2003 FIA European Finals
Saturday (qualifying)
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23:30
Today's pictures are now posted, you can view them from the Event Update index.
Tune back tomorrow for all the news from eliminations.
20:20
Martin Hill followed the final Pro session with a 5.806/274.42 in the Fireforce 2 Jet FC. Not long after, a streaker put in a short pass.
Pro ET eliminations round 1 winners: Steve Good (10.10) 9.916/137.73, Lee Huxley (10.90) 10.949/120.41, Bob Molden (10.10) 10.171/131.39, Malcolm Motler (11.12) 11.168/101.87, Al Didwell (10.41) 10.469/128.01, Steve Wells (10.07) 10.006/128.46, Marius Blackburn (9.54) 9.596/126.95, Carl Burton (11.39) 11.301/117.68, Dave Ward (10.53) 10.498/123.19, Steve Dunn (10.03) 10.045/126.51, Terry Wareham (11.64) 11.671/118.84, Ian Brown (10.89) 10.905/119.82, Aidan Kenny (11.58) 11.676/113.74, Rick McCann (10.39) 10.436/129.30
Sportsman ET eliminations round 1 winners: Al Platt (12.98) 12.905/108.18, Steven Lee (15.25) 15.489/67.16, Nick Gay (16.05) 16.661/75.98, Neil L'Alouette (13.68) 13.746/88.88, Nick Griffin (12.20) 12.252/107.54, Rick Denny (13.58) 13.726/96.45, Nick South (14.05) 14.120/98.51, Paul Bishop (17.10) 17.403/79.09, Kev Slyfield (12.18) 12.159/113.09
9.90 Bike eliminations round 1 winners: Fred Furlong 10.091/133.22, Steve Ingham 9.847/138.09, Geoff Connor 9.851/124.04, Jamie Sneddon 11.250/91.83, Dave Hall 10.776/99.80, Steve Ashby 9.978/131.60, Steve Coombs 9.924/136.19, Sean Mills 10.240/143.91, Kev Charman 11.462/138.94, Dave Warren 9.752/142.94, Shaun Jones 10.129/136.52, TJ O'Brien 9.931/135.35, Paul Valentine 10.136/136.18, Paul Stewart 10.115/130.48, Martin Walker 10.356/137.13, Ken Cooper 10.152/138.53
Super Comp eliminations round 1 winners: Tim Adam 8.937/148.78, Malcolm Francis 8.962/147.91, Brian Pateman 9.023/146.87, Zane Llewellyn 9.052/134.91, Martin Curbishley 9.201/137.84, Rob Faulkner staged.
Super Street Eliminations round 1 winners: Conrad Stanley 10.944/133.16, Dave Cherrett 10.968/110.78, Bob Lees 10.942/125.32, Mark O'Halloran 11.063/108.79, Mike Bentley 10.912/131.16, Stuart Doignie 10.989/120.86, Brian Huxley 10.962/112.16
Junior Dragster eliminations round 1 winners: Robin Kadi (8.90) 15.904/38.51, Joe Bond (9.45) 9.634/67.44, Collin Morrice (9.20) 9.394/66.37, Ricky Emms (8.00) 8.179/77.16, Holly Mitchell (16.30) 16.327/38.28, Tom Watts (11.00) 11.454/56.33, Nick Mugridge (8.90) 9.092/69.11
Super Gas Eliminations round 1 winners: Ashley Bell 10.441/106.32, Frank Mason 9.931/138.63, Dave Townsend 9.883/130.69, Tim Adam 9.982/122.53, John Everitt 11.099/75.17, Conrad Stanley 9.935/135.11
10.90 Bike eliminations round 1 winners: Dave Warren 11.146/118.74, Dave Burfitt 11.164/116.08, Grant Perrin 10.949/120.62, Steve Knapp 10.896/109.37, Richard Beck 10.970/134.32, Phil Pratt 10.964/124.10
9.90 Bike eliminations round 2 winners: Sean Mills 10.320/103.98, Steve Cooombs 10.110/133.65, Shaun Jones 9.962/121.51, Martin Walker 10.333/139.97, TJ O'Brien 10.392/114.88, Geoff Connor 9.954/129.41, Dave Hall 10.305/119.36, Jamie Sneddon 10.095/138.49
Sportsman ET eliminations round 2 winners: Steve Lee (15.25) 14.960/77.12, Kev Slyfield (12.14) 12.134/113.49, Neil L'Alouette (13.75) 13.849/94.93, Rick Denny (13.62) 14.173/79.57, Nick Griffin (12.23) 12.261/107.74
We're now working on today's pictures, stay tuned.
18:40
FIA Top Methanol Dragster qualifying session 4 Left lane first: Rob Turner 5.544/253.62, Dave Wilson 5.478/255.91, Peter Schöfer 6.142/167.42 bye
Final qualifying:
Rob Turner ran his third 5.5 of the weekend, Dave Wilson into the 5.4s to consolidate his lead. Peter Schöfer obviously had a killer tune-up in the car, shooting off the line but then the car started to drift left, Peter stayed with it, and then the dragster sideswiped the guardrail at about half-track, where he was clocked at 194.90 mph. Peter is quite OK, no news on the car although Peter had it under control, getting it stopped and turned off the track.
FIM/UEM Top Fuel Bike qualifying session 4 Left lane first: Antonio Ferretti 7.930/123.09, Chris Hannam 7.549/185.81, Nils Ole Lund 6.836/187.43, Sarah Jane Head 8.475/171.78, Jon Leret 7.792/116.96, Sandra Chaplain 12.216/123.37, Jean-Claud Draperi 9.113/102.10, Martin de Haas 8.932/157.77, Paul Newman 8.760/151.90, Tim Blakemore 7.577/162.13, Neil Midgley broke off line, Steve Carey 8.266/159.32
Final qualifying:
FIM/UEM Supertwin qualifying session 4 Left lane first: Willem Been 26.889/18.62, Per Bengtsson 7.231/144.26, Stefan Junerud 6.979/157.50 bye, Ton Pels 15.340/48.31, Ronny Aasen 17.490/40.15
Final qualifying:
FIM/UEM Pro Stock Bike qualifying session 4 Left lane first: Paul Watson 21.965/22.84, Richard Gipp 7.633/169.34, Herman van Driel 8.223/157.92, Anders Larsson 7.591/171.57, Martin Bishop 8.128/157.67, Chris Hope 7.642/172.40, Kenneth Stromberg 7.879/160.83 bye, Vesa Rautio 9.771/80.50, Michal Ponca 11.860/114.75, Roger Pettersson 7.956/171.39 bye, Samuele Spiga broke, Helen Curran 7.660/171.60
Final qualifying:
FIA Top Fuel Dragster qualifying session 3 Left lane first: Peter Beck 4.936/287.66 bye, Tommy Möller 4.988/299.48 bye, Micke Kågered 7.525/116.63 bye
Final qualifying:
We didn't see Kim Reymond in this session because he damaged his front wing on his 4.645 pass, which would account for the car using up a lot of the lane. Peter Beck put in another storming pass, off the throttle and the chutes out just a touch early. Tommy Möller followed up with another tremendous pass, very close to the guardrail at the top end but he stayed with it. Micke Kågered hit shake, pedalled and tried it again before getting off it. Anita Mäkelä didn't appear for this session and DNQs.
17:45
FIA Top Methanol Funny Car qualifying session 4 Left lane first: Urs Erbacher 6.224/160.76, Freddy Fagerström 6.063/214.92, Doug Ripley 10.001/82.91, Dan Larsen 5.729/244.66, Martin Lundquist 6.738/163.27, Niclas Andersson 7.112/116.00, Ulf Leanders 5.666/248.18, Steph Milam 6.882/210.71
Final qualifying:
Ulf Leanders is on a European ET record if he can back it up. Ulf was all over his lane, too, so the ET will go down.
FIA Pro Stock qualifying session 4 Left lane first: Jimmy Ålund 8.149/120.29 bye, Rune Berg broke, Michael Malmgren 7.059/194.77, Jan Murén 6.969/197.76, Christer Andersson 7.186/192.64, Kenneth Soderström 7.159/191.12, Magnus Hansson 7.061/194.36
Final qualifying:
Jimmy Ålund hit shake and eventually got off the throttle. Rune Berg had an engine fire in the middle of his burnout, the fire crew jumped into action as Rune's team pulled the nose off the car. Jan Murén consolidated his number one spot with an improvement.
17:15
Super Pro ET eliminations round 1 winners: Steve Johnson (7.60) 7.606/172.86, Roger Moore (7.95) 8.094/166.75, Tim Garlick (8.30) 8.448/158.69, Ian Bishop (7.94) 8.041/155.13, Paul Davis (8.70) 9.083/147.14, Mick Kemp (8.30) 9.862/132.98, John Tebenham (8.58) 8.520/156.03, Paul Letchford (8.85) 8.863/143.94, Trev Capewell (8.05)9.076/146.88
To be completed FIM/UEM Pro Stock Bike qualifying session 4 Left lane first: Paul Watson 21.965/22.84, Richard Gipp 7.633/169.34, Herman van Driel 8.223/157.92, Anders Larsson 7.591/171.57, Martin Bishop 8.128/157.67, Chris Hope 7.642/172.40, Kenneth Stromberg 7.879/160.83 bye, Vesa Rautio 9.771/80.50, Michal Ponca 11.860/114.75, Roger Pettersson 7.956/171.39 bye
A strong crosswind has come out of nowhere so bike qualifying has been held, with one racer left to run. Supertwin is also to be held.
Qualifying with one racer yet to run:
NDRS Bilsport Pro Modified qualifying session 4 Left lane first: Freddy Fagerström 7.654/130.13, Christer Jacobs 6.379/216.54, Thomas Nataas 6.536/210.92, Robert Koper 8.889/110.09, Håkan Nilsson 9.655/104.11, Lars-Inge Johansson no time recorded, Roger Johansson 6.491/209.92, Micke Lindahl 6.570/204.40, Peter Kunc 6.817/204.40, Micke Gullquist 6.857/196.59, Norbert Kuno 6.883/206.10, Bert Englefield 13.350/64.35, Andy Robinson 6.602/206.10, John Ellis 7.198/192.13 bye, Urban Johansson no time recorded, Matts Eriksson 6.482/213.65
Final qualifying subject to confirmation:
Freddy Fagerström had a wild ride but he's used to that sort of thing. Christer Jacobs had the chutes out early which makes his top spot-consolidating pass even more impressive. A great pass from Thomas Nataas moved him up the ladder, Robert Koper hit shake and got off the throttle. Håkan Nilsson hit shake and eventually got off it but Lars-Inge Johansson got way out of shape towards the top end, tagging the wall at the finish line then rolling out in the shutdown area. The safety crews were on the spot instantly, Lars-Inge has been taken to hospital and is to be kept in overnight. Andy Robinson sorted out his clutch problems, and a new PB for John Ellis. Bert Englefield appeared to have problems staging his car, and then got out of shape at 300 feet so backed out of it.
14:35
Fuel Funny Car qualifying session 2 Left lane first: Gordon Smith 7.294/121.70, Leif Helander 10.225/71.38, John Spuffard 9.348/82.03
Qualifying after this session:
Gordon Smith pulled a 0.889 sixty-foot time but the car started to veer towards the centreline and he got off it, stabbing the throttle briefly as it got straight. John Spuffard had a carbon copy of his run yesterday, throwing the burst relief plate at about 330 feet, Leif was off the throttle even before that.
Martin Hill followed up the Fuel FC session with a 5.832/268.18 in the Fireforce 2 Jet FC.
14:30
FIA Top Fuel Dragster qualifying session 2 Left lane first: Micke Kågered 5.592/217.84, Smax Smith 5.045/290.83, Jon Webster 8.081/90.93 bye, Darryl Bradford 5.609/208.00, Susanne Callin 5.097/284.45, Peter Beck 4.941/263.03, Anita Mäkelä 6.048/144.38, Tommy Möller 5.463/214.02, Kim Reymond 4.645/317.56
Qualifying after this session:
Team-mates Micke Kågered and Smax Smith matched up in the first pair, Smax went all the way down the middle of his lane until about 1100 feet when the car tried to go hard left, Smax pulled it back and stayed on it. Micke drove through spin and stayed with it most of the way down the track. Jon Webster left very hard, 0.900 sixty foot, the one side of cylinders went out, the car turned right and Jon got off the throttle and quickly pulled off the racing line. The car left oil on the track and the fire crew chased Jon down. Just as the lane was cleaned, it started to rain so we had a brief delay. Darryl Bradford hit shake at about thirty feet but our attention was then taken by Susanne Callin who was up and gone in a cloud of clutch dust, the car veering left and right quite seriously but Susanne stayed with it and leapt up the placings. Peter Beck was on a real stormer, 0.873 sixty foot, he was off the throttle a little way before the line, Anita Mäkelä hit shake and was off it before half track. All of this was preparation for Kim Reymond's stunning pass, Kim said last night that he would be putting in more power and that's just what he did. It wasn't a straight run, 261 mph at half track and Kim wasn't getting off it for anything. The first 4.6 in Europe, the first run over 310 mph in Europe, and the first run over 500 kmh in Europe. Well done Kim!
13:30
FIA Top Methanol Dragster qualifying session 3 Left lane first: Dave Wilson 5.506/250.33, Peter Schöfer 5.583/246.09, Krister Johansson 7.262/175.42, Rob Turner 5.525/251.13
Qualifying after this session:
A consistent pass from Dave Wilson maintains his qualifying lead, an improvement from Peter Schöfer but the team didn't look at all happy. An improvement, too, from Rob Turner. Krister Johansson's cylinders appeared to be taking turns to go out on his pass.
13:00
FIM/UEM Top Fuel Bike qualifying session 3 Left lane first: Chris Hannam 7.649/181.39, Roel Koedam 6.118/229.99, Martin de Haas 10.860/124.46, Steve Woollatt 15.953/62.68, Sarah Jane Head 8.737/151.66, Steve Carey 8.977/161.81, Jon Leret 6.805/202.19, Antonio Ferretti 11.051/107.97, Jean-Claud Draperi no time recorded, Joey Bon 6.717/202.70, Neil Midgley 6.864/185.60, Tim Blakemore 7.123/179.16, Paul Newman 9.736/127.89, Sandra Chaplain 10.722/134.64, Nils Ole Lund 6.791/196.74 bye, Ian King 6.500/196.97 bye
Qualifying after this session:
New European ET and speed records for Roel Koedam, subject to ratification, 6.118 seconds and 229.99 miles per hour. Apologies for the lack of commentary on this session, we had a problem with the phone line which we were fixing at the same time.
FIA Pro Stock qualifying session 3 Left lane first: Christer Anderson 7.251/191.03, Rune Berg 7.061/195.35, Magnus Hansson 7.182/192.54, Jan Murén 6.995/197.47, Jimmy Ålund 7.020/195.31, Kenneth Soderströl 7.232/190.71, Michael Malmgren 7.026/195.63, Tommy Leindahl 9.179/101.95
Qualifying after this session:
12:30
FIM/UEM Supertwin qualifying session 3 Left lane first: Svein Gottenberg 7.919/142.59, Per Bengtsson 9.831/83.41, Ronny Aasen broke, Willem Been 8.198/147.57, Rob van Geffen 6.682/187.74 bye, Ton Pels 6.606/209.28 bye, Stefan Junerud 6.798/191.53
Qualifying after this session:
Per Bengtsson rode the centre line on his pass, eventually getting off it. Ronny Aasen's chain broke off the start line. Rob van Geffen had a tremendous run, a personal best judging by the crew's reaction. It wasn't straight, either, so there will be more from Rob. A great pass from Ton Pels, too, consolidating his lead. A big improvement from Stefan Junerud, a feather of the throttle at half track so that may have been a 6.6 too.
FIA Top Methanol Funny Car qualifying session 3 Left lane first: Dan Larsen 5.884/236.33, Martin Lundquist 6.890/152.05, Leif Andréasson 5.793/242.12, Niclas Andersson broke, Ulf Leanders 5.723/248.49 bye, Steph Milam 7.261/167.91, Urs Erbacher 6.081/186.18, Freddy Fagerström 5.890/236.51, Doug Ripley 8.151/121.62
Qualifying after this session:
Martin Lundqvist was on a good pass until the burst plate blew just past half-track. Leif Andre&aecute;asson's car launched very hard, 0.960 sixty-foot and a fine pass. Niclas Andersson's car didn't make it out of the collection area, we guess it refused to start. A hard, straight pass from Ulf Leanders took over the lead from Dan Larsen, Ulf recorded a 0.964 to sixty foot. Steph Milam pedalled and the blower belt and what looked like a pulley exited the car, whilst in the other lane Urs Erbacher blew a burst panel at about half track. Another toned-down burnout from Freddy Fagerström, only 250 feet today, then a PB but a cloud of smoke right on the finish line. Doug Ripley was off the throttle by half track.
12:00
FIM/UEM Pro Stock Bike qualifying session 3 Left lane first: Martin Bishop 7.882/167.37 bye, Chris Hope 7.668/171.66, Kenneth Stromberg 7.806/170.08, Vesa Rautio 7.505/177.16 bye, Michal Ponca 10.152/118.12, Roger Pettersson 7.395/178.91, Helen Curran shut off, Paul Watson 9.262/144.18, Richard Gipp 7.626/169.17, Herman van Driel 9.329/99.38, Anders Larsson broke bye
Qualifying after this session:
A lot of consistency in this session but only one change in the standings, Richard Gipp stepped up big time. Roger Pettersson ran an identical ET to his #1 qualifier yesterday. Helen Curran was shut off on the line after her burnout. Anders Larsson's engine cut out right off the line.
NDRS Bilsport Pro Modified qualifying session 3 Left lane first: Christer Jacobs 6.401/209.57, Henri Joosten 6.860/199.99, Roger Johansson 6.912/198.53 bye, Robert Koper 7.985/162.03, Håkan Nilsson 6.486/216.27, Lars-Inge Johansson 6.738/210.61 bye, Andy Robinson 7.112/200.77, John Ellis 7.423/183.38, Peter Wacker broke, Bert Englefield 8.110/163.29, Gordon Appleton 6.728/206.13, Micke Gullquist 6.738/194.21, Norbert Kuno 7.093/201.52, Urban Johansson 6.911/201.57, Håkan Fällström 7.650/133.03 bye, Matts Eriksson 6.568/214.55, Micke Lindahl 6.741/205.36, Peter Kunc 9.456/92.00, Freddy Fagerström 6.446/214.11
Qualifying after this session:
Roger Johansson's car sounded as if it had a problem shifting, certainly not as many gear shifts as you would expect to hear. Robert Koper rolled through stage as the lights ran, in the other lane Håkan Nilsson's car ran almost the entire pass right down the centre line. A big improvement from Lars-Inge Johansson. Andy Robinson's car hesitated off the line then took off, Andy drove through shake. Peter Wacker was pushed back after his burnout and there was some clean-up in his lane. Bert Englefield put in his first pass in the blown-alcohol configuration, he pedalled a couple of times but everything looked OK. Gordon Appleton drove through shake, whilst in the other lane Micke Gullquist hung on for a short while and then chased after him, a fine pass for the new car. Urban Johansson's pass was almost a carbon copy of Håkan's pass, veering left then running down the centre line. Håkan Fällström was on a hard pass when smoke started to appear on one side of the car, then there was a bang and the blower belt exited stage right. Huge steps up from both Matts Eriksson and Micke Lindahl, Matts' car particularly ran hard and straight and that after a tiny and very brief burnout. A new PB for Freddy Fagerström after a huge burnout, Peter Kunc appeared to have a backfire at half track.
11:00
Super Street ended up with Dave Cherrett number one at 10.908/111.87 from Mark Watkins 10.924/125.00, Ian Brown 10.925/119.92, Bob Lees 10.927/126.50 and Stuart Doignie 10.933/129.06.
Super Comp finished with Tim Adam number one at 8.908/149.17 from Zane Llewellyn 8.911/151.82, Brian Pateman 8.911/152.73, Malcolm Francis 8.919/147.99, and Martin Curbishley 8.927/151.43.
10.90 Bike ended with Phil Pratt at the top at 10.908/124.89, Grant Perrin 10.927/123.76, Ilse Lambert 10.940/121.38, Steve Knapp 10.945/112.76, and Dave Burfitt 10.951/124.90.
10:30
Junior Dragster qualifying has finished with Robin Kadi on top at 0.500, from Johnny Walker 0.517, Nick Mugridge 0.535, Collin Morrice 0.538, and Ross Norris 0.550.
Super Pro ET finished with Barry Giles top at +0.000 7.630/169.30, Roger Moore second +0.015 7.965/169.46, Al Golding +0.024 8.824/151.97, Paul Letchford +0.027 8.887/148.85 and Tim Garlick +0.029 8.329/160.89.
Pro ET finished with Malcolm Motler at number one +0.003 11.123/115.91, Steve Dunn +0.004 10.074/132.86, Rick McCann +0.005 10.465/128.42, Dave Ward +0.006 10.506/122.36, and Carl Burton +0.007 11.397/116.81.
Sportsman ET finished with Al Platt number one +0.004 12.984/107.11, Kev Slyfield +0.014 12.914/113.02, Rick Denny +0.014 13.634/90.00, Neil L'Alouette +0.028 13.628/95.77, and Mark Anderson +0.035 13.275/101.54.
Comp Eliminator finished with Kenneth Feldthusen number one -0.680 6.890/195.84, Richard Sundblom -0.663 7.467/182.72, Bruno Bader -0.503 7.627/176.63, Jean Dulamon -0.336 7.654/163.15 and John Tebenham +0.109 8.429/157.61.
9.90 Bike finished with Fred Furlong top at 9.902/135.21 from Shaun Jones 9.908/135.50, Wayne Hobbs 9.910/143.97, Bob Wood 9.910/133.00 and Paul Hambidge 9.926/112.62. Graham Dance was bottom qualifier at 8.330/174.96.
Super Gas finished with Frank Mason number one with a perfect 9.900/138.98 from Dave Townsend 9.915/139.97, Tim Adam 9.920/145.91, Conrad Stanley 9.921/136.02, and Malcolm Francis 9.933/141.56.
We're on a hold for light rain - stay tuned.
8:00
Good morning and welcome from Santa Pod Raceway on a beautiful mild morning. Qualifying continues today and we're here to bring you all the action in association with American Car Imports.
The Webster Race Engineering/MPM Oil webcam is on-line and broadcasting a picture every two minutes.
The plan this morning is another cycle of Sportsman qualifying, and then Pro qualifying at 10:30, Sportsman eliminations, and another Pro session at 14:30.
We have a few more good mornings today, firstly to honorary Eurodragster staff member Andy Marrs whom we know is tuned in, looking forward to seeing you Andy. Hello also to Steve Wilson of Krivan Racing who is tuned in from Switzerland. In reply to your comment, Steve, if you can only be bothered to try it a couple of times then that's what you get (grin). Good morning also to all at the Hot Rod Drags at Shakespeare County Raceway, have a good weekend guys. Hello also to Peter Frost of Svensk Dragracing. You'll be pleased to hear, Peter, that Christer laughed when he saw your mail.
We took a turn around the pits last night, here is what we found out.
Peter Schöfer and his crew are very unhappy with the performance of their Top Methanol Dragster. "We keep shaking the tyres again and again", said team member Gittli Koller. "The performance is there, we have good terminal speeds, but we can't get it onto the track. But we think we have found the problem so we'll see how we go."
Two doors down the American Car Imports team are very pleased with Dave Wilson's #1 spot in TMD, although the first qualifying pass didn't go to plan. "The belt just gave up on the first run", said Crew Chief Andy Bissett. "We had made eleven runs on that belt, that's probably one too many. We've made a couple of changes from the testing we did over the week, and Dave drove it a bit harder. It would suit us down to the ground if it rained all day!"
Kim Reymond said that the USA Autodele team took too much power out of their Top Fuel Dragster on yesterday's pass. "A run like that isn't good for anything", he said. "We'll put more power in it tomorrow."
Shockwave Fuel FC Crew Chief and co-owner Dave Bryant said that there were no problems at all with the car after Gordon Smith's on-and-off pass yesterday. "We're fine, just routine maintenance", he said. "I slapped Gordon's wrist for hitting it twice, he got out of the groove. He never ceases to amaze me the way he drives out of these situations. He never fails to frighten me to death, either, but he never ceases to amaze me! Hopefully we'll keep the old girl in the groove tomorrow". Dave asked us to thank Tom Hoover for the input. "The cheque's in the post", he said.
Next door in the Fuel FC pits, Leif Helander was fixing a burnt clutch, broken piston and damaged sleeve in the Starkotter FC. "I had a small fire at the top end, I think I blew the pan gasket", he said. "I hope that we can fix it."
Top Methanol FC racer Dan Larsen beat his personal best by 0.002 in taking the qualifying lead yesterday. "It felt very good", he said. "The speed was low but it's OK. We won't make any big changes for tomorrow. And the blower belt is still on it!"
Crew Chief Bob Jarrett said that John Spuffard was on the verge of shutting off when trouble struck the Showtime Fuel FC yesterday. "It pushed a head gasket and broke a stud, then blew the relief panel off with a small backfire", he said. "We broke the lid on the clutch management system, that's the third one in a few races, and the body latch broke. It could have been a 5.0! We've got the parts to fix it, we're looking forward to seeing what tomorrow brings although the important thing is to be there on Sunday!". The Showtime team have Tom Hoover in their pit again this weekend. "Tom's been telling me how to do it as usual!", said Bob.
The AC Delco Pro Stock team have their primary engine O'bej in place and spent yesterday running it in. "It takes four or five runs for everything to bed in and to make the horsepower. Maybe on the last run tomorrow we will make the big numbers. We had handling problems so we changed a lot at Hockenheim, but now we have to find what we changed. But next time the car will go straight."
Martin Canto was delighted with Jon Webster's qualifying pass yesterday. "Nothing got singed, nothing snapped - nothing!", he said. "It was almost a shame to have to take it apart again after the run!". Jon Webster was also pleased. "At the risk of repeating myself, it's awesome", he said. "We deliberated whether to run a full pass or a thousand feet, and a thousand feet won. It was nosing over just as I got to 1000 feet and lifted. It's just a case of progession now, creep up on it gently. Peter Knight (Crew Chief - Ed) has prepared the engine and it keeps coming up roses. I can't believe how smooth the drive it - it feels like driving on air. So far it's a fairy tale."
Whilst walking around the pits last night we met with Swedish Pro Mod racer and ET record holder Patrick Wikström who is here helping Micke Lindahl's team. "I hope to run next year, but today I am taking it easy!", said Patrick. "Maybe when they take my ET record away I will come back!". Off-track gossip has Patrick going Top Fuel next year but he wouldn't be drawm when we asked him.
Your reporter and Top Fuel Bike racer Steve Woollatt were apparently the only people to notice his feather of the throttle on his 6.4 pass last night. "The crew wouldn't believe me but I showed them your report", said Steve. "There was a little shake on the 6.4, so there might be a 6.3 in it tomorrow."
Crew Chief Kenneth Lorentzon said that he was reasonably happy with Tommy Möller's qualifying pass last night. If you were tuned in yesterday you will recall that we thought that Tommy's run was quicker than it turned out to be. "The first half was sleepy, the second half very hard", said Kenneth. "We found an ignition problem and we have fixed it". "It wasn't my fault this time!" joked crew member Lars, who famously left the throttle stop on the car after a burnout at the Main Event back in May. "We are planning to run both sessions tomorrow, if we have found the ignition problem then we will be able to turn the knobs round a bit!", said Kenneth. The team have Peter Lantz helping this weekend and Kenneth said he is very glad that Peter is there. "It's good to have someone to bounce off", he said.
Our good buddy Christer Abrahamson of Svensk Dragracing was also in the pits picking up notes for us last night and this is what he found out.
Per Bengtsson tells us that he while he was travelling through Denmark he suddenly realized that he left his wheelie bar back home. He called Tommy M�ller who knew that �yvor Jacobsen was working at SAS so �yvor managed to let them take the huge bars on a flight to England! Dragracers working together! Per also tells us that the 6.69 is absolutely not the limit for his bike under this condition. A little more clutch is one of the things he will be doing on Saturday.
Ton Pels says that he left the line a lot harder on his second pass, but he lost the fuel pressure so the engine stopped pulling. �It will be a very interesting day tomorrow�, he said.
Ronny Aasen is slowly going forward. �We try to go one step at a time� Ronny says. �We never change more than one thing on the set-up between rounds�
Roel Koedam's fantastic 6.04 run in Top Fuel Bike was on his first run on a new combination. �We have been thinking about this new set-up for a while, so we decided to try it here at Santa Pod�, he said. When we askd him about a possible five second run he just smiled and said �We'll talk about that if we do it!�
Ian King got the performance back after struggling for a while. "The 6.69 run was still problem-filled", he said. "I am losing fuel pressure, so we rebuilt the tank during the afternoon with help from some local guys and hopefully the problem is solved."
Sverre Dahl explained that his wild run was far from perfect! You don�t say Sverre! �It didn't feel as bad as people are saying that it looked.� he said. �I am very pleased with the speed (236 mph) but there is still a lot of tuning to do to put that in to a good ET. It is always easier to run quick in the pub than on the strip!�
Helen Curran broke a cam chain on her Pro Stock Bike engine during the first pass, and the Veidec team are working hard to get the engine together again. �We don�t have the right spare valves, so we have modified bigger ones to fit", said Crew Chief Roger Lyr�n. �It is so great having this team helping me� said Helen. �I went quicker than I ever have done before during the Press Day, so I know that I can do a lot better when the engine comes together on Saturday. It is a fantastic opportunity to work with guys who have won eight championships in Pro Stock Bike.�
It's 16.6 C, 77% humidity, and 29.88 inches of air pressure on the start line. Qualifying starts at 8:45, stay tuned for details.