2004 FIA Main Event
Sunday (qualifying and eliminations)
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23:15
Today's pictures have now been posted, you can reach them from the Event Index page. Tog and Christer are out doing tonight's pit walk, so be sure to join us again in the morning to catch up on the latest from the pits and of course the news from tomorrow's eliminations.
18:35
We ended the day here at Santa Pod with some demonstration passes. Firstly Marc Meihuizen and Micke Lindahl matched up in their Pro Mods after missing the last qualifying session. Marc clocked 6.704/207.31 whilst Micke's tyres shook off the line, he pulled the car over to the side of the lane and rolled down the track
The very last run of today was by Martin Hill in the Fireforce 2 Jet FC, 6.024/260.00.
We're now working on today's pictures, stay tuned and we'll let you know when those are done.
18:25
The final qualifying session of FIA Top Methanol Dragster went as follows (left lane first): Peter Schöfer 5.742/244.39 bye, Dave Wilson 5.515/253.10, Rob Turner 5.704/205.31
Peter Schöfer drove through shake off the line, the car drifted left out of the groove as it went down the track but Peter had a good hold on it and stayed on the throttle. Really aggressive braking from Grumpy Wilson after his burnout, the rear slicks bouncing up and down, then straight and true and another consistent pass. Rob drove through shake to about 200 feet, stayed with it and was off the throttle a touch before the finish line. Three TMDs in the 5.5s makes for a close race tomorrow.
The final qualifying standings in FIA Top Methanol Dragster are as follow:
18:15
The final qualifying session of FIA Top Methanol Funny Car went as follows (left lane first): Jurgen Nagel 10.682/87.51 bye, Ulf Leanders 6.801/140.22, Leif Andréasson 11.733/68.41, Arvid Grødem 6.498/228.67, Niclas Andersson 7.744/85.04, Urs Erbacher 5.877/242.05, Dan Larsen 5.891/237.09
Jurgen Nagel headed for the guardrail off the line so he was off the gas pretty quickly. Ulf Leanders was on a very strong pass then suddenly at half track there was a ball of flame from the FC, Ulf activated the on-board extinguishers and the fire went away. He had the chutes out in the shutdown area, got the car stopped and appeared through the safety hatch as the fire crew arrived. In the other lane Leif Andréasson hit shake not far off the line and got off the throttle. Arvid Grödem hit shake and pedalled a number of times to try to get the car to behave whilst Niclas Andersson's chutes deployed at half-track. A great side-by-side run from Urs Erbacher and Dan Larsen, big speed again for Urs.
The final qualifying standings in FIA Top Methanol Funny Car are as follow:
17:05
The final qualifying session of FIA Pro Stock went as follows (left lane first): Kenneth Soderström 7.193/189.82, Tommy Leindahl 7.196/191.53, Magnus Hansson 7.040/195.84, Jackie Hansen 7.104/196.22, Michael Malmgren 6.939/199.18, Jimmy Ålund 8.720/110.24
Kenneth Soderström and Tommy Leindahl swapped qualifying places and both improved on their previous bests. Consistent passes from Magnus and Jackie set them up for tomorrow. Michael with another run in the 6.9s and one hundredth off Jimmy's speed record, Jimmy was off the throttle at half-track.
The final qualifying standings in FIA Pro Stock are as follow:
17:00
The final qualifying session of FIM/UEM Top Fuel Bike went as follows (left lane first): Sandra Chaplain 9.377/138.52, Antonio Ferretti 7.277/194.89, Gary Jones 7.866/163.20 bye, Neil Midgley 6.935/138.52 bye, Shaun Branch 7.493/163.28, Nils Ole Lund 6.838/190.64, Roel Koedam 30.677/15.04
Gary Jones stepped up on the Jones and Friend Funny Bike to get into the field. Neil Midgley's been promising to get into the sixes all weekend and run in the sixes he did this session. Nils Ole Lund improved his ET but stayed where he was in the standings, whilst in the other lane Roel Koedam got off the throttle not far off the line.
The final qualifying standings in FIM/UEM Top Fuel Bike are as follow:
16:45
The final qualifying session of FIA Top Fuel Dragster went as follows (left lane first): Smax Smith 9.436/83.80, Lex Joon 10.684/79.51, Micke Kågered 8.406/98.70 bye, Tommy Möller 5.099/277.60, Jöran Persåker broke
Before the pass we got word that Smax was planning to idle down the track to get an ET to get into the field. Smax and Lex recorded identical 0.874 sixty foot times, that's what sort of idling Smax was doing but he was off the gas immediately after. Lex's dragster turned hard right at about 150 feet, Lex got off the throttle and pulled it straight but it was a hairy moment - his left tyre left a track but the right one didn't, word from trackside was that Lex might have hit some fuel which had collected under the car. Micke Kågered left the line very strongly but the solid black tyre tracks changed to 'caterpillars' at 100 feet and he got off the throttle. There was a lot of concern around Jöran Persåker's car after it started and then the tyres didn't light on the burnout, Jöran shut the engine down. Tommy Möller took the single and it was a straight and hard run, Tommy appeared to get off the throttle just a touch before the finish.
The final qualifying standings in FIA Top Fuel Dragster are as follow:
16:30
The final qualifying session of FIM/UEM Supertwin went as follows (left lane first): Joachim Riemer 9.936/91.28, Willem Been 7.962/156.18 bye, Hans Olav Olstad broke, Stefan Junerud 8.458/116.24, Ronny Aasen 6.936/196.30, Svein Gottenberg 9.676/94.94, Ton Pels 6.749/177.85, Anders Karling 7.349/173.77
Joachim Riemer and Willem Been improved their ETs but didn't move up the standings. Hans Olav Olstad's engine banged as he started his burnout, the safety crews ran to assist but no word yet on what happened. Stefan Junerud's bike headed for the centre line so he got off the throttle. Svein Gottenberg's rear tyre went up in smoke off the line but he got off and on the throttle and stayed with it. Ton Pels had a nice straight run whilst in the other lane Anders Karling left the line headed to the left, he straightened it out but the bike was really wriggling at speed towards the top end.
The final qualifying standings in FIM/UEM Supertwin are as follow:
16:15
The final qualifying session of NDRS Bilsport Pro Modified went as follows (left lane first): Christer Jacobs 8.505/177.10, Andy Robinson 7.353/169.84, Robert Koper 11.623/87.88, John Ellis 7.274/189.74, Micke Gullquist 6.746/205.47, Norbert Kuno 6.989/207.57, Peter Wacker 6.882/194.91, Bert Englefield 6.620/215.35, Henri Joosten 6.710/205.46, Mats Eriksson 6.723/207.66, Freddy Fagerström 6.568/215.09, Roger Johansson 6.582/208.42, Håkan Nilsson 6.428/215.34, Patrick Wikström 7.056/211.27
Christer Jacobs' earlier pass was disallowed as he was underweight, so he DNQs with this very shaky pass, very violent shake which we could feel in race control and the car turned hard right. One of Christer's crew committed a blue line violation just to add to the fun. Andy Robinson and Robert Koper both hit shake, Andy pedalled and got back on it more than once to be sure of getting in the field. Micke Gullquist put in a storming run which got him into the top half of the standings, John Ellis in the other lane went off the end of the track. John and car are both A-OK. Norbert Kuno moved up the standings with a return to the sixes, another consistent pass from Peter Wacker. Bert Englefield drove through shake to record a new PB and a huge speed whilst in the other lane Henri Joosten stepped up too. Mats Eriksson moved up the standings on his pass. Freddy's pick-up appeared none the worse for wear, the door is back on, only a 200 foot burnout this time though but a nice consistent pass. Roger Johansson's Mustang disappeared in a cloud of smoke at the finish line, nothing found on the track and no word on what ails the car. Huge burnouts from Håkan Nilsson and Patrick Wikström, Patrick going almost to half track, Håkan improved his ET but not enough to take top spot, Patrick in the other lane hit shake, pedalled and then chased Håkan down the track. Micke Lindahl and Marc Meihuizen had problems in the collection area and missed their qualifying spots.
The final qualifying standings in NDRS Bilsport Pro Modified are as follow:
Mats Eriksson takes the Eurodragster.com/Scorpion Racing Award with his #8 qualifying spot.
15:35
The final qualifying session of FIM/UEM Pro Stock Bike went as follows (left lane first): Michal Ponca 10.126/127.81, Herman van Driel 7.931/161.80, Vesa Rautio 14.174/48.16, Remo Nasci 7.815/161.95 bye, Martin Bishop 13.952/48.54, Helen Curran 23.683/22.73, Chris Hope 7.752/169.20, Paul Watson 9.731/87.69, Roger Pettersson 7.555/175.84, Richard Gipp 7.827/165.35
One of the first shocks of the year as Vesa Rautio doesn't qualify, getting off the throttle almost off the line. Big improvements from Herman van Driel and Remo Nasci, whilst Martin Bishop and Helen Curran both broke in the first half of the track in this session giving Helen a nail-biter as she was on the bump.
The final qualifying standings in FIM/UEM Pro Stock Bike are as follow:
15:30
Junior Dragster eliminations round 1 winners: Holly Mitchell (10.00) 10.023/65.31, Kane Jones (10.80) 10.919/56.88, Charlotte Watts (14.90) 15.206/38.85, Anna Stanley (14.15) 14.424/41.47, Jay Hauser (10.30) 10.380/60.66, Nick Mugridge (8.10) 8/160/76.79 bye, Scott Hauser (10.15) 10.266/62.08, Robin Kadi (15.99) 16.058/37.28
14:30
Martin Hill followed up the Pro session with a 6.153/228.32 in the Fireforce 2 Jet FC, with a 0.011 reaction time, nice one Martin!
Pro ET eliminations round 2 winners: Terri Lee (10.60) 10.653/129.72, Marius Blackburn (9.51) 9.508/138.15, Phil Toppin (11.92) 11.822/114.23, Ian Brown (10.84) 10.938/111.90, Bob Doyle (10.42) 10.450/132.28, Wayne Hiscock (10.88) 10.898/121.32, Rick McCann (10.25) 10.351/128.88 bye, Chris Isaacs (9.90) 9.912/132.39
10.90 Bike qualifying final Top Five 1. Phil Pratt 10.925/123.99, 2. John Hackney 10.970/104.66, 3. Shaun Spiers 11.042/128.55, 4. Lizz McCarthy 11.505/127.54, 5. Andrew Grant 12.242/116.60
Super Pro ET eliminations round 2 winners: Barry Giles (7.60) 7.655/161.85, Martyn Jones (7.83) 7.970/167.93, Steve Neimantas (8.65) 8.849/144.29), Ian Tubb (7.72) 7.776/172.32, Roger Moore (7.94) 7.943/167.23, Steve Johnson (7.55) 7.548/176.41
9.90 Bike eliminations round 2 winners: Dave Hall 10.090/138.37, Lewis Honey 10.412/133.59, Martin Walker 10.346/136.82, Fred Furlong 10.034/118.45, Steve Coombs 10.084/122.03, Richard Sawatzki 10.021/110.01, Andy Burfitt 10.127/115.39, Dave Warren 10.348/136.27 bye
Sportsman ET eliminations round 1 winners: Steven Lee (14.60) 14.544/88.07, Nick South (14.06) 14.778/75.12, Rick Denny (13.54) 13.581/96.76 bye, John Parker (13.70) 13.677/97.41, Mark Anderson (12.65) 12.687/104.20, Mick McGough (13.82) 13.993/86.20, Linda P;att (12.78) 12.838/108.13, Martin Lewis (15.41) 15.752/83.99 bye
We're now on a break for track prep, stay tuned.
13:55
The second qualifying session of Fuel Funny Car went as follows (left lane first): Leif Helander 7.133/124.25 bye, John Spuffard 5.916/163.54, Gordon Smith 15.881/62.15
Leif Helander had a half-pass planned to check out all of his new parts and he will have been pleased with how it turned out, 0.949 to sixty feet and off the throttle before half track. A great paired burnout from John Spuffard and Gordon Smith, on the green Gordon's tyres went up in smoke and the car turned right, Spuff was on a mission, 0.906 to sixty feet, then the car started to drift to the left and closer and closer to the guardrail, 221 mph at half track and you couldn't have got a cigarette paper between Spuff and the wall.
The qualifying standings after round two of Fuel Funny Car are as follow:
Trackside conditions after Fuel FC were 19.6 C, 44% humidity, 30.06 inches of air, 108 F track temperature.
13:45
The third qualifying session of FIA Top Methanol Dragster went as follows (left lane first): Peter Schöfer 5.544/252.82 bye, Rob Turner 5.515/246.08, Dave Wilson 5.508/251.41
Peter Schöfer sat at half track after his burnout for a while and we feared that he might have lost reverse, but then he came back to us. Some consternation around the rear of the engine after Peter got back, but a solid run with the tiniest bit of shake, sounded as if the engine was maybe misfiring towards the end, and took second spot. Dave Wilson and Rob Turner immediately relegated Peter back to third spot with a superb side-by-side match-up.
The qualifying standings after round three of FIA Top Methanol Dragster are as follow:
13:35
The third qualifying session of FIA Top Methanol Funny Car went as follows (left lane first): Dan Larsen 5.852/236.88, Urs Erbacher 5.861/243.67, Niclas Andersson 5.903/239.78, Ulf Leanders 9.675/77.98, Leif Andréasson 11.428/74.63, Arvid Grødem 6.136/238.02, Jurgen Nagel 6.676/174.45 bye
A superb pairing between Dan and Urs, moving them up to #1 and #2 respectively, Urs drove through shake and the car was really hauling the mail towards the top end. A great run for Niclas Andersson, back into the fives and we think a new PB. Ulf Leanders drove through shake then two pieces of blower belt exited the car at about 300 feet. Leif Andréasson hit shake not far off the line and got off the throttle, in the other lane Arvid Grødem also hit shake but pedalled and got back in it, recording a new PB speed. A PB too for Jurgen Nagel, the chutes were out before the line so he will be going even quicker.
The qualifying standings after round three of FIA Top Methanol Funny Car are as follow:
13:00
The third qualifying session of FIA Pro Stock went as follows (left lane first): Tommy Leindahl 7.339/191.46, Kenneth Soderström 7.929/170.39, Jackie Hansen 7.047/196.30, Magnus Hansson 7.029/195.77, Jimmy Ålund 8.568/107.94, Michael Malmgren 6.910/198.03
Michael Malmgren takes #1 qualifying spot and sets a new European ET record, backed up by his previous 6.956. Well done Michael!
The qualifying standings after round three of FIA Pro Stock are as follow:
12:50
The third qualifying session of FIM/UEM Top Fuel Bike went as follows (left lane first): Gary Jones 12.720/139.35 bye, Neil Midgley no time recorded bye, Martyn de Haas 8.080/163.14, Shaun Branch 7.605/161.95, Steve Woollatt 6.529/204.74, Nils Ole Lund shut off, Eric Teboul 6.400/189.85
Gary Jones probably has a headache or an aching groin (or both) after hitting bad shake off the line, Neil Midgley was next up and crossed lanes on his Funny Bike. Slight improvements from both Shaun Branch and Steve Woollatt on their match-up, no changes of position. Nils Ole Lund shut his engine off on the line, no obvious problem. A new PB for Eric Teboul, shut off early too so there is more to come.
The qualifying standings after round three of FIM/UEM Top Fuel Bike are as follow:
12:40
The third round of FIA Top Fuel Dragster qualifying went as follows (left lane first): Thomas Nataas 6.504/123.98, Smax Smith shut off, Lex Joon shut off, Micke Kågered 5.754/168.54, Andy Carter 4.877/306.36, Jon Webster 5.417/258.94
Thomas and Smax making their first runs of the weekend, Christer told us earlier that Thomas' car owner and Crew Chief Rune Fjeld was "excited" which to those who know Rune is quite something. Smax was shut off on the line for a fluid leak. A hard launch, 0.889 sixty foot, from Thomas and off the throttle at half track. Smax only gets one more chance to qualify. Before their pairing we heard that Lex was set for a half pass and Micke a full pass. There was a little consternation from crew member mark around Lex's car just before he pulled forward from the burnout, Lex was then shut off after he returned from the burnout. Micke took the single, a soft-looking launch, 0.911 to sixty feet then something came off the car at half-track and Micke got off the gas. A superb run from Andy Carter sets up new ET and speed records, Andy's sixty foot of 0.856 is the quickest of the weekend so far and 243 mph at half-track is pretty spectacular. Jon was on a solid pass too, towards the end of the track the engine started to go away, but new PBs for Jon.
The qualifying standings after round three of FIA Top Fuel Dragster are as follow:
12:20
The third qualifying session of FIM/UEM Supertwin went as follows (left lane first): Svein Gottenberg 7.563/173.85, Joachim Riemer 9.604/116.89, Willem Been 8.250/163.65 bye, Stefan Junerud 8.915/108.99, Hans Olav Olstad 7.264/188.20, Anders Karling 11.621/65.77, Ronny Aasen 6.752/200.78, Ton Pels 6.691/202.56
A couple of moves in this session most notably from Ronny Aasen who is quickly getting the hang of his Bentec clutch, we think a new PB for Ronny. Ronny moved up to second place until Ton Pels took it back with a very nice pass, fishtailing a little off the line so there is more to come.
The qualifying standings after round three of FIM/UEM Supertwin are as follow:
12:05
The third qualifying session of NDRS Bilsport Pro Modified went as follows (left lane first): John Ellis 7.542/170.54, Håkan Fallström 6.957/195.67, Micke Gullquist 7.065/202.71, Peter Kunc 6.744/199.13, Robert Koper 7.135/184.99, Micke Lindahl 11.094/128.99, Andy Robinson 7.805/128.94 bye, Christer Jacobs 6.413/216.14 bye, Henri Joosten 6.951/194.59, Norbert Kuno 7.145/199.17, Peter Wacker 6.844/192.91, Marc Meihuizen 6.640/208.23, Mats Eriksson 6.931/163.00, Freddy Fagerström 7.032/191.51, Roger Johansson 6.771/207.55, Bert Englefield 6.660/212.21, Patrick Wikström 7.691/121.32, Håkan Nilsson 6.466/214.57
John Ellis made his first run of the weekend, a little shake off the line and the car twitched at about half track but he's in the field now. Håkan Fallström took a single, his first time in this car and very comfortable he looked. Micke Gullquist took a wild ride in the Bel Air, pedalling briefly as the car got way out of shape then getting straight back on it. Peter Kunc's first run of the weekend put him in the top half of the field, a little twitch at half track. Robert Koper stepping up from last weekend's test passes whilst in the other lane Micke Lindahl's tyres started to spin off the line, the revs shot up and the car turned hard right at about 100 feet, heading for the guardrail. Micke wrenched it straight and got back on the throttle but the time was lost. Andy Robinson drove through shake off the start line then got off the throttle at half-track. A fine pass from Christer Jacobs put him in second place at that point and he's probably forgotten all about yesterday now. Norbert Kuno moved up the standings, starting to get back to last year's form. Consistency from Peter Wacker whilst in the other lane Marc Meihuizen blew his personal best away - I'd say he is used to the Coupe now! Freddy Fagerström gave us even more of a show than usual with a half-track burnout, the pick-up hit shake but Freddy stayed with it and the driver's side door came off and flew across the track, luckily Mats Eriksson was far enough ahead not to hit it. Did Freddy get off the throttle after he lost the door? What do you think! Bert Englefield improved on his ET with a tremendous pass, we think a new PB. Patrick Wikström was off the throttle at half track whilst Håkan Nilsson put in a very consistent pass, nice and straight too.
The qualifying standings after round three of NDRS Bilsport Pro Modified are as follow:
Trackside conditions at the end of this session were 18.7 C, 59% humidity, 30.06 inches of air pressure, and the track temperature 95 F.
11:35
The third qualifying session of FIM/UEM Pro Stock Bike went as follows (left lane first): Vesa Rautio 9.766/82.63 bye, Helen Curran 8.104/164.66, Herman van Driel 8.107/161.24, Michal Ponca 10.024/128.28 bye, Len Paget 8.257/143.18, Remo Nasci 8.022/165.04, Richard Gipp 7.813/160.08, Martin Bishop 7.795/166.13, Paul Watson 7.974/159.05, Roger Pettersson 7.604/171.70, Chris Hope 7.735/165.35
Vesa Rautio was on a good pass but got very close to the guardrail so got off the throttle. Helen Curran's bike hesitated for a moment a few feet off the start line, Herman van Driel in the other lane got a number on the board after some bad luck so far this weekend. Slight improvements for Len Paget and Remo Nasci on their match-up. No changes of position for Richard Gipp and Martin Bishop, consistent passes though. Chris Hope moves up to second.
The qualifying standings after round three of Pro Stock Bike are as follow:
11:25
Super Comp eliminations round 1 winners: Paul Letchford 8.931/133.57, Paul Ingar Udtian 8.936/127.48 bye, Brian Pateman 8.917/152.92, Colin Aldred 9.582/133.58, Paul Knight 8.980/148.17, Phil Bennett 9.203/142.85 bye, Tim Adam 8.956/146.11
11:20
Super Pro ET eliminations round 1 winners: Barry Giles (7.60) 7.650/160.18, Steve Neimantas (8.65) 8.708/162.43, John Everitt (8.88) 8.878/149.07 bye, Mark Flavell (7.55) 7.603/171.13 bye, Pat Talbot (7.05) 7.140/187.69, Ian Tubb (7.70) 7.889/149.58, Steve Johnson (7.55) 7.540/177.08, Gary Malin (7.65) 7.651/174.40, Martyn Jones (7.80) 8.109/165.93 bye, Derek Flynn (8.38) 8.400/143.71, Kev Taylor (8.81) 8.975/148.55, Roger Moore (7.94) 7.951/167.21
9.90 Bike eliminations round 1 winners: Andy Burfitt 10.055/135.11, Ilse Lambert 10.062/139.79, Martin Walker 10.342/129.98, Lewis Honey 10.034/135.52, Richard Beck 10.089/137.20, David Warren 9.840/139.67, Dave Hall 10.034/140.66, Steve Coombs 10.179/121.36, Paul Coombs 10.665/125.38, Geoff Connor 10.337/129.61, Dave Baker 10.055/132.79, Julian Harris 10.012/127.44, Fred Furlong 9.601/142.74 bye, Richard Sawatzki 9.993/116.53 bye, Steve Ashby 9.857/132.73 bye
10:40
Super Street eliminations round 1 winners: Ron Haffenden 10.914/104.63, Ian Brown 10.879/119.69 bye, Mark Pointer no time recorded bye, Mike Bentley 11.028/116.53, John Grant 10.976/125.78, Lee Huxley 10.951/113.96, Mark Watkins 10.971/118.44 bye
10:15
Pro ET eliminations round 1 winners: Ian Brown (10.83) 10.994/112.82, Rick McCann (10.31) 10.292/129.73, Bob Doyle (10.35) 10.444/132.72 bye, Paul Baynton (11.30) 11.372/118.68, John Atkinson (9.38) 9.632/111.39, Brian Huxley (10.80) 11.074/100.89, Marius Blackburn (9.46) 9.480/138.82, Clive Cox (10.32) 10.336/129.69, Darren Hulkes (11.98) 13.176/103.22, Moose Hollingworth (10.06) 10.156/132.77, Wayne Hiscock (10.88) 10.900/112.56, Chris Isaacs (10.01) 9.886/133.66 bye, Terri Lee (10.60) 10.766/112.55, Phil Toppin (11.92) 12.525/109.51 bye, Gary Springford (10.22) 10.318/127.13 bye
Super Gas eliminations round 1 winners: Al O'Connor 9.929/117.81, Trevor Graves 10.207/131.95, Jon Evans 10.199/135.96, Steve Wells 10.002/129.39 bye, Dave Gadney 9.906/137.50, Frank Mason 9.912/137.19
9:50
Sportsman ET qualifying final Top Five
1. Linda Platt +0.001 12.851/108.46
2. Tanya Partridge +0.013 14.263/96.57
3. Mark Anderson +0.021 12.701/105.66
4. Rick Denny +0.029 13.529/97.57
5. Mick McGough +0.029 13.839/97.00
Junior Dragster qualifying final Top Five
1. Nick Mugridge 0.003
2. Kane Jones 0.005
3. Holly Mitchell 0.007
4. Andy Herron 0.007
5. Jamie Willis 0.008
9:40
Super Pro ET qualifying final Top Five
1. John Everitt +0.007 8.877/149.92
2. Gary Malin +0.009 7.659/173.94
3. Barry Giles +0.010 7.610/171.72
4. Kev Taylor +0.011 9.001/147.06
5. Steve Neimantas +0.017 8.667/160.64
Congratulations to Ian Tubb who took the Eurodragster.com/Scorpion Racing Award for #10 qualifier.
Super Comp qualifying final Top Five
1. Paul Ingar Udtian 8.902/129.02
2. Zane Llewellyn 8.906/152.50
3. Phil Bennett 8.919/143.71
4. Shaun Lathan 8.919/151.46
5. Mark Fairhurst 8.920/150.52
No changes to 10.90 Bike qualifying after session 7: 1. Phil Pratt 10.925/123.99, 2. John Hackney 10.970/104.66, 3. Shaun Spiers 11.042/128.55, 4. Lizz McCarthy 11.505/127.54, 5. Andrew Grant 12.242/116.60
9.90 Bike qualifying final Top Five
1. Dave Warren 9.915/127.15
2. Andy Bird 9.916/130.37
3. Andy Burfitt 9.920/133.97
4. Steve Coombs 9.921/133.18
5. Geoff Connor 9.931/117.81
Congratulations to Andy Burfitt who took the Eurodragster.com/Scorpion Racing Award for #3 qualifier.
8:15
Good morning and welcome again from Santa Pod Raceway for our coverage of day three of the FIA Main Event in association with American Car Imports.
The Webster Race Engineering/MPM Oil webcam is on-line and broadcasting a picture every two minutes. You can reach the webcam from the Event Index page.
Trackside conditions right now are 13.2 C, 81% humidity and 30.06 inches of air pressure. We had some heavy rain overnight but the track is dry, there's enough blue in the sky to make a sailor a pair of trousers, and we'll be ready for the off at 9:00. We understand that the plan for this morning is to finish the final sessions of Super Pro ET, Super Comp, Sportsman ET, 9.90 Bike and Junior Dragster qualifying which were curtailed by the rain last night, then we'll be into Sportsman eliminations and rounds three and four of FIA, FIM/UEM and NDRS Bilsport Pro Mod qualifying.
If you were tuned in last night you will have seen that we had a very late finish working on yesterday's pictures. Christer Abrahamson of our buddies Svensk Dragracing had a quick turn around the pits and brought us back some pit notes.
Supertwin racer Svein Gottenberg said that he would not be hanging his helmet on his injector any more. "That little mistake destroyed the injector arm!", he said. "It feels like we are on the right track though and we feel good about the weekend."
Fellow Supertwin racer Anders Karling said that it is good to be back on the European Tour. "We secured the number one spot", he said. "I shut off early because I was a little close to the cntre line. We will run at least a tenth quicker today. The track is so good that you are able to test things to go quicker, and you don't have to think about traction problems."
New European Pro Stock ET and speed record holder Jimmy Ålund said that he and his team did some thinking and speculation at home. "It seems like we are on the right track!", he said.
Next door in the Pro Stock pits, Magnus Hansson's Crew Chief Lasse Bodén said that he really didn't want to talk about how things went yesterday. "We tried some things to go faster which turned out wrong", he said. "Please come back tomorrow for some more positive comments."
Supertwin racer Stefan Junerud's new clutch pieces turned out to slip more than he expected. "The result was that the engine couldn't burn the fuel efficiently", he said. "The piston rings broke and the pressure blew oil out all over the track. You really don't want to do something like that, but we have a different set-up for the morning."
Fellow Supertwin racer Ronny Aasen expressed himself satisfied with yesterday's runs. "We are getting closer and closer to the right set-up with the new clutch system", he said. "And the computer is great! Now we can actually see if our thoughts and theories have been right during the last two seasons. And they have!"
Pro Mod racer Bert Englefield said that his engine is working like clockwork. "We are after the British record of 6.58", he said. Bert added that the B and A Racing team are now seriously looking for sponsorship to contest the entire NDRS series.
The motor, rear wing and axle of the Turner Racing Top Methanol Dragster were all out of the chassis last night after Rob Turner's shaky launch yesterday cracked the rear axle mount. The mounts have gone to our joint webcam sponsor Webster Race Engineering to be repaired and Crew Chief Steve Turner said that additional support may be added.
After speaking to Paul Somerville in Southampton Hospital, Super Comp racer Chris Johnson wound up the wick on the start line and the result was a wheel-lifting launch and then no first gear drive. Chris and crew removed the gearbox Friday evening and set off back to Southampton on Saturday morning to rebuild the box and return. Paul did ask the staff nurse on duty but apparently gearboxes are not covered under the NHS so it had to be done at the premises of Viking Garages, one of Chris's sponsors. Chris would like to say a big thanks to Scorpion Racing for providing such an excellent pit facility without which he would not have bothered to attempt a repair on the car. Chris Johnson kindly sent us up some doughnuts to keep us going, thanks very much Chris and there's Andy Bissett not on the facility.
Super Gas racer Mark Ramplee also from Southampton has suffered a similar gearbox problem and we saw him towing out last night.
Super Comp and Pro ET racer Colin Aldred, sponsor of the Eurodragster.com/Scorpion Racing Award has had a trying weekend after fitting a new Nitrous system which has caused the car to go slower. Colin now plans to shelve the Nitrous and concentrate on his Pro ET times this weekend.
We have another birthday today, Happy Birthday and big hugs to Sue Morris who runs Santa Pod's media centre. Have a great day Sue! Have a good day also to UK National Championship Co-ordinator Simon Groves who has been getting our daytime pit notes this weekend, Simon is having the day off today to do family stuff. Have a good one Simon and we'll see you tomorrow.
Stay tuned and as soon as this morning's action gets underway we'll bring you all the news.