2006 FIA Main Event
Sunday (qualifying/eliminations)
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The latest updates are at the top of the page. Click on your Browser's Refresh key to be sure of seeing the latest news. Click here to go back to the event index 00:50 We have now posted today's pictures, which you can view from the event index page. If you do not see the pictures when you load the Gallery page, click on your Browser's Refresh button. Simon has also given us the remainder of today's pit notes which you can also view from the event index page. We have also posted another on-site entry in Lex Joon's exclusive Racer Blog, which you can access directly by clicking here. Tune back in the morning and we will bring you all the news from eliminations. 21:00 Pro ET eliminations round 2 winners: Andy Chilton (9.00) 9.115/133.59, Lee Darby (9.56) 9.781/116.33, Neil Hunter (10.38) 10.406/130.78, John Atkinson (9.35) 9.46/127.61, Lee Huxley (10.63) 10.709/117.20, Marius Blackburn (9.63) 9.634/133.86, Wayne Hiscock (9.70) 9.676/131.55, Chris Hodgkins (9.85) 9.769/137.65 That's the end of racing for today, stay tuned for today's pictures. 20:50 Sportsman ET eliminations round 1 winners: Dave Nelson (18.80) 23.993/57.03 bye, Ian Petrie (17.20) Nick Gay (13.69) 13.751/87.39, Ian Jackson (14.04) 14.328/99.14, Brian Huxley (16.16) 16.116/81.83, Anna Metcalfe (13.58) 13.740/103.48, James Lake (15.70) 15.715/83.18, Jon Turner (12.60) 12.671/106.12 20:45 Super Street eliminations round 1 winners: Nick Griffin 10.986/99.53, Mick Howling 11.171/119.99, Bob Lees 10.914/128.96 bye, Ful Lievaart 10.924/118.34, Leigh Morris 10.860/119.96, Neil Grant 10.935/126.04, Mark Watkins 11.470/118.68 20:35 Junior Dragster eliminations round 1 winners: Matthew Seamarks (10.00) 10.420/58.26, Becky Evans (8.15) 8.195/79.63, Peter Walters (8.25) 8.289/78.40, Charlotte Watts (12.65) 12.776/49.54, Franziska Friesch (14.20) 14.573/41.70, Jessica Selles (12.59) 12.677/50.29, Holly Mitchell (9.56) 9.678/68.70, Ross Norris (9.50) 9.566/68.17, Scott Hauser (7.90) 7.915/80.21, Anna Stanley (8.90) 8.916/71.66, Ludvig Peres (15.74) 15.817/38.48, Nick Mugridge (7.90) 7.914/80.40, Jay Hauser (7.90) 7.959/75.63 20:25 Super Gas eliminations round 1 winners: Stuart Morrice 9.932/139.24, Malcolm Francis 9.804/139.28, Dave Day 9.921/136.04, Wayne Hiscock 9.895/111.58, Jon Morton 9.850/146.23, Peter Lane 10.065/125.69, Frank Mason 9.932/128.66, Woulter van Leersum 9.859/147.05, Chris Isaacs 10.019/143.30, Tim Adam 9.890/145.57 bye 20:15 9.50 Bike eliminations round 1 winners: Phil Pratt 9.592/137.62, Ed Smiley 10.042/139.34, Steve Coombs 9.718/139.81 bye, Paul Coombs 9.791/128.93, Julian Harris 14.108/87.71 bye, Shaun Spiers left before lights ran (bye), Lee Young 9.544/146.97 bye, Chris Reed 9.559/121.19, Martin Walker 10.030/138.80, Andy Bird 9.533/128.82 bye, Geoff Connor 9.697/142.84, Andy Haley 9.505/151.46, Richard Hann 10.447/131.60, Dave Warren 10.131/138.40, Fred Furlong 9.956/111.34 Steve Mead aka Copperhead got sideways and put the bike down on the way out of the burnout, Steve is quite OK. 20:05 Super Pro ET eliminations round 1 winners: Mark Flavell (7.32) 7.615/173.01, Derek Flynn (6.80) 7.171/130.39, Mick Kemp (8.30) 8.364/144.28, Nigel Payne (8.00) 8.143/169.80, Martin Curbishley (7.75) 10.904/70.88 bye, Steve Pateman (8.52) 8.631/159.48, Ian Tubb (7.50) 7.483/177.73 bye, Andy Kirk (7.60) 7.652/178.68, Nick Spence (8.12) 8.049/167.28, Vince Gibbs (8.93) 8.999/145.64, Paul Hensher (8.77) 8.704/154.63 bye, Steve Johnson (7.30) 7.345/175.83, Barry Giles (7.60) 7.634/172.41, Martyn Jones (7.74) 7.734/171.83, Rich Gilbertson (8.19) 8.195/163.14 bye, Paul Davis (8.70) 8.785/152.50 The win margin displayed on the timing system console for the race between Vince Gibbs and Nigel Turner was 0.000. Andy Marrs supplied us with an extended timing slip which showed that Vince's win was 0.000069 seconds or 1.83 inches! 19:30 Super Comp eliminations round 1 winners: Dave Day 8.958/136.30, Chris Johnson 8.916/134.82, Brian Pateman v Jon Morton both left before lights ran, Jens Riehl 9.097/132.35, Phil Bennett 22.150/38.59, Malcolm Francis 8.845/163.52, Shaun Lathan 9.064/150.52, Andy Williams 8.437/157.22 bye, Pete Creswell left before lights ran, Belinda Bull 8.863/160.84 bye 19:20 Pro ET eliminations round 1 winners: Lee Cohen (11.98) 12.494/116.87, Nick Good (9.17) 9.248/125.64, Wayne Hiscock (9.70) 10.256/106.11, Liz Malcolm (11.32) 11.354/110.00, Lee Huxley (10.65) 10.732/118.77, Keith Herbert (11.40) 11.464/113.37, Carl Burton (11.40) 11.399/114.83, Neil Hunter (10.36) 10.410/131.98, Andy Chilton (9.00) 8.963/149.44), Vic Amato (9.94) 9.972/133.44, Chris Hodgkins (9.82) 9.956/117.50, Marius Blackburn (9.65) 9.662/125.77, Kev Slyfield (11.63) 11.749/113.31, Lee Darby (9.59) 10.147/105.38, John Atkinson (9.35) 9.379/143.83, Matt Eley (11.22) 11.211/123.21 19:05 Fuel Funny Car match race 2:
John Spuffard 8.932/93.11 def. Gordon Smith 29.675/19.33
Nick Davies followed up with a demonstration pass in the Havoc blown-alcohol altered. Another classic altered pass, why go a quarter of a mile when you can go touring around your lane? 7.505/170.53 this time. Martin Hill closed the demonstration action with a 6.394/252.85 in the Fireforce 3 Jet Funny Car, Martin got off the throttle at about 1100 feet. 18:50 FIA NDRS Bilsport Pro Modified final qualifying session (left lane first): Marcus Hilt 7.719/186.00 bye, Ulf Rapp no time, Sami Saapola 16.051/56.88, Bruno Bader 6.608/190.69 bye, Jörgen Karlsson 6.870/203.75 bye, Robert Koper 8.022/163.65 bye, Ray White 7.819/169.69, Bert Englefield no time, Gordon Appleton 6.970/195.66, Mats Eriksson 6.562/220.54, Robert Joosten 6.747/214.34, Norbert Kuno 7.000/214.39, Jan Arve Nygård 6.544/212.29, Roger Johansson 7.533/143.39, Danny Cockerill 6.568/215.34, Niclas Andersson 6.486/210.73, Micke Gullquist 6.456/217.21, Marc Meihuizen 6.535/215.35, Urban Johansson 6.296/221.53, Freddy Fagerström 6.974/198.07 Marcus' 'Vette was bouncing some on his pass but he stayed with it, imrpoving his ET and moving up a place but not making the cut. Ulf took a look at the Tree on his burnout whilst Sami fogged out the start line and carried on to 200 feet or so. Ulf had a problem before going into stage, Chief Starter Ian Marshall hung on as long as he could but then told Sami to stage and sent Ulf back. Sami's tyres went up in smoke at the hit and the Coupe turned hard right. Sami did a good job to keep the car off the guardrail. A very nice run from Bruno Bader, the chute out right on the line which affected the terminal speed but a big move up the field for the Gotham City 'Vette. A great run from Jörgen, the car started to move towards the centre line in the second half but Jörgen stayed with it and made a big move up the standings. Andy Robinson's Stude didn't start for his match-up with Robert K so he is a shock DNQ. Robert's last pass was no-nitrous, this pass was with nitrous; Robert had the chutes out before the traps. Ray put in a nice pass until the engine started to smoke at about 900 feet, improvement in ET but no change in standing. Meanwhile Bert hit tyre shake and then the Coupe turned hard right, started to go up on its side and hit the guardrail, bouncing back and stopping at about half track with the chutes dropping out of their packs. Word came back from the track that Bert is OK. On the restart a great pair of burnouts from Gordon and Mats, Mats staged on the left side of the groove and took the long way round but wasn't getting off the throttle for anything. Gordon went straight down the middle of his lane and his run looked quicker than the ET which came up on the boards. Another great reaction from Robert J and a nice straight pass, another improvement in ET but no change in the standings, from here it sounded as if Norbert was driving through the clutch - the revs weren't matching the forward motion - but he improved his ET and moved up a spot. A pair of nitrous cars in the next pair, Jan Arve pulled a great wheels-up launch and a hard and straight pass into #4 spot at that point. Roger's car was moving left and right and eventually he had to pedal it and then got off the throttle before the stripe. A tremendous pass from Niclas, you get the idea that now that Niclas has had a few drives of the Coupe the team are starting to turn the wick up a bit. Another 6.5-second pass from Danny with a nice wheels-up launch. Micke turned up the power of the Chevy Hemi a little further to move up the field and Marc ran another 6.5, that's the troublesome clutch sorted out then. The #1 and #2 qualifiers then matched up and swapped places as Urban laid down another blinder, the chutes were out early too so there is more to come from the 'Vette. Freddy had to pedal for shake - you know it's bad when Freddy gets off the pedal! Qualifying standings after this session:
Trackside conditions in this session were 16.8 C, 34% humidity and 30.09 inches of air, track temperature was 25.7 C. 17:50 FIA Top Methanol Dragster final qualifying session (left lane first): John Parkinson 7.368/178.37 bye, Krister Johansson 6.248/241.71, Peter Schöfer 5.719/251.41, Rob Turner 5.632/232.85, Dave Wilson 6.896/135.90 Another improvement for John Parkinson and another PB, well done John! John stayed in #6 but he will be pleased with that pass. Krister's tyres visibly turned slowly a couple of times before the car hooked up, meanwhile Peter drove through what looked like pretty serious shake as far as 300 feet and stayed with it to take #2 spot. We had a brief clean-up and sled in Krister's lane. Dave's tyres didn't light in the burnout, just as in the last session, and it bit him again as his run gradually turned into a rolling burnout - from here the car disappeared into smoke by half track and as the smoke cleared the car made a hard move to the left and Dave got off the throttle. Meanwhile Rob went straight and true and took #1 spot off Dave. Qualifying standings after this session:
17:20 FIA Top Methanol Funny Car final qualifying session (left lane first): Kjell Sjöblom 6.649/187.59 bye, Dan Larsen 6.110/237.01 bye, Jurgen Nagel no time, Leif Andréasson no time A nice run for Kjell, much harder launch this time and it sounded like Kjell was gently feathering the throttle towards the top end, an improved ET but Kjell stayed in place. A better-looking for Dan this time but still pedalling for shake at about 330 feet, an improved ET but no change in placing. Great burnouts from both Jurgen and Leif, Leif's Stratus was bouncing madly and the car moved left and hit the 1000 foot and both top end markers, various bits and pieces flying into the air. Jurgen deftly moved to the left to avoid Leif but didn't get a valid time as Leif stopped his lane's clocks too. Word came back from the top end that Leif's FC body was damaged. Qualifying standings after this session:
Trackside conditions in this session were 18.3 C, 26% humidity and 30.12 inches of air, track temperature at 60 feet was 31.5 C. 17:05 FIA Top Fuel Dragster final qualifying session (left lane first): Smax Smith 5.422/236.58, Rene Hersland 5.877/175.01, Urs Erbacher 13.398/52.86, Håkan Fällström 5.545/191.51, Håkan Nilsson 6.991/122.36, Lex Joon 6.703/125.06 A nice match-up between Smax and Rene, 0.881 to sixty feet for Smax to Rene's 0.904, smoke started to appear from the Builldog Bash dragster at half track and then there was a big puff of smoke at the finish line. Rene ran a personal best on what looked like a (relatively) easy pass, the car still tuned soft I think. All the pressure was on Urs to get into the field in the next pairing. It wasn't to be as tne engine cut out and parts came from the car at sixty feet (0.908). Håkan F hit shake at about 200 feet and did a great job of pedalling, the appeared to shoot forward as if shot from a gun, then the Pennzoil dragster started to move towards the centreline just at half track and Håkan got off the throttle. Side-by-side smoke for Håkan N and Lex, Håkan hit sixty feet in 0.889 then the shake started, gave it a couple of pedals then got off the throttle as the tyres went up in smoke and the car started to move around. Lex clocked 0.847 to sixty feet and then hit shake at about 100 feet, the tyres started to go up in smoke and Lex got off it. Qualifying standings after this session:
16:50 FIA Pro Stock final qualifying session (left lane first): Richard Sundblom 7.153/193.12, Eero Knihtilä 8.518/104.88, Tommy Leindahl 8.261/128.83, Kenneth Soderström no time, Magnus Hansson 7.012/196.75, Jimmy Ålund 7.032/198.27 An improvement from Richard but he stayed in place. Eero's car took a step to the right as the tyres hit shake and he was off the throttle by half track and put the chutes out in the second half. A bit of a strange on in the next pairing, Tommy's crew took a while on the wheelie bars whilst Kenneth waited, eventually starter Ian Marshall signalled a bye, when the lights ran Kenneth's Grand Am stuttered and stopped. Then Tommy was signalled into stage, he drove through shake and then got off the throttle at half track as the car headed for the guardrail. A nice side-by-side run from Magnus and Jimmy, 1.024 to sixty feet for Magnus which is very quick! No changes in their standings though. Qualifying standings after this session:
16:40 FIM/UEM Top Fuel Bike final qualifying session (left lane first): Shaun Branch 7.460/178.76 bye, Ian King 7.434/193.17 bye, Rikard Gustafsson 8.807/132.24 bye, Chris Hall 7.144/182.32 bye, Ken Cooper 8.400/167.94, Sandra Chaplain 8.385/157.45, Steve Carey 7.647/173.68, Kev Charman 7.719/167.90, Dave Holland 7.667/156.82, Neil Midgley 6.943/190.67, Dave Bailey 7.801/132.04, Steve French 7.162/182.13, Tim Blakemore 6.877/165.43, Luigi Ferretti 7.139/195.77 A great pass for Shaun put him into the top eight at that point. Ian King left it very late for his first run of the weekend, an easy-looking pass which put him into the show. A great pass for Chris Hall, getting back to his form so far this season. A nice match-up between Ken and Sandra, both improved on their ETs and that must be pretty close to Sandra's best on the Think Pink bike. Steve Carey improved but had to feather the throttle as the bike headed for the guardrail. Back on to six-second form for Midgo put him into second at that point whilst Dave H headed for the guardrail and had to feather the throttle but still improved. An improvement too for Steve French but he stayed in place, Dave Bailey losing some of his earlier form. Tim got back into the sixes, very close to the centreline at the top end but up into #2 spot. Qualifying standings after this session:
16:15 FIM/UEM Supertwin final qualifying session (left lane first): Joachim Riemer 7.193/195.60 bye, Hans Olav Olstad 7.813/131.31, Gunther Sohn 7.060/189.85, Svein Gottenberg 7.264/191.46, Ronny Aasen 7.670/182.29, Anders Karling 6.573/190.23, Lorenz Stäble 12.357/65.09 A great pass from Joachim moved him up to #4 spot at that point. A new personal best from Gunther on a great-looking pass, moving up the field, well done Gunther! Hans Olav shut off at about 1000 feet and improved his ET but stayed where he was in the standings. An improvement for Svein but he stayed in place, in the other lane Ronny's rear slick went up in smoke, he feathered the throttle and it was a nice clean run from about 100 feet. Charley got his #1 spot back from Lorenz with a fine straight pass, Lorenz' tyre smoked at about 200 feet and the bike tried to throw him off, so Lo got off the throttle. Qualifying standings after this session:
16:05 FIM/UEM Pro Stock Bike final qualifying session (left lane first): Tom Tinndahn 8.115/125.29 bye, Ray Debben shut off, Paul Watson 7.776/145.14, Luigi Chinarello 8.102/165.36, Martin Newbury 7.989/167.29, Orjan Gustavsson 7.762/167.74, Len Paget 7.768/162.41, Anders Jakobsson 7.499/173.77, Martin Bishop 7.580/172.32, Anders Abrahamsson 7.330/177.83 A new personal best for Tom even with a feather of the throttle at half track. Ray Debben shut off before staging. A nice pass for Paul Watson, it sounded as if he shut off a little early though. An improvement for Luigi but he stayed in place. A great pass for Orjan put him in #3 spot at that point and Martin N made a move up the field to #7 at that point. Anders J improved with a great pass but stayed in #2 and Len put in the first full-bore run on his new bike and moved up the field. Martin B improved big time and moved up the field and Anders A put in a consistent pass to consolidate his #1 spot. Qualifying standings after this session:
15:50 We're on a hold for track prep. Now that Sportsman qualifying is complete here for the benefit of our readers outside the UK, are your countrymens' placings:
Dennis Habermann #18 in Super Pro ET +0.103 8.273/113.65 We will be into the third Pro qualifying session as soon as the track prep is finished. 15:35 Sportsman ET qualifying final top five:
A lot of changes to the top five in this final session as Brian Huxley moved in to #2 and Ian Petrie to #3, then in the next pairing after Ian's pass Jon Turner came in at #2 and bumped them both down a place. 15:25 Super Street qualifying final top five:
No changes to the top five in this session. 15:20 Junior Dragster qualifying final top five:
Zak Johnson moved into #4 spot and Michael Herron into #5 in this session. 15:05 Following on from Fuel FC was Nick Davies in the Havoc blown-alcohol altered. The usual thundering burnout and at quite some speed and then a centreline-dodging 7.772/175.67. Martin Hill was next up with a great flame and thunder show and then a 6.493/247.48 in the Fireforce 3 Jet Funny Car. 14:55 Fuel Funny Car match race 1: John Spuffard 6.115/159.17 def. Gordon Smith 23.101/35.23
14:50 FIA NDRS Bilsport Pro Modified qualifying session 2 (left lane first): Ray White 7.938/168.53 bye, Robert Koper 7.517/157.92 bye, Bruno Bader 7.570/205.39 bye, Roger Johansson 6.971/194.80, Gordon Appleton 6.816/201.01, Marcus Hilt 8.273/155.06, Micke Gullquist 6.551/209.16, Sami Saapola 10.015/95.93, Andy Robinson 9.173/118.11, Norbert Kuno 7.104/189.84, Urban Johansson 6.388/206.49, Bert Englefield 7.395/143.74, Ulf Rapp shut off, Mats Eriksson 9.525/93.55, Jörgen Karlsson 9.379/100.61, Marko Lantto 6.628/211.25, Robert Joosten 6.760/212.21, Freddy Fagerström 6.337/220.45, Seppo Saapola 7.081/156.25, Niclas Andersson 12.168/67.26, Jan Arve Nygård 6.876/179.86, Marc Meihuizen 8.235/103.72, Danny Cockerill 6.553/217.51 A very accomplished Pro Mod burnout from Ray and then a nice straight pass, a new best for the Zephyr and a few places up the standings. A big improvement for Robert Koper even with the 'chutes out at 1000 feet. Bruno's 'Vette was very lazy off the line, Sharkman at trackside reported that the butterflies on the injector didn't open until about 100 feet. Roger and Gordon must have wondered what on earth was happening as they pulled into stage and a Dakota from the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight made a very low pass over the track. Both cars were heading for the left side of their lanes but both racers stayed with it with maybe a feather of the throttle in each case. Marcus hit shake and pedalled whilst Micke put in a thundering pass, no sign of shake, straight as you like and into #2 spot at that point. Andy's tyres didn't light on the burnout and it got him as the tyres shook like crazy at the hit, Sami also hit shake off the line and got off the throttle as the Coupe headed for the guardrail. A tremendous run from Urban, one of the quickest Pro Mod passes in Europe and a PB by a huge margin, well done Urban! Norbert's Avenger started to get out of shape and he put the chute out. A great pass from Bert, the early incrementals looking very good but the car seemed to slow down a bit in the second half and Bert had the chute out early. Ulf was pushed back after his burnout. Simultaneous shake for Mats and Jörgen, an improvement in ET for Jörgen but he stayed in place. A great side-by-side run for Marko and Robert J, Robert pulled a huge holeshot on Marko, he is really getting to grips with that 'Vette, and a personal best for Marko, both racers moved up the standings. Freddy then laid down the gauntlet with a stormer, driving through shake as if it didn't exist and into #1 spot at that point, nice one Freddy! Seppo was going great guns until there was a cloud of smoke at half track and oil was found in his lane. Seppo improved his time but hopefully hasn't suffered any bad damage. On the restart Niclas hit shake, pedalled and hit shake again so got off the throttle, in the other lane Jan Arve was on a nice pass but the engine made gruting noises on the last couple of gear changes and Jan Arve got off the throttle just before the finish line. Marc's tyres didn't light on the burnout, he rolled to a halt at about 100 feet and then tried to light the tyres again. Sharkman at trackside reported that there was a pile of clutch dust on the track where Marc stopped the second time. A consistent pass for Danny, a little quicker but stayed in place in the standings, Marc's tyres shook and there was a cloud of clutch dust, Marc got off the throttle as the car got close to the guardrail. Charlene of Marc's team kindly came up to Race Control to let us know that the clutch settings were off. "The clutch took its toys and went home, and left the dust behind", she said. Qualifying standings after this session:
Trackside conditions in this session were 19.9 C, 26% humidity, 30.12 inches of air, and the track temperature on the start line was 40.6 C. 13:55 FIA Top Methanol Dragster qualifying session 2 (left lane first): Timo Habermann 6.389/228.36 bye, Peter Schöfer 5.742/248.49, Krister Johansson 5.996/245.73, Dave Wilson 20.233/41.93, Rob Turner 10.935/70.54 I guarantee you that Timo has a headache right now, at the hit the dragster wheelied and then the tyres shook so hard that we felt it in Race Control. Timo calmly pedalled and then got back on the throttle, that has got to be close to a Personal Best speed. Peter hung on to the car through what looked like pretty hard shake and improved his time but stayed in place, Krister's run looked a little lazy (or as lazy as a five-second pass can look) and fluid was found in his lane from the start line to about 100 feet. Dave's tyres didn't light on the burnout, and it bit him as the rear slicks went up in smoke at the hit. More surprisingly Rob's tyres did exactly the same thing despite his big burnout. Qualifying standings after this session:
13:35 FIA Top Methanol Funny Car qualifying session 2 (left lane first): Kjell Sjöblom 6.971/184.50 bye, Dan Larsen 6.368/143.39 bye, Leif Andréasson shut off, Ulf Leanders 5.859/242.95 A gentle-looking run for Kjell although an improvement on yesterday's pass, it sounded as if Kjell was feathering the throttle all the way down the track. A very nice one hundred-foot burnout from Dan and then he was on a stormer, 0.964 to sixty feet and 3.825/197.28 to half track where one parachute deployed, Dan got off the throttle at 1000 feet. Ulf pulled a 300-foot burnout and not to be outdone Leif did the same thing, rolling way past half track before reversing, but then Leif shut off and was pushed back by the safety crew. Ulf took the bye and drove through about a hundred feet of shake, 0.993 at sixty feet and 3.855/196.34 at half track, into #1 spot. Qualifying standings after this session:
13:20 FIA Top Fuel Dragster qualifying session 2 (left lane first): Thomas Nataas 4.998/267.95 bye, Rene Hersland shut off, Tommy Möller 4.818/303.87, Håkan Fällström 5.205/282.86, Andy Carter 5.187/286.48, Micke Kågered no time, Urs Erbacher 10.916/74.87, Lex Joon 5.123/108.89, Håkan Nilsson 8.668/91.47 Smax was meant to run alongside Thomas but arrived in the pairing lanes too late and missed his slot. A nice run from Thomas to half track (3.325/245.92) then smoke started to appear from the engine, Thomas stayed on the throttle as the engine looked to be eating itself up and then he was off the pedal at about 1100 feet. Rene couldn't get reverse however hard he tried, Tommy took the bye and into #1 spot at that point with a storming run, 0.899 to sixty feet and 3.255/257.35 at half track, the car making tiny moves left and right but Tommy drove it out the back door. What looked like a piece of bodywork came off the car right at the stripe. Tommy is on a European ET record if he can back it up, well done Tommy! Håkan F had a similar steering problem to Håkan N yesterday coming back from the burnout but he got it straightened out no problem. Andy rolled the beams and clocked a 1.051 sixty foot time which was not representative but once he went he was on his way, some shake between 100 feet and 200 feet, 3.548/241.65 to half track, blacktracking for the rest of the quarter. Håkan F clocked 0.885 to sixty feet and hit shake in just about the same place as Andy but he stayed with it, 3.508/228.25 at half track and a big 54 mph addition in the second half. There was a huge boomer from Micke's engine right on the hit, a big ball of flame and the blower lifted, Micke rolled down the track with the engine still burning and stopped at about half track. Urs hit shake about ten feet out and was off the throttle immediately. Lex started up and went into his burnout before Håkan started up but judging by the glances exchanged between crews that was deliberate. 0.851 to sixty feet for Lex, 3.169/254.05 at half track and the tyres started to turn then the blower belt exited the car. 0.924 to sixty feet for Håkan N, but the tyres were already shaking by then and Håkan was off the throttle at about 200 feet. Qualifying standings after this session:
Trackside conditions in this session were 18.7 C, 29% humidity, and 30.15 inches of air, track temperature at 300 feet was 35.4 C. 12:05 FIA Pro Stock qualifying session 2 (left lane first): Eero Knihtilä no time, Tommy Leindahl 7.022/192.99, Kenneth Soderström 7.044/197.16, Richard Sundblom 7.186/192.36, Jimmy Ålund 7.014/198.08, Magnus Hansson 7.004/197.56 A great run from Tommy, into #1 spot at that point, in the other lane Eero hit violent shake and got off the throttle, rolling to a stop at 1000 feet - I'm guessing something broke from the shake. Improvements from Kenneth and Richard, a new PB for Kenneth and into #2 at that point, Richard took the long way round his lane whilst Kenneth ran about two yards from the wall for most of the second half of the track. Nice side-by-side runs from Jimmy and Magnus, moving them both up the field and Magnus into #1 spot. Both had the chutes out a little early and there was some concern on the top end radio that Jimmy may have brushed the wall as he got out of shape when the chutes opened. Qualifying standings after this session:
11:50 FIM/UEM Top Fuel Bike qualifying session 2 (left lane first): Rikard Gustafsson 10.369/78.79 bye, Chris Hall 10.656/103.47 bye, Sandra Chaplain 8.839/146.10 bye, Eric Teboul 7.283/156.26, Steve Carey 7.752/175.07, Kev Charman 7.703/166.83, Ken Cooper no time, Neil Midgley 8.281/105.13, Tim Blakemore 7.359/165.53, Steve French 7.225/180.01, Dave Holland 8.088/138.93 , Luigi Ferretti 7.047/198.53, Dave Bailey 7.685/174.32 Rikard launched as if shot from a catapult but got very close indeed to the guardrail. Chris' engine was misfiring all the way down the track. An improvement from Sandra but she stayed in place. Eric again had a cylinder go out and the bike started to move left. Nothing obviously wrong for Steve C but off his usual pace. Ken shut off on the line, Kev took the bye with a nice pass to move him up the standings. Midgo's bike started to smoke at half track and he was leaning off to the right to keep it straight, a trail of oil was from there to the finish line. Tim improved big time even with some tyre spin and moved up the field. An improvement for Steve F, Dave H headed for the centreline and lost time pulling it straight. On the restart a very nce run for Luigi but he got very close indeed to the wall - although he was hanging off the other side to try to straighten it out. Dave B was within 0.002 of yesterday's run. Qualifying standings after this session:
11:05 FIM/UEM Supertwin qualifying session 2 (left lane first): Gunther Sohn 7.291/172.49, Hans Olav Olstad 8.029/129.61, Lorenz Stäuble 6.649/201.67, Svein Gottenberg no time, Ronny Aasen no time, Anders Karling no time A nice straight run from Gunther moved him up the field, Hans Olav's bike had an attraction for the centre line for almost all of the run, it was a close thing and Hans Olav eventually got off the throttle. A picture-perfect run from Lorenz, up on the back wheel for most of the track and into number one spot - the gauntlet laid down right there. Svein's engine cut out at the hit - I'm guessing a belt broke. It got worse for Svein as his tow bike died as it went to rescue him! Ronny's rear slick went up in smoke and he got off the throttle and stopped at half track, meanwhile Anders was headed for the centre line from the word go and he hit the eighth mile reflectors. Qualifying standings after this session:
Trackside conditions at the end of this session were 18.3 C, 31% humidity, and 30.15 inches of air. Track temperature was 28.5 C. 10:55 FIM/UEM Pro Stock Bike qualifying session 2 (left lane first): Ray Debben 8.536/138.80, Tom Tinndahn no time, Orjan Gustafsson DQ, Paul Watson no time, Luigi Chinarello 8.122/161.81, Martin Bishop 7.821/173.26, Anders Jakobsson 7.614/169.21, Martin Newbury shut off, Anders Abrahamsson 7.314/176.42, Len Paget 8.399/161.74 Our first look at Tom's Buell and it is a very nice piece of kit. The Buell headed to the left and Tom crossed lanes at half track, Ray rode past him. Orjan's 8.050 was DQ'd for a blue line violation, it looked as if Paul Watson again moved out of stage. Nice runs for Luigi and Martin B moved Luigi up the field and put Martin into #2 spot at that point. Anders J improved and took #2 spot from Martin but something came off the bike at the eighth although it didn't stop his progress up the track. Anders A is already stamping his authority on this field, a big improvement to consolidate his #1 spot. Len's bike headed for the centre line but he pulled it straight and kept with it. Qualifying standings after this session:
10:45 Super Comp qualifying final top five:
No changes to the top five in this session. The top fifteen qualifiers are in the 8.9s. 10:35 Pro ET qualifying final top five:
Nick Good improved but stayed in #2. The top 32 are separated by 0.096, Pro ET will start eliminations this afternoon. Trackside conditions in this session were 17.9 C, 33% humidity and 30.15 inches of air, track temperature at sixty feet was 22.7 C. 10:00 Super Gas qualifying final top five:
Steve Wells moved into #4 in this session. The top fifteen qualifiers are in the 9.9s. 9:55 9.50 Bike qualifying final top five:
Paul Coombs moved into #5 spot bumping Richard Sawatzki down to sixth, in the next pairing Richard went into #2. A couple of pairings later Andy Bird took over the lead, a thousandth from a perfect run, well done Andy! The top eight qualifiers are in the 9.5s. Graham Dance got even naughtier in this session, 7.890/177.13 on his Super Street Bike. You are a bad boy G. 200mph Club member Woody also joined in the breakout fun at 9.204 followed by SSB racer Ade Lockley at 9.065 although he stayed in the top five with his earlier pass. 9:25 Super Pro ET qualifying final top five:
Steve Johnson took over #1 spot in this session, a thousandth over his dial-in and a 0.001 reaction time, nice one Steve! Trackside conditions in this session were 14.7 C, 46% humidity and 30.12 inches of air, track temperature on the start line was 17.0 C. 8:30 Good morning and welcome from Santa Pod Raceway. It's day three of qualifying for the FIA Main Event, the first day of the European Championships, and we're here to bring you all the news in association with American Car Imports. The Webster Race Engineering/MPM Oil webcam is on-line and broadcasting a picture every two minutes. It's a very nice day today, sunny with a light breeze. Trackside conditions are 12.8 C, 51% humidity and 30.12 inches of air. We must say a big Thank You to David Anniwell who stepped in and loaned Simon his laptop after Simon's laptop died during yesterday's Top Fuel Bike session. It was Eric Teboul's burnout which did for Simon's laptop, we must have a word with Eric! A few more Hellos this morning, first up are Claire Meaddows and Chris Hartnell who have been tuned in so far but were planning to come to Santa Pod today. Hi also to Colin Roaf and to Nikki Pilkington who cut the flannel and came out with it, "Please say Hi to me!". Quaalifying starts at 9:00 this morning with Super Pro ET and all of the other Sportsman classes which were curtailed when the rain came yesterday morning. Pro sessions are set for 10:30 and 14:30 and we have some Sportsman eliminations this afternoon. Simon is sitting to my left feverishly typing up last night's pit notes so keep an eye on the Pit Notes page for those. We'll be back at 9:00 with all the news from qualifying. Reports and pictures ©Eurodragster.com |