Two German riders in form ofJoachim "Acka" Riemer and Christian Jäger.
Riemer qualified no 9, just outside the ladder, but filled in for Jan Sturla Hegré as 1st alternate. In round one he took out championship leader Per Bengtsson unexpectedly. Bengtsson who qualified 2nd quickest with 6.678 sec on paper should have no troble outrunning Riemer. But this is the art of drag racing and it is no easy task to get the powerfull machines go down the track consistent and free of trouble run after run. For Bengtsson the bike drifted towards the centerline, he got off the throttle and lost time while Riemer passed him.
Christian Jäger ended outside the ladder this time and stays 8th in the points standings.
Job Heezen had a successful event and performed consistend all the way to the final. Qualified 3rd quickest with 6.69 sec, took out 2010 champion Lorenz Stäuble in the first round (Heezen 6.68 compared to Stäubles 6.88) and although Riemer crossed the centerline in the semi-final and disqualified himself Heezen did his thing in the other lane running 6.73 sec.
On the other side of the ladder it was Samu Kemppainen from finalnd who should prove to be the most successful. He took the 8th and last spot in the ladder with a modest 7.21 sec, but found a working combination just in time to outrun no 1 qualified Koedam in the first round of eliminations. Kemppainen 6.86 sec to Koedam´s 6.89, in a tight race, the way to the final continued via a win over Svein Olav Rolfstad (whose bike suffered damage in round one). The final between Kemppainen and Heezen, as the other FIA and UEM finals was cancelled due to a rain delay and following curfew that forced the race to stop at 18.
With only the European Finals remaining Per Bengtsson or Roel Koedan looks like the most likely candidate for the European champions title. Bengtsson at 223 points, 14 points ahead of Koedam. However Jan Sturla Hegré (191 points) and Hans Olav Olstad (189 points) are not without chance should they score full points and Bengtsson and Koedam fail.
Check the full points table under a separate headline.
Round #7 of the UEM Drag Bike Championship - the European Finals are held at Santa Pod Raceway on september 9-11th
Jaska Salakari soubled in top fuel bike and super twin and ended outside the ladder. It was Salakari´s last championship event for the season and with that he will have no chance to pick up the record hunt again - Salakari ran 6.39 sec at Alastaro which was the first leg of a new European ET reccord, the current record of 6.45 sec is held by Anders Charley Karling in 2004
