FIA European Finals
Sunday (race day)
Coverage by Eurodragster.com

The latest updates are at the top. Click on your Browser's Reload button periodically to be sure of picking up the latest news. Click here to go back to the race update index.

20:00

Today's pictures are now available from the raceday update index.

That's the end of our coverage of the FIA European Finals, what a fantastic weekend. Thanks very much for staying with us. Your reporter this weekend was Tog of Eurodragster.com, photographs by Sharkman of Eurodragster.com. Our raceday updates this weekend were brought to you in association with our sponsors E-manumit.com and High Performance Heaven, to whom many thanks. Thanks also to Steve Horn, Andy Marrs, Martin Wallis, Lisa Smart and John Hackney of TSI Timers; race director Darren Prentice; Ian Marshall and all the SPR race officials and track crew; track announcer Graham Beckwith; Sue Morris and Natalie Grief in the SPR press office; Roger Gorringe; Paula Marshall; Kathy Taylor; Caz Beckwith; Ivan Sansom; and Kjell Petterson and Caroline Day of Santa Pod. And a special thank you to Matthew Talbot for the extended loan of his laptop.

Eurodragster's next raceday update will be from Super Series 5 on 23-24 September, our next update from Santa Pod Raceway will be the National Finals on 7-8 October. See you then!

18:30

The 2000 FIA European Finals have finished, and what a race it was. Here are the final results in the Sportsman classes.

Super Comp: Alex Nicol 8.98/145.25 def. Phil Bennett 9.04/134.31
Super Gas: Brendan Clancy 9.97/126.60 def. Kev Moore 9.95/136.20
Super Street: Dave Cherrett 11.16/98.37 def. Stuart Peck 13.35/64.23 red light
Super Pro ET: Steve Green 8.88/135.03 def. Fay Fischer 8.01/167.23
Pro ET: Marius Blackburn 10.55/122.23 def. Al Golding 26.71/47.45
Sportsman ET: Ian Turnbull 12.21/107.66 def. Bob Main 13.45/99.44
Custom Car Street Eliminator: Steve Pateman 9.69/138.31 def. Jeff Meads 9.32/147.36 red light
Junior Dragster: Paul Lindley-Allen 9.53/67.78 def. Phill Cook 9.08/69.62
Super Street Bike: Pete Bellinie 8.51/165.56 def. Graham Dance 8.55/160.29
9.90 Bike: Grant Perrin 10.43/102.41 def. Paul Stewart 13.05/78.64
10.90 Bike: Phil Pratt 11.09/122.73 def. Steve Templeman 10.99/123.72

We're now going to go to work on our pictures, which will probably take a little while but stay tuned.

17:45

How much better could it get for Tommy Moller? Licenced last week, number one qualifier, wins the event and sets low ET in the final. Congratulations Tommy! Commiserations to Peter Beck who couldn't make the call.

Micke Gullquist was unfortunately unable to back up his 6.47, even more unfortunate is Hakan Nilsson who won the Pro Mod final but won't get the chance to back up his winning time of...wait for it...6.33 seconds! Unbelievable! Let's take you through the FIA, FIM and Pro Mod finals.

Top Fuel Dragster: Tommy Moller 5.14/235.54 bye, Peter Beck no show
Top Methanol Dragster: John Ellul 5.81/241.11 def. Kim Reymond 6.09/228.58
Top Methanol Funny Car: Micke Kagered 5.93/241.89 def. Leif Andreasson 6.11/232.86
Pro Stock: Jacob Ferrer 7.09/194.31 def. Niclas Andersson 7.20/174.28
Pro Mod: Hakan Nilsson 6.33/217.86 def. Micke Gullquist 6.60/209.28
FIM Comp Bike: Steve Woollatt 7.13/201.36 def. Oivind Dahl 7.61/140.49
FIM Supertwin Top Fuel: Per Bengtsson 6.89/204.32 def. Jaka Salakari broke
FIM Pro Stock Bike: Roger Petterson 7.52/176.85 def. Paul Willis 7.62/172.89

Gordon Smith took a 6.14/210.12 solo in the Shockwave Fuel FC after John Spuffard was shut off with a fluid leak. Spuff is back out shortly, though.

Martin Hill put in another pass in Fireforce 2, clocking 6.35 at 253.27.

Our sportsman finals are almost ready to go, stay tuned for the final results.

15:30

Sad news for our Swedish readers as both Freddy Fagerstrom and Patrik Wikstrom go out of Super Pro ET; Patrik on a redlight 7.35/129.69 and Freddy with a broken blower belt at 15.994/53.51. Steve Johnson has gone quicker still in his Super Pro ET dragster, 6.77/188.72.

15:20

TMD semi-final

John Ellul 5.76/243.23 def. Jarmo Roivas 6.08/238.21 (subject to confirmation this makes Eero Kilpelainen FIA Champion)
Kim Reymond 12.30/76.00 bye

15:00

Well, just when you thought you'd seen everything in Pro Mod, along comes Micke Gullquist and runs 6.47! So Hakan Nilsson's 6.49 mark is in real danger of only lasting twenty four hours.

Niclas Andersson is FIA Pro Stock Champion after he defeated Michael Malmgren on a huge holeshot in the semi-final. Oivind Dahl is FIM Comp Bike Champion after his victory over Ken Cooper in the semis.

The next Fuel Funny Car match-up was won by Gordon Smith. The traditional huge burnouts and then a great race, Gordon going straight and off it early to a 6.41/194.49 whilst we saw both sides of SPuff's car at half track, eventually Spuff got off the throttle to record 7.41/118.81.

Our FIA, FIM and Pro Mod semi-finals went as follows, with TMD still to run.

Top Fuel Dragster

Tommy Moller 5.74/189.54, Anita Makela no-show (oil leak in the block
Peter Beck 5.21/261.87 def. Pelle Lindelow 6.63/125.75

Pro Stock

Niclas Andersson 7.20/195.05 def. Michael Malmgren 7.10/195.05
Jacob Ferrer 7.07/193.87 def. Jari Konola 7.12/194.04

Pro Mod

Hakan Nilsson 6.533/210.75 def. Roger Johansson 6.81/199.12
Micke Gullquist 6.47/217.19 def. Lars Olsson 6.62/201.71

TMFC

Micke Kagered 5.91/244.06 bye
Leif Andreasson 6.01/243.84 def. Urs Erbacher 6.17/225.59

FIM Competition Bike

Steve Woollatt 8.75/100.44 def. Brian Johnson broke
Oivind Dahl 6.84/194.17 def. Ken Cooper rolled out of stage

FIM Supertwin Top Fuel

Jaka Salakari 6.98/195.03 def. Svein Gottenberg 7.41/172.76
Per Bengtsson 6.99/200.80 def. Stefan Junerud 11.88/67.81

FIM Pro Stock Bike

Roger Petterson 7.61/175.09 def. Stefan Mejerwall 7.79/167.04
Paul Willis 7.63/172.82 def. Kenneth Stromberg 7.68/162.40

We'll be back soon.

13:00

Top Methanol Dragster round two

Jarmo Roivas 12.79/98.62 bye
John Ellul 5.80/240.73 def. Manty Bugeja broke
Kim Reymond 8.38/108.80 def. Dave Wilson broke.

Dave Alexander of ETMRA tells us that it is mathematically possible for Jarmo Roivas to win the FIA Championship if he wins the event and retains the low ET and Top Speed of the event. Wow!

Stay tuned.

12:15

Hi there and thanks for coming back. Well, we have a few more Champions, Anita Makela (Top Fuel) and Leif Andreasson (TMFC) are your 2000 Champions after their first-round wins. Also Brian Johnson didn't just back up his new FIM record but actually beat it with a 6.12! Here's how the rounds went.

Top Fuel

Tommy Moller 12.89/57.72 bye (0.895 sixty feet)
Anita Makela 5.52/235.07 def. Barry Sheavills 5.22/267.82 red light
Pelle Lindelow 7.84/95.46 def. Al Jackson 8.46/86.75
Peter Beck 8.67/98.71 def Andy Carter left before lights ran

TMFC

Micke Kagered 5.97/243.93 def. Ulf Leanders 5.97/233.48
Leif Andreasson 6.04/242.29 def. Lex Joon 6.26/229.05
Urs Erbacher 5.97/240.84 def. Leif Helander 5.94/237.24

TMD

Jarmo Roivas 5.77/243.80 def. Peter Schofer 10.30/74.82
John Ellul 5.82/238.12 def. Andy Frost 14.52/51.00
Manty Bugeja 5.98/229.42 def. Eero Kilpelainen 19.17/35.78
Dave Wilson 8.46/79.94 def. Doug Bond broke
Kim Reymond 6.42/173.90 def. Rob Turner 6.64/164.76

Pro Stock

Michael Malmgren 7.02/196.03 bye
Niclas Andersson 7.09/193.11 def. Kjetil Hauge 7.32/187.33
Jari Konola 7.07/194 def. Kenneth Soderstrom 7.39/186.52
Jacob Ferrer 7.11/193.08 def. Christer Andersson 7.39/187.06

Pro Mod

Hakan Nilsson 6.53/213.56 def. Hanri Joosten 7.86/187.19 red light
Roger Johannson 6.79/204.41 def. Gordon Appleton 6.78/204.25
Micke Gullquist 6.70/210.75 def. Jallo Makimaa 7.25/186.13
Lars Olsson 6.60/209.17 def. Tami Brander 6.96/200.45

FIM Competition Bike

Brian Johnson 6.12/226.40 def. Dave Abraham 9.28/97.83
Steve Woollatt 6.80/200.12 def. Shaun Branch 7.86/166.22 (first alternate replaced Ian King)
Ken Cooper 7.38/176.36 def. Roel Koedam 17.82/53.93
Oivind Dahl 6.77/180.31 def. Eric Teboul shut off on line

FIM Supertwin Top Fuel sponsored by Screamin' Eagles Performance Parts

Svein Gottenberg 7.46/167.05 def. Anders Karling 7.46/167.05
Jaka Salakari 7.01/196.16 def. Rob van Geffen 6.97/175.16
Stefan Junerud 7.23/183.69 def. Willem Been 7.78/159.99
Per Bengtsson 7.11/193.77 def. Svein-Olav Rolfstad 7.34/186.58

FIM Pro Stock Bike

Roger Petterson 7.53/176.41 def. Martin Bishop 8.18/160.93
Stefan Mejerwall 7.86/166.63 def. Herman van Driel 7.92/164.03
Kenneth Stromberg 7.81/162.58 def. Len Paget 8.09/158.39
Paul Willis 7.63/171.44 def. Richard Gipp 8.08/162.03

Swedish fans will be pleased to hear that both Freddy Fagerstrom and Patrik Wikstrom made it through the first round of Super Pro ET; Freddy at 6.731/206.14 and Patrik at 6.40/214.65. Joran Persaker went out with a very out-of-shape 7.45/163.99. Also in Super Pro ET, Steve Johnson clocked 6.84/181.73, just when you thought he'd gone quick enough.

Tony Baker clocked 6.93/217 in the Fireforce FC.

Round two of TMD is now taking place, watch this space.

9:30

The top two qualifier in Junior Dragster are: 1. Tom Watts 0.515 RT, 2. Jody Palmer 0.564.

9:15

Good morning and welcome from a cloudless and warm Santa Pod Racewat for race day of the 2000 FIA European Finals, brought to you in association with our sponsors E-Manumit.com and High Performance Heaven. The track looks great and we're set for some blistering racing.

We have two new European records already this weekend; Jarmo Roivas backed up his 250.18 mph blast with his subsequent pass yesterday and so that's set. Nice one Jarmo. Also Hakan Nilsson's run of 6.493 is a new European best, well done Hakan! Another record is on the cards with Brian Johnson's 6.149 yesterday, today he needs to run 6.210 or quicker and let's face it, on BJ's past performances this is highly likely to happen.

This morning we're going to try to set out the Championship permutations. Obvously such matters are subject to official ratification but here is how we see things lining up.

The FIA European Top Fuel Dragster Championship will be decided by today's first round race between Anita Makela and Barry Sheavills. Nice simple one, that!

In FIA Top Methanol FC, we understand that a victory in the first round will ensure Leif Andreasson the Championship. Micke Kagered has to go through the field, win the event and set records even if Leif goes out in the first round.

FIA Top Methanol Dragster is similar, a victory in round one will win Eero the Championship; Rob Turner will have to win the event and set records even if Eero goes out in round one; and Jarmo Roivas is not entirely out of it, his qualifying and record performances won't hurt his chances.

FIA Pro Stock is very close indeed. After qualifying, Michael Malmgren is one point ahead of Niclas Andersson. Michael has a bye in round one because Rune Berg is broken; if Niclas Andersson wins his first round match-up against Kjetil Hauge then Michael and Niclas meet in round two, and whoever wins that race wins the Championship.

In FIM Competition Bike, Eric Teboul is in the lead but the lead is not unassailable. Oivind Dahl and Ken Cooper could catch Eric depending upon how far he goes in eliminations.

FIM Supertwin Top Fuel, Stefan Junerud is in the lead but Anders Karling and Rob van Geffen are not far behind. If Stefan trips up early then Anders and Rob could both capitalise.

FIM Pro Stock Bike has been won by Roger Petterson. He is one thousand points in the lead and one thousand points are not available this weekend. Congratulations to Roger.

We are having a minute's silence for Dave Grady at 9:55 this morning, even if you are not here please join us for a minute's silent reflection.

The first cycle of FIA, FIM and Pro Mod is due at 10:00 and due to finish at 11:35, so stay tuned and we'll let you know how they go.