Event Updates

2003 FIA Main Event
Sunday (qualifying)

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21:30

Here are the top two qualifiers in all of the classes on which we haven't been concentrating today:

Comp Eliminator: 1. Bruno Bader -0.644 7.636/175.10, 2. Marco Maurischat -0.361 7.189/189.12
Super Pro ET: 1. Barry Giles +0.008 7.608/169.30, 2. Ian Bishop +0.011 7.951/166.49
Pro ET: 1. Marius Blackburn +0.000 9.600/138.85, 2. Steve Wells +0.001 10.121/126.23
Sportsman ET: 1. Nick Smith +0.000 13.950/99.46, 2. Steve Phillips +0.002 14.262/94.03
Super Comp: 1. Mark Fairhurst 8.912/151.69, 2. Sami Saapola 8.913/158.18
Super Gas: 1. Harald Sturhan 9.903/135.95, 2. Pete Creswell 9.910/146.85
Super Street: 1. Mike Bentley 10.936/132.39, 2. Stuart Doignie 10.937/132.80
Junior Dragster 1. Nick Mugridge 0.513, 2. Aidan Heatley-Smith 0.523

9.90 Bike: 1. Fred Furlong 9.907/136.28, 2. Steve Ingham 9.917/136.81
10.90 Bike: 1. Ilse Lambert 10.901/121.85, 2. Paul Coombs 10.902/124.17

Today's pictures have now been posted, you can get to them via the Event Index page. Today's pictures include a number of pitside and end-of-the-track shots by our good buddy Christer Abrahamson of Svensk Dragracing.

That'll be all for today then, thanks for tuning in, we hope that you enjoyed our coverage. We'll be back in the morning with all the raceday action - see you then!

20:30

FIA Top Fuel Dragster final qualifying standings (eight-car field)

1. Andy Carter 4.884/288.64
2. Anita Makela 4.892/261.37
3. Kim Reymond 5.005/261.16
4. Tommy Moller 5.277/199.07
5. Oyvor Jacobsen 5.357/185.69
6. Micke Kagered 5.705/153.06
7. Gary Page 6.283/149.52
8. Smax Smith 8.934/97.00

FIA Top Methanol Dragster final qualifying standings (four-car field)

1. Peter Schofer 5.557/248.71
2. Rob Turner 5.568/242.62
3. Dave Wilson 5.573/248.39

FIA Top Methanol Funny Car final qualifying standings (eight-car field)

1. Urs Erbacher 5.694/246.51
2. Leif Andreasson 5.932/243.82
3. Niclas Andersson 6.073/238.79
4. Dan Larsen 6.176/231.14
5. Dezsoe Krivan 6.286/204.97
6. Freddy Fagerstrom 6.399/223.45
7. Ulf Leanders 7.155/202.32
8. Steph Milam 7.575/171.11
9. Doug Ripley 7.755/176.48
10. Jurgen Nagel 9.847/91.92

Dave Alexander of ETMRA tells us that Dezsoe Krivan has officially withdrawn which puts Doug Ripley in the field in his place.

FIA Pro Stock final qualifying standings (eight-car field)

1. Michael Malmgren 6.982/197.21
2. Jan Muren 7.004/196.96
3. Rune Berg 7.083/194.35
4. Magnus Hansson 7.098/193.59
5. Christer Andersson 7.244/190.23
6. Tommy Leindahl 7.506/185.77
7. Kenneth Soderstrom 7.592/149.95

NDRS Bilsport Pro Modified final qualifying standings (eight-car field)

1. Roger Johansson 6.397/207.07
2. Hakan Nilsson 6.398/216.26
3. Andy Robinson 6.608/205.65
4. Gordon Appleton 6.615/209.80
5. Thomas Nataas 6.824/181.04
6. Henri Joosten 6.870/196.19
7. Seppo Saapola 6.924/199.77
8. Norbert Kuno 7.266/199.74
9. Peter Wacker 7.270/185.66
10. John Ellis 7.432/185.81

MSA British Nitro Funny Car final qualifying standings (four-car field)

1. John Spuffard 5.555/190.84
2. Gordon Smith 5.650/183.87
3. Lex Joon 6.281/165.77
4. Leif Helander 11.314/82.02

FIM/UEM Top Fuel Bike final qualifying standings (eight-bike field)

1. Roel Koedam 6.263/221.20
2. Sverre Dahl 6.516/215.93
3. Steve Woollatt 6.541/211.25
4. Eric Teboul 6.609/199.27
5. Nils Ole Lund 6.750/187.70
6. Joey Bon 6.865/192.76
7. Ian King 6.919/190.79
8. Neil Midgley 6.941/186.61
9. Tim Blakemore 7.027/169.78
10. Jon Leret 7.095/181.04
11. Dave Holland 7.270/179.41
12. Chris Hannam 7.334/181.50
13. Finn Asserbo 7.565/151.49
14. Antonio Ferretti 7.625/159.45
15. Paul Newman 8.640/155.01
16. Sarah Jane Head 8.807/153.72
17. Martyn de Haas 9.134/148.93

FIM/UEM Supertwin Bike final qualifying standings (eight-bike field)

1. Ton Pels 6.883/206.95
2. Ronny Aasen 7.330/176.21
3. Svein Gottenberg 8.005/159.71
4. Erik Nielsen 8.185/138.54
5. Jamie Millership 8.515/130.29
6. Per Bengtsson 9.371/86.21

FIM/UEM Pro Stock Bike final qualifying standings (eight-bike field)

1. Roger Pettersson 7.396/178.94
2. Oivind von Essen 7.478/176.39
3. Vesa Rautio 7.606/173.98
4. Chris Hope 7.699/170.81
5. Paul Watson 7.708/166.88
6. Richard Gipp 7.720/172.36
7. Martin Bishop 7.843/169.96
8. Herman van Driel 7.848/166.79
9. Martin Newbury 8.240/161.78
10. Kenneth Stromberg 8.584/139.37
11. Michael Ponca 9.430/136.53

Stay tuned and we will bring you the top two qualifiers in all other classes.

19:45

FIM/UEM Top Fuel Bike qualifying final session

Ian King 6.919/190.79, Antonio Ferretti 7.867/163.69, Sverre Dahl 7.095/181.04, Paul Newman 12.011/114.56, Tim Blakemore 7.027/169.78, Sarah Jane Head 8.807/153.72, Neil Midgley 7.900/120.73, Martyn de Haas 9.764/106.82, Nils Ole Lund 8.961/63.03, Joey Bon 6.865/192.76, Chris Hannam 7.334, Dave Holland 7.295/154.92

The bump spot went into the sixes with Joey Bon's pass, we have seven Fuel bikes and Neil Midgley flying the flag for the Funny Bikes tomorrow. Ian King got back into the sixes whilst Tim Blakemore turned it up still further - although Joey Bon bumped him out with his straight, solid pass. Nils Ole Lund's bike left small pieces on the track, hopefully nothing serious.

FIM/UEM Supertwin Bike qualifying final session

Per Bengtsson 9.706/98.22, Jamie Millership 16.826/45.32

Both racers' rear tyres went up in smoke off the line.

FIM/UEM Pro Stock Bike qualifying final session

Martin Bishop 7.904/167.13, Oivind von Essen 7.508/178.58, Richard Gipp 7.720/172.36, Paul Watson 7.708/166.88, Roger Pettersson 7.464/176.02, Martin Newbury 8.240/161.78, Herman van Driel 7.848/166.79, Michal Ponca 9.430/136.53

Solid and consistent passes from a number of racers, raceday tune-ups under test maybe. Anders Larsson, who is providing colour commentary this weekend, tells us that Kenneth Stromberg and Vesa Rautio are both out for the weekend - Vesa after his engine started up at 16,000 revs.

Stay tuned and we will bring you the full qualifying standings in FIA, NDRS Bilsport Pro Modified, and FIM/UEM.

19:20

FIA Top Methanol Dragster qualifying final session

Rob Turner 5.568/242.62, Dave Wilson 5.976/176.44

The three TMDs are all bunched together in the 5.5s now, it's going to be a close day's racing tomorrow. A strong, straight pass from Rob, Dave's engine again made a grunting noise at 1000 feet or so.

FIA Top Methanol Funny Car qualifying final session

Leif Andreasson 5.832/246.64, Ulf Leanders 11.160/71.12, Freddy Fagerstrom 6.394/214.42, Dennis Wratten broke, Niclas Andersson 6.232/216.93, Steph Milam shut off after burnout

Leif Andreasson turns the wick up a little more, driving through shake. Dennis Wratten's ignition leads reportedly came loose and caught in the blower belt.

FIA Pro Stock qualifying final session

Tommy Leindahl 7.506/185.77, Kenneth Soderstrom 8.237/117.42, Rune Berg 7.083/194.35, Christer Andersson 10.524/59.03, Magnus Hansson 7.348/162.00, Jan Muren 9.592/93.79, Michael Malmgren 7.456/145.24

Not many improvements here, the common factor was tyres shaking and cars going out of shape. Michael Malmgren particularly had a scary ride but his experience showed as he kept it in his lane and off the wall.

NDRS Bilsport Pro Modified final qualifying session

Seppo Saaploa 7.376/192.36, Henri Joosten 7.833/124.47, Thomas Nataas 6.824/181.04, Andy Robinson 6.843/200.01, Hakan Nilsson 6.398/216.26, Roger Johansson 6.449/217.77, Norbert Kuno 7.266/199.74, Gordon Appleton 6.615/209.80, John Ellis 7.432/185.81

After the last session we wondered what Hakan Nilsson would do about Roger Johansson's 6.3-second pass and the answer was to run one of his own, just one thousandth...well, "slower" is not really the word to use. A new PB for Gordon Appleton, nice one Gordon!

Stay tuned for the final FIM/UEM qualifying rounds.

17:50

FIA Top Fuel Dragster final qualifying session

Micke Kagered 5.705/153.06, Andy Carter 4.884/284.64, Oyvor Jacobsen 8.432/92.96, Anita Makela 4.892/261.37, Kim Reymond 6.716/124.17

Two of the three quickest runs in Europe in this final qualifying session, Andy Carter is on to reset his own European ET record and Anita is right there, two thousandths off the record, if Andy doesn't. Micke Kagered hit shake and a cylinder went out and Micke got off the throttle. Andy Carter's run was one of those special straight, hard passes, your reporter was about 250 feet out and Andy came past like a train. Right at the finish line there was a huge cloud of smoke, the top end had to be cleaned of oil so we guess some damage there. Oyvor Jacobsen's rear tyres went up in smoke and the car started to drift so Oyvor got off the gas. Anita Makela's run was also a real stormer, but then smoke at the top end and another small cleanup. There was a loud bang and a shed blower belt from Kim's dragster, from trackside it looked like a lifted blower.

The final qualifying standings in FIA Top Fuel Dragster are as follows:

That makes it Carter v Smith, Makela v Page, Reymond v Kagered, and Moller v Jacobsen tomorrow.

16:40

FIM/UEM Top Fuel Bike qualifying session 4

Dave Holland 8.734/99.73, Finn Asserbo 7.615/144.57, Antonio Ferretti 7.628/163.61, Martyn de Haas 9.134/148.93, Steve Woollatt 6.541/211.25, Chris Hannam 7.480/176.25, Sarah Jane Head 9.038/152.84, Paul Newman 8.674/158.94, Roel Koedam 6.263/221.28, Nils Ole Lund 6.750/187.70, Neil Midgley 10.740/71.44, Tim Blakemore 7.079/177.08

A new personal best for Steve Woollatt, who had Eurodragster prize winner Andrew McKenzie (aka Mack) working on his crew today. Maybe Steve will ask him back on this form! As we came down from jumping about for Steve's run we were up in the air again applauding Roel Koedam for an awesome pass on his Top Fuel Bike, we think a PB for Roel or very close indeed if not. Antonio Ferretti is stepping up today, a hint of a misfire towards the end on this pass but Henk Geeve really has him moving in the right direction. Tim Blakemore rediscovered his end-2002 form with a nice pass.

FIM/UEM Supertwin Bike qualifying session 4

Per Bengtsson 9.371/86.21, Ton Pels 6.972/199.26, Svein Gottenberg 8.005/159.71, Ronny Aasen 7.330/176.21

Per and Ton were side by side past 330 feet - which they both reached in 3.052 seconds - before Per's engine backfired again and he slowed. Ton is proving to be the class of the field this weekend.

FIM/UEM Pro Stock Bike qualifying session 4

Paul Watson 8.146/156.33, Martin Bishop 8.027/164.45, Richard Gipp 8.029/165.19, Michal Ponca 9.453/137.88, Roger Pettersson 7.456/174.91, Herman van Driel 8.203/157.36, Vesa Rautio rolled through stage, Oivind von Essen 7.478/176.39

Roger Pettersson backed up his earlier 7.396, so subject to ratification that is a new FIM/UEM record. Just to make it a really good weekend for Team Veidec Oivind von Essen stepped up to the plate and took number two spot.

Martin Hill followed up the Pro session with another great pass in the Fireforce 2 Jet FC, 5.816/275.21.

We have one more FIA/NDRS Bilsport Pro Modified/Fuel FC and FIM/UEM cycle scheduled for early this evening so come back in a couple of hours - or keep an eye on the webcam which is behaving itself a lot better this afternoon.

16:05

FIA Top Methanol Funny Car qualifying session 4

Freddy Fagerstrom 6.399/223.45, Ulf Leanders 10.254/80.96, Steph Milam 7.575/171.11, Urs Erbacher 5.771/246.73, Dan Larsen broke off line, Niclas Anderson 6.073/238.79, Leif Andreasson 5.968/238.79, Doug Ripley 8.131/164.09, Jurgen Nagel 9.847/91.92

Urs Erbacher doesn't quite back up his 5.6-second pass earlier, however the 5.6 backs up this pass so Urs' 5.771 is a new European ET record, well done Urs and team! Consistent performance from Leif and another big speed for Niclas.

FIA Top Methanol Dragster qualifying session 4

Dave Wilson 5.573/248.39

Dave's first full pass on the new block, a solid pass with a grunting noise at about 1000 feet but no visible problem and Dave stayed on it.

FIA Pro Stock qualifying session 4

Jan Muren 7.045/196.57, Rune Berg 7.189/190.26, Magnus Hansson 7.098/193.59, Kenneth Soderstrom 26.682/25.10, Michael Malmgren broke, Christer Andersson 7.361/191.13, Tommy Leindahl no time recorded

Consistency was the name of the game in this session, some raceday tune-ups being tested we would guess. Michael Malmgren's engine went bang in the collection area, and Tommy Leindahl rolled through stage, pulled back, but was then bulbed as he stayed behind the start line. Kenneth Soderstrom pulled a huge wheelie off the line and went into shake as soon as the front wheels came up.

NDRS Bilsport Pro Modified qualifying session 4

Norbert Kuno 7.741/183.32, Andy Robinson 9.070/109.42, John Ellis 17.021/41.56, Roger Johansson 6.397/207.07, Seppo Saapola 6.928/200.42, Gordon Appleton 6.729/206.89

Roger Johansson first into the 6.3s and as fine a pass as I ever saw - straight and on a mission. Hakan Nilsson didn't contest this session but doubtless he will have something to say about that! This was our first look at Norbert Kuno's very fine blown-alcohol Pro Mod, a very nice-looking piece of work.

FIM/UEM will be posted very shortly so don't stay away too long.

13:55

FIM/UEM Top Fuel Bike qualifying session 2 conclusion

Joey Bon broke, Chris Hannam 9.114/99.48, Eric Teboul shut off (fluid leak)

FIM/UEM Top Fuel Bike qualifying session 3

Nils Ole Lund 6.995/190.04, Antonio Ferretti 7.625/159.45, Neil Midgley 6.941/186.81, Tim Blakemore 7.287/170.76, Sverre Dahl 8.109/156.17, Finn Asserbo 7.565/151.49, Eric Teboul 6.609/199.27, Joey Bon 7.112/182.00, Steve Woollatt shut off (fluid leak), Paul Newman 8.969/118.32, Chris Hannam 7.760/166.60, Sarah Jane Head 22.427/128.45, Dave Holland 7.291/178.74, Martyn de Haas 9.433/138.25

Hiding in amongst all those times is another six second pass from Neil Midgley on his Funny Bike, nice one Neil! Eric Teboul finally gets in a pass on his Top Fuel Bike after a weekend in which his plane here was cancelled, the next plane was diverted, and his luggage went to a different airport - the luggage containing a vital spare for the bike.

FIM/UEM Supertwin qualifying session 3

Ronny Aasen 7.601/169.83, Jamie Millership 8.515/130.29, Per Bengtsson 18.345/39.98, Erik Nielsen 8.185/138.54

Consistent running from Ronny Aasen. Per Bengtsson had a backfire not far off the line and idled down the track.

FIM/UEM Pro Stock Bike qualifying session 3

Richard Gipp 7.813/169.30, Michal Ponca 9.915/131.04, Roger Pettersson 7.396/178.94, Chris Hope 7.699/170.81, Herman van Driel 7.966/168.07, Kenneth Stromberg broke, Oivind von Essen broke, Paul Watson 7.901/131.05, Martin Bishop 7.843/169.96, Martin Newbury 11.957/62.54

Paul Watson had us all scared as he tagged the guardrail right on the finish line, it was either the rear footpeg of the bodywork of the bike. Paul is A-OK and the bike is not damaged. Roger Pettersson has beaten the European record by - wait for it - one thousandth of a second if he can back it up, and he is not too far off the speed record. Almost everyone else stepped up, are we on a quickest-ever bump spot?

The next FIA, FIM/UEM, and NDRS Bilsport Pro Mod cycle - the second of today's three - is due very soon so tune back in a couple of hours and we'll bring you all the news.

13:40

FIA Top Methanol FC qualifying session 3

Ulf Leanders 7.155/202.32, Steph Milam 7.711/133.29, Urs Erbacher 5.694/246.51, Dan Larsen 6.274/218.16, Niclas Andersson 6.175/231.71, Leif Andreasson 5.932/243.82, Doug Ripley 7.755/176.48, Jurgen Nagel 10.508/135.03, Freddy Fagerstrom 6.449/219.77, Dennis Wratten left before lights ran

Urs Erbacher stepped right up in this session, Europe's first 5.6-second pass and the first half of a new European record. Leif Andreasson went the long way round and will be very happy to get back into the fives. Another huge speed from Niclas Andersson.

FIA Top Methanol Dragster qualifying session 3

Rob Turner 5.617/232.54, Peter Schofer 5.557/248.71, Dave Wilson no time recorded

The Turners have race car builder Bob Meyer with them this weekend keeping an eye on his baby, Bob had a good look at the tyre marks after Rob's pass. No burnout but that didn't seem to hurt the time or speed. Peter Schofer has taken up right where he left off last season with a masterful performance. Dave Wilson was shut off for rain, when he restarted to put in his pass the engine stopped as he revved up for the burnout.

FIA Pro Stock qualifying session 3

Magnus Hansson 9.156/103.22, Kenneth Soderstrom 7.592/149.95, Michael Malmgren 6.982/197.21, Christer Andersson 7.265/191.66, Tommy Leindahl 8.750/121.38, Jan Muren 7.004/196.96, Rune Berg 8.523/178.04

Back to the sixes for Michael Malmgren, and ooooh so close for Jan Muren who was off the throttle and had the chutes out on the finish line.

NDRS Bilsport Pro Modified qualifying session 3

Andy Robinson 6.608/205.65, John Ellis 24.177/27.98, Roger Johansson 6.445/216.56, Seppo Saapola 6.924/199.77, Gordon Appleton 6.763/205.10, Thomas Nataas 9.772/89.54, Peter Wacker 7.270/185.66, Hakan Nilsson 6.441/217.04, Henri Joosten 6.870/196.19

Almost everyone stepped right up in this session, awesome! Andy Robinson's pass was very straight indeed and you could see that the car was on a real charge. "The Brits are fighting back", your reporter said to Christer Abrahamson of Svensk Dragracing, then up stepped Roger Johansson with a stupendous 6.4-second pass. "What was that you said?" replied Christer. Henri Joosten and his team will be very happy to get back into the sixes, they're now exactly where they wanted to be. A six too for Seppo Saapola, with more to come by the look of it, and a nice first pass for Peter Wacker's new engine. Hakan Nilsson went for a wander around the shutdown area when his chutes opened, running very close to the right boundary of the track and then pulling it back.

Martin Hill closed off the Pro session with an astounding 5.793/275.71 in the Fireforce 2 Jet FC.

Track conditions right now are 16.5 degrees, 53% humidity, 29.94 inches of air.

Stay tuned for the FIA/UEM class results.

13:00

FIA Top Fuel Dragster qualifying session 2

Tommy Moller 5.277/199.07, Andy Carter 5.964/199.07, Kim Reymond 5.005/261.16, Oyvor Jacobsen 5.357/185.69, Anita Makela no time recorded, Micke Kagered 11.046/78.28.

Tommy Moller was on one until the engine exploded at the top end, Sharkman's top end photographs show the flame blowing right into and forward of the cockpit. Andy Carter was off the throttle early, no visible reason and we were all watching Tommy at that point. Kim Reymond's run was far from straight and his engine went away at the top end. Oyvor put in a solid half pass. Smax Smith was under power to about sixty feet on his first pass in the Purple Loans car. Anita Makela's run was bizarre, after a very nice burnout the second fuel pump went in and the car idled down the track without the lights running. Micke Kagered must have been doing his pieces after his Top Fuel session, a great burnout and then the engine just stopped dead on the start line. Micke quickly came back and appeared to have trouble staging, he was gesticulating on the start line and car owner Knut Soderquist ran over to the car, then Micke staged and the lights ran, Micke pedalled a few times off the line and then idled through.

Fuel Funny Car qualifying session 2

John Spuffard 5.555/190.84, Gordon Smith 5.650/183.87, Lex Joon 6.281/165.77

Very strong launches from both John and Gordon on their match-up, there was smoke from Gordon's car at half track and he was off the throttle, John drifted a little and was off the throttle at about a thousand feet. Lex Joon put in a superb burnout in his first pass in a Fuel FC, a soft launch, pedalled at half track then got back on it. The car disappeared in a cloud of smoke at the top end, and the shutdown area is currently being cleaned up.

Stay tuned for TMD, TMFC (including the first half of a new European record), Pro Mod and all of the FIM/UEM classes.

10:00

Good morning and welcome again from a bright and sunny Santa Pod Raceway. Right now it's 16.2 degrees and rising on the start line, 61% humidity and dropping, and 29.88 inches of air pressure. Qualifying is underway and we're here to bring you the news in association with American Car Imports.

Lex Joon has asked us to say a big Hello to Gary Burgin, "We know you are there", he says.

If you were tuned in yesterday you will recall that there was a problem or two with the Webster Race Engineering/MPM Oil webcam. We have put in a couple of hours' maintenance on our laptop and Martin Wallis of SPR's Tech Crew has worked hard on rejigging the phone lines. We we have every reason to believe that the problem was with our ISP rather than at our end, but we thought that we would cover everything we could. So hopefully things will be better today, thanks to you all for your patience yesterday.

All the work on the computers put us way behind with our pit walk both last night and this morning, but luckily our very good friend Christer Abrahamson of Svensk Dragracing is helping us out and has also spoken to some racers for us.

One of yesterday's talking points was the Top Fuel qualifying match-up between Tommy Moller and Micke Kagered. Tommy pulled quite a long burnout whilst Micke's burnout was quite short, so he was back at the start line and had to hang on a short while. When the lights ran Micke's engine leaned out and Tommy crept off the line, and if you were tuned in you will remember that we thought that maybe a throttle stop or two had been left on. It's not often that your reporter gets mechanical matters right but when we stopped by Tommy Moller's pit last night it turned out that we were correct. "This is Lars", said Tommy pointing out one of his crew. "It's his fault!". "Yes, I left the stop on", said Lars. An admirable piece of honesty from the team when they could quite easily have said that they had mechanical problems, ten out of ten to the Lorentzon and Moller team. "We will go a lot faster in the next session", said Tommy. "I think 4.86! It will be a full pass and it will be very fast."

Micke Kagered told Christer that he was worried that he was running out of fuel and so didn't want to gun it. "I could probably have done a sixty foot launch but I didn't know how much fuel I had". Micke added that every Top Fueller here at Santa Pod could win the race this weekend.

Micke Kagered also told Christer that he was very pleased indeed with Niclas Andersson's progress in the Top Methanol Funny Car. We met Niclas in Ulf Leanders' TMFC pit and he said that he lost concentration in his second qualifier yesterday. "The running order said I was on a bye run and I didn't know that Steph Milam was there", he said. "I put my top light on and then I saw the top light go on in the other lane and it surprised me. The first run in the morning felt good though". Niclas said that he would be happy with a 5.9 today. "I have so many people to thank", he said. "I have a good team and a good car."

Ulf Leanders said that on his second pass yesterday the tyre shake was so severe that it shook the kill switch on. "We're going to tape it up tomorrow", he joked. "We have to find the right combination. If the car goes through first gear and I shift when the light goes on then we have a chance of running well.

Fellow TMFC racer Leif Andreasson was sitting quietly in his pit still suffering a mega-headache after hitting major tyre shake in qualifying yesterday. It's a phrase we have used before, but if you're old enough you will understand what we mean when we say that Leif was running on 33 rather than 45. The piece which flew into the air during Leif's second pass yesterday turned out to be a piece of shredded blower belt. The starter motor bracket was also broken. "The track is too good", said Leif. "We changed the clutch set-up, so we need to figure out the weights and other adjustments, to start again from the beginning. That last run could have been a 5.8". Leif is very pleased with the reception which the Alfa Romeo body has had. "We worked like idiots on that body", he said. "It's got more people interested in drag racing in Europe and that's what we need."

Pro Stock Bike #1 qualifier Roger Pettersson was very happy last night (and will be even more so this morning having just run a 7.396). "You sleep so well when you are number one qualifier", he told Christer, "and tomorrow is another day!"

Top Fuel Dragster racer Oyvor Jacobsen told Christer that she was very pleased with yesterday's pass, which turned out to be an enforced half pass. "The car drifted a bit, and when I came close to the centreline I clicked off", she said. "I'm not here to runa slalom on my first full pass!"

Top Methanol FC racer Dezsoe Krivan is done for the weekend after suffering engine damage yesterday. "A pulley has disappeared, we don't know where it went", said crew member Steve Wilson. "It made three holes in the body on the way out though."

Top Fuel Dragster racer Kim Reymond's rear axle broke into three pieces on his qualifying pass yesterday. "We had too much power", he said. "The axle broke 3.1 seconds into the run so I wasn't even at half track. the engine revs jumped up to 10,100 but luckily we had no damage at all. We'll be there in the morning and we will run a full pass."

The Carbon By Design Top Fuel Dragster crew had a fair bit of work to do last night after Gary Page suffered a rear wing collapse at half track on his run, and Smax Smith had a hairline crack in his fuel pump on the Purple Loans-backed dragster. "We've fixed it, otherwise we might have to have taken the fuel pump off Gary's car", said Smax. "We also changed the blower. The car sounds awesome! It's a new car so we'll see how far they let me go tomorrow, I might have to do a half pass just to get familiar".

Qualifying is now well underway, so tune back in an hour or so and we'll bring you all the FIA, FIM and NDRS Bilsport Pro Mod news.