Pro Stock Bike racer Karl-Heinz Weikum ran a new PB in qualifying with 7.05/188 to take first place. He said 'We've had a good race and not too many problems.' However in the semis Alex Hope defeated Karl-Heinz on a hole shot, 7.32 to 7.23. Karl-Heinz's crew this weekend is SSB racer Peter Granica.

Pro Stock Bike racer Fredrik Fredlund said 'We are having difficulties keeping the bike stable on track with the bike moving about and the front wheel washing out on the track surface'. Fredrik raced at the NHRA Gainesville race however did not qualify. 'We learned some things from that race but have yet to apply them'.

Top Methanol Funny Car racer Leif Andreasson was pleased to run a 5.64 in elimination round one. But qualifying was a little difficult. Team member Anders Magnusson said 'We sat out Q1 as we had a blower restraint issue and the track was cold. We then had a valve spring retainer fall off and go into the head and so had to rework the heads after Q2. Then in Q3 the car was in stage for nine seconds and the clutch got very hot and wore as a result. We are looking to repeat our time against Jürgen in the final.

Top Fuel racer Micke Kågered ran a PB 4.02/280 in round one to defeat Duncan Micallef but a blower belt broke in the semi final against Stig Neergaard. He said 'To defend the championship I will need to go all four rounds.' Micke welcomes Midland Oil, new associate sponsors on the Top Fuel car and prime sponsors on his two circuit racing cars.

Pro Stock Bike racer Martin Bishop had his no.1 engine destroyed on the first run. 'Our back-up motor was not ready and we had to go back to Kent to get the parts and create a bitza engine. We worked all Saturday night and I was over the moon to run a 7.39 first time with the back-up. On the second round of eliminations against Fredrik the tyre spun and we ran slower. It's been a challenging weekend but pleased with the outcome'. Martin and his team Timon and Daniel Marshall will next race at Hockenheim and then the Euro Finals.

Super Twin racer Job Heezen had a best of 7.79 in qualifying, the bike not going straight. He said 'We have had to start over getting it straight but today there is be no problem and we need to step up against Martijn'.

Super Twin racer Martijn de Haas has been running 6s all weekend and defeated Job's game 7.35 with a 6.60/212. He said 'We are looking for 6.5s and know we can improve our 60ft and eighth times. I am now financing the bike myself and my pockets are empty and the bike is full. We had a lot of new parts last year and this year we have got a Racepak and thanks to Dick Koster for his help'.

Pro Modified racer Mats Ericsson ran 5.99, 6.09, and 5.98 in the first three rounds of eliminations. He said 'This race has gone much better than last year! Our small problems have been resolved and we are going first to the finish line each time'. Crewman and noted Top Doorslammer and PDRA racer Adam Flamholc said 'Mats and I started working together on the car last year. We made four link and clutch changes and the car has responded to them well. There is more in it and we want to win rounds.

Pro Stock Bike racer and Eurodragster.com sponsor Martin Newbury of Psycle Workz are making their first appearance at the track for a couple of years. Cindy Newbury said 'The engine is from Freddie Camarena from the NHRA and is all new with no testing. We have been setting up the clutch over the weekend and feel it's gone well. We want to go quicker in small stages and hope to be nearer the front next time'. Plans are to test and then go to Hockenheim and the Euro Finals.

Top Fuel Bike racer Rickard Gustafsson recorded a near-PB 6.388/215 on the world's quickest Funny Bike to qualify second and then defeated a slowing Otto Knebl in round one. Rickard is developing a nitro bike and pictures of the build can be seen on the RG Engineering Facebook page.

Funny Car racer Gordon Smith struggled to get down the track. Crew chief Dave Bryant said 'The conditions are different from Easter but we haven't hurt anything. The first 100ft of the track is awesome and we have got to try avoiding tyre shake then and get down the remainder of the track without overpowering it'. A 4.58 was a good start on Saturday however subsequent times slowed.

Top Fuel Dragster racer Jari Halinen qualified no.5 with a 4.13 and beat an up-in-smoke Liam Jones with a 4.11 in round one. He said 'There has been a lot of work but it is a good team and car. With Jimmy Walsh helping the tuning we have a consistent setup.' Jari is joined on the crew by Jari Koskinen of Sisu Polar which makes heavy trucks and offroad vehicles in Finland.

Top Fuel Dragster racer Anita Mäkela was delighted with a new PB of 3.912/295. She said 'We had our 'Happy' engine in the car on Saturday and ran 3.96 and then decided to put it aside. Our other engine broke yesterday, however Happy is singing well! It's so strong and launched with the wheels up for more than a second. I lifted before the finish line on the 3.91 and performance like that gives us confidence'.

Top Fuel Dragster racer Stig Neergaard ran well on only one of his four qualifiers to go second and then defeated Birgitte Bremnes in a close race in round one. He said 'The car is now running well and working. We stepped down and took a lot of ignition, compression and fuel out and then ran a 4.04 in Q3. We took 0.1s out of the tuneup for round one and still ran a 4.08, ran well mid-track and the engine is 100% clean. We are ready to step up against Micke'.

Pro Stock racer Jimmy Alund was delighted with being the first Pro Stock outside the US into the 6.4s. He said 'The track here is awesome and the 215mph speed is faster than expected. All my team, apart from one, were working with me in the US on the first six NHRA events and we have used what we learned from there. My car is only a little different from the GXP we run in the US and is the same equipment we used last year to run a 6.53 in Europe'.

Top Methanol Dragster racer Dave Wilson was happy to be winning again after defeating Stefan Gunnarsson in round one. He said 'The car is back to its usual performance. We had fuel problems last year and did a lot of development work on it on the flow bench over the winter, we hadn't changed it since we first put in on the car. We got the settings right in our first qualifier and turned it up but gave it too much for Q4. I have a bye into the final against one of the Habermanns and will step up but not overpower the track.

Pro Modified racer Chris Isaacs admitted the weekend had been frustrating for him. 'This is the best track we have run on. On the first run we had tyre shake at 60-70ft and then gave the tyres extra pressure. We also made a four link change on Saturday night to get off the line better. Yesterday we lost the front end seal on the Bruno transmission again and gearbox oil went under the tyres and in the car. In Q4 part of the throttle linkage broke loose and we lost power after 50ft. The reverser also broke on that run. Then this morning against Micke the bump box didn't work and so we lost launch boost, sat on the line and then recorded our best 60ft time. We will get there eventually'.

Super Pro ET racer Mark Adams had a scary ride when his right front wheel broke off at 193mph in the first round and the car went over the track in front of Ian Powell. Team owner Rod Harrison said 'Mark had red lit but was on a super run until the ball joint from the steering rack failed. It hadn't been visibly wrong and had passed scrutineering but just failed unexpectedly. We had replaced both track rod ends both sides of the front at the start of the season'. The car fortunately suffered very little damage.

Pro Stock racer Magnus Pettersson are winners of the Best Appearing FIA Team award with matching crew uniform, pit vehicle and trailer. Magnus said 'We are really pleased with our award and trophy! Our car has new suspension bits and have fixed them so our last run was the best run we have made on the graph, if not the quickest time, so there is more in it. The first race of the year is always the hardest'. Magnus is qualified third with a 6.668/208.

Super Street Bike racer Steve Venables is qualified third with a 7.184/205; bear in mind the record coming into this event was 7.193. He said 'We are trying different things with the clutch to get the bike reacting better and my best RT this weekend is 0.055. Our problem has been the fuel delivery system is not consistent as we want. We have sorted mine but need to work on Jemma's. My ETs are consistently 7.18-7.19 except a 7.26 when I hit the shift button twice.

Super Street bike racer Danny Cockerill ran into timing issues on his NLR machine, still recording a best of 7.485 to go ninth in qualifying and beating Daniel Lencses in round one. He said 'We are trying different settings. The bike is for sale, I'm just testing the waters. My son has taken up motorcross and I am also running Hot Rod House, building customs and hot rods'.

Top Fuel Bike racer Bob Brooks said 'We have had trouble with the fuel system and need a bigger pump, the engine is going lean and melting plugs and damaged an exhaust valve. We're not in the race as we couldn't run quicker than the 7.00 cut-off'.

Others unable make the call for eliminations are Sandro Haldimann (SSB-engine damage), Gert-Jan Laseur (PSB-broken rod) and Roman Sixta snr (ST-hole in crankcase). Many thanks to Steve Moxley for help with bike updates.

Top Fuel Bike racer Ian King had a rebuild over the winter after two rods let go at the Euro Finals. Crew member Nick Pepper said 'The fire also destroyed the electrics which had to be replaced and thanks to Marius van der Zijden for fitting the new bottom end. The second testing run on Thursday produced a 6.13/235 and then in qualifying a 6.01 and 5.83 were great. We didn't step up from our baseline settings on those passes, so we're happy'.

Pro Stock bike racer Alex Hope had to have an engine change after his first pass when the 1755cc motor broke and last year's 1640cc engine put in the frame. He said 'The gearing works for both but on the last pass we made a big adjustment in the clutch and back to last year's National Finals settings and it produced a 7.29 with the better conditions here'. The team's plans are to run Super Street Bike at Tierp and other rounds, and PSB at Hockenheim and the Euro Finals.