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Super Twin Top Gas racer Olaf Menzi from Switzerland, with a Buell ran a new PB during qualifying of 7.809/270kph. In the first round he won over Janek Savera, but was only able to run 9.22/154 due to an electrical fault. Olaf owns the ex Ulf Ogge PSB and has now put it up for sale. He is looking for runner up spot in the championship. He finances his own racing through his Moulder Shop business, hence the bike's title Moulder's Toy.	Super Twin racer Takeshi Shigematsu has come over from his native Japan and impressed immediately, recording 6.723/294 in the first session and then improving to 6.635/326 in the second session. His bike was previously ridden by Jim Page and Mike Beland in the US and Takeshi has improved on both their performances by going 6.21 in the US on his 11th pass on it. The bike has a 186cu in PRP engine and runs unblown nitro in Europe with a Procharger fitted, but disconnected as they are not allowed to be used in FIM Super Twin. This is the same bike as used by Trond Hoiberget at Tierp in June. Thanks to Mike Kraaij for these two pitnotes and photos.
Pro Mod racer David Vegter came to Hockenheim with a new torque converter the previous one having been destroyed in his last run at Alastaro. He said 'The replacement converter is not the one we wanted so we have had to retune the car from scratch. The holeshot win over Andy was great but I still don't have lane choice and the right lane is better than the left for the Pro Mods. I suppose that's why I knew I had to get a good reaction time'.	Pro Mod racer Jimmy Ålund said 'To say we suck is an understatement, but we've got lucky. On our first run the rear end broke and it's caused us all sorts of problems as we now have a wrong gear ratio and it was the only spare. We also have a new Mike Janis blower and it always takes a while to figure out the power curve. Our luck turned today though as we had a bye run in the second round but the car is not running at its best'. Jimmy was defeated in the semi final by Jan Ericsson on a hole shot.
Pro Mod racer Michel Tooren was disappointed when one of his best runs, a 6.072, was nullified by a red light in round one of eliminations against David Vegter. He said 'We were getting a feeling for what the engine needs and changed the four link between the Mopars and now. We felt we had too much mechanical grip at the Summernationals and Mopars and after the adjustments it went better but I pushed the tree too much. The car was getting loose in the second half and we changed the shocks and rear spoiler. The result was a 6.13 in Q4 which was good. But we had taken too much ignition out to calm it down in first gear which meant that the clutch was not right for second gear.' Michel wants to run a five and still has his eyes on a third place in the MSA Championship. His plans for next year though are less clear and the team's business commitments may prevent an increased race schedule.	Pro Mod racer and Eurodragster.com sponsor Andy Robinson, pictured with team members, ran a great 5.956 to qualify no.2 but had problems up to that point. He said 'Our first issue was to figure out the race track - we are spoiled at Santa Pod Raceway. Then we had a new EZ Motorsports clutch. The car was set up aggressively on the first pass and got loose. So we took a lot out, less clutch and ignition, taller gear. The rerun at which we ran the 5.956 was mandatory by the FIA as the incrementals on the first run were all wrong and the FIA disallowed the time. We're disappointed to go out on a holeshot to David as the car is set up to run a 5.88 for a new track record'.
Competition Eliminator racer Rolf Amman is out of competition having run a 7.188 on a 7.16 AA/A index. He said 'The rear axle broke, it's bad we can't run again as this is our main race, although we are planning on making a return trip to Santa Pod in the future'. Son and crew member Kai added 'The axle breakage caused damage to the engine and the rods twisted with the high rpm. Even if we could organise the spare parts necessary it would be too risky to run again'.	Pro Mod racer Micke Gullqvist, event winner against Jan Ericsson, said he had problems with the ignition setup over the last two races which has slowed the car down. Working on a spreadsheet tracking the issues, he said 'We hope we have found the issue but it's not getting down the track as we wanted. The problem with ignition issues is that you lose power but when you solve it there's too much power. At least we had some luck when Roger hit the reflectors'. He qualified third with 5.973 and got to the final by beating Jen Dulamon, Roger Johansson and David Vegter. In the final it was a close race with Jan Ericsson who had had to replace a broken rear end and bought one from Michel Tooren, but Micke ran another 5.9 in the favoured right lane for the victory against Jan's 6.004.
Top Fuel Dragster racer Antti Horto got to the final by defeating Micke Kågered in round one and then having a bye in round two courtesy of a non-appearing Kenni Neergaard. He said 'The first run against Micke was good, and we need to run consistently in the threes. Our clutch problems are behind us, and we don't want to do anything crazy on race day, just to get the win light, although the field is tight.	Top Fuel Dragster racer Liam Jones, event winner in the final, ran two three second passes in qualifying and three in eliminations. After his first round 3.882/501 he said 'Hopefully there's more in it, we are creeping up on the times and only a hundredth away from a new record. But the win is more important than a new record, and we need the points to finish better in the championship'. Crewman Gary Page said a piston was hurt on the run and the car should go quicker. He did remain in the threes which was good for the event win.
Top Fuel Dragster racer Anita Mäkelä defeated Jndia Erbacher in round one. She said 'When you put your helmet on it doesn't matter whether you're a man or woman. If you want to win you have to beat them all. But knowing Jndia is Urs' daughter is important. Urs has given her good advice. How she handles the car is amazing, I have high respect for her, and even though she has had a short career so far I am sure she has a great future ahead of her'. She lost to Liam Jones in the semi final but should still retain her championship lead going into the last two races.	Top Fuel Dragster racer Kenni Neergaard defeated Duncan Micallef in the upset of the first round. He said 'It was my first elimination run and first round win in any class. I have worked for 12 years on the car and it means a lot to me. I will give the semi final against Antti my best shot and it helps for the team to focus on one car'. But Kenni didn't make the call for the semi final so his next round win will have to wait for another day.
Super Comp racer Pierre Wolf runs a highly unusual 13B Rotary engine from a Mazda RX7 in his VW Golf Mk1. Team member Marc Wellerock said 'The car has been converted to rear wheel drive and has a Powerglide gearbox. The engine puts out 800hp with 84mm turbos and its best is 8.57/152 in the X Street class	Top Fuel Bike racer Filippos Papafilippou on the Gulf Oil/King Racing Top Fuel Bike went into second place in qualifying with a 5.980 to Rickard Gustavsson's 5.918. Unfortunately Rickard had an accident at the top end after setting low ET and a new track record, and we all send him our best wishes for a speedy recovery. Fast Fil missed the fourth session because of the accident and the need for him to use the right hand lane, but ran in the night show to a 6.4 early shut off with great header flames. He said his thoughts were with Rickard in the first round where he ran a 5.596 and in the second round he defeated Stuart Crane with a 6.12 to Stu's 6.93. Fil said 'I am enjoying riding the bike but I'm still on a learning curve'.
Super Street Bike racer Steve Venables struggled with the track and finding the right tuneup. He said 'We have got a handle on it but it's still spinning the tyre after the eighth and getting loose at the top end. When Steve ran the Kawasaki ZX-R now campaigned by Graham Balchin he won the NitrOlympX but in the semi final Graham defeated Steve and went on to win the final when Rick Stubbins broke. Steve thanks bike suppliers DME, Owen Developments, Protec, Cometic Gaskets, Suzuki GB and Mark from Horsepower Factory (HPF) who helps Steve tune the Motec M1 ECU.	Super Twin racer Gert-Jan Laseur, pictured with daughter and Zodiac t-shirt seller Jasmyn, struggled in qualifying with the bike pulling to the left. He said 'I'm still learning to ride the bike.' In the first round of eliminations he showed he is learning well as he pulled off an upset win against Roman Sixta, running a 7.17/300kph. In the next round he faced off against Tak Shigematzu aka 'The man from Japan'. Gert-Jan thanks his sponsors Zodiac Racing, Ton Pels, Jongeruis and Eurol.
Top Fuel Bike racer Dale Leeks ran a new PB of 6.963/304 to qualify fourth, and previously ran a 6.974 to match his previous PB. He said 'I did not expect a six straight off the trailer, the bike felt lazy and the 60ft time was slower than my best. The engine was fine after the 6.963 and we're now working towards the 6.8 zone and make the bike a little more aggresive off the start line'. Dale thanks his father and the Warpspeed team, particularly Stuart Crane, and his sponsor MPM Oils UK. Dale went down to Eric Richard's quicker ET in round one. Thanks to Mike Kraaij for these last four additional pit notes and photos.	Pro Stock Bike racer Len Paget has a new chassis and bodywork and is running the same drive train as before. He qualified in 7th with a 7.485/288.41 with the top eight of ten in eliminations, and then pulled a 0.25s holeshot on Charly Abraham who went through to round two. Len is pictured with wife Gilly and daughter Reece.
Pro Stock bike racer Mark Smith said 'We've had a great weekend even though we haven't qualified for eliminations. We have gone A to B with a new engine, which was built by Stuart and Dale at Warpspeed Racing. We did three nice passes and turned it up a bit on each and didn't go backwards'. Mark is joined by team members Mark Green, Harley Smith, Matthew Chivers and Kerry Smith.	Pro Stock bike racer Pavlos Sidiropoulos from Drama in northern Greece, was on the bump spot with a 7.676/281.57, having a best on his 1755cc Suzuki of 7.630. Based in Greece, Pavlos raced street bikes in 2014 and moved up to Pro Stock in 2015. He is sponsored by bike dealer Moto Harris.
Pro Stock bike racer Charalambos Bousinis ran a new PB of 7.378/280.73 in Q2 on his 1655cc Suzuki GSX-R and is qualified in fifth position, with a first round matchup with Alex Hope in today's eliminations.	Pro Stock bike racer and Eurodragster.com sponsor Martin Newbury had great performance and in session two went 7.193/290.92 and improved to 7.162/300.12kph for a new PB. He said 'We went to Gainesville in March, saw how the bikes were being tuned and run and got advice from Gary Stoffer. We also bought a new engine and parts from Vance & Hines. The track is great here, although we think we can improve the 60ft time, and we're in touch with Fredrick Fredlund for tuning tips, although Cindy is doing all the Racepak work'.
Pro Stock bike racer Charly Abraham is in his second year in the class having previously raced for five years in Super Twin Top Gas and was in the 7.2s at his first race. He ran a new PB of 7.254/287 on his Buell in session four after three solid runs in the first three sessions and is qualified in no.2 position. He said 'I'm still learning the bike, it's got better each run and I feel at one with it'.	Pro Stock bike racer Alex Hope is swapping between Super Street Bike in the EDRS Pro series in Scandinavia and Pro Stock Bike in the FIM Europe series. He said 'The riding style is different between the two, getting the body weight transfer right, but I'm getting used to both. The bike is going straight and after I go to Tierp I will be testing the Pro Stock Bike before the Euro Finals.' He is qualified third with a 7.344/286kph, running his best time in Q4. Alex went on to win the event with a fantastic hole shot in the final against Karl-Heinz Weikum.
Super Street Bike racer Stephen Mead (pictured with crewman Joe) showed his association with US tuner Walter Sprout has produced big performance improvements this season with new PBs at each of the four meetings he has run at. 'I ran a new PB of 7.167/312 which was a surprise, Walter had put more in it than I had thought! I'm trying to replicate the run in Q4. The incrementals were all better than before, 1.21 60ft and 4.73/165mph eighth.' A 7.19 in Q4 was a great time, however it was at the cost of an engine, and a very late night to replace it in time for the eliminations. He went through to round two with a 7.372 against a wheelying Erich Gruber.	Super Street Bike racer Mogens Lund is also being remotely tuned by Walter Sprout and he qualified on top with a 7.090/318kph. He said 'We struggled in Q3 after a previous oil spill which caused our tyre to spin, but there were no mechanical problems'. His final qualifying run was 7.14/302. With 21 bikes in the field, the top 16 are in eliminations.
Super Street Bike racer Rudi Zorzi was also in the mix with a best of 7.173/317 in the final session, qualifying third on his Hayabusa. He went through to round two with a 7.286.	Super Street Bike racer Rick Stubbins ran a best of 7.22/319kph (top speed in qualifying). He said 'In Q1 the bearing in our mechanical fuel pump broke, and we got a local firm to make new bearings and fitted them on Friday evening. But we had fuel pressure issues after the repair and have had to buy an electric pump and remap the engine to use it, so we have gone back to old settings and backed it down'. He was back on form in the first round and ran a 7.146.
Super Street Bike racer Graham Balchin said 'I have the Hockenheim curse and my clutch master cylinder failed. I have fitted a new one and Q4 is the first chance to test it. Although I'm in the top ten I should be higher up'. He ended in eighth with a 7.334 and then improved massively in the first round to a 7.148/322. From there he went on to win the event defeating Steve Venables in the semi and then soloing against a non-appearing Rick Stubbins in the final.	Super Street Bike racer Mark Hope ran a best of 7.698/305 to go 17th and then got a chance to race in round one against Rudi Zorzi after Sandro Haldimann broke.
Super Street Bike racer Sandro Haldimann qualified 14th with a 7.578 but he had problems and wasn't able to make the call for the first round of eliminations.	Junior Drag Bike racer Liam Holgate is racing for the first time at the NitrOlympX as the class is now in the FIM-Europe series. Class organiser Ollie Dummer said 'We have had to overcome issues like language but the racing has been great. The track is so well prepared it's difficult for the bikes to break traction so many have opted not to do a burnout. We are hoping that the two German racers will be able to licence to race at Santa Pod and we had a good round at Hungary'.
Junior Dragster racer Lucas Potthoff from Iserlohn near Dortmund is in his third year at this event. His father Jochen Rohm has 20 years' racing experience. Lucas is qualified 19th with 0.180 RT after three sessions - the fourth session was cancelled after a series of oil downs in other classes.	Junior Dragster racer Liam McDonald is on a big tour of Europe, attending five races in the German and three in the Dutch JD championships, in Clastres and Vichy, France and going to Tierp next weekend for good measure. Dad Graham said 'It's good racing at difference tracks, we are getting to learn the issues more easily and Liam's performance is great'. He was in no.1 after the first session with a 0.004 RT and ended in 2nd position. 'We are third in the German Championship and their finals clashes with the UK National Finals so we will have to see which is the better chance of a trophy'. Graham mentioned that the owner of Half Scale Junior Dragster, Randy Ditzel and his wife Judy will be attending the Euro Finals to see Junior racing in Europe and hold a technical seminar to highlight approaches to running these cars.
Super Pro ET racer Billy Everitt suffered a top end incident where the car bounced and broke a front end rose joint. He said 'We had raised the wheelie bars by three inches and planned to have them stabilise the car but it bounced and landed on the front wheels hard. I had no steering and it kept bouncing and the side of the car hit the wall and the chassis is bent. Not the way I wanted to finish the event.' Billy thanks the Hockenheim staff and safety crew for their excellent work in attending to him and the car and his team and his fans for their support.	Junior Drag Bike racer Meggie Talbot who is racing here for the first time is being crewed by Kerryanne van den Berg who is also crewing for husband Rene. Meggie qualified no.1 with a 9.402 on 9.38 dial. And Rene made a return to form after the breakages of recent seasons, running an excellent 6.171/340 to go third, albeit not without prior problems. Kerryanne said 'The clutch had welded itself together after Q2 and there was no spare. The team had to use their engineering skills to make it work again and thanks to Mike Olie for his help'.
Super Twin racer Ronny Aasen said 'The bike is working great mechanically and we are trying to find the right setup. We are trying the same settings that were successful at the Main Event but have only been able to run a best of 6.85 so far with other runs in the sevens and too much tyre spin. Our fuel pump broke which has also hampered us'. He is in fifth position after qualifying.	Top Fuel Bike racer Eric Richard was in the sixes again with a best of 6.965/316. He said 'We had a clutch issue and were having trouble with the plates, have changed them and need to test them. The bike was going through the clutch'. His best time was in Q4 which moved him up to fifth of nine qualifiers. Eric and team were joined by countryman Jean Dulamon who reported torque converter problems and had changed it for a new one which improved his time in E1 to 6.46.
Super Twin racer Marcus Christiansen, leading the championship, was again the star of the field with a 6.477/351 in Q1. But this time was not without problems. He said 'Q1 was good, but then there was a leak in Q2. For Q3 a rocker arm broke in the warm-up, we changed it and then had a bent butterfly which shut the bike down in the pits. But overall we are pleased with the year's results'.	Top Fuel Bike racer Petr Ceska was helped by fellow Czech Republic racers Otto and Yvona Knebl. Otto said 'Petr's bike is new and we are shaking down the problems. We want to get the clutch right and then apply nitrous. He will then upgrade the engine and clutch. The aim is to run low 7s at the start of 2019 and then go for the six'. Otto has taken this year out due to building projects at home and hopes to return next year on the Imperial Wizard nitro Top Fueler formerly run by the much missed Brian Johnson.