Headlines of course when the news came that Roger Burgess would fly in one of his cars, a crew and Melanie Troxel to compete at The Main Event. The car arrived on the track at Saturday evening and after only a few minor adjustments the second qualifying run was a 6.24 seconds and good for the seventh spot in the 26 car field. In the first round of eliminations Troxel had to face Adam Flamholc. The Camaro ran out of shape, Troxel had to lift and the 6.60 seconds was not enough against the 6.30 seconds of the Swede.



Later Monday afternoon the team came back for a demo run and showed their tuning skills. A not even perfect run set a 5.93 seconds on the scoreboard, by far the quickest Pro Mod run of the weekend and also under Mats Eriksson’s European record of 5.98 seconds. The team admitted they underestimated the asphalt track and needed three runs to find that out. The car will stay in Europe so there is even more to come later this season.



With 6.08 and 6.01 seconds runs Johan Lindberg was the biggest surprise of qualifying. The team acquired the John Russo Pontiac Firebird from the States this winter, installed a Leanders clutch and already showed good form in testing at Veidec Raceway. In the colours of Rockstar Energy Drink the 27 year old Lindberg went into the number one qualifying position.



A great 6.07 seconds from Graham Ellis was good for second position, bettering his personal record that previously was 6,23.



Andy Robinson took the number three spot and Bruno Bader fourth. Not in the 16-car field after one qualifying run were Mats Eriksson and Michael Gullqvist. In his last attempt the European Champion took the number five spot while Gullqvist went into sixth. One of the outsiders to miss eliminations was Robert Joosten. With his new ’70 Camaro the Dutchman encountered all kind of traction problems and hurt his engine. Even bigger problems for Rolf Ammann in his first qualifying attempt when his car got out of shape during the burn out and ran into the christmas three.

In the first round of eliminations Lindberg, tuned by his 21 year old brother Jonnie, put a 6.04 on the scoreboard and went straight into the quarter final to meet Roger Johansson who had beaten a struggling Freddy Fagerström in the first round. Lindberg repeated his qualifying number and the 6.01 seconds was by far too quick for nitrous man Johansson. In the semi final the new kid had to face Eriksson. The reigning champion showed his Euro Finals form in the quarter final with a 6.03 seconds to beat the Kendall car of Mikael Lindahl. Eriksson knew he had to improve but pulled a red light. As a bracket car Lindberg ran a 6.01 again and went straight into the final.



On the other side of the elimination ladder Andy Robinson had a hole shot win in the first round when Jan Gunnarsson ran a 6.04 but was slower of the line. The quarter final was a close one as Gullqvist’s 6.126 seconds was not enough against a winning 6.122 for Robinson. That gave the semi final confrontation between the Englishman and Flamholc in his new Camaro.



A 6.11 seconds was okay for Robinson to beat a troubled Flamholc but a huge cloud of smoke and oil on the track were indications for serious engine problems. The damage was so bad that Robinson could not make it to the final and Lindberg had a bye run to his first ever European victory. To finish the event in style the Lindberg Bros team repeated the 6.04 seconds from qualifying and the first round. Talking about consistency? Apart from two 6.04’s and two 6.01’s their speed in all four elimination rounds was 236 mph! A perfect win for a new championship favourite.

FIA PRO MODIFIED
Winner:    Johan Lindberg (SWE)

	QUALIFYING:		ET	MPH	KPH
1	Johan Lindberg	SWE	6.0145	232.43	374.06
2	Graham Ellis	GBR	6.0743	232.46	374.11
3	Andy Robinson	GBR	6.1292	228.15	367.17
4	Bruno Bader	CH	6.1681	203.33	327.23
5	Mats Eriksson	SWE	6.2106	235.18	378.49
6	Michael Gullquist	SWE	6.2261	223.43	359.56
7	Melanie Troxel	USA	6.2431	239.85	386.00
8	Freddy Fagerström	SWE	6.2529	224.50	361.30
9	Roger Johansson	SWE	6.4349	219.18	352.74
10	Adam Flamholc	SWE	6.4637	166.07	267.26
11	Marco Maurischat	GER	6.4764	215.13	346.22
12	Urban Johansson	SWE	6.6263	221.43	356.36
13	Mikael Lindahl	SWE	6.7296	216.86	349.00
14	Jan Gunnarsson	SWE	6.8262	208.17	335.02
15	Marko Lantto	SF	6.8301	215.11	346.19
16	Terje Håkonsen	NOR	6.8881	199.76	321.48
	Alternates:
17	Roger Moore	GBR	7.0680	11.45	18.43
18	Kevin Slyfield	GBR	7.5480	153.10	246.39
19	Marcus Hilt	CH	7.7326	185.00	297.73
20	Philip Englefield	GBR	7.8689	127.32	204.90
21	Ray White	GBR	8.0641	128.45	200.33
22	Henri Joosten	NED	8.5913	129.18	207.90
23	Wayne Nicholson	GBR	10.5991	92.91	149.52

ELIMINATIONS:

Round 1:
Roger Johansson 6.6896/210.11 def. Freddy Fagerström no time
Adam Flamholc 6.3040/218.22 def. Melanie Troxel 6.6015/228.90
Micke Gullqvist 6.2594/220.18 def. Marco Maurischat no time
Mats Eriksson 6.3899/228.16 def. Urban Johansson 6.4077/228.92
Micke Lindahl 6.3595/222.54 def. Bruno Bader 6.4278/222.22
Andy Robinson 6.1140/226.78 def. Jan Gunnarsson 6.0478/228.16
Marko Lantto 8.8216/155.89 def. Graham Ellis 6.5823/228.16 DQ
Johan Lindberg 6.0499/236.13 def. Terje Håkonsen 6.8246/203.39

Round 2:
Mats Eriksson 6.0398/240.17 def. Micke Lindahl 6.1871/230.09
Adam Flamholc 9.1653/81.97 bye, Marko Lantto no show
Andy Robinson 6.1227/226.74 def. Micke Gullqvist 6.1269/230.38
Johan Lindberg 6.0122/236.07 def. Roger Johansson 6.3343/225.89

Round 3:
Johan Lindberg 6.0141/236.19 def. Mats Eriksson 9.7611/90.88 DQ
Andy Robinson 6.1126/221.09 def. Adam Flamholc 6.4673/214.10

Final
Johan Lindberg 6.0424/236.09 bye, Andy Robinson no show


Low Elapsed Time of the Meet:   6.0122 seconds – Johan Lindberg
Top Speed of the Meet:   240.17 mph / 386.52 kph – Mats Eriksson