Ulf Ögge, Pro Stock Bike

Ulf Ögge seems hard to beat once he has the lead. The Main Event was his second race this season and his second win. Of course his goal is to be European champion once again.

“For first time ever we had two Buells in the final,” said Ulf. “That was a great experience. We’re still using the old engine but the plan is to install the new one for Finland, which is the next event for us. I’ve now got the best team I’ve ever had. We´re three European champions here now, with Charlie Karling, champ in Super Twin, Tommy Tinndahn, champ in Pro Stock, and me and my own great guys, so we have every opportunity to get the championship this year. This has been a great event here at Santa Pod, even though it’s been raining. This is a really good track,” declared the winner of the Main Event 2010’s Pro Stock Bike class.



Lorenz Stäuble, Super Twin Bike

Lorenz Stäuble is the Super Twin rider in Urs Erbacher’s team and ran really well at this event.

“As always, this is a good track, but it was hard racing this time as there was a strong wind during Sunday’s qualifying. When you carry the front wheel in the air for almost the whole track it’s very hard to keep the bike where you want it. Monday was better and all the settings we have made worked fine. It´s always hard to find the right window in the settings, but we did. It’s a bit different this year as the class hasn’t so many racers and that doesn´t make the competition as good as expected. The goal this year is to beat Job Heezen who is a bit ahead of us in the points. Next round is in Finland and as the settings are fine now we’ll go with the same,” said the Main Event 2010 winner in the Super Twin Bike class.



Steve Woollatt, Top Fuel Bike

Steve Woollatt is a tough nut to crack, especially when he´s racing on his home track.

“My last competitive race was at Easter and after that I ran a test race four weeks ago. I can’t afford to go abroad to race right now so I stick to Santa Pod as it’s just 60 miles away from home. The bike has a new magneto and we have been testing different clutches. The race was good, track excellent, and as this is my home track I get a lot of fans supporting me. I am running the English races this year as it costs me too much to travel, so next UEM race will be the European Finals. In the meantime I’ll come here to do smaller races, just because I enjoy it so much,” said a very happy Steve Woollatt.



Urs Erbacher, Top Fuel Dragster

Urs Erbacher is back in Europe and he gave a thorough masterclass in Top Fuel racing. With a European Speed Record of 314.87mph/506.73kph at the first FIA Championship event, he´s clearly back in business.

“As usual, this track at Santa Pod is super and well prepared for us. We have learned a lot from our experiences in America as it’s much harder to compete there,” explained Urs. “Now we’re kind of back to basics again, using the same settings we had in 2006-07. There’s no American in the team, and the team members have a lot more experience than the last time we raced in Europe. Our biggest challenge now is to find the best settings in the car, but with all our US experience there shouldn´t be a big problem. We’re very keen to win now as we’ve had a break from European competition for about three years. We did win a few NHRA rounds which are like winning a European championship here. NHRA reckoned us the best team in 30 years from outside the US. But now we’re back in European business again,” said a very happy Top Fuel winner at the Main Event 2010, Urs Erbacher.

Dennis Habermann,
Top Methanol Dragster

The TMD final at the Main Event was a family matter. For brothers Dennis and Timo Habermann, it was the first time they had met each other in a final round.

“We have raced each other before but not with the same setups and not in a final,” explains Dennis. “This season we’ve both got 433ci engines in the cars, so there’s going to be tighter competition between us. The closest race we ever had was in Finland last year. The difference was 0.003sec,” says Dennis, smiling. “Finland is next in this year’s championship and now we’re checking everything on the car. We need to get the power down on the surface. The wheels are spinning too much, so that’s the current problem we have to solve. This is going to be a very hard season as everybody in TMD is so good. It’s hard to say who’s going to take the championship in 2010. But whatever happens, we have the best crew in the world. We’re all close and really good friends, not only at the track, and we have lots of fun on our trips around Europe. And the track organisation here has been stunning. The track crew has been just super and so helpful all the time. When the rain came they did all they could to dry out the track and they did a really good job, as always. We also want to thank all our sponsors, so take a look at our website: www.werner-habermann-racing.com ,” says Dennis, the good team promoter.



Johan Lindberg, Pro Modified

This season’s new sensations are the young Lindberg brothers. Having raced Top Doorslammers in Sweden for a couple of years, with occasional Pro Mod outings, they have now moved into Pro Modified full-time. And what a start! Each of six trips down the track at Santa Pod – two qualifying passes and four elimination matches – produced a 6.0sec elapsed time, clockwork consistency made doubly remarkable by the fact that these were Johan Lindberg’s first quarter-mile runs in the car. Everything is new this year. The Pontiac Firebird was imported during the winter from the USA, where it had already clocked 5.89sec for previous owner John Russo.

“This is the first time we have raced outside Sweden so are we happy anyway… and especially happy with this win,” a beaming Johan remarked when Speedgroup caught up with him for a chat. “We´ve raced Pro Mod at Mantorp for a couple of years now and between those events it´s been Top Doorslammer races at national level. It’s a good way to learn how to tune the car and to drive it. But now it´s for real. In Pro Mod you have to be alert all the time because it costs a lot more and you can’t afford to struggle around. The margins are much smaller here and it costs a lot more to be in the FIA Championship with travelling and other expenses. The car is just great as it is so we’re not going to do much more than a regular service before Finland. The race here at Santa Pod has been very good – well-prepared track, good organisation and good but hard competitors. It’s going to be an exciting 2010 championship,” said a very happy Johan Lindberg.



Jürgen Nagel, Top Methanol Funny Car

Germany’s Jürgen Nagel has been running in the Top Methanol Funny Car class since the mid-1990´s. After all these years he still enjoys racing and brings his family to the races whenever he can. Mostly he is interested in the mechanical part of drag racing and does not compete solely to win. Although he was very happy with the win at Santa Pod, he says it was not so much due to the car’s performance as to the fact that the car went down the track every time when others failed to do so.

For this season, Team Nagel have updated the engine and were happy to see that the car reacted to their tuning adjustments as they had hoped. Jürgen felt most pleased, performancewise, with the best 60-foot time of 0.93sec. He explains, ”On that particular run the burst panel went and we did not make a full pass, but we could see the potential.” On the question of what he hopes for this season, he immediately says the championship title, then laughs.

Team Nagel would like to go to Finland for the next race but are hesitant since the travel costs are so high. Mantorp and Hockenheim are on the agenda and possibly the European Finals in the UK in September. To end, Jürgen comments that you have to have a bit of everything to pull it off – ”Not least a bit luck,” he says – and I can tell from his voice that he is smiling.



Michael Callin, Pro Stock

Swedish Pro Stock driver Micke Callin has raced in the class since 2007. He says the last few years have involved major mechanical failures and plenty of hassle. Compared to the end of last season, the car is now intact. Micke and crew had seemingly sorted things out with the car just in time for the European Finals 2009. He set a new personal record there of 6.77sec. and thinks the car has the potential to run quicker still. This Main Event win at Santa Pod is his first ever in Pro Stock and he sounds thrilled when asked about it. He explains, “What I am happiest about are my reaction times. That, together with the fact that I ran my quickest ET against Micke Malmgren in the final, was what got me the win (Callin hit 6.792sec. with a reaction time of 0.032 against Malmgren’s 6.788sec/0.040 reaction time). I have been wanting to improve my reaction times. I don´t do anything differently from before but at the Main Event it all just came together.”

Discussing the forthcoming event in Finland, Micke says he does not have much data to go on as he has only run there twice in Pro Stock, both times struggling with mechanical problems. “I really need to do well in Finland and earn points,” he says, continuing, “Jimmy Ålund will be back in competition* after that, in time for the race at Mantorp Park, Sweden, at the end of July and he is going to be really tough to beat.”

*Jimmy Ålund has been competing with his car in the USA this season.