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Pro Modified racer Niclas Andersson suffered massive tyre shake just
off the line on both his passes today and ended the day in 20th place
out of 23 runners.
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Pro Modified racer Anders Nilsson is getting to grips with the
ex-Graham Ellis Cuda and ran a best of 6.69 to go ninth by the end of
the day.
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Pro Modified racer Tero Laukanen is running twin turbos in his Mustang
and the Finnish team are still in shakedown mode, running a best of
8.81 to go 18th. More details can be seen at www.laukkanen-motorsport.com.
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Pro Modified racer Jari Parén ran a 6.70 in the nitrous-assisted
Corvette to go 10th by the end of Friday. The team's web site is www.parenracing.com.
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Pro Modified racer Norbert Schneider made his fourth and fifth runs in
the Lucas Oils-sponsored Avenger I. He said "This is my first time at
Tierp and I was very impressed driving under the arch to come out in
the Arena area. The stadium feeling is awesome." Norbert ran a best of
7.9344/294.44 to go 15th but we are expecting the bump spot to reduce
considerably tomorrow.
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Pro Modified racer Jöran Persåker now has 91mm turbos on the Pontiac
Firebird that he has raced for many years however the performance in
round one was 8.30/277 and he was in 17th by the end of the day.
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Pro Modified racer Mattias Wulcan said "We wanted to start well and
going 6.11 for fifth place was good. I love Santa Pod and the
surrounding countryside, it was great to visit the UK and I'm sure we
will be back."
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Pro Modified racer Urban Johansson ran quick in the first session with
a 6.04 to go no.2. He said "There was some shake but I was dancing with
the car. I'm having fun and this season I will be just doing four Tierp
meetings and Sundsvall to concentrate on the Swedish championship. I am
using Linda's engine as she has parked her Camaro for the moment. I was
the first European Pro Mod champion and you can't take that away. I am
driving another car for Mats Jonsson, a '53 Vette in Pro Xtreme at
Malmö. The car uses my blower, heads and fuel system and the rest is
Mats'. It's lighter than my '63 by 63kg and fun to race although I
almost forgot it was an eighth mile track and had to stop quick."
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Pro Modified racer Michael Gullqvist is no.1 qualifier with
5.96/393kph, the only five of the class at this event so far. Crew
member Stefan Petersson said "We made a big change since Santa Pod by
replacing the Tim McAmis steel rear end with a Mark Williams aluminium
one which is about the same weight but easier to obtain. So we are
really pleased at running so quick first time out and it seems to react
well."
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Pro Modified racer Freddy Fagerström ran an early shut-off 6.66 and
6.46 the latter in typically wild style to go eighth by the end of the
day.
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Pro Stock racer Magnus Petersson said he learned from racing at Santa
Pod and in particular from a slow motion movie
produced by SPR's resident photographer Ian Blackett. He said "The
first run was good but I need to work on getting more speed." A
6.78/330kph was followed by a bang on the second run leaving him in
fifth place and a hurt engine.
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Pro Stock racer Micke Callin said "Our target is to run a 6.6 to get
more competitive with the top guys and we got a 6.71 at Santa Pod. He
improved from a 6.78 to in the first session to a 6.7498/330.68 which
put him in fourth. But, as you can see, he and his crew were still
pretty relaxed.
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Top Methanol Funny Car racer Adam Flamholc is racing regularly in
Europe and the US's ADRL Series where he runs Pro Mod in eighth mile
competition. He said "On my second pass the tyre came off at the hit.
It felt like I had blown the tyres off but it was a different smell to
usual as it was the inner liner. The first run was a good 5.94/392kph
and I wanted to step it up as the track is great." In the US Adam ran
an ADRL race at Richmond last weekend and qualified sixth but suffered
with air being 4000ft equivalent with 95% humidity and blower cars
being restricted to 40% overdrive. "We ran 3.96 in that air and had run
3.86 at Rockingham. But the nitrous cars ran 3.91 at both events."
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Pro Stock racer Fredrik Fredlund had a scary first pass when the bike
crossed lanes close to a fast exiting Ulf Ögge. He said "The rear wheel
axle was not where it should have been. I tried to squeeze it back but
it wanted to go to the left. It was my first pass of the year and we
are all struggling with wind but I had an additional problem. I was
ahead of ulf but took the clutch out and avoided the cones. We are
hosting 150 people from Åland on behalf of my main sponsor PAF."
Fredrik is pictured with son Joel.
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Pro Stock racer Tommy Leindahl is racing just at Tierp this year, at
all four drag races. "I don't have so much time to spend but am
impressed at the level of competition. It may take a mid to high 6.7 to
qualify. I have a rebuilt engine as I blew a piston at Hockenheim in
2011 and sent it back to Bob Ingles in the States for new liners and
cylinder heads. The cat is back!" Tommy is pictured with crew members
Anders and Rickard.
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Top Fuel Dragster racer Timo Lehtimäki is back on track but with a lot
of effort, said crew chief Ulf Hultholm. One was thus avoiding a
special SFI inspection by borrowing Janne Ahonen's front wing after the
fellow Finn said he is taking a year out. "We have made changes to the
car so our first run was just a check-out. We had a small problem on
the fuel system but are otherwise fine. We will race twice at Tierp and
at Alastaro. We want more money to do the full tour next year but we
have got the right equipment. You can't race in this class with less
than three engines otherwise
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Top Fuel Dragster racer Stig Neergaard said "We decided to come at the
last minute as we need the points for the Championship. We are missing
John Smith but he has to be at home due to family illness. We have had
an upgrade to the engine and tune-up help from Alan Johnson who allowed
us to run our fuel system on his flow bench. If we leave here in the
top three we will attend Finland otherwise our next race is Hockenheim.
We are looking forward to possibly running in the US in October when my
grandstand business gets quieter."
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Top Fuel Dragster racer Anita Mäkelä said "We may have run quicker than
at the Main Event but are still working on a power loss. Our tuning
adviser Donnie Bender is in Bristol at the NHRA event this weekend so
Simo Lehtimaki is working on it. We are missing the top speed and I
really noticed it when Antti outrun us."
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Pro Mod racer Roger Johansson suffered a leaking brake line on his
first pass and two dead spark plugs on the second where he recorded an
8.18 to go 16th.
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Top Fuel Dragster racer Antti Horto was happy with a 4.07 at a slowing
447kph. Crew member Tony Pearson said "Antti's chassis seems to work
well on most tracks. The speed was down due to a head gasket burning
which cause a burn on one of the cylinder heads. But Antti is a great
driver and the speed was down because he knew there was a problem
starting. We won't run the next session but will rebuild the engine
methodically. Rune's team has got drivers that are former champions and
that is an asset."
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Pro Mod racer Johan Westberg suffered a broken third member on his
first run which cause the driveshaft to break (see the
makeshift duck tape repair?). Crew member Ulf Eklund said
"Johan is driving down to Stockholm where he has spare parts and we
will be fit for tomorrow."
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Top Fuel Dragster racer Micke Kågered is experiencing an unusual
weekend renting a racecar from Rune Fjeld instead of being an
owner/driver. "Scotch" Rob Inglis (pictured) said "The teams have come
together easily but most of us have known each other for a long time.
Roles got agreed. Renting a car is different when you don't have
control of some things, however it should give enough confidence to
make good runs and impress the sponsors who will be attending. It's
just for this race. People are working different ways to get the same
result, Leon and Mark are from both teams and are working on the
clutch. Me? I've never had cleaner hands at a race meeting!"
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Top Fuel Dragster racer Jari Halinen's team is joined for this weekend
by US tuner Jimmy Walsh, who in a career spanning thirty years has been
crew chief for Joe Amato, Kenny Bernstein, Morgan Lucas and Tony
Pedregon. He said "I have known Rune for over twenty years and am
impressed with his strong operation. It's my first time in Europe - I
did plan to come over ten years ago but didn't make it. I am impressed
with the track, the teams should be able to run a three second time
here in the right conditions. The teams are used to being quite
conservative in their approach and they need more aggression."
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Top Fuel Dragster racer Micke Kågered is racing in a Rune Fjeld-owned
and tuned car this weekend, the team including Rune wearing the Bahco
liveried crew shirts and including members of Micke's own crew as well
as Rune's. On his first run in the car, Micke ran a planned launch
after a smokeless burnout. More to come!
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Top Fuel Dragster racer Thomas Nataas's ride is owned and tuned by
Carsten Andersen (pictured left) and Per Andersen.
The car went into shake on its first pass as the team seek the right
setup going from a new all ashphalt track to the all concrete surface
at Tierp. They said "With eight cars here and no US tuners with us we
are feeling the pressure a little."
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Top Fuel Dragster racer Anita Mäkelä was ready for her first pass which
was a 4.24/445kph with a softish 60ft time of 0.92. This was a better
time than any of her passes at the Main Event, where her best was 4.29,
and promises more performance later in the race.
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Top Fuel Dragster racer Stig Neergaard is without usual tuner John
Smith who is in the US. Nevertheless, Stig put in a stout 4.18/419kph
to qualify second in the first of four planned sessions.
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Top Fuel Bike racer Peter Andersson-Ström said "This is our first race
this year - we just made small adjustments and maintenance over the
weekend. We have run a best of 6.78 here but at only 268kph so we think
we can go several tenths quicker, we just have to find it." Peter's
engine would not fire in the first session but there are three more
scheduled runs to qualify.
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Super Twin racer Vesa Lipponen is on his third year with the bike which
has a Dixie frame and unblown PRP engine. He said "I moved up from a
street car class to Super Twin which was a jump. Our best time testing
for this year with a couple of new parts was a 7.3 but we want to run a
six. I will race the whole UEM series - it makes a difference having
only four rounds to fund, as transport to the UK is 6000 Euros for the
team."
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Super Twin racer Jarkko "Jaakoppi" Laukkanen is on Vesa Lipponen's crew
this weekend but is planning to race his own Super Twin bike next
season. He said "I started racing at the 2011 Finals with Carina
Sjutti's old bike. Unfortunately I misjudged the track and had an
engine explosion on the launch. After I recover from a back injury I
will work on the bike and be out in 2014." Jaakoppi also has news of
Finnish Pro Mod racer Markko Lanto who is building a new Cuda and
trailer to replace his Corvette.
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Super Twin racer Svein Olaf Rofstad was optimistic after a successful
test at Gardermoen and a visit to Valdosta in the US last November.
"The bike is unchanged except we changed our setup after Valdosta and
we are using some parts from the no.2 bike. We had a great eighth mile
time there but still have problems keeping the engine alive after 250m.
So we changed the ignition and are trying to lean it out to burn the
fuel." Svein Olaf said that last year's team mate Jan Sturla Hegre will
be riding a new Top Fuel Bike owned by Norwegian Per Åke Bengt for the
last three rounds of the championship.
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US Pro Stock Bike tuner Gary Stoffer is with Fredrick Fredlund on the
PAF team this weekend. "I brought another engine over with me. We are
looking to run a six but the minimum weight in Europe is 20lb higher.
Our setup for clutch and rpm is totally different from the US and also
different here from Santa Pod. So we can't compare data as well and we
need to collect more data. Several bikes, Kalle's, Elvira's and
Kenneth's all have state of the art parts but the different conditions
and lack of track time hurt." In the US Gary is crew chief for NHRA PSB
rider Katie Sullivan.
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Pro Stock Bike racer Kenneth Vik announced a tie-up with Sovereign and
George Bryce's Star Racing and is excited about the link-up. "I started
on the project in 2012 when George Bryce asked me to ride for him. I
wanted to try some new equipment and Star Racing has great
possibilities. So I went to Star Racing in Georgia and tested the bike
and was glad with the results. Then in Gardermoen last week I ran a
7.08 on a marginal track and could have gone quicker but we decided to
spare the parts. Our objective is to prove to Jeno Rujp of Sovereign
the potential of the team and to be a European showcase for Star
Racing." Pictured with Kenneth is crew chief for this race Tor Erik
Westbye.
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Super Twin racer Ulf Ledström is racing his ex-Hans Olav Olstad bike
again this season. It has a frame by Gunnar Olsson, PRP enginem Servex
heads and Higear clutch. At the end of the first session Ulf was second
with a new PB 6.98/286kph run.
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Top Fuel Dragster racer Micke Kågered with two talented young drivers
of his V8 Thunder Cars Series team (formerly Camaro Cup), Jocke and
Andreas Ahlberg, who are at their first drag race. Andreas thinks that
it’s going to be an exciting weekend. Jocke and Andreas each drive a
car at circuits around Sweden and are in their third season with Team
Kågered. Picture courtesy and ©Lena Perés.
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Super Comp racer Kevin Yrjövaara has graduated from Junior Dragster at
the age of 16. His father, crew chief and sponsor Olle said "This is
our first race this year and we want to run the rest of the EDRS
series. The car was bought from Jimmy Andersson. Kevin is from Habo,
Sweden.
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Stock/Super Stock racer Lars Björklund is racing this 327 cu in Camaro
in G/SA and went 11.94 on a 12.00 index to go 21st. In the line-up we
heard Eurodragster.com sponsor Dan Williams has had a problem with his
water pump which prevented him running in session one and we hope he
can locate a spare.
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Stock/Super Stock racer Håkan Nordström from Falun has a '70 Plymouth
Hemi-Cuda and is in A/SA with an index of 11.00. He ran 9.95 to go no.1
in the first session. Dave Schmitz Racing is the engine supplier with
Don Little Racing heads.
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Stock/Super Stock racer Erik Wallin from Uppsala also runs in A/SA in
his 427cu in Camaro and ran a 10.41 to go no.9 in the first session.
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Stock/Super Stock racer Christer Lidberg from Vilhelmina has a Plymouth
Roadrunner and he has raced since 2009. He ran 10.60 on 11.25 index to
go no.8.
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Super Twin racer Matti Vähäsaari from Norway has bought the unblown
Zodiac engine that Ton Pels used to run and tells us the bike is
lighter as a result. "We have great hopes for performance and want to
run the whole series including the Nordic championship."
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Competition Eliminator racer Jan Ekström runs his D/D and it is his
third year in the class with a best of 7.97. He said "We have a new
convertor this year." Crew chief is father Johan and the engine a SBC
of 320cu in. Troubles in session one meant he is qualified 15th.
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Competition Eliminator racer Peter Emilsson last ran in Pro Stock in
2009 and is now returning with the same car but much smaller 267cu in
engine and auto trans. He said "I ran in Comp Eliminator from 1997 and
am aiming to run in EDRS and to go in the high eights."
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Competition Eliminator racer Mathias Stenström has a turbo Volvo S90
with BMW engine and ran 7.02 on a 7.50 C/TA index to go seventh. The
car has run as quick as 6.72/335kph.
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Competition Eliminator racer Odd Erik Fossum is crewed by daughter
Trine Fossum (pictured right) and guest crew and TMD
racer Birgitte Bremnes. Trine said "We bought the car as a new build
from Stroupe Race Cars in 2011 and run it in A/NA with a nitrous
assisted 632cu in engine. It's more economical to run in Sportsman
class although it could run in Pro Mod." Trine told us that her quick
(7.63) JM/A dragster is for sale. Birgitte is looking forward to
driving the Islanders' dragster at the European Finals.
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Competition Eliminator racer Stefan "Stuff" Persson is racing this F/D.
Crewman Jörgen Westling told us that the engine is a new Rodeck four
banger of 180cu in with TH350 trans. This is the first race with the
new engine and the old ran a best of 9.9. Problems prevented a time in
the first session.
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Competition Eliminator racer Yngve Solberg from Oslo, Norway, is crewed
by his father and sponsor Øystein. He told us the car is for sale. "We
bought the car almost new from North Dakota and the previous owner was
82 years old. The car holds the European AA/D record of 6.50/210mph and
has a BBC with a short stroke of 3.5 inches to give 397 cu in and is
easy to maintain and quick." Plans for the future? "We would like to
get a front engined nostalgia Top Fuel car. I go to Bakersfield and
have bought parts from Brandon Murray but there is no more space for
another race car!"
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Competition Eliminator racer Andreas Arthursson runs a '97 Chevy Monte
Carlo and took it to 6.877 on 7.39 index to go no.5. The car was built
by Gebharts Racecars and has a turbo Chevy small block with Hughes
Powerglide. More details on PPF Racing Team are at www.pure-pf.com.
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Competition Eliminator racer Lars-Georg Johansson runs an NS Racecars
built blowen SBC engined Camaro with a best of 7.49/290kph. He ran 7.81
on the BA/A 8.40 index to go no.4.
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Competition Eliminator racer Jens Eklund has this Audi A5 which ran
8.06 on an 8.77 index to go no.2. The self-built car has 25.1 chassis,
and a turbo Audi 2.4 engine with Leanders clutch and Liberty 5 speed
trans. Best time to date is 7.77 and more details are at www.eklundracing.se.
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Eleven Super Gas Bikes made the call for the first session. Reigning
champion Tomas Jonsson was no.1 with a 9.55.
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Competition Eliminator racers Jens Eklund and Bjørn Johansen (in the
Corvette) await their first qualifying attempt. Bjørn ran 7.14 on a
7.26 index to go 11th in his unblown, Stroup Racecars built machine.
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