Gullqvist and Eriksson (right)
Eriksson (6.15) and Gullqvist (6.16) held the top two spots after qualifying was curtailed to one session per day by late-afternoon thunderstorms triggered by broiling heat and humidity – up to 35ºC/95ºF. Eriksson moved comfortably through eliminations to the final, cruising past 10-second opening-round opponent Linda Thun Tønseth, still learning the Pro Mod ropes after her switch from Top Fuel, and soloing through round two when Robert Joosten could not make it to the line. Eriksson used his quickest pass of the weekend, 6.119sec, to defeat Marc Meihuizen in the semi-final and clocked 6.125 in the final.
Michael Gullqvist, meanwhile, turned the dial to ‘blitz’. His four elimination passes produced the event’s four quickest ETs: three consecutive 6.0’s, each one quicker than the last, to hammer Per Svedberg, Jan Gunnarsson and Johan Lindberg, and then a Low ET/Top Speed of the Meet 5.988/386.65kph/240.25mph in the final.
Yet Mats Eriksson crossed the finish
line first.
Gullqvist lined up and waiting in
the car
The culprit
for Gullqvist was a 0.624sec reaction time – less a snooze on the line
than a full-scale sleepover, with videos and pizza thrown in. Gullqvist
was candid about the cause.
“I was glancing at the dash just before I saw all four
stage lights lit,” he explained, “and I did not have the revs up. I really
can’t explain how I could do that, it never happened before and,” he added
ominously, “I will make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
Flamholc at
the starting line, as most often among the top 5 contenders, but lost to
Meihuizen in round #2
Marc Meihuizen qualified well
and was in the semi-finals
