FIA / FIM Main Event
Santa Pod Raceway, 26th-29th May 2017

Saturday


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Latest update 20:20


Funny Car racer Birgitte Bremnes had an electrical issue meaning the engine failed to start. There was no damage and so we have been checking the electrics. The crew are working well under crew chief Jamie Willis, they are a young crew and have been together for two race meetings. We're in a nice place'. Her initial run was a 5.884/119 early shutoff which looked very clean.


Funny Car racer Steve Ashdown said 'The car is now set up to run the numbers. It was much softer on our test pass last weekend and it shook the tyres and crossed the centre line. Since then we have replaced the engine, put more power in and increased the nitro percentage and it's now a pleasure to drive. A 5.604/129 early shutoff was followed by a more aggressive 4.808/188, going very close to the right wall.


Funny Car racer Gordon Smith said 'Panic is about 90% there but we are not going to risk running the car before it is ready. So we will probably be running it tomorrow. Our crew includes owner and crew chief Mark Hawkins, Brett and other crew which are new to racing. I am down to drive it for this meeting and the next and will do 300ft launches to get a feel for it'.


Funny Car racer Kevin Kent said 'We did a checkout pass this morning to test our new fuel system, which is what US racers currently run. Over the winter we got Carlo Gandolphi to repair the body from damage sustained last year. We also have new sponsors, Graphical Tree (a design company) and Southern RV Hire. An early shutoff 7.908 was followed by a 5.036/157 early shutoff, the car drifting left.


Top Fuel Dragster racer Stig Neergaard said 'We have been really busy in our grandstand business that funds the racing, driving the truck around Europe to many different events. Lucas Oil have given sponsorship in merchandise which we sell at the track. On the first run, the crank trigger had a problem with its wires which took 30 degrees out of the timing for both magnetos. The resultant spark was not enough for the engine to fire properly, I remember we had the problem once before. There was no damage, we were able to give the car a normal service. We have two new guys on our team'. His second pass was a 4.601/220, with a pedal.


Top Fuel Dragster racer Micke Kågered has had two new members of the crew as well as a change to the car's fuel setup. New crew members pictured with Micke are Andreas Svard and Luke Shakeshaft. The team asked to say hi to 'Scotch' Rob Inglis who is taking a year out. Micke's passes had mechanical issues of dropped cylinders and misfiring.


Top Fuel Dragster racer Anita Mäkelä aborted the run after a cylinder went out on the burnout. 'We didn't want to break anything and a cylinder out on the burnout means breakage is likely on the run. Her second pass of 4.123/278 made her no.1 at the end of two sessions, with another two planned for tomorrow.


Pro Stock racer Bengt Ljungdahl said 'We are no.1 in qualifying but not satisfied with our time. We haven't changed anything on the car from last year and Marcus Svensson continues as our crew chief'. Bengt's 6.689/206 was the quickest of the day and 5mph faster than any other racer in the class.


Pro Stock racer Simon Gustavsson said 'The engine has been updated by sending it back to Allen Johnson in the US. He did a great job, as we made our first ever60ft time of less than 1 sec'. Simon's 6.794/201 is not far short of his best of 6.723.


Super Street Bike racer Anders Blanck said 'After a good launch the bike suffered some tyre slippage on the track surface. We will adjust the rear shock and I'm sure the track will come round. His 7.672 was followed by 8.018 indicating that further adjustment may be necessary.


Pro Stock racer Magnus Petersson said that despite multi-time champion Jimmy Ålund going to Pro Mod, there are more cars in the class than ever, 15 at Tierp. 'Any car could go to the top. We have tried to do the right thing with what we have and have only changed small things and updated parts. One of our engines is from Frank Iaconio and the other from Bob Ingles. His best today was 6.811/195.


Top Fuel Bike racer Thomas Pettersson, who supplied a news item on his bike to us recently, said 'We have changed so much on the bike with a new engine and gearbox so it is the first run on an entirely new setup. We are not satisfied with our time so far. A 7.860 in the first session was followed by no ET in the second, although his 60ft time had improved.


Pro Stock racer Stefan Ernryd said 'I have got married recently and we have a new sponsor Dico and new paint, and so I am happy. In testing on Thursday the track was not there and we changed engines yesterday and have done work on the carburretors. Although we had a misfire in Q1 we hope to run a high 6.5. Our engines come from Allen Johnson in the US. His best today was 7.115/190.


Pro Mod racer Kev Slyfield ran a new PB in Q1. He said 'We have reached a good spot in the tuning without changing much from Easter. A 6.150/226 was followed by bad tyre shake in session two.


Pro Mod racer Bruno Bader said 'We need to put in more power as we are running into tyre shake'. He ran 6.260/224 in session one and 6.423 in session two, so more to come tomorrow.


Super Street Bike racer Rudi Zorzi said 'We are satisfied with a 7.69. We had some problems at the FIM round in Hungary and the results of testing on Tuhursday were not good. So we changed engines yesterday and things improved a lot in Q1.


Super Street Bike racer Franklyn Borg, on Simon Giordmaina's bike. won the FIM Super Street round in Hungary and qualified no.2 with a 7.22. He said 'It's due to hard work and dedication of my crew. We ran only one meeting in Malta before Hungary and ran a new speed record and 6.99 ET. We have changed a lot on the bike. Last year we tried twelve different engine combinations and then sent the turbo to Rodney Wilford for preparation and have had Brad O'Connor of BTC Moto look at the electronics'. Franklyn will be confining his racing to the FIM series and already looks a front-runner.


Super Street Bike racers Daniel Donat Lencses and Kristian Jasz, both from Hungary had different fortunes. Daniel had run in the ACU event at last weekend's Race, Rock'n'Ride and ran a 7.277 in session one, but Kristian arrived just two days ago and has had fuel system issues which are being worked out by the team. Daniel's brother Krisztian Kolos Lencses is also here on the crew, which is headed by crew chief Rita Kantor.


Super Twin racer Bruno Salesse is at his third meeting at SPR, the first being 20 years ago on a street bike and last year in Super Twin. 'I got shut off for a loose fuel pipe', he said after Q1. In session two he got down the track with a 8.334/144.81.


Super Street Bike racer Jemma Venables was content and said 'The bike made a nice move, went straight and remained on two wheels. We have taken a step backwards to go forwards but at least we have something to tune to. In testing on Thursday I had far too much wheelspin but at least we got the bugs out then. There is very little new on the bike - we used all our money last year!' Jemma's pass in session two was a 7.937 making her 15th after two sessions. The team are joined at this event by Chris 'Boisie' Reed and Danny Cockerill both of whom have birthdays around now.


Super Street Bike racer Steve Venables admitted 'The track caught us out and although we did a 1.23 60ft time, it let go after that and I was expecting more'. A 7.576 in session one was followed by 7.654 in session two and he is in ninth position.


Super Street Bike racer Rick Stubbins said he was surprised by a lot of the times being run. 'After the first session we took a look at the whole setup to see what was wrong with our pass. We don't want to back it down too far, as that would have no benefit.' His second pass improved to 7.404 making him sixth at the end of Saturday.


Top Fuel Dragster racer Jndia Erbacher missed making a licensing pass on Thursday, but dad Urs made a checkout pass around 5:30pm. 'With two drivers in one car and me licensing, we had a discussion with the FIA and Santa Pod officials and I made a pass yesterday and hope to do more later in the weekend. My pass yesterday was supposed to be a launch as I have to do a full series of licensing passes. But I stayed on the throttle until the tyre shake got severe. The controls in the Top Fuel car are the same as the A/Fuel car. So I felt comfortable with the burnout and staging process. The launch was not so different to the A/Fuel but once it starts rolling the acceleration doesn't stop. It would have been a full pass without the tyre shake. It was one of the best days of my life!' Jndia said the team are planning to build a second car with suitable sponsorship needed, so they can operate once again as a two car team at Hockenheim, Tierp in August and the Euro Finals. An ex-Al Anabi chassis has been purchased for that purpose.


Super Pro ET racer John Gerritsen running the completely rebuilt ex Charles Carpenter, ex-Henri Joosten car, impressed at Easter, running a string of 7.0s at only 150mph as the chute was regularly deployed early. A 6.88/197 in session two here was outstanding but this morning handling problems set in.


Super Pro ET racer Michael Maderer from Germany is qualified 24th with a 7.649 on a 7.59 dial in in his BMW 850. Team members Tino Richter and Stev Hasenpusch have been posting videos on Facebook. The car features a chassis formerly used by the Kath Bros in their Pro Mod and a Bob Ingles engine from Michael Malmgren.


Super Pro ET racer Sam Young is racing his electric Beetle in this class for the first time with what look like bigger wheels and tyres at the rear. The team missed the first two sessions and in the third session scored a 9.533/139 on a 8.99 dial in (the slowest possible for the class). By round six, after some handling issues, the team had improved to a 9.06/145 which placed him 31st in the 32 car field.


Super Pro ET racer Ian Powell is in his first event this year. An off the trailer pass of 8.09/163 on a 7.99 was encouraging and by round seven Ian had qualified second, a 8.092/165 on a 8.09 dial in in session three - a case of bringing the dial-in to the car's performance.


Super Pro ET racer Austin Jacques set the dial in to 8.60 but couldn't go quicker than 9.362/145, which placed him 37th in qualifying.


Super Pro ET racer Mark Flavell, said 'We have spent a lot of time learning how our Crower clutch works and are getting on top of it. For two years we were out in the wilderness. Wayne Nicholson once told me that every team that runs a clutch needs a clutch guy as so much depends on it. Karl Harrison has been a great help'. Mark ran a 7.162/187 on 7.09 dial in and is 27th in the qualifying list.


Super Pro ET racer and Eurodragster.com sponsor Peter Walters is qualified 26th with a 7.166/187 on 7.10 dial. In earlier sessions he went as quick as 7.0777, but in the seventh, he lost drive about 100 feet out.


Super Pro ET racer Johan Ooman had his Lenco transmission repaired and ran a 7.419/196 on a 6.98 dial in this morning in the seventh session. This placed him 32nd.


Super Pro ET racer Bob Doyle, in his Datsun 260Z with 423cu in power, started with a 8.697/155 on a 8.55 in round one which placed him 12th. This improved to 8.66 on 8.62 in session four which placed him 20th.


Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator racer Jeff Meads suffered a nitrous explosion in his pass in session three. He said 'We had a lot to clean up and some of the hood had melted. We have checked the system and it looks fine, it may be that I short shifted and the rpm was not up to what it should have been and there was too much nitro for the revs. This is Jeff's first event since the 2015 Euro Finals. 'I moved and had to sort out my new house. Now that we have settled in, I have come back to blow the cobwebs away for next season'. Pictured with Jeff is crewman Paul Root.


Top Methanol Dragster racer Petteri Liimatainen made his first licensing pass on Friday and another one this morning. He said 'I have had the car for a year, it is the old Islanders Top Methanol car. I used to run a dragster in Super Pro ET and before that a Junior Dragster. We tested the car last Saturday in Finland. Once I licence I wil race at Tierp, Alastaro and Tierp in August. I am also thinking about going to Hockenheim but need a sponsor'.



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