, the engine banged after the burnout but not bad enough to stop whatever it was. Patrick took a bye and improved his ET, moving up the standings. Marko's tyres went up in smoke at the hit and he shut off after the Vette turned left, Kristian put in a very straight and solid pass and moved up the ladder. Micke's Mustang drifted to the right of his lane but he stayed with it, Rolf moved left but both were under control, no improvements so they stayed in place. 330 foot burnout from Mats to a huge cheer from the spectators. A pedalfest for Roger and Mats, very violent shake for Mats and he shut off, Roger pedalled and got back on it but no improvement. Shake for Norbert but his #1 spot was safe, an improvement for Micke G moved him up to #3 and that was with a little shake. Final qualifying standings:
Trackside conditions at the start of the session were 29 C, 35% humidity and 30.27 inches of air. 14:30 Super Gas qualifying top five after session 3:
No changes to the top five in this final session. We had the worst kind of oildown in this session, a fine mist more or less the length of the track, but the clean-up crew did a great job. Next up is Pro Mod. 13:30 Public Race qualifying top five after session 3:
Christian Frei into the top five in the first pairing, #5 at that point. A few pairings later he was bumped out of the top five as Alain Duerr came in at #4. 13:20 Junior Dragster qualifying top five after session 3:
Noah Stutz up to #2 in the first pairing of the session. Mark Daugaard came in at #5 five pairings later. A great side-by-side from Rebecka Krassow and Simon Andersson, Rebecka taking over the lead and Simon into the top five at #4. 12:30 Fuel Funny Car Shootout session 1: John Spuffard 5.474/414.62 def. Thomas Nataas 6.449/229.85 Spuff on his way back from the burnout before Thomas moved forward but the Batmobil was back to the line pretty quickly. Spuff visibly away first, a straight and hard pass, Thomas was on a good one himself but shut off just after half track - I don't know how many passes Thomas has yet made in that car but it looked as if he has been driving it forever. We're now on a break until 13:00. 12:25 Nitro Bike Thunder session 1:
This shootout is running as a Cannonball with the two best aggregate ETs overall racing for the event title tomorrow. 12:10 FIA Top Top Fuel Dragster qualifying session 2 (left lane first): Tommi Haapanen 4.888/497.62 bye, Risto Poutiainen 5.107/396.17 bye, Jari Halinen 7.882/163.48, Micke Kågered 4.865/463.44, Lex Joon 13.676/106.42, Stig Neergaard 5.008/394.01, Andy Carter 5.589/283.55, Urs Erbacher 4.835/495.01 Tommi outside the show before this run but boy was he in it afterwards! A tremendous pass, wheels-up and blackstriping the length of his lane into #2 spot. That put Risto out of the show and he rose to the occasion, from here looked like a cylinder out on one side and got close to the centre line but stayed with it and into #5 spot at that point. Jari's tyres went up in smoke at about 300 feet then blazed and we couldn't see him any more, Micke appeared out of the other side of the smoke with a straight and hard pass, into #1 spot for Bahco Tools. The next pair safely in the field although Stig would want to get away from the bump. Which he did very well with a tremendous pass which would have been even better had his blower belt not departed the car at about 1000 feet. Lex's tyres were up in smoke at the hit and he shut off. Not a foot wrong for Urs, blackstriping his lane and into #1 spot whilst Andy looked to have cylinders out and then he was off the throttle - the car behaved as if the blower belt had come off although I didn't see the belt. Qualifying standings after this session:
11:55 FIA Top Methanol Funny Car qualifying session 2 (left lane first): Jarmo Kuutniemi 6.437/382.36 bye, Jürgen Nagel 6.159/367.11, Leif Andréasson 6.062/334.86, Dan Larsen 6.113/296.31, Arvid Grødem 6.487/367.49, Ulf Leanders 10.703/125.61, Danny Bellio 5.879/398.20 Big tyre shake and a couple of pedals for Jarmo, an improvement but not what he would have wanted and he stayed where he was in the standings. An imorovement for Jürgen but all eyes on Leif in the other lane as the Startus made violent moves around its lane and almost crossed lanes, Leif hung onto it pretty well and went into second place, Jürgen made up places too. Arvid's tyres up in smoke not off the line and he had his hands full pedalling and trying to keep it in line, Dan looked to be on a good pass but the Boxter FC started to move around its lane in the second half and Dan put the chutes out. How about that for consistency from Danny Bellio, straight as you like and no sign of shake. Ulf hit bad shake off the line, tried to pedal but it didn't help. Qualifying standings after this session:
11:40 FIA Top Methanol Dragster qualifying session 2 (left lane first): Dave Wilson 5.625/425.25 bye, Timo Habermann 5.633/401.44, Paul Ingar Udtian 5.630/407.16, Peter Schöfer 5.620/407.16, Rob Turner 5.628/385.62 A great pass for Grumpy, into #1 spot at that point and the first half of a new European speed record for the Silverline team, well done guys! A little more to come there since the car didn't go completely straight. A great match-up between Timo and Paul, Timo getting a visible holeshot, sounded like the briefest of pedals from Paul but into #2 spot for the Islanders and #3 spot for Timo. Another great match-up between Peter and Rob, no sign of shake and both straight as you like, Peter into #1 and Rob into #3. How tight is that qualifying? Qualifying standings after this session:
11:30 FIA Pro Modified qualifying session 2 (left lane first): Marco Maurischat 9.671/227.26 bye, Bruno Bader 10.758/121.36 bye, Terje Håkonsen 7.023/325.19, Norbert Kuno 6.306/365.08, Mats Eriksson 6.430/372.91, Robert Koper 7.474/275.92, Peter Ritscher 6.823/341.33, Ingo Rolla 7.486/275.63, Robert Joosten 7.594/348.56 bye, Andy Robinson 6.838/275.74, Micke Lindahl 7.072/365.08, Rolf Amman 6.573/351.44, Freddy Fagerström 6.867/274.77, Henri Joosten 7.641/242.04, Roger Johansson 6.360/360.36, Kristian Nyström 6.742/341.44, Marko Lantto 6.464/357.69, Torsten Kath 7.253/237.08, Patrick Wikström 6.690/356.10, Micke Gullquist 6.346/366.00 bye, Urban Johansson shut off, Marc Meihuizen 24.255/33.74, Micke Nord 6.371/353.73 A gentle burnout for Marco, the 'Vette going for a little wander in the burnout as Pro Mods should. A gentle pass for Bruno too, 1.183 to sixty feet and then feathering the throttle from about 100 feet onwards. Terje hit shake and pedalled, something came off the car but he stayed with it, meanwhile Norbert laid down a stormer to take #1 at that point. Mats drove through shake, from here it looked as if the driver side door tried to open. A nice pass for Robert, further under power this time and staying in place. A solid pass for Peter, no sign of shake or any other problem, moved him up the field and a new PB for Ingo but he stayed in place. Robert got to the Tree and his tyres went up in smoke, he stayed with it and the run started to resemble another burnout and the engine note was heading for a zing. The points leader not currently qualified with one session left. Andy had a big rebuild job last night, again some smoke from the Stude in the second half of the track and then the car disappeared in a cloud of smoke and a report of oil on the radio. Micke L pedalled a couple of times for shake, the Camaro moving around its lane some, Micke not qualified at this point. The oil from Andy's Stude can't have been that bad since the next pair were fired up a couple of minutes later. A new Personal Best for Rolf, well done Rolf! In the other lane Freddy hit shake, pedalled, the front end of the pick-up came up but Freddy being Freddy stayed with it and then backed off before the stripe. A tremendous pass for Roger, left Henri for dead at the Tree and no sign of shake, into #3 spot at that point. No improvement for Henri and on the bump at that moment. A great pass for Marko moved him up the field, the Vette skating a little but he hung on in there. An improvement for Kristian too but he stayed in place. Patrik had to pedal for shake and the Camaro moved around its lane, no improvement for Torsten either. Urban's Vette sounded as if it were misfiring in the burnout and he shut off on the way back. Micke didn't know he was on a bye and sat in pre-stage for an age, on the green the big Chevy made a move to the centreline, the briefest of feathers of the throttle and back on it and into #3 spot at that point. Marc's tyres up in smoke at the hit, a storming and consistent run for Micke N, the MSS team really have got those Nitrous cars sorted. Qualifying standings after this session:
Trackside conditions at the start of this session were 20 C, 73% humidity and 31.01 inches of air. 10:50 Pro Bike qualifying top five after session 2:
Sven Fagan improved with a Personal Best but stayed in place. Same story for Philippe Runget, an improvement but stayed in #5 at that point. 10:40 Supertwin Top Gas qualifying top five after session 2:
A hairy ride for Herman Jolink as he got very close indeed to the guardrail. Herman calmly feathered the throttle and guided the bike away. A pleasant surprise to see Tom Tinndahn on his Pro Stock Bike, what a pass and into #1. An improvement for Cord Albers but he stayed in place, and in the next pairing Harry van Schie came into the top five at #4. 10:25 Harley V-Rod Destroyer Cup qualifying top five after session 1:
10:20 Super Street Bike qualifying top five after session 2:
An improvement for Dave Smith but he stayed in place. Next pair and same story for Scott Baldwin, a big improvement but stayed in #3 at that point. Graham Balchin next into the top five and into the sevens, good for #3 at that point. Two pairings later and Chris Reed went into the top five at #5. He was promptly bumped out of the top five by Richard Stubbins. A spectacular pass from Ven followed, increasing his advantage and getting closer and closer to 200 mph. 10:05 Comp Eliminator qualifying top five after session 2:
John Tebenham into the top five at #4 with a great pass, launching as if shot from a gun and the front left wheel up in the air for a long while. 9:50 Super Comp qualifying top five after session 2:
Lothar Feidt took over the lead in the second pairing of the session. An improvement for Tom Zellner but he stayed in place but he was then bumped out by Marc Henney and Gerd Habermann who came into the top five side-by-side. An improvement for Martin Schlegel but he stayed in place. 9:40 Super Gas qualifying top five after session 2:
Werner Zudrell into the top five in the third pairing of the session, #5 at that point. Next into the top five was Guido Uhlir, in at #4 and bumping Werner down. Jiri Bamberger followed, in at #5 in the next pairing. Next pair and Jurgen Schubert came in at #3. 9:30 Public Race qualifying top five after session 2:
Christian Frei in at #4 in the third pairing of the session. Two pairings left and Manuel Kreiter came into the top five at #2, then in the last run of the session Hans Niesnert came in at #3. 9:20 Junior Dragster qualifying top five after session 2:
Lena Romahn into #1 spot in the second pairing of the session. That lasted two pairings as Marcus Sand took over the lead. A brief break when one of the dragsters went over on its side in the shutdown area but the driver was quite OK. On the restart Niclas Andersson took over the lead, Niklas' name no stranger to the upper reaches of qualifying. First run of the weekend for Noah Stutz and straight into #4 spot. 9:00 Good morning and welcome from the Hockenheimring for day one of our coverage of the NitrolympX brought to you in association with American Car Imports. The Webster Race Engineering/MPM Oil webcam is on-line and is posting a picture every sixty seconds. Another late one for us last night but we would like to say a big Thank You to Peter Schöfer and his team for dinner, which we somehow managed to fit into about ten minutes. Very nice it was too, next time you're passing see if they have any turkey steaks left. The weather is a lot better today. It was misty first thing this morning but the sun is already burning it off and is visible through the haze. We will shortly be starting with the second session of Sportsman qualifying; Nitro Bikes are scheduled for 10:15 then Fuel FC at 10:30 and the Pro qualifying session at 10:40. More Sportsmen and the lunch break and then the Pros are on again at 14:15 followed by the first rounds of some Sportsman classes. The first round of Pro Mod is at 19:00 followed by round two of Nitro bikes, and then we are into the legendary Night Show at 20:00. Stay tuned and as soon as the wheels start to turn we'll bring you the news. Reports and pictures ©Eurodragster.com |