Roel Koedam 

SUPER TWIN BIKE:

Super Twin winner Roel Koedam has been away from the spotlight for a while.

- After missing Tierp, we knew we had to perform well at Alastaro to stay in the points chase for the championship. And the weekend couldn't have gone any better for the Zodiac Top Fuel Harley-Davidson, as we are now in 3rd spot, only 13 points (less than one round win) behind points leader Per Bengtsson. The weekend was hard work for Ton, Vincent and me. Not only because of the 30+ degrees temperatures and the very tight schedule we had to follow on Sunday, but also because we had to change a motor Saturday afternoon, as the engine spun a rod bearing and damaged the crank in the 3rd qualifying session. The guys (Ton and Vincent ed.) did some stunning tuning work, as the new engine had never ran before and in the semi finals, it did a 6.65 seconds ET, our weekend's best performance. In the final we got lucky. Somehow the timers got activated before the run, messing up the clutch and fuel system. That is why we only ran a 7.7 second ET. But Jaska had even more issues, giving us this great win. The first win of the supercharged Zodiac Top Fuel Harley and my first win on the Alastaro track. Only down side is that I am still trying to get the water out of my ears after the traditional heads-first dip in the barrel.

I am really looking forward to Gardermoen, as that has always been one of my favourite tracks. With the extremely high level of competition, I expect an all 6-seconds field again. It will not be easy, but we will be ready!

Runner-up Super Twin: Jaska Salakari (Finland)

Petri Paljakka

TOP FUEL BIKE:

Top Fuel Bike winner Petri Paljakka

Last years Top Fuel Bike champion Paljakka repeated the achievement of winning the championship round at his home track Alastaro. He says - We have had a whole season so far struggling with electrical problems, which I hope will now be over.

At Alastaro we had a lot of luck involved in that led us to victory. We are going to be testing before Norway in Tierp if possible in connection with the NDRS Nationals july 29-30th. We drive the final season of profit and the goal is to improve our personal record. Some recent crew changes have been made in team Paljakka, and Petri says he is confident that with strong and victorious Chriss Powell and Pekka Vepsä they will continue and create a winning bike. King Racing supports and helps us when we need help. Thank you also to them!

Petri took out championship leader and collegue Ian King and although the starting field was not the biggest we have seen, the excitement as always was in place and Finnish drivers Samu Kemppainen, Jaska Salakari and Sverre Dahl are not the ones that are easy to defeat. So, well done Petri Paljakka and crew you are still in competition for another championship title (currently 2nd)

Runner-up Top Fuel Bike: Samu Kemppainen (Finland)


Jesper Thiel

PRO STOCK BIKE:

Team Sovereign Pro Stock Bike winner Jesper Thiel from Denmark: -We ended up with a great weekend in Alastaro, but it was not before Sunday it stated to go in the right direction. In all 4 qualifying rounds we had problems with the bike not making the power it should, Sunday morning we finally located the problem in fuel injection system, and then we could start tuning the bike to go faster. And we had some good passes all Sunday and a great win.

It is possible that we can run in to the 6 sec. zone but the air have to be perfect and we still weight 10 kilo more than the Suzuki’s, but then I guess we just have to make more horse power than them J

We are making service on the engines and make sure they are fresh for the next race at Gardermoen and I am sure that Rasmus and I will run fast on that track.

I like to thank all crew members at Sovereign Racing, they are the best!

Runner-up Pro Stock Bike: Kalle Lyrén (VEIDEC Racing, Sweden)

Round #5 of the European UEM Drag Bike Championship is run at Gardermoen Raceway August 5-7th