Top Methanol Funny Car racer Rob Turner ran a 6.33 in the first session and did not record a time in the second after Danny Bellio crossed the centreline. Rob said "We were a bit apprehensive in the first session after shutting off on the line as the motor had run for some time and the clutch was out from the first burnout. So we got in a run and it went ok for the first two seconds and then I short shifted and lifted. Up to that point it looked like a 5.80." Rob is helped by some new crew members as well as crew chief Steve and wife and team manager Carmel.
Top Methanol Dragster racer Chris Polidano was delighted to run a 5.400/266 in the first session, his personal best by almost three tenths. He said "Now we want thirties. I am really happy with the car and it drives great." in the second session Chris shut off. The team have new attire for the 2012 FIA season.
Top Methanol dragster racer Monty Bugeja was happy with a 5.35/265 in session one and subsequent 5.37/257, albeit with an engine explosion. Team member Charlie Draper said "The crew have worked very hard and Norm Grimes' expertise has been a real boost and I have learned a lot from him. It's as if he supplied the hand grenade and trained the monkey to hold it. In working with Norm I tried to empty my head of all previous knowledge - it didn't take long."
Top Methanol dragster racer Timo Habermann said the teams' cars had been refreshed over the winter with small changes to make them as identical as possible. The team have a new rig for the tour. On the first pass he could only manage 5.89 and said "The engine was too cold which hurt the performance but there was no damage. So we made just basic checks between runs." The car improved to 5.43 in the second session to qualify no.5.
Top Methanol dragster racer Dennis Habermann in his silver coloured machine is with crew members Dennis and Yasin before the second session yesterday. Dennis ran 5.37/250 in session one and 5.46/259 in session two for third in qualifying.
Pro Mod racer Steve Hall is getting the black Corvette down the track better this event and achieved his first six second pass to his delight, 6.89/208. He said "On the previous run it jumped out of gear in the burnout and didn't shift properly from first to second and then it shook. We have a new four link setting and have changed first gear ratio to calm it down, but it's a lot of changes at once." Steve said the car is for sale as a rolling chassis as the team are building a new one.
Top Fuel Dragster racer Risto Poutiainen's car is being warmed in the pits. Crew member Leon Bienek said the team were confident and the car shook only a little in the first session to record a 4.17/267 for no.1. In the second session Risto stepped up after a strong showing from Stig Neergaard and improved to a 4.10/293 for no.1. A video of the run is at Facebook.
Top Fuel Dragster racer Paul Ingar Udtian suffered a fuel leak in his first attempt to complete licencing. "The pipe broke and fuel got under the rear tyres. Yesterday it was a broken oil line. We think they may have been hurt in the explosions to two of our motors last Saturday. The team had to weld and machine blocks during the week, thanks to the facilities at Armour Fabrications and Tony Pearson's workshop." Paul Ingar is pictured with wife Mona and daughters Maja and Mari.
Top Fuel Dragster racer Jari Halinen suffered a broken blower belt 100ft down the track in the first session although the car responded well to 60ft with a 0.89 and then tyre smoke set in. Jari said "The team including 'Doctor' Laurie Bamford are very quick to service the car. I am happy running 1000ft as long as we are all doing it."
Top Fuel Dragster racer Stig Neergaard has a new self-constructed chassis from Murf McKinney designs. His engines are also new Alan Johnson items with up to date Stage 6 heads and billet blower. A planned launch was followed by a 4.11/289 to make Risto raise his game. Stig said "The plan is not to burn it up but to start steadily and step up bit by bit. The car left 100% good on the launch and a 0.9 60ft was conservative. John Smith will join us on Sunday as he has been working on his funny car in the US."
Top Fuel Dragster racer Duncan Micallef completed his licensing with a strong 4.2235/283.06 in the repainted Telephone Box-sponsored car, with the car on the throttle to the quarter mile. He said "Yes, I lifted late as I thought the course went on a bit longer than it did. I was comfortable with the car and worked on getting a good reaction and it was a 0.10. The engine is in good shape and I congratulate Rune and the team for preparing the car. The Finnish crew are fantastic and I just cannot believe the numbers I am running."
Top Fuel Dragster racer Micke Kagered said "It should be an exciting year in Top Fuel. The field will be bigger later in the season with a couple more teams and when the new guys figure it out they should run very strong." Micke ran a pair of shake-plagued passes to be no.6 in the ladder. Looking to weather conditions he said "Tomorrow, we will need a Swedish diving suit."
Supertwin racer Christian Jäger said "We are not extremely fast yet but on the right lines. The team worked very hard over winter to check everything and change parts in the engine and transmission. The transmission is a new type of Bentec. We are happy now, the end of the last season was bad for us with breakage and we have taken the time to understand the bike and how it works more. Now we want to learn from our performance and keeping it straight." The first pass was an early lifting 6.91/175.
Top Fuel Bike racer Ian King said "We are working on the suspension geometry with the wheelie bar and tyre to get it to hook up. Getting the power transferred after the launch from 60ft onwards is a problem; it is spinning and skating around down the track." Despite the traction issues, the Gulf Oil sponsored bike carded a 6.41 to qualify first.
Top Fuel Bike racer Otto Knebl said "We are working on the clutch setup and reassembled the engine several times over the winter. We can't run the bike all out at local Czech tracks as they are not prepped fully so need to do plenty of runs at Santa Pod which for this bike is our home track! The bike is not running straight enough and we are working on the clutch setup to resolve that. We will be running Hockenheim and the August Tierp round as well as the Finals." Thanks to Ales Duchac for interpretation.
Supertwin racers Jan Sturla Hegre and Svein Olav Rolfstad have only one bike on the team this weekend as Svein Olav suffered a broken crank and rods in Tierp. He said "We are crossing our fingers that Per Bengtsson will have replacements ready in time for the Sweden International. in the first session, Jan Sturla lifted very quickly after a 1.08 60ft time. He said "It felt as if it was going too lean and we found the front cylinder had gone lean as a piece of rubber got in the injector nozzle. We found the front spark plug had started to heat up but there was no other apparent damage although we didn't have time to disassemble the engine. It is only running 73% nitro so there is plenty of power in reserve in our Overkill engine."
Pro Stock Bike racer Ulf Ögge ended second in qualifying although he only was able to run a 7.42 on the Buell. He said "The track is too cold for quick times so we are hoping for warmer conditions later." Two-time UEM champion Ulf attended the NHRA Gatornationals in March and qualified with a best of 7.034/187.
Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator racer and Eurodragster.com sponsor Jon Webster has a newly constructed Mercury Comet with the turbocharged small block Ford powertrain from his MG SV. The front end of the car is carbon fibre. Alex McIntosh is crewing for Jon this weekend and in its first event the car ran 8.74/155.
Top Methanol Funny Car racer Rob Turner ran a 6.33 in the first session and did not record a time in the second after Danny Bellio crossed the centreline. Rob said "We were a bit apprehensive in the first session after shutting off on the line as the motor had run for some time and the clutch was out from the first burnout. So we got in a run and it went ok for the first two seconds and then I short shifted and lifted. Up to that point it looked like a 5.80." Rob is helped by some new crew members as well as crew chief Steve and wife and team manager Carmel.
Top Methanol Dragster racer Chris Polidano was delighted to run a 5.400/266 in the first session, his personal best by almost three tenths. He said "Now we want thirties. I am really happy with the car and it drives great." in the second session Chris shut off. The team have new attire for the 2012 FIA season.
Top Methanol dragster racer Monty Bugeja was happy with a 5.35/265 in session one and subsequent 5.37/257, albeit with an engine explosion. Team member Charlie Draper said "The crew have worked very hard and Norm Grimes' expertise has been a real boost and I have learned a lot from him. It's as if he supplied the hand grenade and trained the monkey to hold it. In working with Norm I tried to empty my head of all previous knowledge - it didn't take long."
Top Methanol dragster racer Timo Habermann said the teams' cars had been refreshed over the winter with small changes to make them as identical as possible. The team have a new rig for the tour. On the first pass he could only manage 5.89 and said "The engine was too cold which hurt the performance but there was no damage. So we made just basic checks between runs." The car improved to 5.43 in the second session to qualify no.5. 
Top Methanol dragster racer Dennis Habermann in his silver coloured machine is with crew members Dennis and Yasin before the second session yesterday. Dennis ran 5.37/250 in session one and 5.46/259 in session two for third in qualifying.
Pro Mod racer Steve Hall is getting the black Corvette down the track better this event and achieved his first six second pass to his delight, 6.89/208. He said "On the previous run it jumped out of gear in the burnout and didn't shift properly from first to second and then it shook. We have a new four link setting and have changed first gear ratio to calm it down, but it's a lot of changes at once." Steve said the car is for sale as a rolling chassis as the team are building a new one.
Top Fuel Dragster racer Risto Poutiainen's car is being warmed in the pits. Crew member Leon Bienek said the team were confident and the car shook only a little in the first session to record a 4.17/267 for no.1. In the second session Risto stepped up after a strong showing from Stig Neergaard and improved to a 4.10/293 for no.1. A video of the run is at 
Top Fuel Dragster racer Paul Ingar Udtian suffered a fuel leak in his first attempt to complete licencing. "The pipe broke and fuel got under the rear tyres. Yesterday it was a broken oil line. We think they may have been hurt in the explosions to two of our motors last Saturday. The team had to weld and machine blocks during the week, thanks to the facilities at Armour Fabrications and Tony Pearson's workshop." Paul Ingar is pictured with wife Mona and daughters Maja and Mari.
Top Fuel Dragster racer Jari Halinen suffered a broken blower belt 100ft down the track in the first session although the car responded well to 60ft with a 0.89 and then tyre smoke set in. Jari said "The team including 'Doctor' Laurie Bamford are very quick to service the car. I am happy running 1000ft as long as we are all doing it."
Top Fuel Dragster racer Stig Neergaard has a new self-constructed chassis from Murf McKinney designs. His engines are also new Alan Johnson items with up to date Stage 6 heads and billet blower. A planned launch was followed by a 4.11/289 to make Risto raise his game. Stig said "The plan is not to burn it up but to start steadily and step up bit by bit. The car left 100% good on the launch and a 0.9 60ft was conservative. John Smith will join us on Sunday as he has been working on his funny car in the US."
Top Fuel Dragster racer Duncan Micallef completed his licensing with a strong 4.2235/283.06 in the repainted Telephone Box-sponsored car, with the car on the throttle to the quarter mile. He said "Yes, I lifted late as I thought the course went on a bit longer than it did. I was comfortable with the car and worked on getting a good reaction and it was a 0.10. The engine is in good shape and I congratulate Rune and the team for preparing the car. The Finnish crew are fantastic and I just cannot believe the numbers I am running."
Top Fuel Dragster racer Micke Kagered said "It should be an exciting year in Top Fuel. The field will be bigger later in the season with a couple more teams and when the new guys figure it out they should run very strong." Micke ran a pair of shake-plagued passes to be no.6 in the ladder. Looking to weather conditions he said "Tomorrow, we will need a Swedish diving suit."
Supertwin racer Christian Jäger said "We are not extremely fast yet but on the right lines. The team worked very hard over winter to check everything and change parts in the engine and transmission. The transmission is a new type of Bentec. We are happy now, the end of the last season was bad for us with breakage and we have taken the time to understand the bike and how it works more. Now we want to learn from our performance and keeping it straight." The first pass was an early lifting 6.91/175.
Top Fuel Bike racer Ian King said "We are working on the suspension geometry with the wheelie bar and tyre to get it to hook up. Getting the power transferred after the launch from 60ft onwards is a problem; it is spinning and skating around down the track." Despite the traction issues, the Gulf Oil sponsored bike carded a 6.41 to qualify first.
Top Fuel Bike racer Otto Knebl said "We are working on the clutch setup and reassembled the engine several times over the winter. We can't run the bike all out at local Czech tracks as they are not prepped fully so need to do plenty of runs at Santa Pod which for this bike is our home track! The bike is not running straight enough and we are working on the clutch setup to resolve that. We will be running Hockenheim and the August Tierp round as well as the Finals." Thanks to Ales Duchac for interpretation.
Supertwin racers Jan Sturla Hegre and Svein Olav Rolfstad have only one bike on the team this weekend as Svein Olav suffered a broken crank and rods in Tierp. He said "We are crossing our fingers that Per Bengtsson will have replacements ready in time for the Sweden International. in the first session, Jan Sturla lifted very quickly after a 1.08 60ft time. He said "It felt as if it was going too lean and we found the front cylinder had gone lean as a piece of rubber got in the injector nozzle. We found the front spark plug had started to heat up but there was no other apparent damage although we didn't have time to disassemble the engine. It is only running 73% nitro so there is plenty of power in reserve in our Overkill engine." 
Pro Stock Bike racer Ulf Ögge ended second in qualifying although he only was able to run a 7.42 on the Buell. He said "The track is too cold for quick times so we are hoping for warmer conditions later." Two-time UEM champion Ulf attended the NHRA Gatornationals in March and qualified with a best of 7.034/187. 
Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator racer and Eurodragster.com sponsor Jon Webster has a newly constructed Mercury Comet with the turbocharged small block Ford powertrain from his MG SV. The front end of the car is carbon fibre. Alex McIntosh is crewing for Jon this weekend and in its first event the car ran 8.74/155.