2007 FIA European Finals
Saturday (qualifying and 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 21:45 Today's pictures have now been posted; you can view them via the Event Index page. Simon has also posted another set of pit notes, and Lex Joon has given us another Blog entry which you can access via the Eurodragster.com Home Page. 18:50 Comp Eliminator qualifying top five after session 11:
Jason Weir improved again but stayed in place. Congratulations to #6 Russ Fellows on a new Personal Best of 9.9967/133.18. Junior Dragster eliminations round 2 winners: Noah Stutz (9.02) 9.2099/71.09, Anna Stanley (9.16) 9.1630/70.45, Rosie Hunt (10.86) 10.8761/57.55 bye, Nick Mugridge (7.96) 7.9747/77.09, Dan Giles (8.70) 8.7650/71.43 That's all the on-track action for today. Stay tuned for today's pictures and another set of Simon's pit notes. 18:40 Super Street eliminations round 1 winners: Chris Kenny 10.9680/114.82, Bob Lees 10.9851/121.24, Ian Brown 11.0659/98.91, Paul Spiers 10.9970/88.03, Neil Grant staged for points, Nick Griffin 10.9330/93.93, Darren Law 10.8123/113.64 bye (Simon Cooper no show) Sportsman ET eliminations round 2 winners: Teresa Letchford (12.98) 12.9929/107.64, Paul Herbert (13.30) 13.3221/96.29 bye (Matt Attwood no show), Hans Van Der Spek (12.32) 12.3258/109.51, Jacob Bailey (13.00) 13.2022/95.73, Steve Gilmour (14.65) 14.6659/82.57 Super Comp eliminations round 2 winners: Martin Curbishley 8.8949/154.30, Paul Knight 8.9989/135.58, Pete Cresswell 8.9070/149.88, Jon Morton 9.0562/148.91, Tim Adam 8.9239/149.02 18:30 Super Gas eliminations round 2 winners: Mike Bentley 9.9160/144.27, Stuart Doignie 9.9252/147.51, Werner Zurdell 9.9299/126.69, Stuart Morrice 9.8919/146.64 bye, Jon Morton 9.9551/144.71 bye Next up after Super Gas was a passenger ride for Fiona Flynn, wife of Derek Flynn of Eurodragster.com News sponsor Gold RV. Jon Webster drove Fiona to a 7.8542/171.11 in Santa Pod Raceway's Two Seat Dragster. 18:10 Super Pro ET eliminations round 2 winners: Steve Johnson (7.30) 7.3899/161.88, Ashley Bell (8.64) 8.8001/130.72, Spencer Tramm (8.76) 8.7429/152.58, Steve Green 8.6969/155.10, Chris Orthodoxou (7.82) 7.9031/159.56, Barry Giles (7.60) 7.6351/163.52, Rick Cooke (8.26) 8.3273/157.14 17:55 Junior Dragster eliminations round 1 winners: Nick Mugridge (7.90) 7.9812/81.19, Zak Johnson (8.92) 9.1132/71.72, Rosie Hunt (10.86) 10.8650/57.91, Dan Giles (8.70) 8.8379/69.65, Noah Stutz (8.95) 9.1360/71.09, Joe Kellett (8.97) 9.0341/71.06, Anna Stanley (9.14) 9.1710/70.66 bye, Vicky Molden (7.95) 7.9613/82.09, Matthew Seamarks (7.90) 8.4329/59.69 Pro ET eliminations round 2 winners: Ian Brown (10.77) 10.8217/119.45, Charlie Chivers (10.72) 10.7441/127.07, Paul Baynton (11.02) 11.0579/120.99, Neil Hunter (10.00) 10.0841/132.42, Chris Hodgkins (9.68) 9.7338/137.68, Brian Huxley (10.58) 10.5970/117.43, Dave Cherrett (10.00) 10.0111/130.82, Dan Page (11.31) 11.2922/116.55 17:40 Comp Eliminator qualifying top five after session 10:
Improvements for Jason and Dennis but no changes in position. 17:30 Fuel Funny Car session 3 (left lane first): John Spuffard 5.1390/284.90 bye
Roger Goring was next up with a storming 6.1172/256.71 in the Firestorm Jet FC, we think a new PB ET or close to it, well done Roger! 17:25 FIA NDRS Bilsport Pro Modified qualifying session 4 (left lane first): Ray White 9.0471/132.34 bye, Seppo Saapola 7.8939/201.73 bye, Bert Englefield 8.2319/162.46 bye, Rolf Amman no time, Ian Bishop 7.0702/194.66, Roger Johansson 9.1909/104.92, Micke Gullquist 6.1649/225.02, Patrick Wikström 6.7541/218.63, Gordon Appleton 6.4471/216.23, Niclas Andersson no time, Bruno Bader 6.3710/218.38, Urban Johansson 12.3591/66.56, Norbert Kuno 6.3009/226.93, Mats Eriksson 12.7443/71.30, Micke Nord 9.2831/92.24, Marc Meihuizen 12.8300/58.74, Robert Joosten 6.2740/228.49, Andy Robinson 6.1619/228.49, Micke Lindahl 6.1101/223.73 Again the Zephyr left very slowly but this was a better pass, however Ray is a spectator tomorrow. Seppo hit shake at the hit, he tried a brief pedal but then got off the throttle. Bert's Coupe gave him a hairy ride, he was on and off the throttle as it went left and right all the way down the track. Bert gave it everything he had but it was not enough to get him in tomorrow's ladder. Drama in the next pairing as Rolf had the Blown Nugget Coupe up on its two left wheels then crossed lanes, everyone in the place thought it was going to flip over but it didn't, from here it looked as if Rolf just missed Ian Bishop in the other lane, then the Coupe came down onto four wheels and Rolf started to steer it straight but the momentum was too much and the car hit the right guardrail side-on. Rolf stopped the car by the finish line safety crew and got himself out and is quite OK. An improvement for Ian and at that point his #16 spot was secure as all those below him had run. On the restart a new #1 qualifier, the quickest-ever European Pro Mod run, and the first half of a European ET record for Micke G, 1.0150 to sixty feet, 4.0278/182.29 to half track and leapfrogging Micke L at that point. Roger got to sixty feet in 1.0500 then hit shake, pedalled and tried it again but no joy. A nice run for Gordon, 1.0533 to sixty feet and 4.1820/173.13 to half track, the Camaro moved around its lane in the last couple of hundred feet and Gordon had the chutes out on the line. Patrick's run looked a little lazy, only relatively speaking though. Niclas left before the lights ran, and I mean nowhere near the lights running. Bruno went right down the middle of his lane with a very consistent pass, 1.0081 to sixty feet, 4.1311/174.35 at half track. A great run for Norbert, 1.0467 to sixty feet and 4.1380/178.32 at half track, the car was running down the left hand side of its lane and made a hard move tot he right at about 700 feet, Norbert stayed on the power and smashed his PB again, moving up the standings too, well done Norbert! Urban hit shake and shut off very quickly. Shake for the next pair, too, Mats to sixty foot in 1.0331 but shutting off more or less there, Micke to sixty feet in 1.0552 but off the throttle by 330 feet. Consistency for Robert, 1.0551 to sixty feet and 4.1110/179.96 at half track, an improvement in ET but staying in place. Marc got to sixty feet in 1.0191 but hit shake and shut off as the car drifted towards the guardrail. Andy with a repaired Stude, not just the blower panel but the fuel tank popped last time out. The best-ever side-by-side Pro Mod run in Europe finished the session, Micke with the first-ever three-second Pro Mod eighth-mile in Europe, 3.9800/183.78, and back into #1 spot, well done Micke! Andy's run was no slouch, 0.9989 sixty foot time and 4.0137/183.78 at half track and good for #2 spot. Final qualifying standings:
Trackside conditions are 18.0 C, 66% humidity and 1014 mb of air, track temperature is 23.1 C. 16:40 FIA Methanol Dragster qualifying session 4 (left lane first): Derek Flynn 8.5853/96.91 bye, Paul Ingar Udtian 5.6422/249.62, Krister Johansson 6.1620/244.70, Rob Turner 5.4960/258.74, Timo Habermann 5.7527/242.01, Dave Wilson 5.5209/258.36, Peter Schöfer 5.6060/252.70 Derek got to sixty feet in 0.9760 and then shut off, from here not immediately obvious what was wrong. I do hope I don't end up growing a ponytail. A great run for Paul Ingar, 0.9609 to sixty feet and 3.6892/201.68 to half track, from here it looked as if he shut off a touch early and put the chutes out in the traps. Krister's dragster was lazy away from the line but the header flames were clean on both sides of the car all the way. Yet another new PB for Paul Ingar and good for another place in the standings, well done Paul! Timo whacked Rob on the line, 0.0681 to 0.3819, Rob was in catch-up all the way, 0.9191 to sixty feet to Timo's 0.9800, 3.6029/207.52 at half track to Timo's 3.7529/195.61, Timo took the stripe by 0.0571 seconds with a consistent pass and you know what consistency does. A new PB speed for Rob and consolidating #2 spot at that point, well done Rob! Peter back into #3 spot, 0.9550 at sixty feet, 3.6777/202.88 at half track. Grumpy got to sixty feet in 0.9478 and hakf track at 3.6237/206.34. Final qualifying standings:
16:25 FIA Methanol Funny Car qualifying session 4 (left lane first): Danny Bellio 6.0690/239.55, Jarmo Kuutniemi 7.9979/116.58, Kjell Sjöblöm 6.0507/214.60, Leif Andréasson 5.7132/245.76, Freddy Fagerström 6.2910/229.70, Dan Larsen 5.8359/245.90 Jarmo got to sixty feet in 0.9578 but then hit shake, pedalled a couple of times but then called it a day before half track. A consistent pass for Danny, 1.0369 to sixty feet and 3.9999/186.95 at half track. 0.9989 to sixty feet for Kjell to Leif's 0.9541 and then it was all about Leif, a straight run with little sign of anything other than "normal" shake, 3.7291/200.04 at half track and blasting into #1 spot with his best run in a very long time. Freddy was all over his lane, kept pedalling and hung onto it as the car headed towards the centre line more than once, Dan got to sixty feet in 0.9457, 3.8316/192.40 at half track. Final qualifying standings:
16:15 FIA Top Fuel Dragster qualifying session 4 (left lane first): Lex Joon 4.9942/251.40 bye, Micke Kågered 5.3992/223.85 bye, Stig Neergaard 5.6120/234.49, Janne Ahonen 5.5652/197.30, Tommi Haapanen 10.0240/80.93, Urs Erbacher 4.7629/300.53, Thomas Nataas 10.2579/7.91, Andy Carter 4.6450/296.39 Lex in the last chance saloon in this session. 0.8981 to sixty feet, a brief pedal at about 150 feet, then off the throttle at about 1000 feet. Lex is in tomorrow's eliminations now which must be a huge relief and his fingernails are probably pretty pleased too. That put Micke outside the field but he put himself back in, 0.9244 to sixty feet and 3.5420/228.65 at half track, shut off there or thereabouts but at that point still racing tomorrow. The then #8 and #9 next, Janne will be spectating tomorrow as the Eagle Racing dragster disappeared into a cloud of smoke in the second half of the track. Oil was found in Janne's lane. Stig used up most of the right side of his lane and pedalled twice, the second was a long pedal in the latter half of the track and he got very close to the top end reflectors. On the restart it was a good start for both Tommi and Urs, 0.8631 to sixty feet for Tommi to 0.8660 for Urs, Tommi hit shake at the Tree and shut off, Urs stayed with it 3.2070/257.21 at half track then off the throttle at about 1100 feet. A superb run from Andy Carter equalling Kim Reymond's 4.645 here at the finals a few years ago, 0.8371 to sixty feet and 3.1340/266.42 at half track, off the throttle at about 1100 feet. Thomas got to sixty feet in 0.8651 and got off the throttle. Andy's 4.703 of yesterday is now a European record backed by by the too-quick 4.645. Andy Carter has now overtaken Barry Sheavills as the all-time top FIA Top Fuel Dragster points earner, well done Andy! Final qualifying standings:
15:30 FIA Pro Stock qualifying session 4 (left lane first): Michael Malmgren 6.8158/202.66 bye, Jan Palmqvist 7.1611/194.69, Tommy Leindahl 6.9389/198.26, Kenneth Söderström 24.9768/60.31, Eero Knihtilä 6.8061/203.48, Jonas Dantanus 6.8839/199.95, Micke Callin 6.9202/198.17, Jimmy Ålund 6.8799/198.15, Magnus Hansson 6.8622/199.83 Michael up into #2 spot with his bye, 1.0067 to sixty feet, 4.3818/159.58 at half track. Tommy bumped Jan out with his first six of the weekend, Jan took a very long way round and got very close to the wall but stayed with it. Tommy clocked 0.9950 to sixty feet and 4.4468/156.89 to half track. Tommy is driving with severe back pain and has seen the track doctor between this morning's and this afternoon's session, hope you get well soon Tommy. Eero changed his clutch combination and blasted into #1 spot, 1.0151 at half track, 4.3840/161.32 at half track and a squeak off the European ET and speed records. Kenneth's tyres shook at the hit, he got off the throttle and idled down the track. Jonas' team committed a blue line violation but the run was no quicker than previously anyway, Micke improved but stayed in #7. A nice pass for Jimmy, looked quicker than it was, 1.0009 to sixty feet and 4.4151/158.42 at half track, 1.0051 to sixty feet for Magnus and 4.4002/158.80 at half track, a slight improvement but stayed in place. After the session ended word came back that Tommy's run had been DQ'd as the car was two pounds underweight, so on his previous best Tommy is out and Jan races tomorrow. Final qualifying standings:
15:15 FIM/UEM Top Fuel Bike qualifying session 4 (left lane first): Luigi Ferretti 7.4260/134.34 bye, Tim Blakemore 7.5420/174.43, Michal Ponca 9.5409/133.63, Steve Woollatt 18.7630/46.68, Rene Van Den Berg 16.6709/68.80, Jorgen Waalewijn 9.1137/150.50, Shaun Branch 9.9079/146.64, Otto Knebl 8.4848/161.88, Sandra Chaplain no time, Kev Charman 7.6533/165.34, Dave Bailey 8.5470/139.27, Søren Hartvig 7.4180/181.54 bye, Gary Jones no time, Neil Midgley 8.1742/120.64, Steve French 7.1759/181.46, Rikard Gustavsson 6.9661/155.63, Steve Carey 7.8211/186.70 Luigi's bike sounded lazy off the line and none of us heard a gear change. Tim picked up a place but doesn't race tomorrow, Michal got a time on the board for the fourth time of asking. Steve W's slick again went up in smoke at the hit, and rene's bike again more or less idled down the track. Jorgen improved but watches tomorrow, same story for Shaun as the bike bogged off the line. Sandra lost fire after the burnout, an improvement and an extra place for Otto but he's a spectator from now on. No improvements for Kev or Dave and they are on the spectator bank tomorrow as well. Gary's engine stopped as he went to stage, Søren took the bye and something came off the bike at half track. An improvement for Steve French to consolidate his #8 spot, he should be safe for tomorrow, Neil shut off at half track. No improvement for Rikard but he's well into tomorrow's ladder, Steve C had to feather the throttle as the bike fishtailed. Qualifying standings after this session:
15:00 FIM/UEM Supertwin qualifying session 4 (left lane first): Joachim Riemer no time (bye), Ian Turburville 8.9389/127.55, Per Bengtsson 6.9702/203.72, Lorenz Stäble 6.6571/210.33, Hans Olav Olstad 9.6040/86.71, Günther Sohn 8.4937/111.42, Roel Koedam 6.6969/206.55 Joachim shut off before staging. Turbo's bike sounded to be struggling, Per's bike sounded just great, 1.2374 to sixty feet and 4.6012/166.53 at half track then from here Per looked to shut off slightly early. Champion-elect Lo gets it all together just at the right time, the bike heading right all the way down but he stayed with it. Hans Olav was also on a good pass until there was a bang and a flash of slame at about 300 feet. A great pass for Roel, 1.1440 to sixty feet and 4.3669/172.31 to half track and into #2 spot, Günther shut off at half track. Final qualifying standings:
14:50 FIM/UEM Pro Stock Bike qualifying session 4 (left lane first): Örjan Gustavsson 7.5149/177.22, Ken Cooper 7.7291/164.24, Rasmus Olessen 7.8591/163.52, Martin Newbury 8.0358/134.45, Ray Debben 7.9140/167.37, Martin Bishop 7.5530/173.68, Richard Gipp 7.6602/167.84, Len Paget 7.5711/170.95, Fredrik Fredlund 9.1372/95.78, Anders Larsson 7.4660/170.53, Anders Jakobsson no time, Anders Abrahamsson 7.3449/178.59 Improvments for both Örjan and Ken, O¨rjan moved up the field but Ken stays outside and will be spectating on race day. No improvements for either Rasmus or Martin N, both will be watching tomorrow. A big improvement for Martin Bishop put him in #6 at that point, Ray with a consistent run but not enough. Richard improved and as things stood there was first alternate for tomorrow. Fredrik had to back off after heading for the centre line, still on the bump at that point. Anders J's engine cut out off the line. Final qualifying standings:
14:30 Sportsman ET eliminations round 1 winners: Teresa Letchford (12.98) 13.0222/107.39 bye, Lee Huxley (15.40) 15.5772/74.21, Steve Gilmour (14.55) 14.7142/94.27, Paul Herbert (13.30) 13.9140/96.78, Matt Attwood (12.09) 12.2691/91.67, Steve Parfitt (12.89) 13.2342/99.53, Geoff Cowley (15.30) 15.5051/78.92, Hans Van Der Spek (12.32) 12.3262/108.91, Jacob Bailey (13.20) 13.2701/85.56, Ian Jackson (13.86) 14.0482/99.07, Nigel Holland (15.10) 15.3611/83.33 Super Comp eliminations round 1 winners: Tim Adam 8.9689/148.50, Brian Pateman 8.9600/152.04, Pete Cresswell 8.9289/141.11, Jon Morton 8.9341/146.10, Martin Curbishley 9.1180/140.61, Shaun Lathan 9.0420/152.06, Chris Johnson 9.3419/148.13 bye (Frank Mason shut off after burnout), Sarah Day 8.9971/141.50, Belinda Bull 9.0381/138.86, Paul Knight 8.9340/147.41 Steve Harrington looked to have a bit of a moment in his race with Pete Creswell as his Corolla drifted to the left and then made what looked like a pretty hard move to the right, right on the finish line. Steve kept hold of it. Trackside conditions are 19.0 C, 64% humidity and 1015 mb of air, track temperature is 23.0 C. 14:10 Super Street qualifying top five after session 10:
No changes to the top five in this session. 13:50 Fuel Funny Car session 3 (left lane first): Leif Helander 5.3620/284.98 def. Gary Page 8.1021/91.26
Martin Hill followed Fuel FC with a 6.0719/274.76 in the Fireforce 3 Jet FC. 13:45 FIA NDRS Bilsport Pro Modified qualifying session 3 (left lane first): Roger Johansson 7.6340/131.55 bye, Kev Slyfield 8.1091/127.87, Bert Englefield 7.3288/157.79, Micke Gullquist no time, Seppo Saapola 7.9840/160.05, Micke Lindahl 6.1750/229.65, Patrick Wikström 6.4493/222.74, Ian Bishop 7.1258/192.35, Urban Johansson 6.6412/220.45, Gordon Appleton 6.5363/213.89, Rolf Ammann 6.6192/214.03, Bruno Bader 6.3812/213.36, Niclas Andersson 9.6580/90.70, Norbert Kuno 7.9530/126.06, Mats Eriksson 9.4963/94.34, Micke Nord 10.4591/83.47, Marc Meihuizen 6.2988/224.01, Robert Joosten 6.3130/223.86, Andy Robinson 6.6631/156.28 1.0561 to sixty feet for Roger, hitting shake as he passed the Tree, a nitrous pop at 200 feet but he stayed with it, only getting off the throttle as the Mustang turned hard right at about 600 feet. A scary one for Kev and Bert, both cars making moves left and right and they made a move towards one another just past half track, both had it covered though, Bert moved on to the bump spot at that point. Micke G was bulbed as Seppo had been sitting in stage up on the revs for what seemed an eternity. The lights ran and Seppo didn't move, then Micke G edged into stage and was sat on the line with his revs up, Chief Starter Ian Marshall told Seppo to make his pass, which he did, and Micke was ordered to drive down the track. 1.0009 to sixty feet for Micke L, 4.0230/180.50 at half track, one thousandth off the European ET record and a new speed record if he backs it up, into #1 spot, well done Micke! Patrick drove through shake but stayed with it and moved up the standings. No improvement for Ian Bishop, Urban pedalled for shake, headed for the centre line and stayed with it, the engine was smoking from half track on. 1.0540 to sixty feet for Gordon, 1.1222 for Rolf, Gordon's Camaro drifted left but be pulled it back to the centre of the lane, from here it looked as if Gordon backed off a touch early. Rolf's Coupe headed to the right from the start, he straightened it out and drive through a hard right move at about 800 feet. Niclas hit tyre shake by about 30 feet, pedalled and tried again but the car made a move and he got off the throttle. Meanwhile Bruno blasted out a new PB, well done Bruno! 1.0112 to sixty feet, 4.1301/173.01 at half track and a place up the standings. Synchronised shake for Norbert and Mats, the cars making a move towards each other towards half track, both gave up at that point. Micke Gullquist then appeared on the start line for a word with Chief Starter Ian Marshall, from up here it looked pretty calm and amicable, Micke obviously asked in a reasonable manner what had happened, Ian told him, and Micke walked away looking not particularly unhappy. Micke N hit had shake and the Mustang turned hard left at about 250 feet, another stormer from Marc, 1.0239 to sixty feet and 4.0969/178.05 at half track, and the usual smoke at the finish line. 1.0020 to sixty feet for Andy, 1.1028 for Robert, both driving through shake, 4.1538/180.87 at half track for Robert to Andy's 4.0251/180.61, the Stude then visiby slowed and there was a bang and something came off the car. Roger at the top end reported that it looked like half of the bonnet was missing. Qualifying standings after this session:
13:20 FIA Methanol Dragster qualifying session 3 (left lane first): Rob Turner 5.5288/254.26 bye, Timo Habermann 5.7480/243.49, Dave Wilson 5.4568/258.56, Krister Johansson 6.2730/232.95, Derek Flynn 6.6370/217.32, Peter Schöfer 7.9921/97.82 bye, Paul Ingar Udtian no time A great run for Rob, 0.9291 to sixty feet, driving through "normal" TMD shake, a slight drift towards the centre line, 3.6159/205.35 at half track, Rob stayed with it all the way and improved his ET. A stormer between Timo and Grumpy, Timo you will remember pulled a perfect light in Sweden and pulled a 0.0529 this time to Grumpy's 0.1211, 0.9873 to sixty feet to Grumpy's 0.9438, Timo straight as you like, 3.7500/197.46 at half track to Grumpy's 3.5679/209.28, the Silverline dragster drifted to the right a little in the first half, Grumpy took the stripe by 0.2230. A new PB for Timo, well done Timo, and #1 spot for Grumpy. A much improved run for Krister, still off the TMD numbers but somewhere closer to the tune-up, Derek's slicks went up in smoke at the hit, he pedalled and drove all the way through. Paul Ingar didn't get out of reverse after the burnout and had to shut off, Peter tooke the bye, 0.9399 to sixty feet, driving through shake and then the blower belt came off at about 200 feet. Qualifying standings after this session:
Trackside conditions are 18.0 C, 67% humidity and 1016 mb of air. The track temps will be back leter on when Roger has returned from his trip to the end of the shutdown area. 13:05 FIA Methanol Funny Car qualifying session 3 (left lane first): Steph Milam 6.5972/211.10, Jarmo Kuutniemi 11.3700/71.30, Freddy Fagerström 5.7278/246.52, Dan Larsen 5.7829/247.56, Kjell Sjöblöm 6.6158/229.93, Leif Andréasson 9.8142/81.05, Ulf Leanders 10.8950/66.95 A good-looking run for Steph, but the motor sounded to hesitate just towards the finish line and then the blower burst panel popped. No chutes and Steph went past Roger at the end of the shutdown area and went into the field. The car stayed right side up and Steph is quite OK. Roger checked out the car when it been recovered and said that it doesn't look to have suffered any damage. Freddy had a passenger in this session, you will be able to find out more on Simon's next set of pit notes. Freddy told us that his launch RPMs were far too high yesterday so that was sorted overnight. Jarmo hit shake passing the Tree, 0.9660 to sixty feet but then it was all over. Freddy as promised with a much better run, 0.9919 to sixty feet and 3.7717/200.32 at half track, a slight drift to the right but Freddy had it more than covered. A new Personal Best and into #1 spot, well done Freddy! Roger tells us that Freddy's RPM meter broke off on this run and he set his RPMs by ear! Nice sixty foot times for both Dan and Kjell. 0.9549 to 0.9870, Kjell's FC made a move to the left and he pedalled at half track, a stormer from Dan, 3.8007/197.68 at half track and up to #2. Synchronised shake from Leif and Ulf, Leif to sixty feet in 0.9240 and Ulf at 0.9642 but both shook as the passed the Tree, both engines zinging and both off the throttle immediately. Qualifying standings after this session:
12:15 FIA Top Fuel Dragster qualifying session 3 (left lane first): Urs Erbacher 4.8439/304.39, Tommi Haapanen 4.8379/298.15, Andy Carter 6.9672/113.63, Stig Neergaard 5.5039/224.13, Janne Ahonen 10.4600/70.88, Micke Kågered 6.8892/125.39, Jöran Persåker 6.3235/134.64, Lex Joon 11.3898/89.34 A tremendous pairing to start the session, Tommi away first 0.1530 to 0.1700, the better sixty foot 0.8657 to 0.8889, 3.2411/246.92 at half track for Tommi to Urs' 3.2791/252.31, Tommi's dragstesr drifted to the right at 300 feet or so and he stayed on the right side of his lane all the way whilst Urs went straight down the middle. One suspects a (relatively) conservative pass for Urs to consolidate his position and he'll step it up next time out. Andy out on Stig 0.1368 to 1.0532, a storming sixty foot time for Andy of 0.8392 to Stig's 1.0532 for Stig, Andy's blower belt departed the Lucas Oil / Landmeco car at 300 feet or so. Stig's car was away a little lazily, there was a nitro cloud from the car at about 800 feet, cylinders were out in the second half and Stig was off the throttle by about 1100 feet and the chutes were out in the traps. 0.8800 sixty foot time for Janne to Micke's 0.9591, Janne's tyres started to smoke at about 100 feet and he stayed with it until the dragster turned hard right - we could read all the sponsor names on the side of the car from here. Micke looked to lose his blower burst panel at 200 feet. Lex's tyres went up in smoke at the hit, he stayed on the throttle until the MPM Oil car turned hard right. Jöran was on a good one to start with, 0.8641 to sixty feet but then there was smoke from the engine and then a huge ball of flame at about 300 feet. Jöran got it stopped no problem and the fire crew were there ready to sort him out at the end of the shutdown area. There was a clean-up in Jöran's lane, oil from 300 feet right the way down the shutdown area. Roger at the top end reported that Jöran's blower is in two pieces. Championship leader Lex has a real nightmare now, he is not qualified, but he's been here before at Mantorp and it all came together in the final qualifying session. Qualifying standings after this session:
12:00 FIA Pro Stock qualifying session 3 (left lane first): Jan Palmqvist 6.9679/198.30 bye, Tommy Leindahl 9.8781/104.37, Kenneth Söderström 6.9170/198.17, Eero Knihtilä 7.3731/147.07, Jonas Dantanus 6.8364/199.04, Micke Callin 6.9750/198.15, Jimmy Ålund 6.8162/202.74, Magnus Hansson 6.8909/199.06, Michael Malmgren 7.2150/157.29 A new Personal Best for Jan, into the sixes, well done Jan! There is more there too since Jan took the mong way round, heading for the centre line and back. Tommy hit shake and shut off, Kenneth's Grand Am turned left at about 150 feet but he stayed on the throttle and into the sixes, a new PB and we have an all-six qualified field again now. A storming run for Jonas, 1.0082 to sixty feet, a slight drift to the right at 300 feet and he shut off and had the chutes out before the stripe so there is more there yet. Eero drove through shake and shut off at around half track. A great match-up between Micke and Jimmy, Micke got away first 0.0890 to 0.1289 but Jimmy had the much better sixty foot time 0.9942 to 1.0241, first to the stripe by 0.1189. Both stay in place. Another burndown before Magnus and Michael ran, Magnus away first by a long shot, 0.0461 to 0.1170, Michael off the throttle at about 1000 feet, Magnus on the throttle all the way through. This is the quickest qualified Pro Stock field ever in Europe. Qualifying standings after this session:
11:45 FIM/UEM Top Fuel Bike qualifying session 3 (left lane first): Steve Woollatt 18.1550/47.81 bye, Ian King 6.8481/164.88, Jorgen Waaleiwjn 11.6509/139.29, Rene Van Den Berg , Søren Hartvig 7.3269/167.96, Rene Van Den Berg 21.5719/31.68, Gary Jones no time, Otto Knebl 8.6201/162.41, Gary Jones 8.2390/161.43 bye, Michal Ponca shut off, Neil Midgley 7.1702/182.07 bye, Sandra Chaplain 9.1132/148.4, Tim Blakemore no time, Shaun Branch 12.5020/130.93, Kev Charman 7.6441/165.32, Dave Bailey 8.8026.142.98 bye, Luigi Ferretti shut off, Steve French 7.2451/180.08, Rikard Gustavsson 6.6628/199.13, Steve Carey 6.8297/203.73, Eric Teboul 6.3612/216.08 Steve W's slick went up in smoke at the hit and he got straight off the throttle and idled through. Jorgen had problems starting and only just did his burnout as Ian went forward for staging. 1.1380 to sixty feet for Ian, 4.2741/171.70 at half track, Jorgen's bike hesitated off the line and seemed to need a couple of hits to get going as he headed for the centre line. Søoren blew away his Personal Best and moved up a place, well done Søoren! Rene idled up the track. Gary shut off before staging, Otto took the bye and improved his ET but stayed in place. No word on why Gary Jones shut off but he was then allowed to run, the bike hesitated at half track but Gary has a time on the board now. Michal was shut off for a fluid leak, Midgo took the bye and got into the top eight leaning off the bike towards the top end. Sandra's bike sounded to have problems changing gear, Tim's bike hesitated off the line and then he shut off at about 100 feet. Shaun's bike didn't seem to want to go, rolling off the start line and then picking up a little further down. Kev took a straight pass but no improvement. Luigi shut off on the way back from the burnout, no word why, Dave took the bye and his bike sounded to be labouring, no improvement. Steve F having been bumped by Søren returned the favour with his best run of the weekend so far, Rikard improved his ET but stayed in place. Nice passes for Steve C and Eric, Eric straight down the middle of his lane, maybe a touch lazy off the line, Steve running down the right of his lane but had it covered. Qualifying standings after this session:
11:20 FIM/UEM Supertwin qualifying session 3 (left lane first): Roel Koedam 6.7489/203.60 bye, Ian Turburville no time, Per Bengtsson no time, Lorenz Stäble 8.7522/105.16 bye, Petri Kalttonen 6.8948/189.90, Joachim Riemer no time, Hans Olav Olstad 6.8999/206.42, Günther Sohn 6.9829/180.77 Turbo had problems starting Mr Spokehead so Roel took the bye. A nice run right to about 1000 feet when the engine seemed to hesitate a moment, still a nice 6.7 and then a big cloud of smoke in the shutdown area. Roger is at the end of the shutdown area right now and reported that Roel just grazed the wall but is A-OK. A big bang and a chunk of metal from Per's bike in the burnout, Lo took the bye and the bike started to fishtail and head for the guardrail, Lo did everything he could but had to get off the throttle. Joachim rolled through stage, Petri put in a stormer with a huge nitro flame above the bike all the way down the track which turned into orange flame in the last couple of hundred feet. A lot of concern around Hans Olav's bike before staging, his lanyard had come off, Günther waited patiently. A nice run from Hans Olav, a slight fishtail at half track for Günther and then a puff of smoke right on the finish line. Qualifying standings after this session:
11:10 FIM/UEM Pro Stock Bike qualifying session 3 (left lane first): Martin Bishop 7.7042/173.55, Tom Tinndahn 7.1920/178.44, Martin Newbury 7.8894/167.21 bye, Luigi Chinarello shut off, Ray Debben 7.9601/162.32 bye, Ken Cooper 8.1060/149.99, Rasmus Olessen 8.2960/164.84, Len Paget 7.5941/171.57, Richard Gipp 7.7920/164.93, Anders Abrahamsson 7.3810/179.89, Fredrik Fredlund 7.6772/167.15, Anders Larsson 7.4350/175.64, Anders Jakobsson 7.5492/172.32 Martin's first run of the weekend just off the top eight, Tom with a new transmission clocked a very consistent run. A big improvement for Martin Newbury but he remained propping up the field. Luigi shut off after the burnout, Ray took the bye but no improvement. Rasmus' bike hesitated off the line and Ken's bike looked to bang up and down on the wheelie bars a couple of times. Consistent passes from Len and Richard, Len's in the field and Richard is not as things stand. Nice 0.0370 and 0.0289 reactions from Anders A and Fredrik, no improvements though. Same story for Anders L and J, no improvments, just about everyone has slowed down a touch this morning. Qualifying standings after this session:
11:00 Super Gas eliminations round 1 winners: Stuart Morrice 9.9081/143.22, Jon Morton 9.8861/145.15, Malcolm Francis 10.5539/138.04, Brendan Clancy and Mick Howling both DQ (dual deep stage foul), Tim Adam 9.9068/146.22, Werner Zurdell 9.9467/121.33, Mike Bentley 9.9690/140.19, Stuart Doignie 9.9068/147.14, Steve Dunn 99467/145.34 Next up is today's first Pro session. 10:50 Super Pro ET eliminations round 1 winners: Spencer Tramm (8.78) 8.7702/150.92, Barry Giles (7.60) 7.6668/173.90, Steve Johnson (7.25) 7.2758/182.02, Pat Talbot (7.00) 18.9079/55.01, Rick Cooke (8.23) 8.3000/157.85, Steve Neimantas (7.90) 7.975/171.79, Steve Green (8.74) 8.7189/143.89, Chris Orthodoxou (7.88) 7.8670/158.38, Ashley Bell (8.66) 8.7600/130.89, Vince Gibbs (7.40) 7.4129/166.60, Paul Marston (8.30) 8.2161/160.09 bye (Al Golding no show), Paula Atkin (7.50) 7.5381/178.01, Nigel Payne (7.92) 7.9400/170.52, Phil Sweeney (8.60) 8.5721/150.39 bye We're all thinking of John Everitt who lost his son Oliver two years ago this weekend. A bizarre outcome in the race between Steve Saunders and Pat Talbot as Pat's tyres went up in smoke and the dragster went sideways and she had to shut off and idle through...meanwhile in the other lane Steve Saunders broke out handing Pat the win! Another PB for Mick Payne with a 7.5033 from the big Coronet. Mick, you've got to take those wheelie bars off! Nick Good's dragster left the line with a cylinder out and then it started to leave a trail of oil from 150 feet for the length of the track and a body panel came off the car at about half-track. Trackside conditions are 17.2 C, 72% humidity and 1016 mb of air, track temperature is 21.6 C. 9:15 Pro ET eliminations round 1 winners: Ian Brown (10.79) 10.7800/121.28, Chris Hodgkins (9.75) 9.8502/115.02, Paul Baynton (10.99) 11.0648/122.97, Ful Lievaart (9.86) 10.2313/108.71, Charlie Chivers (10.72) 10.7168/126.38, Dan Page (11.34) 11.2901/116.58, Dave Cherrett (10.00) 10.0010/126.75, Simon Rowland (9.35) 9.4059/138.86, Brian Huxley (10.58) 10.6528/116.24, John Morris (9.85) 9.8913/119.96, Nicky Frost (9.81) 10.1120/109.46, Neil Hunter (10.00) 10.1998/128.21, Keith Herbert (11.38) 11.3780/111.64, Carl Burton (11.18) 11.2130/117.19, Anders Envall (10.90) 10.9572/100.47, Carla Pittau (9.80) 9.8831/135.55 bye (Moose Hollingworth no show) Anders Envall carrying the traditional Fawlty Towers quote on the back of his Impala for your reporter's benefit, this time it was "I know nothing". Paul Somerville tells us that Anders has only first and second gear, but he was very close indeed to dial-in. 8:30 Good morning and welcome from Santa Pod Raceway for day three of the FIA European Finals. 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 posting a picture every sixty seconds, and will be on-line twenty four hours a day until the track closes on Sunday evening. It's a beautiful day here, not a cloud in the sky and a gentle breeze. Trackside conditions are 15.8 C, 81% humidity and 1016 mb of air, track temperature on the start line is 16.7 C. Today's action starts at 9:00 with Sportsman eliminations, today's Pro sessions are scheduled for 10:30 and 14:00. Stay tuned and as soon as they fire up we'll bring you all the news. Reports and pictures ©Eurodragster.com |