Tierp Internationals
Tierp Arena, 4th-7th June 2015

Saturday


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Latest update 21:40


Pro Stock racer Jan Ericsson ran a best of 7.65/225 to qualifying on the bump spot. He said 'The car is working but we are struggling with adjustment in particular the clutch setting. The track is good but we have a lot of new engine and chassis parts and too few runs as we did not go to Santa Pod this time. There is a lot to test and we need more runs'.


Pro Stock racer Simon Gustavsson was pleased with the car's performance at the Main Event running a new personal best of 6.74/204. He said 'In the second session here the run was better to the eigth but then I lifted. We are trying out new carbs and want to be safe with the engine. We got down the track in the first two runs. The track is good as usual but many drivers may have overestimated it and the good weather creates more power. It was too cold in Q3 and perhaps we were trying too hard'. Simon faces Magnus Petersson in round one of eliminations.


In our view the best appearing pit vehicle is the Ernryd Ford tractor which Thomas Lindström's sponsor Ernryd Cars located and restored with crucial addition of a flathead V8 engine.


Pro Stock racer Thomas Lindström qualified no.2 with a best of 6.65/339. He said 'The startline is difficult and we need to have good wheel speed in leaving but without spin; it is a fine line. We loosened the clutch and are satisfied on the basis of looking at others' performance, apart from Jimmy and were the no.2 in each session.


Pro Stock racer Christian Sagelv said 'We are pretty satisfied with a 6.91/308 on the basis of it being our second run of the year. We managed to get down the track and can put more power into the car and see what it can do. Yesterday was a planned half pass and conditions are a bit tricky. The 60ft time is not where we want it to be'. Christian's plans are to run the remainder of the FIA tour including the Finals.


Pro Modified racer Micke Johansson had a scary third qualifier when the door came loose. 'It wanted to come into the car and shake my hand', he said. 'We had put more weight on the clutch and it got into shake, I lifted and then it moved around so I lifted again. I have got lots of new engine parts, a new blower and a John Salemi G-Force engine which is a lot more powerful. It was only my second run this year. We will race also in Finland and in the UK at the Finals if it goes well.


Top Fuel Dragster racer Bjorn Mårtensson is in his debut race in the class and ran a 4.64 at a slowing 343kph in his first pass. He said 'I have been racing for 15 years starting in street classes and then I bought a fuel altered after I had been at a party one night and Johnny Nilsson persuaded me. I had that for five years but the Swedish motorsport body didn't like nitro altereds and I wasn't allowed to run. I bought the Top Fuel car through Johnny and it is an ex-Knut Soderquist car that Andy Carter had run at Bahrain. It had also crashed so Mats Eriksson worked on the front end and updated the roll cage. Peter Lantz helped me set up the systems which are right up to date. On my run I clicked it as I was getting some of Urs's oil on my visor. The first run was aborted because after the burnout a nut on the reverser lever broke. My team are from Pro Stock cars, I don't have a crew chief and we're a couple of people down. But we're having fun and tonight we will decide about doing the Finland round. We are back here in August for sure and may do Hockenheim if we get sponsorship'.


Super Twin racer Ismo Mäenpää has changed a lot on the bike. He said 'We have a 15cm longer wheelbase, are running high gear only with a slider clutch, new wheelie bars, support beam on the front frame, vertical exhaust system and new rear wheel. We haven't run yet as we had an ignition problem which was hard to locate and we had to change a lot of parts. We think it's ok now'. Supertwin racer and quickest in Europe Jaska Salakari is helping Ismo this week - the team claimed he was their 'junior mechanic'...


Pro Stock Bike racer Thomas Olsen (pictured right) started in 2003 in junior bike. He said 'I raced for two years, took three years off and then ran Street ET Bike with a '72 750 CB Honda. I worked on the Mad Racing team with Matti Vahasaari in 2013 and helped my uncle Roy Olsen race PSB at Hockenheim. My bike is Gabby Nikolovska's old bike. I drove it in two races in 2014 at Tierp and Gardermoen and then over the winter we took it apart and built the bike up. We had an issue with the back brake but plenty of help from other teams. We just want to see if the bike will go straight but a seven would be cause for celebrations'. Thomas is joined by dad Stefan and Emma.


Pro Stock Bike racer Robert Karlsson is father of fellow PSB racers Elvira and Elsa. This is his first race on a PSB but recorded a 7.049/303 to go no.1 yesterday. He said I tested with two runs but racing is in my blood. I have run Super Gas Bikes, SSBs, Funny Bikes. The Pro Stock Bike gives good G force and I was surprised about how hard it is to ride, it looks so easy'. Robert's bike is Elvira's from 2014 with a Vance & Hines Suzuki engine of 1755cc. 'We are testing to get more data with three bikes', he finished.


Pro Stock Bike racer Elsa Karlsson, aged 17, started racing last year. Her training in riding was from father Robert and observing other riders. She then did some test runs at Malmö Raceway. She said 'Last year was mainly testing for me and didn't do a lot of racing. When Elvira was in the US racing I went to support her but didn't get that involved in the team. This year I want to race in Europe and run the EDRS Championship. As I am quite small the bike was difficult to handle but now I am used to it and have run a 7.71 best'.


Top Methanol Funny Car racer Johnny Oksa ran just two races last year but will expand that this year. As well as doing both Tierp rounds and Alastaro, if we are successful and do well in the points we may consider Hockenheim. The mechanical side of the car has had a makeover with new NRE heads. These Australian parts are also being used by the Lindberg Bros and Ulf Leanders as they consider them to have excellent flow characteristics. The transmission has also been upgraded and has a Leanders 11 inch three disc clutch. Johnny said 'We ran a PB of 5.74/404.8kph which was great as we discovered the engine was 700hp down last year from what it should have been making. Now we're happy and we have a tuneup'. We also spoke to Ulf Leanders who is planning to race at four events in the US from Indy onwards.


Top Fuel and Top Methanol Dragster racer Stefan Gunnarsson is joined in his TF debut by the crew that worked with Andy Carter for much of his career. Roger Neill, Neil Collins, Dave Wiffen and Steve Porter are joined by Lewis Neill, Roger's son and crew chief Ben Allum (absent this weekend) who will be tuning jointly with Peter Lantz. Roger said 'The car is Andy Carter's 2010 car and we were pleased to run a 4.8 on its initial pass. We are 'overservicing' it and building a stock of spares. Stefan said 'There is not much difference yet between the cars acceleration but the Top Fuel car makes a lot more noise. I will just run the TMD car at Alastaro and don't know about Hockenheim yet. We will take both cars to Tierp in August and SPR in September.


Pro Modified racer Håkan Persson runs a Dodge Viper. He said 'I have been racing since '95 in brackets, Pro Street and Top Doorslammer. In 2004 I crashed my Camaro at Malmö and Mats Ericsson built my chassis in 2005 and we finished the car in 2008. We ran TD 2008-13 and then moved to PM in 2013 and took 2014 off. My best ET is 6.13 but we have changed the setup for this year, removing some weight and changing the rear end ratio. The engine is an ex Adam Flamholc MMR with Mike Janis supercharger and Lenco trans with AFT clutch. The first run cracked the rear end and thanks to Adam Flamholc for welding it'.


Pro Modified racer Per Granqvist has been in the sport for 25 years in brackets and Pro Street. We built the car in 2008, I wanted a different body and borrowed a friend's '38 Plymouth and took some moulds from the body to produce a fibreglass copy. It is totally unique. The chassis was made by Bertans Racecars in Norkkoping. My first engine was a wedge nitrous aluminium of 557 cu in which we used in TD from 2010. I recently got a Brad Series 6 block and Kobelco blower from Mike Kuhl. Yesterday was my first two passes on the new engine and new setup since being in TD and we got a PB on the first run of 6.31/341kph. We want to step up, to run the EDRS Championship this year and hope that if we can get a sponsor, we will run the FIA Championship next year'. Per's company bilglasdesign.se designs and makes wraps for vehicles.


Pro Modified racer Andreas Arthursson has the very latest Chevelle body by Andy McCoy and the car was built by Mats Brag. The engine is a BAE block of 522cu in, with billet aluminium Co-Line heads, Precision 91mm Gen2 Turbos and Leash Electronics boost controller. To see more of team PPF's progress with building and running the car you can follow their page here. on the initial pass Andreas ran an easy 7.91/188.


Stock/Super Stock racer Ari Körkkö has been racing his 427cu in '69 Camaro in the class for many years. He is qualified seventh with a pass of 9.08 on a SS/CA index of 10.05. The Camaro has a TH400 gearbox and a Ford 9 inch rear axle.


Stock/Super Stock racer Rick McCann was in the pairing lanes at 8:45am for their sixth qualifying session. But rain has delayed proceedings and we await news of when the class will run.


Stock/Super Stock racer Uffe Edwardson has been in the class since 1982 and his '70 Dodge Challenger is powered by a Dave Schmitz racing 440cu in engine and Torqueflite 727 trans. Uffe is qualified sixth with a 10.24 on 11.25 B/SA index.


Super Comp racer Stefan Jansson races this Volvo 340 with a supercharged engine under the banner of Hansen Racing. He is qualified 14th with a 9.28.


Super Comp racer Julie Nataas is qualified fifth with 8.917. Dad Thomas is taking a break from racing as the Andersen Top Fuel team that he was so successful with in 2013 and 2014 is selling up. He said 'I still have an NHRA licence and there are a couple of cars I could arrange to race in the US, but I would eventually like to get back into driving in Europe'.


Stock/Super Stock racer Tomas Kaakinen races this Dodge/Rausch Challenger Drag Pak made in 2011. The car has a Viper V10 engine of 512cu in. He is qualified fourteenth with a 9.62 on a 10.30 FS/C index.


Stock/Super Stock racer Jarmo Grönman from Finland has a Camaro LS-1 from 1999. He has raced in the class since 1989. The 346cu in engine has a Jerico manual gearbox. Jarmo is qualified no.1 with 10.16 on an 11.35 C/S index.


Super Comp racer Gideon Liljegren is qualified no.2 with a 8.901. His '66 Chevelle has a 582cu in Merlin block with Brodix heads, no power adders and Powerglide trans.



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