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Latest update: 20:40

John Spuffard (above, right) was pleased with a 5.139/284. "It's been a good weekend. We had a few problems like hurting the crank on the first run and rebuilt the same motor overnight. The second run looked good but it could have been quicker on the first eighth. We made changes and the car responded. It was moving around and spinning the wheels at the top end but we've got the data and know what to do to improve. It's a lovely car to drive and it just wants more power. All Bob's cars have been great to drive and this is the next in line." Car owner Bob Jarrett added "We've now got a car to race and tune and we've been working towards this for a long time. We want to run a four, but will do it in our own time."	Len Paget (Pro Stock Bike) said "We broke two ignition units and thanks to Ray Debben who has lent me his spare. So we're in the field after some issues with the bike earlier. We could have stepped up but in losing the ignition system we lost all the data as well. But our updated engine is doing well as we broke our other one on the test day."
Ton and Vincent Pels were pleased with a 6.69 for no.3 in Super Twin. "Our next target is 6.5 and we are pleased to have run reliably. We are only needing to carry out a routine teardown of the engine."	Hans Olav Olstad has some damage to his heads and for those that have been following his news reports after each race, this is the third time this season. "This was our spare and our reserve head which we tore the thread out of will be repaired by Paul Cowley, a friend of Rob Turner who has a workshop near the track and we are grateful to him for his help. So we will be on the starting line tomorrow."
Ian King (Top Fuel Bike) said "The weekend has been a bit traumatic. We had the cylinder head off twice. The valves were bending on the run due to the heat and we ran the engine longer on the overrun to try to get them back straight (which incidentally is why fuel teams used to crank their motors over after the run). However the engine stopped causing damage. Our 6.50 was with a new valve timing setting. Tomorrow should be interesting with Rikard, Luigi and myself so close in the points. The one of us that goes a round more than the others will win the championship and Rikard and Luigi race each other in round one. I have Steve Carey who is a tough racer.	Gittli Koller (pictured - do you want to do the pit notes next time Tog?) of Peter Schofer Racing said "Our last run was without shake but was only 5.60. We went in the wrong direction at the start of the meeting and after a lot of thinking we are going in the right direction. Dave needs to get to the final unless Peter goes out first round.
Magnus Petersen, crew chief for Niclas Andersson (pictured) said "We were not happy with a 6.44/208 as the speed was too low. We took fuel out and made other big changes but the car didn't respond. On the first run on Saturday it shook the tyres and on the second the two-step failed due to a two-cent part breaking and we rolled forward. So we're happy overall but losing those runs sucks. We hope we can pull a few surprises tomorrow."	.
Urban Johansson said "We're not happy as we are having problems getting down the track. We've added more power this year and we've had problems getting the power to the track. So we are fitting an MSD ignition retarding system to calm it down at the start and put more power in down the track, but we're on a learning curve with that."	Two schoolgirls, Jessica and Emily were asked by their teacher to go and find something interesting to do with Belinda Bear. How about a 5.727/246.52 in Fast Fredde's no.1 qualifying TMFC?
Dan Larsen (Top Methanol FC) of Eurodragster.com sponsors Dansk Auto HiFi is seen replacing his blower burst panel. He said "I'm really happy that now we can see the way after tyre shake problems. We are looking to improve to a 5.7 or even 5.6 and the championship is not the most important thing to me right now. We want to win this race and after winning here last year it will be a tradition.	Steph Milam is inspecting a broken PSI blower after an eventful run when the blower lifted and the chutes failed to come out. "There was a flash from the blower and the burst panel went and I was hard on the handbrake after I realised the chutes didn't work. We went 20-30 yards into the field. Unfortunately that is our only blower so we are out for some time and we haven't even looked at the engine damage."
Peter Lantz (pictured), Joran Persåker's crew chief, said "We had a slide valve failure this morning. It resulted in the engine leaning out when Joran was running really hard towards the end of the track and couldn't get off the throttle in time, so it went ka-boom. We're really pleased that Joran ran his first four yesterday. We just want to repeat and hopefully run a 4.8 next time."	Leif Helander is having a good weekend in his final meeting as a Funny Car driver. Following this meeting, Leif has his racing operation up for sale. He said "I've been racing funny cars for 29 years and this is my fifth year running nitro. There are a lot of happy memories and the sport has changed a lot. We could make money from the sport when I first came into it as we didn't need to strip the engine down and change parts so often. I run a safe combination with nitro to try not to kill the motor and it's been mostly reliable. We have made 10 good runs like that this season without damage. It's not an easy class. The other guys going for their licenses may have thought it was easy to do, but it's not."
David Wilson, Dave's son and crew member on the Silverline Top Methanol Dragster, said "It's been a difficult weekend so far. We had oil pressure issues yesterday and the car was going through the clutch. We ended up changing two oil pans and three pumps with different oil lines. On top of that we had problems during the warm-up and changed cylinders before we went out." The persistance paid off and Dave is on top of the qualifying list with a 5.456/258. Dave's turnkey TMD operation is up for sale.	Micke Lindahl (above right, with crew chief Magnus Lindahl) had problems yesterday but it all came together this morning with a superb 6.175. Magnus said "In the first session the car wouldn't start and in the second the blower belt let go. I said on the flight over that it was about time we replaced it. Our 330ft time was better that on the 6.17. We have set it up to repeat. The improvement from Mantorp is due mainly to a new clutch which does not slip like the old one."
Andy Robinson is pictured welding his fuel tank together after a burst panel went and the subsequent fumes caused an explosion which damaged the tank and sent the hood flying into the barrier. Team member Jerry Clayton said "Up until that point the incrementals were our best ever." Andy said earlier that tyre shake at the THunderball had caused the rear suspension damage but the car came on strong once again after repairs. "At least five cars could take the championship and another 15 want to run well."	Ian Bishop is on the bump spot with a 7.10 and a huge gap of 0.42s between him and no.15 man Seppo Saapola. "We've been working on a tyre problem and went from 33.5" to 34.5"; now we are finding there us not enough clutch and it was slipping on every gear in our last run. Our PB is 7.03 and we really want to run a six, we're not that worried about not qualifying."
Stig Neergard said "I had my foot off the throttle after 0.2s when the steering wheel came off the spline. It hadn't locked on properly and while I tried to put it back on it just wouldn't. The car went across the track towards the wall and I braked in time to avoid an impact. On the second run I couldn't find reverse as the rpms were too low to activate the clutch. So it's been small problems preventing us from making a pass. My target is a 4.7-4.8 and thanks to Per and Karsten for their tuning advice." Following numerous enquiries, his team pointed out in addition that he is not the Stig from Top Gear.	Darren Gould (above), clutch man for the Turner Motorsport team, has a birthday today and many happy returns to him. "We were pleased with the first run but the second qualifier was odd as Dave, Derek and us all had problems. A fuel line fitting was cracked and the fuel pressure under power would have caused a leak, We will try to repeat our first run today."
Thor Larsen of Paul Ingar Udtian's crew (pictured) said "We were happy with our PB 5.69. We're running new PBs on most passes but on the second session we had a small clutch problem which has now been solved. We tried to step it up but it didn't work. This is our last race this year and we hope for a fuller season in 2008. Pictured with Thor are Tormid Aarvik, Konrad Ree, Johnny Bremnes and Stig Udtian .	Rolf Amman's Golden Nugget Pro Mod had a wild ride in the first session when the two-step malfunctioned. "I set it but the revs weren't there so I hit the gas on the green; the car was unsettled and went sideways and up on two wheels. I kept in my lane though. The second run was what we expected with a 6.6. Our PB is 6.604 but there is much more in the car as it ran a 6.2 in the U.S. when it had a nitrous setup. With four events in our racing year, including demos at Turtmann, there is not enough track time to adjust our four-link for better performance."
Jimmy Alund said "I'm surprised we're no.1 qualifier because I thought Michael (Malmgren) has the quicker setup. We did two good passes. We have installed our other Bob Ingles J&B Engine today (pictured) to see whether that can run quicker still."	Jonas Dantanus (Pro Stock) ran both his first six and his first 6.8 yesterday. "I can't say how happy we are. The whole team effort has been amazing. It's our first day racing with our new Reher-Morrison engine. We want to go quicker but to know where we are and aim to repeat."
Eero Knihtila (Pro Stock) said "Our performance was not so good yesterday. We had problems spinning the clutch and tyres. We will make changes to suspension settings to compensate. The track is good and we aim to run at least 6.85, but it's going to be tough."	Michael Malmgren said "We're happy about setting a new speed record of 203.59. We know we can do better on the ET and lost six hundredths in our 60 ft time compared with Jimmy. We haven't really had a season this year but will keep going for 2008."