Top Fuel racer Andy Carter arrived for the no.1 qualifier interviews this morning in his King of Europe regalia and 'knighted' Thomas Nataas who will be racing the Lucas Motorsports Top Fuel dragster at Las Vegas and Pomona in a few week's time. Andy had engine problems yesterday, breaking rods in the morning session with a thrash before coming out for the final qualifier. Carsten Andersen said "The problem in the last session was a burnt piston. We are looking forward to the whole team coming to the US," he said. Andy went out to Joran Persaker in the semi final, his first loss since Hockenheim 2008.

Bruno Bader won �2000 in the Exhaust-coating.de final yesterday and received the winner's cheque on the start line as part of pre-race ceremonies. Eurodragster.com sponsor Andy Robinson was runner up with a cheque for �500.

German drag racing historian and NitrolympX official Andrea Kloss met up with two visitors from the US. Jay Livingston runs the NHRA Division 6 Woodburn, Oregon track owned by his father and Jason Murray works at Woodburn and also helps to run the US live results service at Dragracecentral.com. Jay and Jason have made the trip to help track prep at Hockenheim in recent years.

Top Fuel Bike racer Sverre Dahl was on a speed recprd of 233mph and was due to meet Ian King in the semi final. Ian wasn't able to make the call after a rod broke in the first round. Sverre said "We are getting a handle on the bike and the new transmission but it is spinning the wheel away from the start line." A broken blower belt put an end to a backup attempt on his bye run and Sverre has one more opportunity against Peter Svensson in the final.

Top Methanol Funny Car racer Leif Andreasson parked the car after qualifying due to mechanical damage. "The engine took out the rear main beaing and we fixed it, then it took out the same bearing again and we had to stop. We are trying to find out the cause of the problem. We know the car can run good ETs and have the right setup as the 5.75 was with an old engine. We want to put two new engines together for next year, rebuild the trailer and the car's body. It is like a full-time business. We are thinking about the US for some time in 2010 but that depends on getting the right sponsors for the US market."

Fuel Funny Car racer Thomas Nataas is against John Spuffard in the Final. Thomas ran 5.1367/268.79 in the first session but after missing the second session suffered tyre shake both yesterday and in the semi final against Gary Page. The Rune Fjeld Motorsport team are expecting to step up for the final.

Fuel Funny Car racer John Spuffard said "Friday was fine until we went ploughing. Fortunately there was only a small amount of damage to the front of the body. Yesterday afternoon the track conditons changed before we ran and there was a clean up in front of us. But Gordon has been doing a superb job and we knew he would step up. We had a fuel management system problem this morning and the engine ran lean from start to finish causing burnt heads. Against Thomas we are sure a Ford will win." What about tuning for a barrier-busting four? "We want mainly to win", he said.

Super TWin racer Chris Hannam said "In the final qualifier I went off line and shut down rather than risk the bike having me off. I was first alternate and we had to warm up in the fire up road when we found Lorenz couldn't run. When we fired it up we discovered the oil tank had split and if we hadn't found that out then we could have either have had a massive problem standing in for Lorenz or even at our next event, the National Finals. So there is a God after all!"

Roger Johansson slowed to times of 6.43 and 6.89 in the first two rounds of eliminations. He said "We had too much clutch and have taken some out for the next race against Mats, which is important for his championship." A new PB of 6.1449 came up on the boards but this was not strong enough for Mats' 6.0163 on a quicker reaction.

Pro Stock racer Dave Beck ran a 7.12 in the first round of eliminations and said to us just before the semi final round "Ulf Ogge said he would run a 7.09 and I replied I will run a 7.08." This proved amazingly accurate for Dave as he ran a 7.087 backed up by the previous run for the record. On the record breaking run, though, Anders Abrahamsson's hole shot start saw Dave eliminated from competition.

Super Twin racer Per Bengtsson clinched the championship when Lorenz Stauble suffered a misfire and shut off. He said later "Now we have won the championship it feels so much more relaxed and we can enjoy the rest of the race." A 6.5654/208.97 was too much for semi-final competitor Trond Hoiberget.

Top Fuel Bike racer Steve Woollatt's consistent form continued into round one with a 6.45 defeat of Rikard Gustafsson. "I feel confident but am up against the quickest bike outside the US". A 6.017 from Peter Svensson, his slowest time of the weekend saw the end of Steve's day.

Pro Mod racer Norbert Kuno was no.17 and raced in the first round as an alternate for Patrik Wikström who suffered damage yesterday. Iris Kuno said "We have had problems with tyre shake and changed the clutch which didn't help. When we looked at the video we noticed the launch was not right and the roll bar was too loose. We fixed it but we need this run to test the setup." The car still shook the tyres and Norbert lost to Kev Slyfield.

Pro Mod racer Graham Ellis upset Micke Lindahl in round one. "We borrowed David Vegter's fuel pump and it is different to our usual one so we want to repeat a 6.2 rather than step up and hope he can beat himself", he said before the race. "The track is cold so we don't know how well we can run."

Pro Mod racer Micke Lindahl said "We were struggling and have now gone back to our old setup. The engine was running hot and the wrist pins and rods were damaged. So we went to a richer fuel setup. There was an ignition pickup problem and now we solved that we have put less fuel in for more power. The championship is not in our hands."

Pro Mod racer Urban Johansson can win the championship but this could be hard to do admitted son David Johansson. "We nearly didn't qualify with problems with the two step and a broken bar in the four link. Before the last run we found a loose wire in the two step and we managed no.11 qualifier. But we are up against Marco Maurischat and he has found performance." In the end a tyre-shaking Urban drove past a smoking Marco.

Pro Mod racer Robert Koper said "We are against Bruno Bader who is a hard competitor. We have been having problems getting down the track with our upgraded horsepower and are still looking for the right settings for the four-link and the weight distribution and wheelie bar height." Robert is sponsored by the Dutch MPM Oil Company which provides support for several Pro teams from the Netherlands.

Pro Mod racer Roger Moore and brother Dave had a 2am session sorting the problems with the Viper. "The Lenco was blowing out oil as the O ring on the shifter tower had a nick in it. As a result we were losing gear in top as there was not enough pressure to make the change. There was also a problem with the rev limiter but we are not sure we got the whole problem as there is still an MSD spark issue. We also are replacing the rear bearing and oil after every pass and the fuel is also getting contaminated." The work paid off as the team scored a shock defeat of Andy Robinson with a 6.96/203 in round one.

Pro Mod racer Mats Eriksson said "We have not had much work to do on our car or on others' either, it is like a vacation this weekend and I will always remember it." In the first round, Mats, in spite of tyre shake, defeated a red-lighting Henri Joosten.

Top Fuel racer Micke Kågered said "We have had a problem with clutches this weekend. We have two and after the first pass we changed the clutch which produced shake on the second pass and threw the blower belt on the third pass. We have put the other clutch back in the car because we think it is the better one." This proved the right decision as Micke got down the track for the first time running a 4.92 against Stig Neergaard who had problems (see below)

Top Fuel racer Jon Webster is joined by Dave Rowe of sponsor EPS. Jon said "The engine was pretty clean after my 4.82 yesterday and the heads, bearings and pistons were undamaged. However the main bearing had been damaged which meant we had to completely strip the engine and change the block and crank. Thanks to all the team, McDonald Racing and Jeanette for their help - we finished at about 4.20 this morning." Jon ran against Risto in the first round and came out the victor in a race dominated by shake.

Top Fuel racer Risto Poutiainen had two engine failures, reported team member Tony Pearson. "We lost an engine in each of the second and third sessions," he said. "The first engine was lost to an exhaust rocker coming off and cylinder head and electrical damage, while the second was a crank failure." We are confident in second place as Stig has to win the event and set low ET to overtake Risto to gain the place.

Top Fuel racer Stig Neergaard, pictured with clutch man and son 16 year old Kenni, said before the first round "We are trying to run a 4.6s and Micke can run well. We have only damaged one or two pistons over the weekend. Joran's engine needed a new block, it's the first one to be broken in four years." On the pass there was drama as the wheel bolts in the left side slick broke launching the car into a 180 degree spin and contact with the left retaining wall at half track. He said "I hit the pedal and immediately pedalled with tyre shake. The second time on the pedal it felt really bad and I didn't know what had happened. The steering wheel hit my hand which has been bandaged up but that is the only injury."

Top Fuel racer Linda Thun Tønseth faced Andy Carter in round one. She said "The car is fully prepared and I will come to the start line fully prepared. I have been up against Andy for a couple of races and will try to beat him. It's my turn now! It's been good to run at four events this year and I am working on running more next year." Linda and Eurodragster.com send best wishes to her dad Arnfinn whose birthday it is today. Linda is sponsored by Shell.