Sweden Internationals
Sunday


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Latest update: 20:50


Pro Stock Bike winner Karl-Heinz Weikum had a hole-shot over 2012 champion Ulf Ögge. "It is my first event on my new bike", he said. "We made some test runs at Kumandaras and the 60ft times were good." The bike is a new build by myself with help from Fast By Gast in Las Vegas. I also took my old engine and replaced the heads using two valve heads and keeping to 1655cc capacity. I was delighted the bike performed well and that it was a holeshot win too."


Super Twin bike winner Ulf Ledström said "We had problems all weekend but I was pleased to run 6.83. We have been struggling with dropped cylinders. We will keep our schedule to Nordic races and the next one is at Sundsvall. We are delighted to be leading the points at this stage though."


Pro Stock winner Thomas Lindström pulled off a win over championship leader Jimmy Ålund and was ahead from the start and Jimmy lifted at half track.


Top Methanol Funny Car finalists Adam Flamholc and Jonnie Lindberg line up for the final which Adam won 5.71 to 5.84.


Top Fuel Bike runner-up Rickard Gustavsson said "On Friday the bike wanted to go left because of the wind and I shut off. On Saturday I selected the wrong gear on the first run and on the second I ran a good 6.42. Against Peter Andersson-Ström I ran 6.49 and it was quite close. If Ian's bike had performed how I expected I would not have been in the final as we struggled to get traction in the left lane but we got there. Against Peter Svensson, we tried to push but spun the tyre.


Stock/Super Stock runner-up Dan Williams said "The weekend generally went very well. We missed the first qualifier because of a water pump which we fixed and then qualified no.8. The car performed really well and the new engine was great first time out, running well under the index. Also in the final we were against Per Fagerström who has been a good friend to us." The team's plans are to race at Tierp in July and August with the Nova and to transport it to the UK in time for the Finals.


Super Gas winner Bosse Hall has raced his Anglia 105E for thirty years but has a new self-constructed chassis under the body for this year. "The car performed as I wanted and we have sorted out all the problems. I will try to do five races to count for the EDRS championship. But after 30 years of racing, I realise there is something else other than racing in life."


Top Fuel winner Thomas Nataas and team were delighted at the win in a competitive field. A 4.22 defeated Stig Neergaard's 4.27. Thomas said "We were pleased with the car this weekend and the only issue was a burst panel going after the finish line in the final."


Top Methanol Funny Car winner Adam Flamholc and runner up Jonnie Lindberg celebrate on the podium.


Pro Mod winner Urban Johansson and runner-up Micke Gullqvist hold the trophies and bubbly. Urban said "The car made a nice number. We had loose rings in the head and not so much power and no time to fix it so I wanted to take him on the tree. It is great to have the European record too. Thanks to my team who have worked so hard to turn the car around."


Top Fuel winner Thomas Nataas and runner up Stig Neergaard on the podium and Stig will now book his place in Finland at the start of July. Stig said "I had a car length on Thomas at 660ft but there was a transmission issue."


Top Methanol Funny Car runner up Jonnie Lindberg said "I was disappointed not to get the win but happy to get the speed record at 421kph and be the first TMFC in Europe under 5.50 even though it was not backed up. It shook real hard and the track was tricky for us. It looks the same on each run but the amount of tyre shake varies. In our team race Johan had a wire connection come loose. But we are world class and my best speed is only 2kph off the NHRA record of 431kph."


Top Fuel Dragster racer Jari Halinen (pictured right) reached the semi final and recorded his best times with US tuner Jimmy Walsh. Jimmy said "We are tweaking it to perform better. The clutch is the heart of the car and each car has its own personality. Although the weather seems to change, the barometer and water grain stay steady and are not making a difference." Jimmy will also be helping Jari at Alastaro and Jari suffered the loass of a blower belt in the semi final.


Top Fuel Dragster racer Stig Neergaard said "We lost a blower belt in round one but the engine is clean. It will be a close race as Jari is running well." Stig defeated Jari, but a 255kph speed indicated he was out of the throttle well before the 1000ft mark.


Pro Stock Bike racer Elvira Karlsson suffered a loose crankshaft bolt which only became apparent when the team put the starter on. She said "Tightening that bolt will now be on our checklist! Our goals for this season are a six second pass and a race win. We have stepped up with a new Vance & Hines engine and trailer. I ran a 7.12 at 301kph at the test and tune and so my qualifier of 7.17 was not a surprise. We will be running all rounds of the championship."


Top Fuel Bike racer Ian King was delighted to run his first five, a 5.98/353kph. "It's nice to get that weight off my shoulders," he said. "Sometimes the quickest runs are the easiest and the engine was clean after it." However in the semi a smoking tyre led to a loss to the funny bike of Rickard Gustavsson.


Pro Stock Bike racer Gert-Jan Laseur was confident having defeated reigning champion Fredrick Fredlund and achieving a personal best of 7.21 in round one of eliminations. He said "We have many new parts and discovered we were on the wrong foot and using too many revs. With less revs the clutch is working better and I thank my clutch man." In a close race Gert-Jan lost to Karl-Heinz Weikum in the semi-final.


Top Methanol Funny Car racer Adam Flamholc said of his first round 5.79 bye "We shook at the top of first gear and short shifted which is why we lost ET. We will need to step up against Leif in the next race." Adam then won on a holeshot with an 0.08 light and 5.68 ET against Leif Andréasson's 0.24 RT and 5.57 ET.


Top Methanol Funny Car racer Leif Andréasson had the most consistent performance of the race running a series of 5.5s. However running a 5.57 losing pass indicates the level of competition in the class has increased by a step factor in 2013.


Top Methanol Funny Car racers Jonnie (pictured left) and Johan Lindberg are another reason why the class is so competitive. Jonnie's 5.498/429kph (266mph) pass made history as the first ever European TMFC under 5.50.


Pro Mod racer Niclas Andersson went two rounds after struggling in qualifying. A 6.23 defeat of Marc Meihuizen in round one was followed by 6.16 against Mats Eriksson in round two. But a 6.30 was no match for Micke Gullqvist's 5.91 in the semi final.


Pro Mod racer Urban Johansson has stepped up performance to take a new European record of 5.882 and had a bye when opponent Mattias Wulcan was a no-show. So the Pro Mod final has two cars that have both taken the European class ET record this weekend.


Top Fuel Dragster racer Patrik Pers crew have had a frustrating weekend with a couple of large fires. Crew members Mark 'Animal' Bodimeade and Alan Jackson commented that the engine was blowing oil seals out as a result of a crankcase pressure problem caused by an issue in the ignition system. The subsequent fire was spectacular but the main damage was to pistons. Animal said "We have 60 spare pistons in Stockholm and have burnt 24 so far this weekend." Patrik exited eliminations in round one against Antti Horto.


Top Fuel Dragster racer Thomas Nataas was pleased to have run back to back 4.03s in the aborted session on Saturday and yesterday morning. "I'd rather be no.1" he admitted. "We can be a bit faster - there are small issues such as tyre shake and dropping cylinders. We think we have found the problem and will hopefully run fine."


Super Twin racer Christian Jäger qualified fourth with a 7.19 but was troubled by the conditions. "The wind direction changes when you come out of the arena and it was causing the bike to drift to the left. We are finding it hard not to overpower the track which changes traction for us after oildowns. It is very tricky for the setup that Super Twins have. But the bike has run reliably, we have the same soft setup here and it could go 6.5 if it went straight."


Super Twin racer Job Heezen, pictured with team members Roel Koedam, Nils and Paul said "Three quarters of the runs we have done have had to be aborted. I have had to angle over to keep the bike going straight. The track is not to blame, I have had problems getting it off the line due to clutch setup. Almost all the Super Twins were struggling and yesterday was a miserable day. The big engines mean they are tricky to tune."


Super Twin racer Anna-Lena Asplund, pictured with crew chief Mats Eriksson, is running nitro for the first time this year and had an explosion on her first attempt. She said "I am just getting used to it. I bought from Samu Kemppainen, it's a bit heavier but not much. I am getting used to the nitro routine and it was fine in the burnout but exploded on the launch. I was angry with myself because I should have launched from idle, but raised the revs, and then got off and back on the throttle. It was a learning experience. The damage was a lifted head and bent wrist pin, nothing major." Anna Lena's next race is Gardermoen.


Super Twin racer Trond Høiberget qualified seventh with 7.65. He said "I have been struggling with the gearbox and second gear being broken which meant I have had to run with only one gear. My new team are good workers and I thank Odd Magnar Solheim, Juha HintoKainen and Ekki Heinämäki.


Super Twin racer Samu Kempainnen is racing the Ron Houniet/Nate Gagnon-built bike with V60 engine and is first alternate. Samu said "The engine is really good. I have done 74 laps without damage. Over the winter I had a new cam and latest model Racepak. It runs well and we tested last month recording a 6.80. We changed parts and have had a problem with the lockup clutch. It spun the tyre on both runs and the bike wouldn't go straight. We got to 330kph but the first 60ft was our problem." Samu said 2012 Champion Nate Gagnon is leading the Canadian championship and hopes to pay a social visit to Europe later in the year.


Pro Stock Bike racer and Eurodragster.com blogger Kalle Lyrén was delighted with a new PB 7.09 and no.1 qualifier. He said "It's unbelievable. Finally the bike is working as we planned. After struggling, we have got into the tuning window. Over the winter we looked at every piece on the bike. If we were not sure it was good enough, we tried to look at an alternative. We now want to run consistent 7.0s."


Pro Mod racer Terje Håkonsen said "We had a troubled and unsatisfying weekend. We had success last year, running a 5.96 in August and tried the same setup but it didn't work. We bought some new parts over the winter and the car is now 50kg lighter. I lost one run with Martin Lundkvist coming into our lane, the second was slow due to a spark plug breaking and then the clutch didn't work right in the final session. It was unlucky but that's racing."


Pro Stock bike racer Ulf Ögge ran 7.15, 7.20 and 7.15 for no.4 qualifier. But the picture shows that there was damage. Crew man Ola Pettersson said "In Q1 we had an engine sensor failure and the fuel injector put a lot of fuel in. Then in the next session that issue resulted in a pushrod and lifter failure at 10,000rpm. In the last session we had a problem with the clutch tuning and spun the tyre. The track workers have done an awesome job to give us a great surface to race on.


Top Fuel Bike racer Peter Svensson qualified no.1 with a 5.98. He said "I pedalled once and maybe there was a little too much clutch. The bike is strong and running well, but the wind has been a problem, it pushed us to the left and changes after the arena area. It would be good to run against Ian in the final as he is doing good times."


Top Fuel Dragster racer Thomas Nataas produced the quickest time of round one of eliminations with 4.08 in a defeat of Micke Kågered's 4.15/467kph, his quickest of the weekend.


Pro Mod racers Marc Meihuizen and Micke Gullqvist both ran their best times of the event so far yesterday and congratulated each other afterwards. Marc ran 6.04 to qualify fifth and Micke ended as top qualifier with a 5.92/397kph. Marc said "I lifted once on that run so the time could be better."


Pro Mod racer Mats Eriksson was excited after his best run for a while, 6.03/381 with a 3.96 to the eighth. He said "We are figuring out our settings more and more on every run. Going to England was superb for us because we were able to obtain data that has helped us here."


Pro Stock racer Christian Sagelv was pleased to run his first 6.8 in the Gulf Ford but disappointed not to qualify. He said "The speed (325kph) shows the potential and we should be running in the high 6.7s. We have struggled and I feel this run should have been our starting point. But we have learned a lot about the combination with our new engine and Leanders clutch. We will now run the rest of the FIA championship. Pro Stock is the toughest class but we are the fastest Ford!"


Pro Stock racer Ulf Wagnhester qualified no.8 in the Samantha racing Dodge Avenger. He said "We have put new Penske shocks on the car which have a lot more adjustability than our old shocks and therefore give us more tuning potential. The car is running better each round and our 6.81 earlier was our PB."


Pro Stock racer Michael Malmgren ran his best time of the weekend, a 6.73 to qualify no. 5. He said "I was not happy with the run and we are not getting the car to run the way we want and are struggling with the chassis. We are no closer to a 6.6 which we need to do."


Pro Stock racers Magnus Petersson and Jimmy Ålund were both celebrating. Magnus had run his first 6.6 pass (6.68) to go no.4. He said "Our trouble was not getting the tyre speed up at the start and now we have begun to step up well." Jimmy ran a 6.588 to back up his 6.552 for a new European ET record. He said "Today's performance has proved we can run in the 6.5s consistently and I am looking forward to eliminations."


Pro Stock racer Thomas Lindström was a little disappointed to have gone from 6.69 in the morning to 6.62. He said "It wasn't the run we wanted and we will have to try to improve tomorrow. Jimmy has done well and we need to catch him."


Stock/Super Stock racer Rick McCann had a scary moment yesterday when a near-vertical wheelie resulted in the car crossing lanes very close to Jarmo Markkanen. Rick said "It came straight up, unloaded and then started to tip to the right. I came off the power but he looked in his mirrors and lifted as well. What saved us was he was dialled in seven hundredths quicker. We had identical reactions and it could have been a disaster. We steered away from the wall and there is no front damage, the only item bent is the wheelie bar. We had new Hoosier tyres on and the air and traction were better today. We want to get different shocks to enable the car to deal with different tracks rather than change the four link." Next race for Rick is Alastaro at the start of July.



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