FIA European Finals
Sunday (eliminations)
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20:00
Today's pictures have now been posted; as usual you can get to them from the race update index.
That's the end of our coverage of the 2001 FIA European Finals, a race full of action and drama. Thank you very much for tuning in over the weekend.
Your reporters and photographers this weekend were Tog and Sharkman of Eurodragster.com. Thanks for their help this weekend to Race Director Darren Prentice; Steve Horn, Andy Marrs, Lisa Smart, John Hackney and Martin Wallis of Santa Pod's timing crew; chief starter Ian Marshall and his crew; Chief Fire Marshal Bob Day and his crew; track announcers Graham Beckwith and John Price; SPR track manager Kjell Petterson; Paula Marshall; Lars Petterson; Bjorn Sundkvist; Erik Zettervall; Dave Alexander; Ivan Sansom; Spencer Tramm; Nigel Cole; Pat and Stephen Talbot; and of course to all of the racers for giving us quotes and action to write about and photograph. A personal Thank You from Sharkman to the Napper family for the food and drink on Sunday, and from Tog and Sharkman to all the racers and fans who took the trouble to introduce themselves over the weekend and say nice things about Eurodragster.com. We couldn't do it without you.
Eurodragster's next race coverage will be from next weekend's Super Series 5 at Shakespeare County Raceway and hopefully a special report from the Goodguys Fall Classic at Las Vegas Motor Speedway; our next coverage from Santa Pod Raceway will be the UK National Finals on 6th-7th October. See you then!
19:30
Here are the final results in all classes:
FIA Top Fuel Dragster: Andy Carter 5.01/292.98 def. Anita Makela 10.42/69.37
FIA Top Methanol Dragster: Manty Bugeja 5.80/241.83 was unopposed
FIA Top Methanol Funny Car: Ulf Leanders 5.81/238.60 def. Micke Kagered 6.10/232.79
FIA Pro Stock: Niclas Andersson 7.00/195.46 def. Michael Malmgren 6.95/198.26
Pro Mod: Lars Olsson 9.39/91.24 was unopposed
Super Pro ET: Susanne Callin 7.97/155.94 (7.93) def. Paula Atkin 7.61/179.61 (7.60)
Pro ET: Bob Doyle 10.96/120.01 (10.87) def. Aidan Kenny 11.591/113.01 (11.42)
Sportsman ET: Chevy Llewellyn 13.35/95.60 (13.25) def. Darren Hulkes 13.34/89.57 (13.25)
Super Comp: Martin Moore 9.00/145.60 def. Mark Fairhurst 8.89/153.36 breakout
Super Gas: Dave Townsend 9.96/135.24 def. Kev Moore 9.96/135.14
Super Street: Leigh Morris 10.98/123.93 def. Bob Lees 11.00/115.55
Comp Eliminator: Gerd Habermann 7.90/126.47 (7.62) def. John Tebenham 8.82/156.31 (8.58)
Junior Dragster: Phil Cook 8.51/65.71 (8.30) def. Joe Bond 15.28/38.72 (15.20)
UEM Comp Bike: Brian Johnson 6.11/218.50 def. Roel Koedam 13.10/69.74
UEM Supertwin Top Fuel Bike: Anders Karling 6.63/194.14 def. Willem Been 7.36/181.05
UEM Pro Stock Bike: Anders Larsson 7.52/176.43 def. Chris Hope 7.58/172.78
9.90 Bike: Paul Watson 10.09/125.05 def. Paul Hambidge 10.30/138.47
10.90 Bike: Lewis Honey 11/01/119.69 def. Steve Templeman 11.00/123.29
Today's pictures are now being posted, stay tuned.
19:00
FIA Top Fuel Dragster final
Andy Carter 5.01/292.98 def. Anita Makela 10.42/69.37
The event title and, provisionally, the FIA European Top Fuel Dragster Championship, goes to Andy Carter with an awesome pass. Not a foot wrong, straight and true. Anita's tyres went up in smoke at about 150 feet and then her engine expired.
FIA Top Methanol Dragster final
Manty Bugeja 5.80/241.83 was unopposed
A nice pass from Manty to take the event title. The last four FIA events here at Santa Pod Raceway have had Maltese winners in TMD.
FIA Top Methanol Funny Car final
Ulf Leanders 5.81/238.60 def. Micke Kagered 6.10/232.79
Micke strapped a 0.49 to 0.52 holeshot on Ulf, but Ulf went straight as you like whilst Micke weaved all over his lane, Ulf making up the deficit.
FIA Pro Stock final
Niclas Andersson 7.00/195.46 def. Michael Malmgren 6.95/198.26
Niclas won the event title, and provisionally the FIA European Pro Stock Championship, on a 0.47 to 0.54 holeshot.
Pro Mod final
Lars Olsson 9.39/91.24 was unopposed
Lars was after a new European record on this pass but got out of the groove and shut off.
UEM Comp Bike final
Brian Johnson 6.11/218.50 def. Roel Koedam 13.10/69.74
BJ hasn't foot a foot wrong all weekend and this quickest-ever pass in Europe was the icing on the cake to finish a distinguished career. Roel hit tyre shake and backed off, making Ian King provisionally the UEM European Comp Bike Champion.
UEM Supertwin Top Fuel Bike final
Anders Karling 6.63/194.14 def. Willem Been 7.36/181.05
Anders Karling celebrates his UEM European Supertwin Top Fuel Bike Championship by backing up his 6.590 record set in qualifying.
UEM Pro Stock Bike final
Anders Larsson 7.52/176.43 def. Chris Hope 7.58/172.78
A very close race, Anders winning by 0.04 seconds. As he went through the finish line, Anders' engine exploded. The cowling above the engine blew into Anders' chest causing him some pain, but he was checked out by the medics and is OK.
16:45
Just as we went to post this update, Martin Hill put in a pass of 5.96/265.17 in the Fireforce 2 Jet FC. I didn't think that the afterburner on Fireforce 2 could get any more fierce - I was wrong!
UEM Comp Bike semi-finals
Brian Johnson 6.16/231.96 def. Steve Woollatt no show
BJ just missed a new European speed record with this beautiful, straight pass, as the 229.20 isn't quite enough to back this one up.
Roel Koedam 6.51/219.10 def. Ken Cooper 7.09/186.41
With about half a second to make up it was no surprise that Ken tried to get the jump on Roel, but even with Ken's premature start Roel caught and passed him with this great run.
UEM Supertwin Top Fuel semi-finals
Anders Karling 6.94/206.54 def. Ton Pels no show
Anders steps it right up with this nice run, appearing to be riding on a cushion of nitro flames all the way down, although getting very close to the centre line at the top end.
Willem Been 7.36/186 def. Svein Gottenberg 9.07/99.20
Willem strapped a 0.2-second holeshot on Svein, Svein's engine expired in a cloud of smoke just after half track.
UEM Pro Stock Bike semi-finals
Anders Larsson 7.52/176.65 def. Roger Petterson 7.49/175.63
Anders hit Roger with a huge holeshot, 0.420 to 0.483, negating Roger's performance advantage.
Chris Hope 7.57/173.64 def. Kenneth Stromberg 7.71/159.47
An outstanding run for Chris, leaving Kenneth trailing.
16:25
FIA Top Methanol Funny Car semi-finals
Ulf Leanders 5.87/235.73 def. Leif Andreasson no show
A new personal best for Ulf, a little bounce at half-track and what sounded like a minor feather of the throttle, so there may well be more to come from the Leanders Brothers FC.
Micke Kagered 5.82/247.49 def. Leif Helander 6.03/233.74
Leif pulled a huge burnout before this excellent race, but Leif was spinning the tyres all the way down and Micke had more than enough to cover him.
Pro Mod semi-finals
Steve Hall broke, Jan-Arve Nygard no show
Steve Hall had two attempts at a burnout, and then as he pulled into stage one of his crew signalled to Chief Starter Ian Marshall that Steve should shut off. When Steve's Mustang was pushed back, a huge pool of water lay on the track.
Lars Olsson 6.48/211.94 def. Micke Gullquist 6.50/202.63
A superb race preceded by a 100-yard burnout by Micke. 0.021 seconds between the two at the finish line, Lars blasting his personal best.
15:45
FIA Top Methanol Dragster semi-finals
Manty Bugeja 6.25/160.75 def. Dave Wilson no show
Rob Turner no show, Lindsay Deuchar no show
A first round of attrition sees only Manty turning out for either semi-final so he has effectively won this event although he will have to contest the final round. A planned 900-foot pass looked very good indeed.
15:30
FIA Top Fuel Dragster semi-finals
Anita Makela 5.26/215.68 def. Pelle Lindelow 9.70/75.63
Anita was on a very strong run although down the left-hand side of the lane. She got off the throttle early but there was no obvious problem. Pelle hit shake, went up in smoke and then threw a blower belt to finish his Top Fuel career. We'll all miss you, Pelle.
Andy Carter 5.03/292.10 def. Kim Reymond 5.10/267.29
A superb race, away together, Andy running right down the middle of his lane whilst Kim went the long way round. Kim's Championship race is over but we don't have a Champion just yet.
FIA Pro Stock semi-finals
Michael Malmgren 6.94.198.99 def. Rune Berg 7.12/193.09
This looked a lot closer than it must have been, new European ET and speed records, again, for Michael. Rune was there all the way but had no answer to Michael's bullet.
Niclas Andersson 6.99/195.92 bye
Niclas joins Michael Malmgren and Eero Knihtila in the European six-second club, and sets up a great final
15:20
UEM Comp Bike Round 1
Brian Johnson 6.28/227.99 def. Dave Abraham broke
BJ's 229.20 yesterday becomes a new UEM European speed record, backed up by this run. Dave Abraham started but broke on the burnout.
Steve Woollatt 6.82/199.58 def. Sverre Dahl broke
Sverre broke after the burnout, ending his Championship chances. A good straight run by Steve.
Roel Koedam 6.62/211.51 def. Roald Dogge 7.42/186.49
A long staging duel before this race, Roald went in first. Roel went straight and true and although Roald's run was good, he had no chance.
Ken Cooper 7.12/185.81 def. Ian King 13.27/74.50
A big shock for Championship leader Ian as his bike stuttered and spewed fuel from the exhausts. Ian gave the throttle another stab but it was all over. Ken was long gone on a very quick pass indeed from his Pro Mod Bike.
It's BJ v Woollatt and Koedam v Cooper next round.
UEM Supertwin Top Fuel Round 1
Anders Karling 9.40/142.73 def. Vaclav Hutla 12.28/54.20
Anders became UEM European Supertwin Top Fuel Champion with this pass although it was a close thing. Anders' bike bogged off the line and he had to chase Vaclav down.
Ton Pels 7.73/178.90 def. Jaska Salakari 8.59/127.20
Jaska had problems during his burnout, the bike didn't sound at all well. Ton did the bike equivalent of pedalling off the line and got there first whilst Jaska appeared to suffer a carbon copy of yesterday's problems, a flash of flame near the top end.
Willem Been 7.50/172.64 def. Stefan Junerud broke
Stefan's bike stopped after the burnout and dropped a long stream of fuel on the track. Willem put in a straight and safe run.
Svein Gottenberg 7.85/167.53 def. Per Bengtsson no show
No sign of Per, Svein put in a conservative pass.
It's Karling v Pels, Been v Gottenberg next round.
UEM Pro Stock Bike Round 1
Roger Petterson 7.54/176.44 def. Len Paget 8.22/153.04
Anders Larsson 7.61/172.29 def. Chris Tombleson 7.77/168.54
Chris Hope 7.84/168.27 def. Martin Bishop 10.06/128.46
Kenneth Stromberg 7.79/167.56 def. Richard Gipp 7.85/155.31
The race between Anders Larsson and Chris Tombleson was very close, Chris was visibly ahead to half track. Richard Gipp also put up a solid resistance but didn't quite have enough.
It's Petterson v Larsson, Hope v Stromberg next round.
Pro Mod Round 1
Steve Hall 7.49/191.96 def. Patrik Wikstrom 8.13/128.11
Patrik hit tyre shake, pedalled, but evetually got off it as a door was loose. Steve Hall pulls off one of the shocks of the event and runs a huge speed.
Jan-Arve Nygard 7.03/162.95 def. Roger Johansson 10.99/83.15
Jan-Arve's low speed betrays an early shut-off but Roger was out of shape and had got off it long before.
Micke Gullquist 6.54/206.49 def. Jallo Makimaa 19.51/47.28
Jallo Makimaa sat in pre-stage for a very long time as Micke seemed to have problems coming forward to the line. When both were staged, Jallo rolled through the beams handing the win to Micke.
Lars Olsson 6.56/209.02 def. Urban Johansson 7.07/202.96
Lars went down the right hand side of his lane but stayed with it, no obvious problems for Urban.
It's Hall v Nygard, Gullquist v Olsson next round.
14:45
As you have probably worked out, Micke Kagered's little mishap took a while to clear up although the track looked absolutely pristine when the crew had finished with it. Let's get straight into the action.
FIA Top Methanol Dragster Round 1
Rob Turner 5.93/199.65 bye
A nice run for Rob until a burst panel blew out near the finish line.
Lindsay Deuchar 5.94/223.93 def. Doug Bond 6.30/197.18 red light
Doug tried his luck on the Tree but got away too early, and then went into the field at the end of the track. A nice run from Lindsay although there was a cloud of smoke at the top end. No oil on the track though so let's hope it was nothing untoward.
Manty Bugeja 5.87/243.70 def. Wendy Baker 7.55/181.60
Manty is a man who just doesn't care about tyre shake. He drove straight through shake in first gear and disappeared into the distance. Wendy didn't stand a chance but it was a clean run for her with no obvious problems.
Dave Wilson 5.84/237.91 def. Darryl Bradford 11.35/71.10
Dave is using his spare engine and the crew were delighted with this pass, in fact your reporter got a hug from team Mum Linda Wilson. Darryl turned hard left off the line and then hard right, and got off it when he realised enough was enough.
It's Turner v Deuchar and Bugeja v Wilson next round.
FIA Top Methanol Funny Car Round 1
Leif Andreasson 6.28/172.01 def. Arvid Grodem 6.48/223.59
Leif spent a very long time in stage up on the revs as Arvid appeared to have trouble staging. On the green Leif shot away but very quickly cylinders started to go out, then the blower sneezed launching the front body panel. Leif's crew didn't look at all amused, but Leif goes through to round two.
Ulf Leanders 6.09/229.52 def. Urs Erbacher 6.54/217.40
Ulf pedalled once on the way down the track whilst Urs fought against shake, going every way but straight.
Micke Kagered 5.79/243.67 def. Dezsoe Krivan 6.51/203.37
Micke sets a new European ET record of 5.799, backed up by his qualifying performance, no sign of reticence after his earlier drama. Dezsoe went out of shake and then a cloud of smoke appeared at the top end.
Leif Helander 6.64/156.73 def. Lex Joon 6.05/213.63
Another drama-filled race, Lex was loose all the way down the track, coming close to the guardrail then pulling it back, before approaching the guardrail again and tagging it just before the finish line, disqualifying himself. Leif went out of shape and backed out of it towards the finish line but took the win.
It's Andreasson v Leanders, Kagered v Helander next round.
FIA Pro Stock Round 1
Michael Malmgren 11.67/74.97 bye
Michael had terrible tyre shake but it was discovered that he had dropped a tiny amount of oil on the start line which had doubtless lubricated one slick.
Rune Berg 7.12/193.66 def. Jacob Ferrer 7.18/190.19
A shock here as Jacob loses form just at the wrong moment. A nice straight run from Rune.
Niclas Andersson 7.09/194.67 def. Christer Andersson 7.09/192.98
Niclas won this race on the start line, his usual lightning reaction kicking in. Niclas' run wasn't by any means straight so there are more hundredths there.
It's Malmgren v Berg, and Andersson on a bye next round.
Come back very shortly as we are now typing up UEM classes and Pro Mod.
11:00
FIA Top Fuel Dragster Round 1
Anita Makela 4.99/286.25 def. Tommy Moller 7.60/103.44
Anita recorded her first four and this run included a pedal, a nice straight run. Tommy hit tyre shake, pedalled and then the dragster pulled a huge wheelie at half track as the slicks hooked. You can't say he wasn't trying!
Andy Carter 5.03/287.97 def. Alan Jackson 10.55/79.13
No smoke on the burnout for Andy although we've seen that before, it never seems to harm him. Both cars left cleanly but then AJ went up in smoke at about 150 feet. Andy shot down the track, a picture perfect pass.
Kim Reymond 7.36/137.71 def. Barry Sheavills 8.41/89.46 red light
Barry's Championship hopes took a severe beating as he pulled a red light then went up in smoke and got off it. Kim threw a blower belt at 200 feet but he is through to the next round and keeps his Championship hopes alive.
Pelle Lindelow 9.60/125.14 def Micke Kagered DQ
This is the race where it all happened. Almost as soon as the car left the line, Micke Kagered's tyres went up in smoke but the drama had only just started. A huge fire erupted at the back of the engine, went away, then came back. The fire just would not go out, the suddenly both of Micke's rear slicks exploded, sending the car sliding down the track, spinning through two revolutions before grinding to a halt at the finish line. Pelle's tyres went up in smoke but we think that he saw what was happening to Micke as he stabbed the throttle to get out of the way.
It's Makela v Lindelow, Carter v Reymond in the next round. Barry's Championship is not completely dead, it now depends upon how far Anita, Kim and Andy go.
We're on hold for cleanup now, come back later and we'll let you know how the rest of the first rounds go.
9:00
Good morning and welcome back, again, to Santa Pod Raceway on a beautiful morning. There's not a cloud in the sky, and the chill wind we've had this weekend has dropped some. The track is shining in the sun, it looks just great and promises a superb day's action.
The usual raceday greetings; firstly to Eurodragster's US correspondents Ed O'Connell and Kathy Hileman, and to Bob Meyer, Bill Schultz, Gordie Bonin and Viveca and Håkan Averstedt who are tuned in on that side of the Pond; to Christer Abrahamson and all of our friends in Scandinavia; and to Steve Price in the UK.
Our pit walk last night was sabotaged by the weather; as soon as we had finished here in Race Control, the rain fell down and just about every pit was understandably buttoned up against the elements.
We managed to grab a word with Alan Jackson, who is doing double duty this weekend tuning Micke Kagered's Top Fueller as well as driving the Carbon By Design Top Fueller. "The car was awesome on the first run", said AJ of his own qualifying runs, "but the blower belt broke at 330 feet. On the second run the car left really hard but it got up on the tyres. There's plenty of power in the car, we're not going to change the tune-up in the morning." AJ also told us that Micke Kagered's crew were restripping the blower but that otherwise everything is OK with the Bahco Tools/Quaker State TF.
If you were with us yesterday you will recall that there was some confusion about what caused Anita Makela to get off the throttle during her last Top Fuel qualifying pass. "The car started to flex", said Anita. "I got off the throttle and on again, but then the car started to skate around as if it was on ice. After the run we found that the clutch had melted even though we have taken power out of the car. The same happened in Norway". Anita tells us that she would like the Top Fuel contingent to have more qualifying sessions at FIA events. "Three sessions is not enough to learn", she said. "We can't make any progress, so we need more runs. It's something I feel very strongly about. The other FIA classes have five sessions so maybe we should have four". We can't see that the fans would have any problem with that!
This morning's first rounds in FIA and UEM are set as follows. These are in ladder order so that you can map out how the eliminations may pan out.
FIA Top Fuel Dragster
Micke Kagered v Pelle Lindelow
Anita Makela v Tommy Moller
Andy Carter v Alan Jackson
Kim Reymond v Barry Sheavills
FIA Top Methanol Dragster
Rob Turner bye
Lindsay Deuchar v Doug Bond
Manty Bugeja v Wendy Baker
Dave Wilson v Darryl Bradford
FIA Top Methanol Funny Car
Leif Andreasson v Arvid Grodem
Ulf Leanders v Urs Erbacher
Micke Kagered v Dezsoe Krivan
Lex Joon v Leif Helander
FIA Pro Stock
Michael Malmgren bye
Jacob Ferrer v Rune Berg
Niclas Andersson v Christer Andersson
The winner of the Andersson v Andersson race gets a bye in the semi-final.
UEM Comp Bike
Brian Johnson v Dave Abraham
Sverre Dahl v Steve Woollatt
Roel Koedam v Roald Dogge
Ian King v Ken Cooper
UEM Supertwin Top Fuel
Anders Karling v Vaclav Hutla
Ton Pels v Jaska Salakari
Stefan Junerud v Willem Been
Per Bengtsson v Svein Gottenberg
UEM Pro Stock Bike
Roger Petterson v Len Paget
Anders Larsson v Chris Tombleson
Chris Hope v Martin Bishop
Kenneth Stromberg v Richard Gipp
The first round of Pro Mod is set as follows:
Patrik Wikstrom v Henri Joosten
Roger Johansson v Jan-Arve Nygard
Micke Gullquist v Jallo Makimaa
Lars Olsson v Urban Johansson
The first rounds of FIA, UEM and Pro Mod are due at 10:30, so tune in some time after 12:30 and we'll let you know how they went.