FIA Main Event
Run What You Brung, Sunday 20th May

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17:40

We're all finished now here at Santa Pod. It's been a great day and on the evidence of what we've seen here this weekend, we're going to have some very hard racing at the Main Event next week.

Also finished are today's pictures which you can view via the Index page.

So that's all from Santa Pod this weekend, tune in again on Wednesday when we will be reporting live from the Main Event Press Day. Your reporter/photographer this weekend has been Tog of Eurodragster.com. Many thanks to the following for their help this weekend: Kjell Petterson, Darren Prentice, Lisa Smart, Steve Horn, Martin Wallis, John Hackney, Bob Day and SPR's track and safety crews, Stefan Boman, Roger Gorringe, Spencer Tramm, and David Lloyd-Jones. Thanks also to Anita Makela for the refreshments, to all the other racers for quotes, and to all of you for tuning in.

See you on Wednesday!

17:00

Micke Kagered has just put in his second observed pass and again he handled it like an old hand. Micke has been quoted as saying that the TF feels very easy after an FC. Micke pulled a very nice burnout and then launched very hard until he hit tyre shake past the Tree. He got off the throttle at about 100 feet and then was in and out a couple of times, recording 9.272/94.73. Micke's incrementals were: RT 0.806, 60 feet 0.990, 330 feet 2.764, eighth 4.896/109.22, finish line 9.272/94.73

Funny Bike racer Barry Eastman is getting quicker on each pass, his latest being 7.78/169.12. Wild Bunch racer Chris Bennett is here with his "Cheeky Monkey" slingshot and just a little while back put in a pass of 11.04/120.53. Finally Pro ET racer Rob Elsom is here testing his rebuilt engine and a short while ago clocked 11.95/120.13.

The fire-up road is now closed, and the hardworking track crew are just sending through the last few pairs of vehicles. I don't think we'll be seeing any more Pro racers but stay tuned and we'll let you know of any more action in that direction, and we are just about to start work on today's pictures.

16:15

Anita Makela has put in her promised pass and it's looking very good for her for next week. The car sounded very strong indeed and launched very hard. Anita was on it to about 330 feet, recording 7.857/100.50. Thanks to the good offices of Chief Timekeeper Steve Horn we have the full incrementals on Anita's run: RT 0.576, 60 feet 0.925, 330 feet 2.397, eighth 3.945/137.05, 1000 feet 5.747, finish line 7.857/100.50

Pro ET racer Wayne Nicholson has been putting in passes in his BMW, a best so far of 11.13/124.66.

The RWYB officially ends at 5:00 but we wouldn't be surprised if we saw another Pro racer between now and then, so stay tuned and we'll let you know what happens.

14:45

Michael Malmgren has made another pass, 8.470/114.15, the car going out of shape whilst under power so Michael got off it at half track. Michael's RT was 0.566 and the eighth 4.769/128.13

Funny Bike racer Barry Eastman is here today, he has just put in a pass of 8.29/135.45. He had a few problems earlier on and his crew looked a lot happier this time.

Mick Kemp and John McIntyre matched up again, a great race between the Super Pro ET and Super Comp racers. John got a huge holeshot and Mick had to reel him in, just getting there first 8.33/156.95 to Johnny Mac's 8.95/143.63, Johnny will be happy to get back to Super Comp form with a race a few days away.

We spoke to Anita Makela in the lunch break; the front wing of her Top Fueller has a dent where one of Anders Karling's engine bolts emdedded itself after his engine explosion earlier. If I tell you that Anders' engine blew at half track and that Anita's car is almost by the finish line, there's an indication of just how fearsome Anders' explosion was.

Anita is planning to run later on, so stay tuned and we'll bring you news.

13:00

Michael Malmgren was the next Pro racer up and the run was almost identical to his previous pass. A burnout to eighty feet and then another solid run, with a bit of a twitch about 100 feet out, 7.193/193.22. Michael's RT was 0.503 and his eighth 4.644/152.90

We also have a couple of Sportsman racers here with us today, Super Comp racer John McIntyre and Super Pro ET racer Mick Kemp. A great race with Johnny Mac using most of his lane, Mick got there first 8.45/155.13 to Johnny's 9.29/132.10.

We're now on a lunch break, stay tuned.

12:45

Lex Joon and Micke Kagered have put in passes, Micke's was his observed burnout and launch in the Bahco Tools Top Fueller. Lex Joon went first; pulling a great red light and a good-looking run although with tyre shake off the line, and a brief pedal before getting off it early, 6.946/164.34. Lex's RT was 0.021 and the eighth was 4.287/158.17

Micke was next up and the car sounded very strong indeed. A great burnout, Micke looking like he had done this Top Fuel lark all his life. The car appeared to stage on its front wing but Micke was unperturbed, a great launch and solid to sixty feet. I don't think there'll be any problem signing off the first of his three observed runs. Given that the car appeared to be staged on its wing I'm not sure about these times but Micke's RT was 1.184, eighth 4.547/114.13, 9.028/91.05 at the finish line

11:00

Michael Malmgren was on-track shortly after Niclas Andersson and the sixty-foot plan appears to have been thrown out of the window. Michael stayed on it all the way to record 7.196/193.53. The crew didn't seem very happy, walking away shaking their heads after the pass. Michael's RT was 0.500 and the eighth 4.650/153.06

Anders Karling followed on his Supertwin Top Fuel bike. A great burnout followed by a much, much straighter pass although the bike still appeared to want to throw him off at about sixty feet - we guess he's used to that. Anders was going great guns until there was a bang and a flash of flame at about half track, and a call to the track crew to go and pick up pieces. Hopefully it's not too serious. Anders' times were: RT 0.659, eighth 4.886/125.15, finish line 9.229/89.19

10:30

Niclas Andersson was the first Pro racer to run today and he put in a superb pass, text-book stuff. Burnout to the Tree, a quick check of wheelie bar height and then into stage and straight down the track with just the tinest of wobbles as the front wheels came down, recording 7.072/195.16. Today we're only going to be able to give you RT and eighth-mile in the way of incrementals; Niclas' RT was 0.567 and the eighth 4.549/154.59

Stay tuned.

10:00

Good morning and welcome from Santa Pod on a glorious day. The sun is out, and the track looks just great. As it's a Run What You Brung and a Street Racer Sunday to boot the pits are thronging. A number of our Pro racers are planning to run today; we've been round the pits and here's what we found out.

Michael Malmgren's crew have returned the clutch of the AC Delco to its baseline setting. "We gace it more and more clutch yesterday and it wasn't responding", said crew member Magnus Cato. "So it's now on the old reliable clutch settings. We want to do a sixty foot pass and then turn round as quickly as possible to make another run. We'll do better than we did yesterday."

Next door in the Pro Stock pits, Niclas Andersson's crew have changed the engine of their Championship-holding Firebird. "It's our number one engine", said Jonas Larsson. "We'll see how it goes".

TMFC racer Lex Joon was very happy with his second pass yesterday,and he confirmed that he was very reluctant to get off it because it felt so good. "I was in racing mode, you have to force yourself!", he said. Lex will be running again today. "We had lots of silly little problems yesterday, nothing serious" added crew chief Bernie Hepworth.

Supertwin Top Fuel racer Anders Karling is confident that he and his team have traced the problem which led to two identical lane-crossing passes yesterday. "There was too much travel on the new front forks", he said. Anders is also planning to run today.

In the Top Fuel pits, Micke Kagered's Fueller is looking good to go. The problem turned out to be leaks in the clutch management system and Alan Jackson, one of car owner Knut Soderquist's brains trust, said that a replacement unit had been put in place. Right next door, the red Carbon By Design Top Fuel Dragster is being assembled and we understand that this could be a seventh entry in Top Fuel next weekend. The smart money is on AJ in the driving seat but we'll have to wait and see because no-one is going on the record!

Peter Beck suffered a lot of engine damage in yesterday's explosion. Horst Pauli of Peter's crew told us that an inlet valve broke and a chain reaction followed. They have the parts to put the engine back together, but that will be all of their spares gone, so the team probably won't be running today - they are booked to run at Press Day on Wednesday. "You could see on the computer where it went wrong", said Horst. "There was 0.7 seconds or readings and then it went bad. The bad thing is that Peter was about one tenth of a second from taking his foot off the throttle because this was only going to be a short pass". The team have had wretched luck this year, having had problems with their trailer, the Top Fueller yesterday, and now a broken generator on their tow truck. "Everything which can go wrong has gone wrong - it's like Murphy's Law!" said Horst. "But at least it can only get better!".

The RWYB is well underway now, stay tuned and we'll bring you news of the race cars as the day goes on.