Pro Stock racer Fredrik Fredlund had problems earlier in the year with the two step switch. "This was causing the bike to cut out on the line; I thought we had cured, but then it recurred but now we have fixed it for good; thanks to Anders Abrahamsson for lending me an ignition system. I did a test run to see the bike would work and it ran a 7.53 for no.7 in the first session. It is hard to find an electrical fault but I can now be confident that when I release the clutch it will not stall."

Top Methanol Funny Car racer Arvid Grødem said of his 5.94/241mph run "This was better than any of my three runs at Hockenheim. We made some adjustments and all is in one piece. The bearings look ok and we always take them out. There was some vibration from just before the eighth but there was just a little tyre shake. I think we can go quicker without excessive shake. The Lindahl brothers help fix the heads which have higher compression than my other pair and work well. It's been a rollercoaster of a year with the new car but I am much happier than I was at this time last year."

Top Fuel racer Jari Halinen is aiming to repeat his four second performance from Hockenheim. Crew member Gary Page said "The crank was damaged on the 4.97 run. All of the cars have been stored in Rune's workshop and we know that with nine cars here we have to run well to get into the field. With the weather we don't want to be no.9 at the end of today. So we will set the car up like it was for the NitrOlympX." Gary will be back in the Mongoose Funny Car next year as owner Sue Collins of Collins Performance Engineering Ltd is setting up a new business in Malaysia selling performance exhausts and engine chips."

Top Fuel racer Anita Mäkelä, third in the points and pictured with husband Tommy Haapanen, said "The higher your hopes, the more humble you have to be. We have new things to try to go even quicker but let's get down the track first. My primary target is to qualify, my second is to get the team top speed record back from Tommy, and my third is to win the event. I don't wish any good or bad luck to my fellow racers but do wish to do well in the championship. However we are not thinking too much about points. My guys make the decision on performance and we want more power on the launch to go quick."

Top Fuel racer Andy Carter's car owners and tuners Per and Carsten Andersen said "We were disappointed at the rainouts at the previous two races. Carsten said "The promoters need to sort out how to move the racing time around at the event, late or early, to ensure that Pro racers get enough runs. We are not really going after the championship but are always trying to do our best. To win the championship we would need to win the event, qualify four places better than Urs and him go out first round, not very likely. But if conditions are the same as the Main Event we could run a 4.6 as we underestimated the track then. We are 90% sure we will be taking the car to the US to run at the end of the season and the first three races next season. We have also set up Andersen Racing MX Motocross team in Denmark with five riders in the Danish championship and two in the European championship."

Top Fuel racer Stig Neergaard is joined by other Fuel racers, from left tuner John Smith, son Kenny Neergaard, and crewman Tommy Rostgaard. Kenny made his initial burnout and launch at last weekend's Mosten Race Day event in front of 15,000 Danish fans. The plan is for Kenny to get his full license at the 2011 Main Event, subject to funding. John Smith is having a busy time, running in his father Paul's Funny Car at the U.S. Nationals and, on Tuesday, flying to Charlotte to work on Fred Farndon's car and drive the FC at the next NHRA round. Stig also ran demo passes at Mosten; the aim for this event is to simply run as quick as possible. "Our championship got spoilt by the weather and we need proper closure of it with completed events."

Top Fuel and Pro Mod racer Joran Persåker, team mate to Stig, is planning to race at the NHRA Finals in Pomona. "I have the license and the money is hopefully being finalised. My plan is to run in Barry Paton's car. Next year I plan to run with Stig in Top Fuel and continue to run the Pro Mod. We have a lot of new equipment for the Firebird but have not had enough runs to get it working properly. We also talked about getting a hemi engine but will stay with the Chevy for the moment."

Top Fuel racer and points leader Urs Erbacher (pictured with media and sponsorship consultant Rob Geiger) said "I am pleased this season as we have turned the car around as a team, trying to do it ourselves and it has worked well. We only had small problems with the tuneup as we didn't have enough time to test and missed rounds with the weather. We had problems with the computer in Hockenheim but have the same setup as we had there. The car handles great after ME Racing front halved it and my other car is at Mats' shop now. So we will have two good cars to go travelling again. With sponsorship we want to go race on the West Coast of US and will think about appearances in the Middle East and Australia."

Super Twin racer Lorenz Stauble, in a tight points fight with Job Heezen and Hans Olav Olstad, said "Our plan is to be both quickest and most consistent. I feel good on this track and usually run quick here. We may only get one qualifier and that could decide the championship. We set the fuel injection system up well at Hockenheim and got some good data. I am open about plans for next year; we will have the same bike and will be seeing what is going on in the sponsor market."

Pro Mod racer and Speedgroup member Micke Gullqvist said "We have made no changes on the '57 Bel Air since Hockenheim and want to start where we left off at 6.04, the car's best time. A five is possible and we can do that this weekend in the right conditions. We transported the R2B2 Camaro and the Bel Air over here in the same trailer." Micke said that Speedgroup are discussing plans for 2011 TV shows and working for main and contingency sponsor deals. "We need to promote the FIA/UEM Championship and will be producing regular newsletters to keep sponsors and supporters abreast of developments."

UK Pro Stock racer Conrad Stanley will be fully licensed with one or two runs in the mid-sevens. "To get to this point has involved a hell of a lot of organising. We did the deal on the car with Magnus Hansson a week before Hockenheim. Thanks to Tommy Leindahl for his help in getting me up to speed with these cars and race licensing - I got a license to the eighth at Malmö with an FIA referee present. Thanks also to Kate Robinson for providing the fire suit and safety equipment. I had my medical last Friday including ECG and got the license on Tuesday. Then there is driving the car, totally different to my automatic Super Gas car (now in Sweden) and with manually shifted Liberty." Conrad will be meeting with engine builders Reher-Morrison over the winter.

Pro Mod racer and Eurodragster.com sponsor Graham Ellis is quickly getting the bugs out of the AMS 'Cuda. Tuning adviser Sean Brown said "The car is already showing potential and Graham is getting comfortable with it. It didn't shake the tyres at all, on the last run it locked in first. The directional problem is hopefully sorted and once all the bugs are out, it should be very competitive." Crewman Lee Kirk added "The car weighs more from when Troy ran it as it has the drive train from the Superbird. But we are confident - the drive shaft trace equalled the 6.07 on one of the launches." Graham looks likely to keep both cars for the moment so look out to see which is at the Natinoal Finals.

Pro Mod racer Norbert Kuno has a new blower fitted from Patrick Wikström. "We had problems at the Main Event and destroyed an engine and then couldn't fix it in time for Finland. The new blower was on at Mantorp but the engine went lean at the start and blew the burst panel off and destroyed two pistons. At Hockenheim we were close; the fuel system was fine but there were ignition problems. The blower has a lot more boost and we want to run a 6.1 here."

Pro Mod racer Freddie Fagerström's team have been working 24-7 to get the car ready for this event. He said "Lots of guys have been helping us. Johan 'Lillis' Samuelsson lent us his front suspension and wheels out of his car, and NBM Hydraulic have provided all new hoses as the old ones were totally burnt. Lindahl brothers provided a new M5 blower and Stefan from the team worked on the electrics. Mike's Car and Buses did the paintwork and thanks go to all the others who were involved, you know who you are." The engine sounded great on the warmup and Freddie said "I am going for a five."

Team Kendall Pro Mod racer Micke Lindahl said "We want two runs to get the car properly set up. We are building our new '63 'Vette but are not going to sell the Camaro. Instead we will test the 'Vette next year and have the Camaro as a backup. They are very similar cars but the 'Vette will take Top Fuel size tyres. We don't have enough spare parts to run both cars. However we will be involved with a third car, the '94 Vette of Gural Larsson (pictured left) which will have turbos and a Leanders clutch. Martin Lindqvist will be helping us with dyno facilities for the turbo. All this takes time and money but the team will be a big help."

The new FIA drag racing based card game Eliminator is the brainchild of Ian Hart whose son came up with the concept one wet raceday. "We developed it, racers were great in giving me their details for the cards and we got it to print in time for the event. You can by the game at the Pod Shop for £5.50 and it's selling really well." Profits from sales of the cards will go into a fund planned to benefit sportsman racers that deserve financial support due to bad luck; the process for adjudging cases and the independent committee will be announced when there are sufficient funds in place. Future card games based on FIA cars, UEM bikes and local franchise for national championships are envisaged.

Pro Mod racer Mats Eriksson was joined by former Santa Pod official Carlo Gandolfi and FIA Drag Racing Commission member Lars Pettersson. Carlo operated the racers' club before the mid-90s and is highly impressed by the development of the sport since then. Factors such as standardising the rule book across Europe through the FIA and introduction of the Junior Dragster programme are reasons given for that growth in spite of a crowded motorsport market.

Pro Mod racer Melanie Troxel was unable to show for the first session of Pro Mod qualifying after parts breakage following a hydraulic during the warm-up. The team had worked on the car yesterday after it had been transported from Sweden. Melanie is here with her R2B2 team, which works with her in the Get Screened America NHRA Pro Mod Championship in which the sponsor owner Roger Burgess is also a competitor and is working on a World Pro Mod Championship for 2011.

Pro Mod racer and Eurodragster.com sponsor Andy Robinson has had the engine checked out since Hockenheim where he brought the car back from its rebuild after a fire in Finland. "We are hoping to get back in the six zeroes but the weather may be against that. We may hold back on one shot qualifying and want more one than one run to work at the setup." Andy has a busy workshop and is currently building new cars for UK and Swiss racers.

Top Methanol Dragster team owner Werner Habermann is seen helping Westside Racing cylinder head man Jan Vidar polishing a cylinder head that showed signs of wear after only sixteen passes. Timo, leading the championship from brother Dennis, said "A double win would be a dream but to be honest I hope Dennis will maintain his no.2 position. We have run a similar set up to 2009 and the only major change is that my 5.31 engine is being run by Dennis and I am running his engine from last year. The cars are also set up the same as at Hockenheim - we don't want to change something when it works."

Top Methanol Dragster racer Dave Wilson is pictured with son David. David said "We are going in the right direction - we had slow 60ft times and these improved from 1.08 to 0.96 during testing; our best ever is 0.93 which we had been way off. The improvements were mainly to the fuel and iginition setup rather than the clutch; you have to make an excess of horsepower and then take it away with ignition changes. We lost the excess power and have changed more things so things are a bit unpredictable." This is Dave's last event this year as sponsor Silverline have their power tool race in Yeovil on the same weekend as the National Finals and Dave will be doing burnouts in front of the sponsor and their customers.

Top Methanol Dragster racers Dennis Habermann (pictured left) and Fred Hanssen (pictured right) are good friends off the track but fierce competitors on it. Running, second and third in the points the gap is probably too large for Fred to overcome but he does have the no.1 qualifier in Hockenheim and a superior personal best (5.309 to Dennis's 5.451) to balance things up.

Top Fuel racer Risto Poutiainen is no.2 in the points and only 18 points behind Urs Erbacher. He said "I don't think about the championship too much, I take it one race at a time, in fact one round at a time. Rune has the car running as good as it possibly can and we have turned the fuel system up to get more power out of the engine. I like to think I have a fair chance of the championship."

Risto's engine warming and transmission testing produced a substantial crowd during a morning when not a wheel was turned on-track. Despite the conditions, a substatial crowd is on hand for Pro qualifying.