FIA Main Event
Monday (race day)

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22:15

Today's pictures are now available from the raceday update index.

So there you have it, the end of the Main Event, who'd have thought that we'd get most of the way through it. Thanks very much for staying with us throughout the weekend. Your reporter this weekend was Tog of Eurodragster.com, photographs by Sharkman of Eurodragster.com. Additional reporting (and great company) was by our good friend Erik Zettervall of Svensk Dragracing.

Our raceday updates this weekend were brought to you in association with our sponsors e-manumit.com and High Performance Heaven, to whom many thanks.

Thanks also to Steve Horn, Andy Marrs, Martin Wallis, Lisa Smart and John Hackney of TSI Timers; race director Darren Prentice; Ian Marshall and all the SPR race officials and track crew; track announcers Graham Beckwith and Paul Venners; Sue Morris and Natalie Grief in the SPR press office; Roger Gorringe; Stefan Boman; Dave Alexander; Lesley Wright; and Kjell Petterson and Caroline Day of Santa Pod.

Eurodragster's next raceday update will be from Super Series 2 on 17-18 June, our next update from Santa Pod Raceway will be The Cannonball on 1-2 July. See you then!

21:00

And that's all folks, the 9:00 curfew has put an end to the race. We had got through the semi-finals of almost every sportsman class, the finals would have been as follows.

Super Comp: Tim Adam v Phil Bennett
Super Street: Bob Doignie v Neil Grant
Super Gas: Pete Creswell v Dave Townsend
Pro ET: Dave Potter v Mark Ramplee
Super Pro ET: Martyn Jones v Steve Green
Super Street Bike: Graham Dance v Tony Clark
10.90 Bike: Paul Hambridge v Phil Pratt
9.90 Bike: Steve Ashby v Paul Ellingham
Junior Dragster: Tom Watts v Paul Lindley-Allen
Custom Car Street Eliminator: Steve Pateman v John Sleath

Sportsman ET was down to the semis, Neil L'Alouette on a bye and Phil Walker v Paul Hudson.

Our pictures will be posted shortly, watch this space.

20:50

Top Methanol Dragster final: the perfect end to a perfect week for Joe Carabott and the Mr Whippy team as Manty Bugeja takes the win unopposed, 6.05/231.59, although he'll have a headache from the tyre shake.

Pro Mod final: a great paired burnout by Nick Davies and Henri Joosten then Nick takes the win, a great 6.74/205.53 to Henri's 11.02/74.21

20:45

FIM Pro Stock Bike final: Paul Willis took the win at 7.59/173.98 whilst Roger Petterson lost any chance of winning by red-lighting away his quicker 7.50/178.11.

20:35

Pro Stock final: And yet another European record for Malmgren Racing as Michael Malmgren takes the win in 6.990 at 196.45 mph. It was all over by half-track, Jari got slightly out of shape and then backed out of it to 9.92/89.21 whilst we were all watching Michael. Nice one guys, see what that sticker did for you?

Brian Johnson took the win in FIM Competition Bike with a 6.41/225.44 bye, a great pass with a huge column of nitro flame heading straight up into the early twilight.

Congratulations to Ton Pels who won the FIM Supertwin Top Fuel final with a new personal best of 6.89/189.09, whilst Per Bengtsson went up in smoke off the line to record 17.94/44.12

19:55

Top Methanol Funny Car final: Leif Andreasson took the win from Leif Helander in a real peach of a race, the cars side by side all the way down the track. Leif Andreasson edged it at the top end, 5.87/245.38 to 5.93/235.78. Congratulations to Leif and his crew.

19:15

Top Fuel Dragster final: Al Jackson took the win with a 5.27/248.96 as Anita Makela blew an engine on her pass of 5.53/205.23. This was a great race, AJ showing no sign of the long Top Fuel layoff before this weekend - he pulled a huge holeshot, then the tyres went up in smoke which allowed Anita to catch up. AJ pedalled it and the cars were together for a while, then AJ took the lead as Anita's engine blew. Congrats to Alan, Knut and the crew.

17:40

Manty Bugeja has effectively won TMD at this race. The second semi-final was not contested after John Ellul and Lindsay Deuchar broke earlier, which meant that the semi would have been two bye runs. Eero Kilpelainen red-lit and wasted a 5.86/207.85 to Manty Bugeja's 6.04/229.59. Congratulations to Manty - he should only have to stage in the Final to take the win.

17:35

We've had some runs from the Fuel Funny Cars and yet another European record as John Spuffard clocked 5.39/221.45 in a race against Gordon Smith, who clocked 6.11/187.08. Smax Smith put in a pass of 7.19/167.27, taking out the 330-foot and eighth-mile timing reflectors and dropping oil on the shutdown area. Tony Betts made an observed run of 7.58/127.30 in hus beautiful Jungle.com FC.

The semi-finals of Pro Stock Bike went as follows.

Paul Willis 7.57/173.92 def. Stefan Mejerwall 8.06/165.55
Roger Petterson 7.75/172.76 def. Kenneth Stromberg 7.97/166.19

The semi-finals of FIM Competition Bike went as follows.

Brian Johnson 7.08/199.60 def. Ken Cooper 7.76/159.67
Dave Abraham broke (bye)

The semi-finals of FIM Supertwin Top Fuel went this way:

Per Bengtsson 8.09/189.78 def. Lars Wahlberg 8.47/155.39
Ton Pels 7.11/189.07 def. Willem Been 7.27/185.05

We'll be back later with details of the final rounds.

16:15

Apologies for the delay in updates, the phone line has not been available.

We now have another European Pro Stock ET record, in the semi-finals Michael Malmgren clocked 7.003 to take the record back from Jari Konola. This one will run and run, all season let alone today!

The next round of Top Methanol Dragster went as follows.

Manty Bugeja 5.88/235.59 def. Doug Bond 6.26/211.36
Eero Kilpelainen 13.45/84.76
John Ellul and Lindsay Deuchar did not make the call.

The next round of Top Fuel Dragster went as follows.

Al Jackson 5.99/206.95 def. Peter Beck broke
Anita Makela 5.65/189.52 def. Barry Sheavills 6.76/122.15

The Pro Stock semi-finals were the usual close-fought affair and as we say the record's gone again. The results were as follows.

Jari Konola 7.07/195.80 def. Kjetil Hauge 7.26
Michael Malmgren 7.00/196.50 def. Niclas Andersson 14.46/56.81 (red light)

The TMFC semi-finals went this way:

Leif Andreasson 8.03/111.98 bye
Leif Helander 5.96/232.31 def. Micke Kagered 6.11/230.17

14:15

We've just had a very brief rain delay but the first round of FIM Pro Stock Bike went as follows.

Paul Willis 7.663/170.57 bye
Stefan Mejerwall 8.069/166.94 def Richard Gipp 7.986/164.56
Roger Petterson 7.663/178.44 def. Antonine Coupiac 12.284/84.85
Kenneth Stromberg 8.485/162.4 def. Len Paget broke

The next rounds of the FIA classes should be up soon, stay tuned.

12:55

The first round of FIM Supertwin Top Fuel went as follows.

Per Bengtsson 14.605/56.51 def. Rob Van Geffen broke
Lars Wahlberg 7.672/147.89 def. Anders Karling 9.350/131.69
Ton Pels 7.191/191.14 def. Stefan Junerud 7.345/184.98
Willem Been 7.436/179.57 def. Svein Gottenberg 9.564/124.68

Coming up next are FIM Competition Bike and FIM Pro Stock Bike. Stay tuned.

12:45

It's been a great day so far, we have stacks to tell you about. The highlight this morning was the European Pro Stock ET record changing hands in the space of a few minutes. Michael Malmgren ran 7.036 in his race against Christer Andersson which was already backed up by a 7.086 in qualifying. Four minutes and forty two seconds later, Jari Konola ran a 7.015 bye which was backed up by his 7.069 in qualifying. Congratulations to both racers, we're sure there's more to come. And guess what - both cars are running Eurodragster stickers.

Leif Andreasson has also set a new TMFC ET record of 5.847 in his first round race against Lex Joon, backed up by his 5.884 in qualifying, coupled with a new speed record of 245.80. And this is only first-round stuff folks!

So let's take you through what's happened so far today.

The FIM Competition Bike session was completed with the following runs. Dave Knight 10.724, Oivind Dahl 6.978/198.78, Erik Bijlaart 13.389/57.80, Ian King 7.885/169.36, Dave Abraham 10.706/157.42, Chris Hall 9.933/96.20.

The Top Fuel Dragster qualifier was contested by all four cars, this is how it went. We are now onto hundredths since these were copied from the finish line display. Anita Makela 5.64/223.07, Barry Sheavills 5.94/163.67, Peter Beck 5.49/231.69, Al Jackson 6.57/127.52. So Peter Beck finishes up at number one, creeping up on it nice and gently and showing he's going to be a real force this year.

The Pro Stock Bike qualifying session went as follows. Paul Willis 7.57/172.28, Antonine Coupiac broke, Ken Stromberg 7.88/167.54, Stefan Mejerwall 11.68/63.26, Richard Gipp 8.02/163.28, Len Paget broke, Anders Larsson 9.06/141.42, Roger Petterson 7.77/173.50.

Next up was the first round of Top Methanol Dragster, which went as follows:

Eero Kilpelainen 5.73/245.85 def. Kim Reymond 6.88/198.29
Manty Bugeja 10.86/121.12 bye
Doug Bond 6.15/214.86 def. Peter Schofer 8.44/93.40
Lindsay Deuchar 5.90/217.83 def. Rob Turner 6.52/176.88
John Ellul 6.11/217.38 def. Andy Frost 6.73/148.48

The first round of Pro Stock went as follows:

Kjetil Hauge 7.31/189.29 def. Rune Berg 7.35/186.36
Michael Malmgren 7.03/185.59 def. Christer Andersson 7.38/189.23
Niclas Andersson 7.07/193.27 def. Jacob Ferrer 7.06/195.64
Jari Konola 7.01/196.88 bye

TMFC followed, and it went this way:

Micke Kagered 6.19/211.33 def. Ulf Leanders 6.38/190.94 (red light)
Leif Helander 5.96/233.72 def. Urs Erbacher 10.62/107.77
Leif Andreasson 5.84/245.80 def. Lex Joon 6.21/202.90

We've just had round one of Pro Mod, which went as follows:

Nick Davies 6.78/205.33 def. John Ellis 8.01/150.87
Henri Joosten 7.79 def. Peter Wacker 13.83/77.60 (crossed centre line)

Bill Weston put in an observed run in the eights, a nice half pass.

We'll be back shortly with news of the FIM classes.

09:15

A change to the first round of TMFC, the pairings have been amended as follows. Andreasson v Joon, (bye/bye), Kagered v Leanders, Erbacher v Helander.

Stay tuned.

09:00

Good morning and welcome from Santa Pod Raceway on what is, finally, a bright and sunny morning. The weather is done with its caprices and we're all set for what we're sure will turn out as a classic day's racing.

The fields are set in Top Methanol Dragster, Top Methanol Funny Car, Pro Stock and Supertwin Top Fuel. So we already have some shock exits by dint of not putting in qualifying passes on Saturday, Dave Wilson and Jarmo Roivas not qualified in TMD, and Leena Nystrom a DNQ in Pro Stock.

We have further qualifying in Pro Stock Bike, FIM Competition Bike (yesterday's curtailed session to finish) and Top Fuel Dragster. These are scheduled to take place in the next hour or so, and we will of course bring you the stats as soon as we can.

10.90 Bike, 9.90 Bike, Super Street Bike, Pro ET, Super Pro ET and Custom Car Street are qualifying very shortly.

So here are the pairings which are set. These are in ladder order in case you want to write them out.

Pro Stock: Konola bye, Berg v Hauge, Ferrer v N Andersson, Malmgren v C Andersson

Top Methanol Dragster: Bugeja bye, Schofer v Bond, Kilpelainen v Reymond, Ellul v Frost, (bye/bye), Deuchar v Turner

Top Methanol FC: Andreasson bye, Helander v Leanders, Kagered bye, Erbacher v Joon

Supertwin Top Fuel: Van Geffen v Bengtsson, Wahlberg v Karling, Pels v Junerud, Been v Gottenberg

Stay tuned and we'll be back after the Top Fuel qualifying session, in which we are expecting at least one pass, from Barry Sheavills who has not ventured onto the track so far this weekend.