“I tried to get spare parts but couldn't get the right ones so I decided to help my friends instead” stated Gagnon. 

He rode tuner and collegue Ron Houniet´s V-60 Top Fuel Bike in Hockenheim and although he had never sat on it before bringing it to the event in Gardermoen the week before, Gagnon was not worried "it is almost identical to my bike it will be ok to ride it" he said before the qualifications.

Gagnon qualified number four with 6.86 sec/ 319 km/h during his last event this season in Europe but was of course disappointed the bike could not be fixed for the eliminations. The parts needed were on the wrong side of the Atlantic and although a friend was prepared to take a flight overnight to Frankfurt bringing the parts, it would have been a few hours too late to manage anyway.

“I´m heading back to Canada to run the Finals there next weekend,” he says. “But next year I’ll be back to run a full season. I’ve had so much fun here that I´m going to try to get some of my racing mates to come over and race with me.”

Nate Gagnon (right) with Ron Houniet

While Nate Gagnon needs to finish the race season back in Canada (where he is currently in series points lead) Ron Houniet decided at Hockenheim to take the bike to the UK and compete in the last UEM drag bike championship event for the season - the European finals at Santa Pod sept 9-11th.

Houniet says he too has learnt a lot from the trips to Europe and participation i  the UEM championship. He says next time they will make sure to bring a lot more parts and tools to be able to avoid parking the bike like they had to in Hockenheim.

We will be following Ron´s racing at Santa Pod and wish Nate the best of luck with the remaining race season in Canada!   

Nate Gagnon is in 7th place in the championship when leaving Europe for this year.