Top Fuel Bike racer Peter Svensson is running under Team Starta racing, the brand which the Kendall Oil distributor for Sweden has adopted. He said after the first run "We drifted to the centre line and hope the track has come around to enable us to go down it. The air is cooler but we are taking power out of it as there is too much." Peter ran a great 5.923/324kph for no.1 place in session 2.
Pro Mod racer Anders Nilsson is running the Plymouth 'Cuda previously campaigned by Eurodragster.com sponsor Graham Ellis. The car runs a Brad Anderson stage 6 with Lenco CS1 trans. The car made it to the pairing lanes but problems prevented a pass in the first session but he ran 6.30/365kph in the second to qualify 12th.
Super Twin racer Ulf Ledström said "This is my first season in Super Twin. All I drag raced before was a Kawasaki H2 street bike but I raced an ice speedway bike for many years." Ulf's new ride is a bike formerly owned by Hans Olav Olstad who has been helping Ulf get up to speed. "I bought it turnkey and have tuned it to make it a little kinder to handle. I am comfortable to ride and learn." Prior to this meeting Ulf's best was 7.4 and he improved in session 2 to 7.32/318kph.
Top Fuel bike racer Peter Andersson Ström who lived close to Mantorp Park, now has to travel six times as far to Tierp. "I have a new Scott Owens gearbox and rear end and the rest of the bike is no big difference." His run in session two was a gentle 7.824, compared to a personal best of 6.78/347kph
Super Twin racer Kari Rajala from Ylistaro in Finland is the co-owner of the KTM Nitroduke R bike ridden last year by other co-owner Jaska Salakari. Jaska said "We are only running one bike here because of a broken crank at the end of last year. We have made some new cranks but they need grinding." Kari has run a best of 6.79 on the bike, and that after running a best of eight seconds previously. "I said to him you own the bike, you must ride it," Jaska finished.
Pro Stock Bike racer and Eurodragster.com blogger Kalle Lyrén was again suffering a loss of sixth gear combined with wheelspin up the track. He ran a 7.22 in the first session and lifted on the second run.
Super Twin racer Martijn de Haas like several competitors has a fondness for soft toys in the inlet pipes. He said "This is our first meeting this year as I hurt my knee before the Main Event and had to withdraw. We have a new PRP engine but dropped a cylinder on the start line. I have changed the tyre from Mickey Thompson to Goodyear and hope that will improve the grip."
Super Twin racer.Torbjörn Svensson has been racing since 1998 and formed his team 38 Top Fuel in 2002. The immaculate body is by Ziggi at HD-service Eichstadt with paint by Johan Ek. The nitro-powered machine has home-made block and Bentec trans and the nitro-fuelled machine has run a new PB of 7.54 in the second session.
Super Twin racer Per Bengtsson (crew member L-O Jonsson pictured) continues to lead the performance of the class with a 6.48/360kph in the second session. L-O said before this run "The bike went right and got close to the centre line in the first session but the 60ft was good so we know we are going in the right direction. The bike could be quicker in the first 100m but after 200m there is so much power. There is a new camshaft and new fuel system and after testing know there is a potential for a new PB speed.
Super Twin racer Janne Gustavsson is on another beautiful bike, this time running on petrol (Super Twins now incorporate Top Gas at UEM events). The bike was built in 2009 and has an S&S 2.6 litre engine, Bandit clutch and Zippers gearbox.
Super Twin racer Samu Kemppainen ran a 6.72 in the first session and 6.89 in the second to go fourth at the end of the day. A couple of good runs and more to come.
Super Twin racer Nate Gagnon on an identically engined machine to Samu is at his first race and he is impressed with the track. He said "We have not made too many changes from the Main Event and have started with a run similar to our best at Santa Pod. The track is smooth but we don't want to smoke the tyre at the hit.
Top Fuel Bike racer Ian King is aiming to start cautiously and step up. His first run was a 6.78 and then improved to a 6.64. He said "We have lowered the wheelie bars as we don't want the rear tyre to unload." The result was slight engine bogging indicating they may have been too low.
Top Methanol Dragster racer Manty Bugeja had some minor issues preventing him from running in the first session and then ran a superb 5.297/428 for the first half of a new ET record. Before the second pass a cautious Charlie Draper said "We learned enough from Norm Grimes which was fantastic - he is brilliant but it was a pity the heads and block were torched on the last run. We are using our spare block while our main one is being welded by a member of Leif Helander's crew. We have backed the new engine off."
Top Methanol dragster racer Krister Johansson suffered a cylinder out at the hit and another from half track in the first session to run 5.72. The team found the problem and the second run was an improvement to 5.52.
Top Methanol dragster racer Chris Polidano ran a first session pass described by Eurodragster.com sponsor Derek Flynn as a "good A to B. We didn't want to be too aggressive and shake and I could mentally hear Jim Rizolli telling me not to." Derek judged it superbly in the second session when a 5.383 was coupled to a 437.96 speed (271.53mph) for a new speed record backed up by his earlier 433kph.
Top Methanol Dragster racer Peter Schöfer is running his first race of the year and ran 5.70 followed by a 5.45 for sixth place in a highly competitive class.
Top Methanol Dragster racer Dennis Habermann was one place above Peter with a best of 5.39 followed by a 5.49 in the second session. Team mate and brother Timo ran a pair of 5.38s for no.3 behind Dave Wilson and Manty Bugeja.
Top Methanol Funny Car racer Danny Bellio made a big performance improvement to a 5.69 in session one. He said "It felt good and was a nice run. We now want to stay in the 5.6s and avoid shake but go faster. A 5.5 is not possible as we have no spare engine. We run the car conservatively and the spark plugs were clean after the 5.69." Danny ran a 5.79 on the next pass.
Pro Stock racer Michael Malmgren said "We have been waiting for this race. We have some new guys on the team and they have a learning curve and we will do better." Michael hit bad shake on both runs and is currently no.12.
Pro Stock racer Jan Palmqvist was delighted with performance improvements. "We have a different setup which gave us the result we wanted straight away. I was one hundredth away from my PB and ran my best 60ft time ever. I have an all new crew who are much easier to teach than my old friends who wanted it their own way!" After 6.79 and 6.83 passes, Jan will put on new tyres for tomorrow.
Pro Stock racer Jimmy Ålund has repaired one of the engines damaged at the Main Event. Crewman Putte said "We are using the no.3 engine and will change it to the number one for the second session and put a 200m test pass on that." Jimmy said that he had to regroup after the new car's setup proved unsuitable for European tracks. "It was the smartest thing to do. We changed things around and then tested last weekend at Kjula and got some good data."
Pro Mod racer Joran Persåker came to the rescue for Super Stock racer Rick McCann by arranging to have a I & E 7.700 pushrod sent up from his shop by DHL. Joran has a, electric powered tow vehicle which his catalogue says runs the quarter in 37s at 42kph terminal speed.
Mikael Lindahl is racing two of the team's three cars this weekend. The Competition Eliminator turbo Corvette pictured ran a 6.51 on a 7.16 index and the Pro Mod Camaro ran a slower 6.67 to go 18th. The third car, a screw blower Top Doorslammer car is not entered...
Super Gas racer Janne Noren from Pori in Finland runs this beautiful Ford 3 window coupe. At the end of session six he was 7th with a 9.949.
Junior Dragster racer Julie Nataas is running in her Batmobile car and father Top Fuel racer Thomas is heading up the team, including Julie's brother Kevin who runs an identical car.
Junior Dragster racer and 2011 NDRS champion Amanda Sj�str�m-Andersson is the younger sister of Super Comp racer Matilda who we featured in yesterday's pit notes. Amanda also runs under the Fast Girls banner. The car, built in 2008 by Mike Bos Race Cars, has a Blossom Racing Engines Super Rhino II engine.
Junior Dragster racer Kevin Yrjövaara from Habo in Sweden is in his second year of racing at the age of 14. Parents Olle and Jessica head up the crew and the car has a McGee engine.
Junior Dragster racer Marcus Back Andersson has a Mike Bos built car with Craw's Racing engine. Aged 16, he has been racing since 2005.
Junior Dragster racer Hampus Staflund, son of Top Methanol Funny Car racer Jonas Staflund, is qualified 4th after six sessions and runs a car built in 1998 by Mckinley.
Junior Dragster racer Fredrik Leanders is qualified 3rd with a reaction of 0.0044 and races a dragster with a B&S engine.
Competition Eliminator racer Krister Adeen runs a Volvo S70 in C/TA and his index is 7.50. He said "We have been running 6.8s in the car since Finland last year. I built the car in 2002 and it was originally a turbo street car. But I wanted to go faster and faster and I never thought I would get this quick." Krister has given up his Volvo stock block for a specially prepared rallycross engine for 2011 with an 88cm turbo with Leanders clutch and Liberty gearbox. The chassis was built by ME-Racingservice.
Competition Eliminator racer Marcus Linde races with brother Olaf as crew chief and has a 106mm turbo in front of his big block engine. Transmission is Liberty five speed and Marcus races in Top Doorslammer, the only German competitor in that series. An 8.29 on a 7.39 index signalled engine problems for the team. More details about the car are at pro-tune.eu.
Competition Eliminator racer Torben Stenström has made a return to racing after a couple of years out and was quick to thank his cousin Tony Westman, born and bred in Tierp, whose company Riv und Scanering AB is sponsoring him this weekend. "I would like to sell the car but have not done a deal just yet. Tony has arranged a bus for 25 employees to visit the race and be entertained by us and because of the local connection, we are in all the newspapers and their posters." Torben is running the car as before and has achieved 8.06. "I want a seven this weekend and with my new body and wider tyres I expect to run 7.6s."
Competition Eliminator racer Per Erik Lindgren from Piteå has full time truck mechanic Mary-Sissel Eilertsen as crew chief. Per Erik has been racing in the category for 25 years and is a master of choosing a class where the index can be run well under, this time in C/BA. He said "We are running with some lead on the rear to get the car to react better and go quicker to 60ft. I went 0.83 under in qualifying but could remove weight and also increase overdrive from 19% to 25% which would make the car run 1.1s under the index if there was no handling problem. But we don't want to hurt the index in eliminations and I would prefer to win on getting a better light." Mats Jacobsson is running an altered previously campaigned by Per Erik.
Competition Eliminator racer Martin Petersson, aged 20, runs his ex-Bob Glidden Ford Probe in C/A. He said "It's my second season in Competition; I bought the car as a roller and have put a 500cu in Bob Ingles engine in with a Cohen auto box." Martin is qualified 12th with a 0.56-under 7.40s pass, a new PB. Future plans are for a debut in Pro Stock later this season in Jimmy Ålund's multi-championship winning GTO, with major sponsors Valvoline continuing their support.
Competition Eliminator racer Jens Zimmerman from Germany is at Tierp for the first time. He said "It's an amazing facility, unbelievable. The car is running well but we need a couple more tenths off the ET, but the track is perfect." The car's 7.30 is 0.15s under his 7.45 index for A/NA.
Competition Eliminator racer Lars-Georg Johansson runs his Camaro in BB/A and built the car himself from 2006 and bought a Bob Pannella small block engine with 326cu in and a 10-71 supercharger with 18% underdriven. He said "AS it's only our second year in Comp we are taking small steps and don't want to hurt it. We ran a 7.52 yesterday and hope to run 7.2-7.3 this event.
Pro Stock bike racers Fredrik Fredlund and Kenneth Vik were happy after the first qualifying session when they finished no.2 and no.3 respectively with times in the 7.2s zone. Kenneth who is running under the Hawgs Racing banner has worked on his Suzuki engined machine over the winter to improve the performance and get back to the seven-teens or better.
Top Methanol Dragster racer Dave Wilson was relaxed before his first qualifying pass having driven up from the UK between Monday and Wednesday. He ran a strong 5.36/428kph (265mph) to go no.1 after the first session.
Pro Stock racer Christian Sagelv said "My father started racing in 1974 and I have been to many race tracks around the world before I earned by license in 1995. I ran Competition Eliminator for twelve years and am now living the dream by running Pro Stock." The car is owned by Äge Kristofferson from Norway and is the only Ford Pro Stock in Europe so we are getting some factory support from Ford as well as main sponsors Gulf and MSD. We tested four weeks ago and whilst the track was diffcult, we got some valuable information. As it's our first season we will watch and learn and hopefully qualify." Christian is helped by Christer S�fstr�m who built the engine, the only wholly Swedish-built engine in the class.
The race control, media tower dominates the startline area and provides a suitable backcloth for racers as they prepare to go down the Tierp Quarter.
Top Fuel Bike racer Peter Svensson is running under Team Starta racing, the brand which the Kendall Oil distributor for Sweden has adopted. He said after the first run "We drifted to the centre line and hope the track has come around to enable us to go down it. The air is cooler but we are taking power out of it as there is too much." Peter ran a great 5.923/324kph for no.1 place in session 2.
Pro Mod racer Anders Nilsson is running the Plymouth 'Cuda previously campaigned by Eurodragster.com sponsor Graham Ellis. The car runs a Brad Anderson stage 6 with Lenco CS1 trans. The car made it to the pairing lanes but problems prevented a pass in the first session but he ran 6.30/365kph in the second to qualify 12th.
Super Twin racer Ulf Ledström said "This is my first season in Super Twin. All I drag raced before was a Kawasaki H2 street bike but I raced an ice speedway bike for many years." Ulf's new ride is a bike formerly owned by Hans Olav Olstad who has been helping Ulf get up to speed. "I bought it turnkey and have tuned it to make it a little kinder to handle. I am comfortable to ride and learn." Prior to this meeting Ulf's best was 7.4 and he improved in session 2 to 7.32/318kph.
Top Fuel bike racer Peter Andersson Ström who lived close to Mantorp Park, now has to travel six times as far to Tierp. "I have a new Scott Owens gearbox and rear end and the rest of the bike is no big difference." His run in session two was a gentle 7.824, compared to a personal best of 6.78/347kph 
Super Twin racer Kari Rajala from Ylistaro in Finland is the co-owner of the KTM Nitroduke R bike ridden last year by other co-owner Jaska Salakari. Jaska said "We are only running one bike here because of a broken crank at the end of last year. We have made some new cranks but they need grinding." Kari has run a best of 6.79 on the bike, and that after running a best of eight seconds previously. "I said to him you own the bike, you must ride it," Jaska finished.
Pro Stock Bike racer and Eurodragster.com blogger Kalle Lyrén was again suffering a loss of sixth gear combined with wheelspin up the track. He ran a 7.22 in the first session and lifted on the second run.
Super Twin racer Martijn de Haas like several competitors has a fondness for soft toys in the inlet pipes. He said "This is our first meeting this year as I hurt my knee before the Main Event and had to withdraw. We have a new PRP engine but dropped a cylinder on the start line. I have changed the tyre from Mickey Thompson to Goodyear and hope that will improve the grip."
Super Twin racer.Torbjörn Svensson has been racing since 1998 and formed his team 38 Top Fuel in 2002. The immaculate body is by Ziggi at HD-service Eichstadt with paint by Johan Ek. The nitro-powered machine has home-made block and Bentec trans and the nitro-fuelled machine has run a new PB of 7.54 in the second session.
Super Twin racer Per Bengtsson (crew member L-O Jonsson pictured) continues to lead the performance of the class with a 6.48/360kph in the second session. L-O said before this run "The bike went right and got close to the centre line in the first session but the 60ft was good so we know we are going in the right direction. The bike could be quicker in the first 100m but after 200m there is so much power. There is a new camshaft and new fuel system and after testing know there is a potential for a new PB speed.
Super Twin racer Janne Gustavsson is on another beautiful bike, this time running on petrol (Super Twins now incorporate Top Gas at UEM events). The bike was built in 2009 and has an S&S 2.6 litre engine, Bandit clutch and Zippers gearbox.
Super Twin racer Samu Kemppainen ran a 6.72 in the first session and 6.89 in the second to go fourth at the end of the day. A couple of good runs and more to come.
Super Twin racer Nate Gagnon on an identically engined machine to Samu is at his first race and he is impressed with the track. He said "We have not made too many changes from the Main Event and have started with a run similar to our best at Santa Pod. The track is smooth but we don't want to smoke the tyre at the hit.
Top Fuel Bike racer Ian King is aiming to start cautiously and step up. His first run was a 6.78 and then improved to a 6.64. He said "We have lowered the wheelie bars as we don't want the rear tyre to unload." The result was slight engine bogging indicating they may have been too low.
Top Methanol Dragster racer Manty Bugeja had some minor issues preventing him from running in the first session and then ran a superb 5.297/428 for the first half of a new ET record. Before the second pass a cautious Charlie Draper said "We learned enough from Norm Grimes which was fantastic - he is brilliant but it was a pity the heads and block were torched on the last run. We are using our spare block while our main one is being welded by a member of Leif Helander's crew. We have backed the new engine off." 
Top Methanol dragster racer Krister Johansson suffered a cylinder out at the hit and another from half track in the first session to run 5.72. The team found the problem and the second run was an improvement to 5.52. 
Top Methanol dragster racer Chris Polidano ran a first session pass described by Eurodragster.com sponsor Derek Flynn as a "good A to B. We didn't want to be too aggressive and shake and I could mentally hear Jim Rizolli telling me not to." Derek judged it superbly in the second session when a 5.383 was coupled to a 437.96 speed (271.53mph) for a new speed record backed up by his earlier 433kph.
Top Methanol Dragster racer Peter Schöfer is running his first race of the year and ran 5.70 followed by a 5.45 for sixth place in a highly competitive class.
Top Methanol Dragster racer Dennis Habermann was one place above Peter with a best of 5.39 followed by a 5.49 in the second session. Team mate and brother Timo ran a pair of 5.38s for no.3 behind Dave Wilson and Manty Bugeja.
Top Methanol Funny Car racer Danny Bellio made a big performance improvement to a 5.69 in session one. He said "It felt good and was a nice run. We now want to stay in the 5.6s and avoid shake but go faster. A 5.5 is not possible as we have no spare engine. We run the car conservatively and the spark plugs were clean after the 5.69." Danny ran a 5.79 on the next pass.
Pro Stock racer Michael Malmgren said "We have been waiting for this race. We have some new guys on the team and they have a learning curve and we will do better." Michael hit bad shake on both runs and is currently no.12.
Pro Stock racer Jan Palmqvist was delighted with performance improvements. "We have a different setup which gave us the result we wanted straight away. I was one hundredth away from my PB and ran my best 60ft time ever. I have an all new crew who are much easier to teach than my old friends who wanted it their own way!" After 6.79 and 6.83 passes, Jan will put on new tyres for tomorrow.
Pro Stock racer Jimmy Ålund has repaired one of the engines damaged at the Main Event. Crewman Putte said "We are using the no.3 engine and will change it to the number one for the second session and put a 200m test pass on that." Jimmy said that he had to regroup after the new car's setup proved unsuitable for European tracks. "It was the smartest thing to do. We changed things around and then tested last weekend at Kjula and got some good data."
Pro Mod racer Joran Persåker came to the rescue for Super Stock racer Rick McCann by arranging to have a I & E 7.700 pushrod sent up from his shop by DHL. Joran has a, electric powered tow vehicle which his catalogue says runs the quarter in 37s at 42kph terminal speed.
Mikael Lindahl is racing two of the team's three cars this weekend. The Competition Eliminator turbo Corvette pictured ran a 6.51 on a 7.16 index and the Pro Mod Camaro ran a slower 6.67 to go 18th. The third car, a screw blower Top Doorslammer car is not entered...
Super Gas racer Janne Noren from Pori in Finland runs this beautiful Ford 3 window coupe. At the end of session six he was 7th with a 9.949.
Junior Dragster racer Julie Nataas is running in her Batmobile car and father Top Fuel racer Thomas is heading up the team, including Julie's brother Kevin who runs an identical car.
Junior Dragster racer and 2011 NDRS champion Amanda Sj�str�m-Andersson is the younger sister of Super Comp racer Matilda who we featured in yesterday's pit notes. Amanda also runs under the Fast Girls banner. The car, built in 2008 by Mike Bos Race Cars, has a Blossom Racing Engines Super Rhino II engine. 
Junior Dragster racer Kevin Yrjövaara from Habo in Sweden is in his second year of racing at the age of 14. Parents Olle and Jessica head up the crew and the car has a McGee engine.
Junior Dragster racer Marcus Back Andersson has a Mike Bos built car with Craw's Racing engine. Aged 16, he has been racing since 2005.
Junior Dragster racer Hampus Staflund, son of Top Methanol Funny Car racer Jonas Staflund, is qualified 4th after six sessions and runs a car built in 1998 by Mckinley.
Junior Dragster racer Fredrik Leanders is qualified 3rd with a reaction of 0.0044 and races a dragster with a B&S engine.
Competition Eliminator racer Krister Adeen runs a Volvo S70 in C/TA and his index is 7.50. He said "We have been running 6.8s in the car since Finland last year. I built the car in 2002 and it was originally a turbo street car. But I wanted to go faster and faster and I never thought I would get this quick." Krister has given up his Volvo stock block for a specially prepared rallycross engine for 2011 with an 88cm turbo with Leanders clutch and Liberty gearbox. The chassis was built by ME-Racingservice.
Competition Eliminator racer Marcus Linde races with brother Olaf as crew chief and has a 106mm turbo in front of his big block engine. Transmission is Liberty five speed and Marcus races in Top Doorslammer, the only German competitor in that series. An 8.29 on a 7.39 index signalled engine problems for the team. More details about the car are at 
Competition Eliminator racer Torben Stenström has made a return to racing after a couple of years out and was quick to thank his cousin Tony Westman, born and bred in Tierp, whose company Riv und Scanering AB is sponsoring him this weekend. "I would like to sell the car but have not done a deal just yet. Tony has arranged a bus for 25 employees to visit the race and be entertained by us and because of the local connection, we are in all the newspapers and their posters." Torben is running the car as before and has achieved 8.06. "I want a seven this weekend and with my new body and wider tyres I expect to run 7.6s."
Competition Eliminator racer Per Erik Lindgren from Piteå has full time truck mechanic Mary-Sissel Eilertsen as crew chief. Per Erik has been racing in the category for 25 years and is a master of choosing a class where the index can be run well under, this time in C/BA. He said "We are running with some lead on the rear to get the car to react better and go quicker to 60ft. I went 0.83 under in qualifying but could remove weight and also increase overdrive from 19% to 25% which would make the car run 1.1s under the index if there was no handling problem. But we don't want to hurt the index in eliminations and I would prefer to win on getting a better light." Mats Jacobsson is running an altered previously campaigned by Per Erik.
Competition Eliminator racer Martin Petersson, aged 20, runs his ex-Bob Glidden Ford Probe in C/A. He said "It's my second season in Competition; I bought the car as a roller and have put a 500cu in Bob Ingles engine in with a Cohen auto box." Martin is qualified 12th with a 0.56-under 7.40s pass, a new PB. Future plans are for a debut in Pro Stock later this season in Jimmy Ålund's multi-championship winning GTO, with major sponsors Valvoline continuing their support.
Competition Eliminator racer Jens Zimmerman from Germany is at Tierp for the first time. He said "It's an amazing facility, unbelievable. The car is running well but we need a couple more tenths off the ET, but the track is perfect." The car's 7.30 is 0.15s under his 7.45 index for A/NA. 
Competition Eliminator racer Lars-Georg Johansson runs his Camaro in BB/A and built the car himself from 2006 and bought a Bob Pannella small block engine with 326cu in and a 10-71 supercharger with 18% underdriven. He said "AS it's only our second year in Comp we are taking small steps and don't want to hurt it. We ran a 7.52 yesterday and hope to run 7.2-7.3 this event. 
Pro Stock bike racers Fredrik Fredlund and Kenneth Vik were happy after the first qualifying session when they finished no.2 and no.3 respectively with times in the 7.2s zone. Kenneth who is running under the Hawgs Racing banner has worked on his Suzuki engined machine over the winter to improve the performance and get back to the seven-teens or better.
Top Methanol Dragster racer Dave Wilson was relaxed before his first qualifying pass having driven up from the UK between Monday and Wednesday. He ran a strong 5.36/428kph (265mph) to go no.1 after the first session.
Pro Stock racer Christian Sagelv said "My father started racing in 1974 and I have been to many race tracks around the world before I earned by license in 1995. I ran Competition Eliminator for twelve years and am now living the dream by running Pro Stock." The car is owned by Äge Kristofferson from Norway and is the only Ford Pro Stock in Europe so we are getting some factory support from Ford as well as main sponsors Gulf and MSD. We tested four weeks ago and whilst the track was diffcult, we got some valuable information. As it's our first season we will watch and learn and hopefully qualify." Christian is helped by Christer S�fstr�m who built the engine, the only wholly Swedish-built engine in the class.
The race control, media tower dominates the startline area and provides a suitable backcloth for racers as they prepare to go down the Tierp Quarter.