Pro Mod racer Mats Eriksson is third in the championship and could mathematically catch the leaders. But he was disappointed at Tierp where at both races contested at the new track he had a red light. "In the FIA race I had an oil pressure issue after the burnout and went out in first round. At the second NDRS event I was leading the Swedish championship going into the race and in the second round the tube with the gear button cracked in the burnout and I red lit again." At Alastaro, Mats' luck turned as he won the race and stepped up. "It will be hard to catch Michael Gullqvist, but we ran well here last year recording several 6.0s." At the end of the first day Mats was third with Micke leading and a problem with the injector sucking in a foreign object reported before the second session. Mats is pictured with sons Ludwig (now retired from Junior Dragster) and Lars-Goran.

Pro Stock Bike racer Martin Bishop ran a 7.63/271kph but was unhappy with the bike losing power mid-track. "Up until this point I have had new PBs every meeting this year and have a new 1755cc engine for this race. It was the engine's first run and it didn't feel right." So Martin sat out the second session chasing the problem.

Pro Stock Bike racer and Eurodragster.com blogger Kalle Lyren was delighted to have run a new PB of 7.21 in the first session. Father and team principal Roger said "It's a PB for the rider, the bike and the engine and a great baseline. We put in the smaller 1655cc engine which has less torque and the setup was guess work judging the revs. Kalle is a great rider and so consistent it is easy to set the bike up around him."

Top Fuel Bike and Super Twin racer Jaska Salakari was sporting a new pair of glasses and hoping to run a comparable or better run to his personal best of 6.390/341.84 in Super Twin at Alastaro. The only rider to compete in both Top Fuel and Super Twin, he ran 7.53 in Super Twin after the engine cut out at half track and an eleven when the primary belt on his KTM based engine parted company.

Top Fuel Bike racer Ian King was hoping to improve on his PB from Gardermoen of 6.25/380 on his new Gulf Oil-sponsored bike. But on his sole run on Friday he had to lift and a 7.346/210.38 was the result. More to come!

Pro Stock Bike racer Martin Newbury said "This is my first race as a rider outside the UK. I have had a lot of work done on the bike at the start of the year with a new body and engine. It was my first full pass as I needed to lift on both the runs I made at the Main Event and am quite pleased with a 7.7 as I wasn't used to the track and the bike hugged the centre line. There is more to come." Martin's company Psycle Workz has carried out a lot of machining work for Indy Cars this year and also built his new engine. Another achievement this year is losing three stone in the last three months.

Pro Stock bike rider Stavros Svrachnos is at his first UEM race this year. He said "I did the first run cold and ran a 7.85. The bike is good, the track good but I had a gear selection problem. We have checked it and it should be better next time." He improved to a 7.55 on the second run which put him in seventh place at the end of Friday.

Fellow Greek Pro Stock bike rider Charalambos Bousinis ran a 7.635 on his first pass and improved to a near personal best 7.56 in the second session. He said after the first run "We had too much tyre spin and the clutch was too loose so we will tighten it up."

Super Comp racer Konrad Beyer from Dusseldorf bought his '41 Ford Pickup in the US in 2008 and he discovered that it is the first customer car that Tim McAmis built, back in 1993. Konrad said "I was surprised it was not in a museum. Adam Flamholc and his company MMR have provided support and have built the engine. With his help I am looking forward to 2012 and am looking to also get a doorslammer to run in 10.5O Outlaw in Sweden." Konrad's first runs were in the high nines with trans slippage causing the car to lose time and an evening of stripping the trans and rebuilding it in prospect.

Competition Eliminator racer Armin Schmidt is racing the ex-Dennis Habermann blown dragster which he has owned since 2008. Armin has run a best of 7.4 in it with a 10-71 PSI blower atop the 602cu in block. The team had problems with the car today but will run tomorrow.

Competition Eliminator racer John Bradshaw is away from Santa Pod for the first time in his drag racing career. He is accompanied by Mark Gillam (pictured right) who is the crew chief and data analyst on the team and Tony Gillham, Mark and Tony being Abbey Motorsport. John is also supported by Motul who he hosted at the Main Event and will host at the Euro Finals. The car ran a 7.4 after bogging off the line. John was pleased and said "We had a new engine from the US only this week and that run was good enough to give us some useful data. Some competitors have been looking carefully at the car as it is the only Japanese engined car here. We love Competition Eliminator where we race against the index as it is difficult to make the car consistent for Super Pro ET

Competition Eliminator racer Thomas Stiefel runs this immaculate '57 Chevy. He said "Andy Robinson made the car for us and delivered it to us in January 2011. We put our old engine and trans in it and ran it at the Main Event at SPR. The driver had had a four yeat break. We got a lot of help in setting the car up from Andy's crew and ran a 7.12 at the Main Event and have run a 6.97 at this, our second race this year. It is the best time for the engine which is a Keith Black block about 25-30 years old with old BAE cylinder heads and Lenco trans."

Competition Eliminator racer Rene Jespersen races an ex Magnus Hansson Firebird which he bought in 2004. He said "I replaced the engine last year with an ex-Jackie Hansen Pro Stock engine and the car also has a TH350 trans and a 350hp nitrous kit. Today was not good but the best I got down the track is 7.61 at Mantorp last year. Today I had a plug lead come loose and water got under the car and it went sideways. The car runs on an index of 7.92/ Rene finished by saying it was the first time he had gone down the track in a long time and it is a great event.

Super Gas racer Antti Kivinummi has a matching pit vehicle.

Top Fuel racer Anita Mäkelä said "We want to do well but everything should be just so. We have a huge respect for Tommy Johnson Jnr's skill and expertise and nothing can take that away. For us, we had two disappointing meetings after losing by 0.003s to Risto at Tierp and red-lighting against TJ in Finland which I would not have thought possible as I saw the amber before I left. This is a different track to either of those and we will know more only when we go down it, but I have to qualify no.1 and win to have a chance in the Championship."

Top Fuel racer Timo Lehtimäki is in fifth place in the championship, but only three points off second place, after going to the semi finals at Finland. Ulf Hultholm, crew member, said "This is our third time at Hockenheim. Regardless of how well we do here, we will come to Santa Pod and see where we can get in the standings."

Top Fuel racers Stig and Kenni Neergaard are keen to get down the track after missing the Main Event due to illness and also not entering for Alastaro. Stig said the performance suffered at Tierp: "The tyres spun on every run at 100ft on the first pass then at the eighth on the other two runs. The track was green and our car was set up for the US. We backed it off but there was still too much power." The result was a DNQ. Kenni is making his Top Fuel competition debut at the age of 18. John Smith is once again providing tuning advice.

Top Methanol Funny Car racer ulf Leanders' daughter Erika is racing in Junior Dragster, alternating events with brother Fredrick (Erick was no.1 qualifier in her first race). Ulf has been the performance leader this year, running as quick as 5.62 in testing at Tierp with a best speed of 411.5kph at the Tierp International. ulf said "For the moment our focus is on Europe but we will go to the US as well if we have the funds to pay for it." Those funds will likely come from the clutch which has been successfully used in the US by doorslammers and alcohol funny cars and dragsters. "Several ADRL Pro Extreme and Pro Nitrous racers use the clutch. The rules are more liberal than NHRA so we have been operating the clutch with up to 24 levers and Top Fuel style clutch cannons, which have increased the variables around them. Also in NHRA Allen Johnson and Vincent Nobile have been doing well with the clutch."

Pro Mod racer Jan Gunnarson is paying tribute to the late Krister Peterson, who our coverage is also dedicated to. Jan said "KP helped me a lot in building the Badillac and assisted other teams too, so he will be much missed." Jan is grateful to the Hanover Street Mag show for helping to fund his appearance here. "We entered the show in Hanover and won the Long Distance Award and the Best Speed and Sound Award." The car hasn't changed mechanically this year except for the addition of a two step to help control the launch rpm. Jan said "We are trying to get the balance of the car better off the line."

Pro Mod racer and Eurodragster.com sponsor Marco Maurischat has put a new paint job and wheels on his '53 Vette and, on the performance side, is being advised by Darren Meyer of DMPE blower manufacturers from the US, who has helped a number of other European racers step up. Marco said "At Tierp we destroyed an engine by putting the rods out and as we only have one motor we couldn't repair in time for Finland. We worked on it and had it ready by last Tuesday; we would like to run a 6.0 this weekend."

Pro Mod racer Rolf Amman has decided to retire from the sport after this season, his final race being the Euro Finals. "I may support or help out other racers but will otherwise completely stop. I will sell the car at the right price but will keep it if I can't get what I want for it. My objective for this race is to run a new PB quicker than my 6.3s. But we have realised that we wanted to run as amateurs and the class as a whole has stepped up and is much more professional now." The car looks as immaculate as ever with new flames being applied by Stefan of Color Factory.

Pro Mod racer Jürgen Schomann built his '41 Willys in 2005 and has run it since 2006. He ran in Competition Eliminator last year because of not having bead rims but has stepped back up for 2011 and is looking to run quicker than his best of 6.9. He said "The engine is a Keith Black Stage 10 with Littlefield blower and B&J three speed and two disc Crower clutch. The only sponsorship is from my bike business which builds, repairs and inspects custom bikes." Some of Jürgen's bikes are on display and more information on him is at www.dragrace.de.

Pro Stock racer Ulf Wagnhester, formerly known as Ulf Jonsson, returned to Mikael Sjökvist's Samantha Racing after a break of six years. Previously Ulf had competed with the team for ten years from the mid nineties. The Dodge Avenger that is run is 16 years old and is now for sale, either turn-key or as a rolling chassis. Ulf said "The engines have been upgraded with the purchase of two hemis built by Bob Glidden for Don Schumacher Racing and there is a third hemi motor as well. The engines have run a best of 6.69 in the US for Erica Enders and Richie Stevens." The team's plan is to raise sufficient funds to buy a current-spec car from the US over the winter break.

Pro Mod racer Roger Johansson is running an ex-Kath Brothers Corvette as an interim car while a new Mustang is being built by All-In Race Cars in Denmark. "This is a very good car but there is an engine problem that is affecting the reliability, which is the mandated use of SV05 unleaded fuel. The fuel is drying out the injectors and without lubrication the engine is running lean. The car has run as quick as 6.2 and with Pat's engine is doing 300kph at the eighth and 15kph faster than before at the quarter." To help advise Roger is US Pro Mod racer and nitrous expert Pat Musi. Pat said "Racing is much bigger in Europe than I expected and I am looking forward to seeing how quick we can run here." Pat recently ran as quick as 5.89 in NHRA Pro Mod before a back-breaking crash at Atlanta earlier this year resulted in him having to take the rest of the season off while his back mends.

Pro Stock racer Thomas Lindström said "Our first season in Pro Stock has exceeded our expectations massively. Qualifying no.1 at Tierp and Alastaro and reaching the final at Alastaro have been the highlights. As a result of doing so well at Alastaro we got sponsorship from car dealer Erhryd which means we can also race here and at the Finals." Thomas's car was acquired from Allen Johnson and saw NHRA competition in 2008-9. The car runs a Leanders clutch and the team comprises Rolfe Sulyok, Tony Buskas, Andy Hägglund and clutch expert Markus Svensson. A low point of the season was the deluge in Finland which resulted in the team having to hold the canopy up to avoid the supports braking and a ton of water falling on the car.

Pro Stock racer Tommy Leindahl said "The class has been very competitive this year with a spread of only 0.08 between first and eighth at Alastaro . The teams have current equipment but many have to send the engines back to the US for service. We use engines that Jimmy Alund has run and rebuild the cylinder heads at his shop in Norrkoping as he has spent time in putting the necessary tools together and acquiring the knowledge." The class is so competitive that data is rarely shared, so Tommy recognises the advantage that his two car partnership with Conrad Stanley can bring.