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18:00

Pro Stock driver Eero Knithila said "I was pleased with a 6.856/202.61 (the mph a European record) and it was a good straight run. We have some new guys on our crew and we didn't practice activating the fire bottle before the run. So they had to learn at the start line."

Magnus Hansson ran a new PB of 6.87 in the first session, but felt "That run was not perfect and we should be able to go quicker. This class is going to be very tough this year and we need a couple of more runs to see where everybody stands. Four cars in the 6.8s speaks for itself and Tommy (Leindahl) will be able to join us in that bracket. The times are so tight that with a greater number of cars entered you may not qualify if you have a misfortune."

Michael Malmgren said "We were happy with the first run although it was a little rough and I have a new Bob Ingles motor that has not been fully dialled in. We will take it step by step." The next run was a new ET record of 6.803.

Micke Lindahl (Pro Mod) had a problem with his carbon fibre injector hat. "The injector broke and I couldn't vary the rpm, it would only run open or shut. So the run was very jumpy. We have a new clutch to tune as well. I was pleased with a new PB in the 6.3s last weekend as we shut off at 6.06s into the run." The new Lindahl Camaro is based on a bare Tim McAmis chassis and a Camaro body from Synergy Composites. The engine and trans are from the previous car.

Gordon Appleton was delighted with a new personal best of 6.308 on his first run today. "We had no qualms. There was just a little tyre shake but I drove through it." Carl Spiering of Canadian firm Engine Research Data, a noted IHRA racer, is attending this meeting to help customers Danny Cockerill and Gordon.

It's Pro Mod racer Per-Olaf Eriksson's first visit to Santa Pod and he has a new transmission on his Willys which he ran in Pro Mod in 2006 in Scandinavia. Per-Olaf said "We have an air shifted transmission and my run this morning of 6.78 was close to my PB of 6.77 even though we did not use the full nitrous system. There's lots more to come once I've found the right combination for the clutch, because I had no tyre shake. The car was built by Tami Brander and I hope to stay ahead of him in the standings." On the UK drag racing scene, Per-Olaf said "The English spectators are true drag racing fans and are so keen on taking photos and collecting things."

17:00

After the first qualifier, Steph Milam (TMFC) said "we're pleased, that was a good run". A lot of work has been done on the car since Easter as a short motor was destroyed - only the heads were salvageable. "The body needed repair work too and this probably took more time than the engine." Sponsors are named on the car as Josh White and Jack Sheer.

Fellow Methanol FC runner Jarmo Kuutniemi said "This was our first run at Santa Pod and we have new heads and fuel pump on, so we ran a half pass and shifted early. We will step up next time." The team's sponsors are OK Repair, jpsmotors.fi and Kendall. Jarmo's crew chief is Harry Räikkönen.

Returning after a truncated 2006 season, Arvid Grødem said "The ruptured tendon in my arm is fully healed now and I feel much better. The car shook during the first run, but these cars always do. We had some minor breakage on the motor, a pushrod, so we are trying to repair that for the next qualifying round. We plan to run all four championship rounds plus Gardermoen and Hockenheim."

Dan Larsen of Eurodragster.com home and news page sponsors Dansk Auto Hi Fi, said "We had very bad tyre shake and we must have put too much clutch in. The engine is fine, but the transmission is being looked at. I'm hopeful for this year as our testing last weekend went well."

The TMFC team of Leif Andréasson has been joined this weekend by Joe Pando of MSD Ignition, who has been spending time developing the company's European market base. "When I visited Autosport International, it opened our eyes to the size of this market and we will also attend Mantorp this year with a larger contingent of MSD personnel. I'm really excited and we have appointed representatives in England and Paris, with help from Leif. They will aid our distribution for the street and race markets. If racers want to use our test equipment it is at Leif's trailer and we were here until 10pm testing parts last night. We have also introduced a new pricing programme to ensure there is a level playing field between distributors and will apply this to Europe to make it easier for the consumer.

"MSD is developing more product with Drag Racing as our main focus, which is where we started. Henrik Lindström of Leif's team has spent time being trained on our products and also the equipment produced by Racepak, our sister company which we acquired two years ago."

Leif Andréasson said "We are testing some MSD parts on the car but the run didnt work out as we had a mechanical problem with the lifters, pushrods and camshaft. We found the problem and will make the necessary changes to go again."

Ulf Leanders is running a self-made clutch and was very pleased with how it worked. "It performed better than expectations and hooked up well at the top end (hence the 243mph speed). It was our very first run this year and to go 6.04 with a new part like that was great. The only damage was some rollers on the intake rockers which we will look at." Ironcad are the main sponsors and they have been joined by Haas Automation Inc, which makes computer-controlled milling machines.

Also in TMFC, Fredde Fagerstrom said his no. 1 qualifier "Felt good. There was tyre shake and it took off the cable to the shift light. The car made a move to the left but I kept with it and it still made a good time. The motor is ok and we only had to change a couple of bearings."

12:10

In Top Fuel, Joran Persåker told us that he is running a car that Tommy Moller ran and has had a lot of work on it from Peter Lantz. The ex-Peter Knight car will be retained as a show car.

PiPPi of (HarleyDrags.com) has been to the bike pits and this is what he found. With the weather looking problematic and eight bike fields in each class, everyone will be looking for their best times from the start. It's going to be a humdinger of a Super Twin race with Lorentz Stauble and Gunther Sohn as main contenders for the championship. Lo ran a best of 6.58 at Easter and Gunther is well prepared and his personal best is expected to fall. Hans-Olav Olstad has new injectors, otherwise a similar setup to last year and feels good about the motor's performance. Ian Turburville at this meeting is being tuned by Ronny Aasen who is taking a sabbatical this year.

Also in Super Twin, Jaska Salakari and Petri Kalttonen are running the same engine. Gregor Johansson is running the same setup as 06. Roel Koedam appears calm and collected but the team had a big rebuild to do after his engine failure at Easter and reportedly the only parts salvageable were the cam covers. Carina Sjutti has the same setup and has overhauled the engine over the winter.

PiPPi said that Roger Gustavsson is looking to repeat his Top Fuel Bike Championship on his funny bike. An identical spare engine has been built and at recent testing at Gardermoen, planned for a 6.8 and ran a 6.82, clicking at 1000ft. His aim is to run consistent 6.6s. Eric Teboul has carried out work on the camshaft, the inlet manifold and the upper half of the engine and will be looking to repeat the 6.2s form of last year. Luigi and Antonio Feretti are present and are very happy with a 6.78 in testing. Ian King has a strong bike, but overseas work commitments have limited the preparation time. The best times so far this year have been by Steve Woollatt whose 6.31 was a signal that should cause his competitors to be worried.

Pro Stock will be the toughest championship yet, said PiPPi. Anders Abrahamsson ran a new PB of 7.27 in testing at Gardermoen just off the official record of 7.266. Meanwhile, Anders Jakobsson ran on the eighth at Meca a 4.61 which is better than any bike last year at the facility. Orjan Gustavsson had problems in pre-season testing with an ex-Roger Petersson engine called 'Sid Vicious' which required a rebuild, so they will start with their spare motor in qualifying. Martin Bishop has treated the Suzuki motor to an overhaul and new carbs. Tom Tinndahn has noted US Pro Stock Bike racer Chip Ellis making his tuning calls this weekend for the first time.

There are some new faces from Denmark in Pro Stock Bike. It's Steen Jorgensens first Pro Stock bike race and he ran high sevens in testing at Gardermoen. Rasmus Olesen is also new and runs similar Suzuki power to Steen. Fredrik Fredlund may be a new name in the UK but he has accomplished a lot in Swedish sportsman bike classes and ran a 7.7 in testing.

Ulf Ogge has been upgrading the ignition on his PSB and ran a PB in testing. A quick bike returning is Anders Larsson who had an engine failure at Mantorp that put him out for the remainder of 2006. At the recent Gardermoen test, he ran a 7.30 and is upbeat for the new season.

09:45

Good morning and welcome to Saturday's Pit Notes from the Main Event 2007.

The weather is clear and there are two Pro qualifying sessions today. We looked in the pits and came across John Spuffard's new Showtime car (right). This is an ex-John Force Racing car run in the U.S. by Robert Hight and christened "The Eric Car" in memory of the late Eric Medlen. The car is up to the minute in design but as this is its debut meeting there may be bugs to be ironed out, but we can expect the team to be aiming for the first Funny Car four second pass very soon. Full details can be seen at the revamped and comprehensive Showtime web site at www.showtimeracinguk.com.

Next to Showtime is Kenneth Lorentzon's Pennzoil Funny Car driven by Håkan Fallstrom(left). The body which came off at the Easter Thunderball at half track following an engine explosion is fully repaired with a fresh paint scheme. Håkan will be looking to step up in the four car field here.

In Top Fuel Dragster, Janne Ahonen is running at Santa Pod for the first time in a new Rune Fjeld car. Rune is in attendance this weekend and two crew chiefs that have worked on Rune's cars in recent years will be helping with the tuning calls, Ben Allum and Eddie Corr. Janne is a very focused competitor who has been successful in Competition Eliminator in Scandinavia and could quickly become a force in Top Fuel. His car is in the Eagle Racing colours.

In Pro ET, class sponsorship organiser Carl Burton won the Eurodragster/LA Racing Parts Perfect ET award. "We ran three passes close to the numbers and broke out once. On our third pass it was right on the numbers," Carl said. Details of the Pro ET sponsors can be found at here.

Drag Race Engineering's Gary Springford had a busy lead up to the meeting. "We had to convert Paul Marston's Calibra from Mopar to big block Chevy, carry out work on the intake manifold and carb of Steve Bolton's Plymouth Scamp and do some work on the four-link dragster. We finished at 4am on Thursday morning." The results have been encouraging with good qualifying spots and the Calibra running into the 8.3s on its first outing with the team. Gary's own Hulk Shogun however suffered from lack of fuel pressure and he said "The car is quite nervous as it's either full throttle or idle with nothing in between. We didn't complete a run yesterday and will just drive it down the track gently until I am happy with it."