This is Top Fuel Bike racer Sverre Dahl's first race since the 2006 Finals and the first runs on the bike since some major changes. He said "We were not expecting much at the start as we had no baseline and a brand new clutch." The clutch is an experimental Bentec unit with double sprag which sits between the frame rails of the bike and links to a two speed transmission. It is unique in its internal design and externally it looks an integral part of the frame. Sverre said "It is more stable in the chassis and we are more confident as we were breaking the gearbox on every pass with the old setup." Sverre will attend Gardermoen, Mosten and Santa Pod. Support is from Sunoco and Lönne who sponsor belts for the bike. Sverre qualified creditably, fifth of 14.

Pro Stock racer Adam Flamholc (left, with your pit reporter) said "We have had all kinds of problems taking the car down the track. When we raced the car in the US we tuned it to the smooth tracks there with concrete for the first 660ft. Now it is very difficult on the bumpy ashphalt tracks in Europe. But it's the way we race here and it's the same for everbody. We have done only 9-10 runs in Europe so far and it's an achievement just to run a six. But we're not in the field and have only one more shot. So we've made big changes to the chassis, gear ratios." In the winter we plan to ship our engine to the US and put it into a friend's car to race with."

The Summer On Wheels DVD business run by Tommy Ledberg and his partner Sussanne Mineur has an extensive stand here with a wide variety of product. It includes many Swedish races, the NHRA 2007 In Review, Driving Force and Quartermilehigh DVDs from the UK. Tommy's footage of Swedish races will be shown on Swedish channel TV4 on 30th July, 13th August, 27th August and 3rd September at 22:00.

Pro Stock Bike racer Ulf Ögge is qualified no. 2. "We had some bits of bad luck with the clutch on Friday and a broken ignition cable but fixed these. The ET we ran of 7.40 is slower than our bests of 7.24/306kph." Ulf's crew chief is Ule Petterson. The bike has a Cosman frame and G2 Buell engine. Sponsorship is from Bikeline and Nikon Cameras. Ulf mentioned another G2 engined bike is due to emerge from Holland.

Greek Pro Stock Bike racers Stavros Svrachnos (left) and Bousinis Haralambos (right) are both qualified and Stavros is delighted to be third with a 7.45. "I have had the bike for four years and Roger Petterson won two European Championships with it." Stavros said a new track is being built at Messini, 300km from Athens and he would like European Pro Stock Bikes to race there after it opens in 2009.

Pro Stock Bike racer Fredrik Fredlund said "While the track was not as we hoped the track crew have done a tremendous job on it. I am comfortable with being no. 1 qualifier and have been trying some new things out." The bike is a Trac Dynamics frame owned by Orjan Gustavsson and was raced by Roger Petterson in 2005. Fredrik's engine work is carried out by Micke Rönn who runs Almek in Fredrik's home on the island of Åland. "Thanks go to sponsor internet gaming company PAF which is also based in Åland. Our goal is to win the championship within three years." As points leader, he is clearly on track.

Pro Stock Bike racer Chris Hope (centre, with sons Alex, left and Mark, right) is back on the tour this year after a couple of years away. He said "We are taking it one thing at a time and have resolved a few little issues so we have reached the stage where we can start to tune it. The bike is the same but we have a new Vance & Hynes engine package."

Pro Stock driver Kenneth Söderström said "The track is tricky and we are about a tenth off our best of 6.91 which we ran in the UK. The heat has taken the track away and it is a wheelspin situation. I shortshifted in one gear on the last run which was a mistake, but you have to be prepared to do that in these conditions." Kenneth is sponsored by SPM Motor Renovtriager a firm owned by his family although Kenneth works in fire safety in his day job. Support is also from Pennzoil.

Pro Stock racer Micke Callin was very pleased with a 6.94 for fourth place. "We have a refreshed Steve Schmidt engine which was imported by MMR (Adam Flamholc's firm). The modern cars handle better in these conditions but only if you are in control of the setup which we are learning. We burnt two intake valves as they were uncoated and couldn't handle the unleaded fuel. Micke's next FIA outing is Santa Pod.

Pro Stock racer Jonas Dantanus said "The year has been problematic because our no. 1 engine broke in Finland and our spare engine is old and not as powerful. We weren't able to get our main engine refreshed in time because we have to send the cylinder heads to Reher-Morrison in the US.So we are here for the crowd, our sponsors and the enjoyment. We had two good runs considering, the first with tyre shake and the second affected by the bumps to run a 7.26. On the last run a plug came out and we lost water and so were shut off." As well as FIA Pro Stock Jonas runs the car in the Top Doorslammer series. He said "The organisation is good as is the sponsorship and prize money and the fields are big."

Four-time Pro Stock Champion Jimmy Ålund who is qualified no. 1 with a 6.85 said "So far so good. You have to race the racetrack here and do the best you can. I feel we have been lucky. We have been working constantly this weekend to adapt the car. Our computer data is invaluable in helping us assess the changes including suspension adjustments."

This is the first FIA race for the Lindberg Brothers team, who brand themselves as 'The New Generation'. The average age of the team is 23 and include Johan Lindberg (driver), Jonnie Lindberg (crew chief and fabricator), Jimmi Carlsson, Andras Stödin (mechanics), Joakim Åkesson (chef/mechanic) and Patrick Ängelstorm (media). The Chevy Nova is a US chassis to which has been added Freddie Fagerström's 6.2s Brad Anderson engine. The team's videos on Youtube with slo-mo sequences are a must-view.

Also new to FIA Pro Mod is Jan Gunnarson. His Cadillac has attracted a lot of attention. "When I first saw the car advertised on Racing Junk I had to go over to the US. It was owned by Don Blacksheer who ran it in 1999 only at a few match races. We had to change the rear of the chassis to bring it up to latest specs and fit a four link rear axle which was done by team member Jocke. But I have left the bodywork and paint untouched. I bought the engine components from Brad Anderson and crew chief Christer Pettersson put the engine together. We want to learn slowly and are testing here - all nine of the crew are new to Pro Mod. My master plan is to do the FIA series in 2009 but we need sponsorship. I would like to thank my partner Sofia for her support." The car is one of only four in Europe running the latest Kobelco M5 blower (the others being Graham Ellis, Freddie Fagerstrom and Urban Johansson). Jan's job is repairing ships and oil rigs in Norway.

Pitted alongside Chris Hope is Richard Gipp whose fourth time in Mantorp this is. He said "The whole experience of the European Tour is something you just have to do. I only stopped temporarily because of the birth of my son Ryan four years ago. I hope the family can come in future where school holidays allow. The bike was going well but I couldn't get out of fourth gear and the clutch slipped and carb started coming off. I had to make a new motor out of the undamaged pieces after the top end was damaged in Finland. I have to be careful with it and I have passed on both runs today." We understand new crank cases are on their way for next week's Gardermoen race.

The Pro Mod team of Patrik Wikströ worked until 3am on the car. Crew member Tommy Olsen said "One of the stripes on the blower had damage and the pressure reduuced to 19psi from what we normally expect, which is 35-40psi. There was no point in running in the second session with reduced pressure so we took the opportunity to strip the car down completely and check it. We had a new anti-roll bar fitted earlier in the year but it made the car unstable and it was almost undrivable at Alastaro as it reacted badly to loss of load at the finish line. We remounted the original parts and the car ran straight again yesterday. We think it is possible to run a six-teen this weekend. We have a lot of power - the tyres are spinning at 7,000 rpm in all three gears."

The Lucas Oil Team's owners Carsten Andersen (left) and Per Andersen (right) said "On the first run we went up in smoke, Andy pedaled it once but it went up in smoke again. On the second attempt there was oil on the track seven feet down and it blew the tyres off. It doesn't matter that the track is 1,000ft as we are only going as far as 200ft under power." They admitted that the less aggresively tuned cars (relatively speaking) have got an advantage on the circuit. "Alastaro was the best track so far this year. We are really looking forward to Hockenheim although we have had mixed results over the five times we have been." They pointed out the economic pressures on the sport now. "As well as travel expenses the cost of steel has rocketed and our crankshafts have gone up from $3,500 to $6,000. We don't use many parts but have to change the crank - the block has 120 runs on it and it was secondhand when we bought it."

Top Fuel Racer Joran Persåker said "I ran well even without a burnout. Some say the track is different between the lanes but we don't know which is best. We can run quicker, but we don't want to put more power in and go up in smoke. Jim Brissette will be our tuning consultant at each race we run and without him we would have been in trouble - we haven't been able to do many this year but hope to do more in the future."

Veteran American tuner Jim Brissette (right) likes Sweden a great deal ("there are a lot of trees") but appreciates the difference in scale of the sport in Europe. "You do 25-30 runs a year where we do 200 runs. It's definitely about doing the most with the least over here. There's not as much money in the sport and that can take away the enjoyment after a while. We don't pay the crew and tell them they can only eat when they have finished their job." Jim tuned Kelly Brown to his 1978 NHRA Championship and spent five periods with Doug Herbert from 1992 to 2007 (when he was 6th). He was also crew chief for the Joe Gibbs team with Cory McLenathan between 1997-9 and on the U.S. Army team in 2001-2.

Stig Neergard said "I hope we can run better today. On the first run the big fuel line to the cylinder head broke. For the second we put a new blower on the car and a seal ring was pressed out with oil going in the blower and engine and the burst panel went. We have put our old blower on and replaced a stripe on it. It's only small things that are preventing us from running well.

Simo Patoharju (pictured left), crew chief for Jari Halinen (right) said "Our first run was a planned easy pass. On the second we planned to go quicker but the tyres shook and also smoked a little and Jari needed to pedal. The track is difficult to find the right setup for. We haved also had some engine related problems that have bothered us since the beginning of the year.

Being Micke Kåered's home race the team is hosting a total of 1200 sponsor and other guests during the event and cooking dinner for 850 over the Friday and Saturday evenings. He said "On our first run the car spun the tyres, I pedaled once, it was not such a good time but was nearly in the right area. On the second run the car had a slight leak on a fuel line. We could have run but the team were worried the motor would have got hurt. Today we will do our best and have taken a lot of horsepower out of the engine."

From Denmark is Johnny Jørgensen whose first time in Pro Mod at Mantorp this is. He said "I've been racing for four years mostly in Pro Street. I started in Pro Mod last year and have run events in Sweden, Norway, Germany and Denmark. The car was built new in the US by Alston Race Cars and I put in the drive train. The engine is a 776cu in nitrous Hemi which produces 2500hp and Bruno converter and 3 speed Lenco. My sponsor is my wife Mika. She took ten per cent out of her beauty box to spend on the car." As well as the Camaro, Johnny's children Victoria and Marcus Sand run in Junior Dragster. The car's best is a 7.2 as Johnny is on a learning curve with setup and hopes to run a six.