2010 Sunoco Drag Challenge
Saturday
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The latest updates are at the top of the page. Click on your Browser's Refresh key to be sure of seeing the latest news. Click here to go back to the event index 21:00 Courtesy of Norsk Dragracing Gardermoen tomorrow's ladders are now available for UEM classes, Top Doorslammer and Comp Eliminator: Top Fuel Bike ladder Supertwin ladder Pro Stock Bike ladder Funny Bike Cup ladder Top Doorslammer ladder Comp Eliminator ladder 20:15 Some pit notes from our qualifying leaders courtesy of Emelie and Aila. Pro Stock Bike #1 Jesper Thiel said that the team worked with the fuel and clutch before the last session. He enjoyed a nice clean pass and it felt good to ride. They will keep on making adjustments if needed for the first round of eliminations. #2 Ulf Ögge lost the low qualifier position to Jesper. Ulf said that the last run was expensive as the clutch broke. The team had set the bike up for the traction they felt they had in the right lane, but the left lane could not take the same amount of power. Ulf joked "Now we will go for a Pro Mod and a Wilson double deck trailer instead". Supertwin leader Per Bengtsson's mechanic Mats said that the track was different between early and late in the day. The team had made adjustments so that the tyre did not smoke, but it did. Per was also in the left lane which Ulf Ögge said had less traction. Top Fuel Bike #2 Sverre Dahl improved from 7.15 to 6.55 during the last session. Sverre has a new chassis this year and is seeing improvements. He has still not made any full passes but he is getting to know the bike better on each run. Still on a learning curve, team Dahl are mainly working with the clutch and plan to step up on power as the next step. #1 qualifier Peter Svensson's last run run resulted in a broken transmission and uncontrolled rpm. The the team have to rebuild the transmission for tomorrow and hope that it will be OK. 19:35 Final qualifying in Top Doorslammer and Comp Eliminator, courtesy of Norsk Dragracing Gardermoen: Top Doorslammer final qualifying Comp Eliminator final qualifying 19:05 Åsa writes that the final qualifying sessions went as follows. Pro Stock Bike: Zoltáltan Tóth 13.069/94 sounded bad, Bousinis Haralambos 8.08/265, Kark Heinz Weikum 7.57/280.16 improved (prev 7.764), Kenneth Vik 7.413/292 improved (prev 7.530), Martin Bishop 7.690/282, Fredrik Fredlund 7.248/289 clean pass improved (prev 7.352), Gabriella Nikolovska 7.483/281 clean pass consistent, Kalle Lyrén 7.348/282 consistent, Dave Beck 7.26/295 consistent, Jesper Thiel 7.185/296.30 took #1 position from Ulf Ögge - nice pass! Stavros Svrachnos 8.82/168, Ulf Ögge 7.423/289 looked slow - Ulf was paired with Anders Abrahamsson who lost fire with no time to restart. Supertwin: Joachim Riemer 7.92/209 outside the ladder, Samu Kemppainen made it in with 7.052/283, Roel Koedam outside 7.49/264, Salakari 6.997/254 (prev 7.14) improved but did so in a cloud of white smoke, damage to the cam gear, Svein Olav Rolfstad 7.39/301 outside the ladder, Lorenz Stäuble 8.32/191 front wheel in the air first 50 metres, wild ride, Martijn de Haas 7.217/274 drifted very close to the centre - stayed outside the ladder but improved his PB big time (was 7.78 before this event), Ismo Mäenpää drifted and off the throttle 10.18/101 outside the ladder, Trond Høiberget 7.257/297 on the bumpspot with 7.098, Hans Olav Olstad 11.64/289 problems off the startline, Per Bengtsson 14.02/236 problems from the start, lost power. Top Fuel Bike: Kai Selkämaa 10.37/127 no clean pass, Sverre Dahl 6.55/285 improved into no #2 (prev 7.15), Rene van den Berg 6.754/333, #4 improved ET (prev 6.825), nice pass consistent, Peter Svensson 6.67/254 belt/chain broke still #1, Jaska Salakari and Petri Paljakka not out this session. Final qualifying standings, courtesy of Norsk Dragracing Gardermoen: Top Fuel Bike final qualifying Supertwin final qualifying Pro Stock Bike final qualifying Funny Bike Cup final qualifying 18:40 Patrik has sent us some more pictures, bringing today's gallery up to 110 shots. You can check out Patrik's pictures by clicking here. We will have the final qualifying standings very shortly. 16:05 Patrik has sent us some more pictures, bringing today's gallery up to 95 shots. You can check out Patrik's pictures by clicking here. 15:15 Emelie and Aila have been speaking to Supertwin #1 Per Bengtsson, #2 Lo Stäuble and #4 Hans Olav Olstad. Per said that he spun the tyre, went up in smoke but should have continued. He feels somewhat tired. The team is working on the 60 foot time, the bite is good and it's hard to spin the wheel. Per anticpates that the next run is going to be quick as the track temperature will be cooled (session due to start with Pro Stock Bike at 18.30). Lorenz improved to a 6.604/346 compared to previous 6.742. Lorenz said that they softened the set-up for this round, but that it was basically the same. He hopes to run quicker during the last session. This run felt easy and perfect for him as a rider with no problems at all. Hans-Olav Olstad improved to 6.799/334 (prev 6.803). Hans Olav is running consistently and made a joke about them being best on bad tracks. The track today is good and Hans Olav has not yet found the right set-up. With better air and a lower track temperature this evening he too hopes to improve. The plan is to step up a bit and put some more weight on the clutch. 14:45 Courtesy of Norsk Dragracing Gardermoen the qualifying standings in UEM classes after session 3 are as follow (PDF format): Top Fuel Bike qualifying after session 3 Supertwin qualifying after session 3 Pro Stock Bike qualifying after session 3 Funny Bike Cup qualifying after session 3 14:40 Åsa spoke to the Pro Stock Bike racers in the pairing lanes. All had stepped up both clutch and fuel. Overall a slower round. Session 3: Ögge still quickest 7.28/295, Svrachnos wheelspin from the line 7.31, Abrahamsson 7.33/296, Fredlund 7.352/293, Thiel 7.35/285, Lyrén 7.38/288, Nikolovska 7.46/285, Beck 7.61/282 looked good, Vik 7.70/292 wheelspin, Bousinis long wheelie 7.93/269, Tóth 8.33 problems, Weikum 14.50/40. Supertwin session 3: Bengtsson up in smoke soon after the line 9.91/130, Riemer dropped cylinder at half track 9.96/145, Stäuble improved 6.604/346 (prev 6.74), Høiberget improved big time 7.09/314 (prev 7.40), Salakari was shut off after the burnout (leak), Rolfstad 7.39/301 clean pass looked a bit lazy, De Haas 7.56/239 second quickest he has run although looked to drop a cylinder, Mäenpää 8.25/189 wheelie, moved around mid track and shut off early, Olstad 6.799/334 repeated performance within 0.001, Heezen 6.755/334.88 improved. Top Fuel Bike session 3: not Kai Selkämaa's weekend so far, possible tuning problems mid-track shut off 13.17/99, Paljakka 7.156/321.43 no improvement, Van den Berg consistent 6.86/333 (prev 6.82), Jaska Salakari 11.73 lost a cylinder, Dahl did not appear, Svensson 6.936/227 no improvement. 
Rikard Gustafsson (right) has set new UEM Funny Bike Cup records of 6.662 and 338.03 kmh.
13:00 Pro Stock Bike #1 qualifier Ulf Ögge says they tested some during the last run. He ran in the 7.3s. For the next run they are adjusting the clutch. All looks ok and Ulf is very comfortable and confident at the moment, but he realises he needs to keep running quick to stay ahead of Anders Abrahamsson. 11:40 Emelie Carlswärd has been speaking to Peter Svensson about his 6.185 sec/360 to lead Top Fuel Bike and Per Bengtsson about his near-record 6.473/338 to head up Supertwin. Peter commented the track was a bit cold, that the run was less shaky than before but he drifted towards the center line. The engine works well and now with the track getting warmer they will step up a bit to take more power out of the machine. Peter was happy with the run overall. Per said that they aim to improve performance for the first 100 metres, that this run was not good this run but that he feels the power is there and there is more to come. He did not think the run was as quick as 6.47 and explains that he lost at least five hundredths just over the first 100 metres. This was Per's first full pass, they will make some changes now and add more fuel. 10:45 Courtesy of Norsk Dragracing Gardermoen the qualifying standings in UEM classes after session 2 are as follow (PDF format): Top Fuel Bike qualifying after session 2 Supertwin qualifying after session 2 Pro Stock Bike qualifying after session 2 Funny Bike Cup qualifying after session 2 Åsa's comments on the qualifying session are as follow. TFB: Sverre Dahl drifted towards the centre line and could not hold it, 7.15, now #5. Svensson outstanding in the field although not a clean pass. Salakari struggling both in STTF and TFB this round. STTF: Jaska Salakari struggling as was Lo Stäuble. Lo had a jazzy and wild ride and had to shut off (ran in the tens). Rolfstad #9 outside the ladder 7.36 with the current bump spot at 7.21 (de Haas). Rolfstad said shortly before the run that they have been struggling with his bike all season, changed a lot of parts but have not cured the problems. Might be connected to the ignintion from what I understood. Rolfstad is happy for team mate Hegre who is on a learning curve and the bike not yet set up to run real fast. Will soon start to improve and have Hegre running (hopefully) a couple of tenths quicker. Heezen and Olstad did not improve, more to expect from them later today. PSB: Jesper Thiel improved big time from 7.43 to 7.22. Anders Abrahamsson with a very long wheelie, looked nice and straight. Showed his performance at Mantorp was no fluke and now #2 qualifier only 0.003 behind Ulf Ögge and at a higher speed. Patrik has sent us the first photo update for today, which is presented in association with American Car Imports and which you can view by clicking here. 9:55 Word comes from Åsa that it is cloudy but dry at Gardermoen. After qualifying session 2 (the first of three today) the leaders are Peter Svensson 6.18/360 (Top Fuel Bike), Per Bengtsson 6.47/338 (Supertwin) and Ulf Ögge 7.19/296 (Pro Stock Bike). Stay tuned for the qualifying sheets. Reports and pictures ©Eurodragster.com |