Summernationals coverage.
30th June: We're in our usual place in Race Control at Santa Pod Raceway to bring you all the news from the SPRC Summernationals in association with American Car Imports.

Click here to see the latest from Santa Pod Raceway. ©Eurodragster.com

Aros Nats coverage.
30th June: Our good friends at Svensk Dragracing are posting updates from the Aros Nats at Västarås.

Click here to see the news from the Aros Nats. ©Eurodragster.com

Return of the dozen...
28th June: This weekend's National Street Rod Association Nostalgia Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway sees the biggest turnout of Outlaw Anglias in some time as no less than twelve of the popular Sit Up And Beg race cars take to the strip.

"The field includes Paul Hensher's Gas Attack and Dale Giles' awesome supercharged alky burner", says Paul Wright. "Not forgetting regulars Rob Stone, Cliff Griffin, Bob Hancox, and Pete Moore, plus five first-time Outlaw Racers."

The NRSA Nostalgia Nationals also features the Wild Bunch, eight Supercharged Outlaws including Wendy Baker driving Mickey Moore's The Mob altered, the National Street Car Challenge, Custom Car Flathead Meltdown, and the NSRA's finest duking it out on the Warwickshire track. On Friday and Saturday entertainment will be provided by a karaoke and live band. There is also a free courtesy bus to Stratford for the less autocentric.

Weekend admission (from tonight) is £20 per person (NSRA and APIRA members £17), single day 12, under 16's free. The strictly pre-1969 RWYB signing-on fee is £15 for the weekend and £10 for a single day. Full current driving licence, radiator overflow catch can, seatbelts and helmets are compulsory.

You can find more details about the Outlaw Anglias at www.outlaw-anglia.co.uk, the NSRA at www.nsra.org.uk, and Shakespeare County Raceway at www.shakespearecountyraceway.co.uk.

Thanks to Jerry Cookson for additional reporting - Ed ©Eurodragster.com

...and the return of Gaz
28th June: On the subject of the Outlaw Anglias, former participant Gary Malin has announced his return to the strip after crashing his Outlaw Anglia at Shakespeare County Raceway earlier this season. This time, however, the wheelbase is a little longer.

"We are ready to come out with our new 240-inch dragster", says Gary. "I thought that it would be appropiate to stay on the track this time! We will be testing the car at Santa Pod in mid July and will enter the next race after that."

Our spies tell us that Gary's dragster is the ex-Steve Davies Super Comp rail. Stay tuned for more news from the Malin camp. ©Eurodragster.com

Twins ready for first visit.
28th June: The latest round of the UK's National Association of Supertwins Championship takes place at this weekend's Summernationals at Santa Pod Raceway. It's the first competitive visit of the NAST to Santa Pod for quite some time, says Sue Beneke.

"Some of the racers took the opportunity presented by the Speedfreaks Ball to get their bikes set up for the track", says Sue. "Nick 'Shaggy' Daniels was so keen to try the track that when he broke his race bike he ran on the monkey bike! It wasn't a good move racing that bike against Dave Bartz though, as Dave took both fastest time and fastest terminal speed of all the SuperTwins running on the Sunday, thereby adding another two trophies to his ever-growing collection.

"This year has seen a big increase in the Street class - mainly Harleys and Buells - though newcomer Mark Earrey on a Honda 1000 would appear to be one to watch. Although starting one race behind the rest he is currently in number four slot in the championship. Need I say more than that he is a mate of Bartz? I think they will both need handicapping soon!

"We have had a new addition in the Modified class: TJ O'Brien who also runs in 10.90 and thus causes some hassles, but nothing compared to the problem of trying to find him to race when Ireland were playing in the World Cup! Honestly TJ - what you needed was a mini pocket radio, that would have solved the problem! Ireland lost, but TJ flew the flag and collected the runner-up trophy in the class.

"Top Gas will again be dominated by the two-stroke Yahama RD's, with only one four-stroke - the Honda Firestorm of Don Irvine - to sound a deeper note than the high pitched scream of the two strokes. The Jade team will be out again looking to increase their lead in the Championship, new racer Sefton Whitlock is doing very well on Jerry Collier's old bike.

"At this moment in time it is uncertain whether there will be any of the Top Fuel bikes running this meeting as we do not have the required minimum of three entries, only Dave Witts and Jamie Millership having entered. Ian 'Rush' Carruthers, who was last seen very successfully riding Steve Clutterbuck's old nitro Harley, cannot make this meeting. I think that Rush is quitting whilst ahead - the bike was still running and running well: Rush managed the best time the bike - or Rush for that matter - has ever run, nice one Rush! After his disasters at the Speedfreaks Ball, where he managed to break both bikes he rode, he is possibly wise.

"The Mid-Summer Nationals saw a lot of the racers recording personal bests, and some of the class records being broken. So watch this space - hopefully they can do it again." ©Eurodragster.com

Super Comp preview.
28th June: We are indebted to Paul Marston for sending us his regular Super Comp review/preview, of the Super Series Mid-Summer Nationals and the Summernationals respectively.

"The pace of qualifying at the Mid-Summer Nationals was fast and furious, with an unprecedented three rounds of qualifying on Saturday - the organisers and track staff are to be congratulated. A minimum of downtime due to the better reliability of the Sportsman classes meant smooth running. The first big story was the no-show of Tim Adam, unconfirmed reports were that Tim had transporter problems, hopefully all that will be sorted by this weekend. Tim will now have an uphill struggle in the National Championship but can kiss his Super Series title hopes goodbye. New kid on the block was Ian Tubb with a beautiful rail and big block Chevy power. This is the ex Fay Fischer Dragster, which if I am not mistaken is an ex-Monica Öberg Top Fuel car with Engine Data Analysis head honch Kenny Coleman as crew chief. This was the dragster's first outing and Ian made good progress getting the driver licensed and the bugs out of this new combination. Ian has not raced for some fifteen years but has now returned to the sport meaning business. Ian aims to run in Super Pro once the dragster maximises its potential, but until then is a welcome addition to the popular Super Comp ranks.

"Number one qualifier Martin Curbishley threw down the gauntlet once again with a stunning .412 reaction and 8.929/150.00 in his first round bye. A good tussle was Paul Marston in the ChryslerCard-backed PT Bruiser against Dave Day in his Double Trouble '34 Ford Roadster. Dave put Paul in the right lane, no startline games, Paul pulled a five-hundredths advantage off the startline. The two race cars swapped positions four times between with Paul Marston and the ChryslerCard Bruiser taking the stripe by 3 hundredths, a close race. Mark Flavell rained on Zane Llewelyn's parade, putting him on the trailer in the first round, definitely not what the Main Event finalist was looking for. Zane seems to have lost a little of his consistency over the last couple of races, I am sure that will be short lived. The last pairing saw Paul Knight up against Ian Tubb. An uncharacteristic cherry on the tree put Paul Knight on the trailer, leaving Ian to advance.

"The second round saw Martin Curbishley face off against Paul Marston's ChryslerCard PT Bruiser, Martin putting Paul in the left lane. What followed was a demonstration of one of the more unusual ways to win a round, both drivers must have been well on their game as a double red-light is a rare thing in this country. Both drivers beat the tree, Martin pulled a 0.394 and Paul a 0.396. As Martin had gone a round more than Zane and Tim scored no points he would be disappointed but satisfied with his weekend's work. Paul however was on a roll, booking his first final round appearance in the ChryslerCard backed PT Bruiser. Mark Flavell in his big block dragster was up against Ian Tubb. It was a fair fight and in a double breakout situation Mark Flavell's experience and knowledge of his dragster booked him a place in the final round.

"In the final Mark again elected to put Paul in the left lane. No games in this one and when the lights dropped Mark pulled a respectable and very competitive .488 light, but just to prove the breakout against Martin Curbishley was no fluke Paul strapped a .403 light on Mark, the quickest light in the whole event - and in the final. It was all to no avail though, Paul Marston in the ChryslerCard PT Bruiser never quite caught the Big Block Chevy-powered dragster of Mark Flavell who took a deserved well-fought win with a 8.96/140.62 to a game chasing 9.15/164.23.

A big thank you on behalf of everyone in Super Comp to everyone involved in organising the Mid-Summer Nationals. It was great to see Terry Gibbs back at the track and on the mend. Thanks to all the hard-working staff at Shakespeare County for running such a smooth event, to track announcers Jerry Cookson and John Price, and to Bruno, Terry Gibbs again, and all the FAST crew - the track was outstanding all weekend, that only comes with a lot of hard work behind the scenes. Special mentions for Sharkman, Mandy, Nicky and Anthony Hodges for working into the wee small hours on Friday night, I am not allowed to say what but it was mainly done on all fours! Once again we are in your debt and look forward to the next one, can't wait." ©Eurodragster.com

VWDRC on Summernationals trail.
27th June: This weekend's Summernationals at Santa Pod Raceway include the third round of the 2002 Volkswagen Drag Racing Club Championships. Spencer Tramm kindly sent us a preview of this weekend's VW Pro action.

volkszone.com VW Pro sees a seven car entry. The current Championship leader is Paul Jackson in his Proteus III dragster. Paul won the opening round at the Easter Thunderball and was runner-up at the Big Bang event on the Mayday Bank Holiday. Winner of the second round was Jon Rathbone in his turbo-powered Beetle, this moved him up to the number two spot in the points. Jon had a few technical difficulties at the Big Bang and will hope that these are cured ready for this weekend's action. Our spies inform us that Jon, who is now working at Hauser Race Cars, has been going through the car from top to bottom with Jon Webster to further aid Jon's search for the nines, although various friends and crew of Jon's reckon that the easiest solution is for Jon to use more than three-quarter throttle! Russ Fellows is in third place in the Championship with his street legal mid-eleven second Beetle. There are a few of us who keep nagging Russ to have a go in CCSE! Another street-legal car making its second appearance this year is Paul Bate. Paul was one of the main hitters in the Street class back in the early days of VW Drag Racing, and has made a welcome return after a few years away with a new twelve-second engine and a rather smart Chris Isaacs Race Cars roll cage.

Scott 'Two engines' Evison is in fourth place after a slow start. Scott broke his new engine on the first day of qualifying at Easter as he had done in 2001 on route to the VW Pro championship. Scott went home to Radcliffe-on-Trent to collect last years Championship-winning engine, qualified third and posted a semi-final finish so is definitely one to watch out for! Making his first appearance for a few years is Bill Griffiths and his new VW Beetle. Bill and the rest of the Bad News team will be looking to iron out all of the bugs ready for the VWDRC's main event of the year, Bug Jam, which is just three weeks after the Summernationals.

Rounding out the field is 2000 VW Pro champ Jim Smith in the plainlazy.com Beetle. Jim was due to miss this round after breaking the car at the Main Event Press Day, but thanks to Ian Clarke at Wolfsburg Performance Services Jim is going to make the call. Jim's is a car to look out for in the pits as it is sporting a Pro Stock style vertical gate shifter especially modified for a VW gearbox by Jim's dad Brian.

You can stay in touch with the news from the VWDRC on their web site at www.vwdrc.com.©Eurodragster.com

Weekend coverage schedule.
27th June: Eurodragster will of course be reporting live from the Summernationals this weekend. Our American Car Imports-sponsored coverage will as usual feature pit notes, frequent reports on the on-track action during each day, and a photo gallery at the end of each day. We will post a direct link to our coverage from our Home Page on Saturday morning, but you will be able to view it by clicking here, or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster page. Our Summernationals coverage index page already contains linkns to the official entry list and Saturday's provisional running order.

Our good friend Gareth Evans will be posting end-day Summernationals reports on the UK1320 web site at www.uk1320.com at the end of each day, and the guys at Dragsterworld will also be posting end-day reports and pictures each day at www.dragsterworld.com.

Whilst we're still on the subject of the Summernationals, Chris Ware of Trakbak Racing tells us that both the World Cup 3rd/4th place play-off on Saturday and Sunday's Final can be viewed on TV in the bar and the Pod Shop. Chris also says that official Santa Pod merchandise will be on sale in the Pod Shop and the trading area all weekend.©Eurodragster.com

Free tickets to Goodwood.
27th June: We are indebted to Dave Long for alerting us to a Goodwood Festival of Speed ticket give-away in the Sunday Times this weekend. "Ten thousand free tickets will be available in the 30th June issue", says David.

This year's Festival of Speed, which takes place on 12th-14th July, will be well worth attending for drag racing fans. Kev Elliott of Custom Car Magazine has put together a drag racing display for the Goodwood organisers which includes the restored Commuter, the Wildside Inc Top Fuel Dragster, Paul Marston's Chryslercard PT Bruiser, Steve Neimantas' CCSE Aston Martin, Jimmy Hibberd's '33 Willys Super Gasser, Paranoia, Russ Carpenter's Daimler hemi rail, Mickey Moore's The Mob Fuel Altered, Dick Sharp's Dorset Horn, Chris Hartnell's Backdraft, Simon Emery's Beetle, the original Allard dragster from Beaulieu's collection, Alan Smith's Allard dragster, and Steve Green's Super Pro ET Cortina. A pair of Junior Dragsters will also be on display. Kev has also arranged for Andy Robinson's '53 Studebaker Pro Mod, Ian and Sue Jackson's CCSE 'Vette, Colin Lazenby's CCSE Chevy, and Brian Waskett's CCSE Camaro to run on the famous Goodwood hill.

You can find out more about the Festival of Speed on Goodwood's web site at www.goodwood.co.uk.©Eurodragster.com

Late-breaking Summernationals news.
26th June: Santa Pod Racers Club secretary Paula Marshall has been in touch with more news about this weekend's Summernationals. "Racers who sent SAEs will have their tickets very soon", says Paula. "There has been a slight delay in sending them out because I have been ill". We're pleased to report that Paula was feeling a little better when we spoke to her.

Paula also tells us that the gates at SPR open at 5:00 on Friday afternoon, but that racers should note that the Pit Gate will be closed between midnight Friday and 7:00 am on Saturday morning.

Also on the subject of the Summernationals, Race Director Darren Prentice has taken a few moments away from his new-father duties to send us the provisional running order for Saturday's qualifying. Thanks very much, Darren! Four complete cycles of qualifying are planned on Saturday commencing at 9:30 am, but of course the running order is as usual subject to weather conditions, track conditions and any other changes at the Race Director's discretion.

You can view Saturday's running order by clicking here, or from our Summernationals coverage page, which you can reach by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster page.©Eurodragster.com

Flat Out, Flat Broke with Carter.
26th June: FIA European Top Fuel Dragster Champion and European ET record holder Andy Carter will be flying the flag for drag racing at a book launch next Monday (1st July).

"Next Monday evening, Andy and I will be guests at the Haynes book launch for Flat Out, Flat Broke by Perry McCarthy", says Dan Welberry who handles PR for Carter Motorsports. "The event takes place at the Audi Forum in Central London and will feature a number of drivers. As well as Andy the list includes Tiff Needell, Damon Hill, Martin Brundle, Mark Blundell and Driven host, Penny Mallory. We are very much looking forward to the night and will bring you a full report after the event. We hope to make a number of useful contacts as we continue to spread the Quarter Mile message."

Dan has kindly promised us a post-event report. In the meantime you can stay in touch with the Carter Motorsports pit at www.andycarter.net.©Eurodragster.com

Sko Uno Drag Festival entry.
25th June: The organisers of the Sko Uno Drag festival at Mantorp Park on 25th-27th July have been in touch to remind competitors that next Monday, 1st July, is the official closing date for entries to the event at the normal price. Entry forms, FIA registration forms and all other official documentation is available both at Mantorp Park's web site at www.mantorppark.com/evenemang/team_SkoUno.htm or on the Svensk Dragracing web site at www.dragracing.se/nerladdning.html. You can also contact Mantorp Park direct at:

Sko Uno Drag Festival 2002
Mantorp Park
590 17 Mantorp
Sweden

Tel: +46 (0)142 298850
Fax: +46 (0)142 298869
E-mail: info@mantorppark.com

The organisers have also forwarded an application form for special services such as electricity in the pits, VIP/hospitality tickets, or extra crew tickets, which you can view by clicking here (PDF format).

You can stay in touch with the latest news about the Sko Uno Drag Festival at www.mantorppark.com and of course at www.dragracing.se.©Eurodragster.com

Summernationals entry list.
25th June: The official entry list for this weekend's Summernationals at Santa Pod Raceway is now available, courtesy of Paula Marshall of Santa Pod Racers Club. Entries have topped the 230 mark,and Paula tells us that more entries may yet be received.

Sharp-eyed readers will notice the Pro Mods of Andy Robinson and John Ellis in the Super Pro ET entry, and there are several other 'did you notice' items such as Paula herself making a welcome return to the track in the Highlander Super Mod.

You can view the entry list by clicking here, or from our Summernationals coverage page, which you can reach by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster page.

The Summernationals has amassed a raft of sponsors with backing from Santa Pod Raceway, Chris Isaacs Race Cars, Gleeson Wright Security, G Max Racing Fuels, Hauser Race Cars, Knight Racing Services, Oil Control Ltd and Scorpion Racing.

Entry is £12 on both Saturday and Sunday, or £20 for a weekend ticket. Under-16s as usual go free. You can find an on-line flyer on Santa Pod's web site at www.santapod.com.

Racers: It's not too late to send your Summernationals previews (or your Aros Nats previews). Drop us a line at news@eurodragster.com and we'll publish your news here.©Eurodragster.com

Fluffy's new clothes.
25th June: Supertwin Gas rider Dave 'Fluffy' Hirst is the latest racer to sport a Shaggyshack makeover. His Yamaha RD430 drag bike will be dressed in its new clothes at this weekend's Summernationals at Santa Pod Raceway, courtesy of fellow Supertwin Gas racer Nick 'Shaggy' Daniels.

"It was about time that the bike had a new lick of paint, and Shaggy was the obvious choice to do it", says Dave. "I've seen the job he did on Barrie Gregory's Purple Haze bike, and his own Mystery Machine colours, and couldn't fail to be impressed. That, combined with the great price Shaggy quoted, meant that the job was his!"

Eagle-eyed readers may have noticed the body kit out in its preliminary form at the Mid-Summer Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway (we did and we loved it - Ed) but this weekend will be the first outing for the finished article. If you are wondering what the bike looks like, Shaggy reveals: "Fluffy by name, Fluffy by nature. This isn't your average paintjob - die-hard flame and chequered flag lovers, check your sense of taste in at the gate!"

The Shaggyshack specialises in road and show bike refinishing, custom bodykits, polishing, chroming and more, all finished to a high standard at the best possible price. As Shaggy himself says "If it's not good enough for my bike, it's not good enough for yours!"

For more details about Shaggyshack's services, contact Nikki Pilkington at lemonkitten@ntlworld.com.©Eurodragster.com

Web site updates.
25th June: The official web site of the UK's The Fang Supertwin Modified team has been updated with the first photos of the team's new frame, fabricated in sponsor Turnertech's workshop. The drag bike photo pages have also been updated with a new composite photo of Rob Van Geffen's Supertwin Top Fuel Bike and a page devoted to Koedam Racing, with detailed technical information on the Koedam Top Fuel Bike. Check it out at www.thefang.co.uk. "For a comprehensive engineering and product development service check out our sponsor's web site at www.turnertech.co.uk", says Fangmeister Carl.

Patrik Jacobsson has updated the SMK Trollhättan web site with pictures from the Mid-Summer race at Orsa Dragway in Sweden. Patrik's site is well worth a look as it features a lot of classes which don't always get a look in. You can find the pictures at www.smktrollhattan.com/dragrace/racepics.htm.

The Swedish Pro Street News Magazine at www.spn-photo.com has been updated with 235 pictures from Feringe Dragway together with the latest news and gossip from the Scandinavian scene.©Eurodragster.com

LJR back at Drachten.
24th June: Dutch Top Methanol Funny Car team Lex Joon Racing are again to be involved with the organisation of a race at Drachten, this time the Drachten Internationals at the Netherlands airfield on 13th-14th July. LJR were involved in the Fast and Furious Weekend back in June and have come back on board after a change in the organisation. "Explosion Drag Racing Club are to organise everything on the track and we are to organise everything else, such as promotion", says Gerda Dijkstra of LJR. "We don't know how it will go, but we are trying very hard to make it a good event."

The Drachten Internationals is traditionally the biggest race of the year in Holland, with some 200 racers usually entered. This year Lex is having his Fan Club Day at the event and will be putting in demonstration passes in his Splitfire-sponsored TMFC, doubtless hoping to improve upon his own track record which he set at the Fast and Furious Weekend.

"If any English or other races want to take part in this race then they will be very welcome - we already have a couple of racers coming from the UK", says Gerda. "You can find entry forms on the Explosion web site at www.explosion.nl. If you have any queries about the event then please call me in the office on +31 75 61 23 164 or on my mobile at +31 65 43 36 820."

Gerda also revealed that Lex and the team may take the TMFC to the Danish Nationals at Vandel the week before the Sko Uno Drag Festival, which they plan to attend. "If we can make it, then we will be match racing against Dan Larsen in his Top Methanol Funny Car", she says. "It will be our European Tour!"

You can keep up to speed with all the news from Lex Joon Racing on their official web site at www.lexjoonracing.nl.©Eurodragster.com

£75 for Perfect Light.
24th June: The next round of the Eurodragster Perfect Light Award is at this weekend's (29th-30th June) Summernationals at Santa Pod Raceway. No-one pulled a Perfect Light at the Mid-Summer Nationals so the prize money has gone up to £75. The money will be awarded to the first racer to record a perfect Reaction Time, 0.400 or 0.500 as appropriate, during either qualifying or eliminations (but not open practice).

If the £75 is not won at Santa Pod this weekend, then the Perfect Light fund goes up to £100 for the next event which we are attending, the Sko Uno Drag Festival at Sweden's Mantorp Park in late July. If the money is won this weekend then the fund will be reset to £50 for the Drag Festival.©Eurodragster.com

Web site updates.
24th June: The official web site of UK Custom Car Street Eliminator team No Manners Racing has been updated with a report from the FIA Main Event, and an explanation of the team's non-appearance at the Mid-Summer Nationals. "We have also updated our sponsors page, we are always on the look out for new sponsors big or small", says driver Allen Curtis. "The team is now looking forward to the Summernationals where we are hoping to see our first nine-second run". Check it all out at www.nomannersracing.co.uk.©Eurodragster.com

Sheavills joins Donny Tour.
23rd June: UK Top Fuel Dragster racer and European Top Fuel speed record holder Barry Sheavills has been confirmed as one of the headliners at the Donny In The Park event at Shakespeare County Raceway on 21st-22nd September. Barry will be putting in a number of exhibition passes in his Triple R-sponsored Top Fueller at the Ripspeed-backed event which is organised by the promoters of the Doncaster National Custom and Sports Car Show and another No Limits Tour event at North Weald.

"The news about Barry has only just broken so more details will follow", says SCR Press Officer Jerry Cookson. "Donny In The Park will also host the Nitrox Street Legal Challenge to find the fastest street-legal cars in two categories: Four Cylinder and Over Four Cylinders. The winner and two runners up will receive trophies and prize money from Nitrox. To find out more visit www.donnyshow.co.uk. Expect the usual brand of Donny madness including the infamous Shred The Tread, demo runs from the Supercharged Outlaws and other invited guests from the drag racing world, together with new extreme attractions which has made the legendary Doncaster National Custom and Sports Car Show the success it has been."©Eurodragster.com

Super Series points.
23rd June: Many thanks to Super Series points co-ordinator Simon Groves who has, as promised, sent post Mid-Summer Nationals points standings in the Super Series. You can check out the points by clicking here, or by clicking on the Points Standings link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster page.©Eurodragster.com

Hancox enjoys Hal Far.
23rd June: If you've been tuned in to Eurodragster in the last few days you will have read about the Night Event at Malta's Hal Far Raceway which by all accounts was very successful. UK Outlaw Anglia racer Bob Hancox was on Malta last weekend and dropped us a line to thank everyone who helped to make his days.

"Carole and I would like to thank Antony Borda of the Malta Drag Racing Association for his hospitality when we attended the Night Event", says Bob. "We were made very welcome, and the drivers were more than happy to share their experience of the drag strip with us. We would also like to thank Nazju for the lift to the strip.

"The Night Event is absolutely brilliant with the racing finishing at about 1:00 in the morning and the temperature then is still warmer than England daytime. This was our third visit and we will definitely be going again. If anyone is interested in going out to attend a meeting we have got some useful phone numbers to help you get there and where to stay, contact us at runawaydragteam@aol.com.

"Well done to Jason Martin who won two out of three classes in his Escort running low tens with a two-litre Pinto."©Eurodragster.com

Wacker Jammin' with the Bugs.
22nd June: Swiss Pro Mod racer Peter Wacker is looking at a late-July début for his new Roofer's Toy III '57 Bel Air which is currently receiving finishing touches at Andy Robinson Race Cars.

"I intended to make checkout runs with my new '57 Bel Air at the Main Event", said Peter, "but there was a delay. Andy Robinson has promised that the car will be ready for the Bug Jam on 19th-21st July. The car looks beautiful, and according to Andy the chassis is a upgraded version of his brand new '53 Studebaker!"

Peter's web site has been updated with a large number of pictures of the build-up of the Bel Air, the latest set showing the car all ready for the paint shop. Check it out at www.roofers-toy.ch.©Eurodragster.com

More news from Hal Far.
22nd June: Anthony Borda of the Malta Drag Racing Association has been in touch with some more details of last weekend's night event at Hal Far Raceway.

"We had a very good two day event, which started on Friday with qualifying and finished on Saturday with all the eliminations and finals", says Anthony. "There were a lot of exciting races, especially from the dragsters of John Ellul (Banzai) and David Bonavia (Joe Amato Jr.) of the Zoqdi Racing team. At one time David looked up at the stars with the dragster pulling its nose up about eight feet off the track. Charles Abela, a Maltese guy who resides in Kings Cross, London, of the Powerhouse Racing team and Alan Desira of the Silkolene Team ran an 8.00 second run. Apart from these, there were lots of other competitors who did very well in this event, especially Alan Zammit driving an Escort fitted with a two-litre Cosworth engine without Nitrous running 8.8 seconds. The diesel trucks put on another good show with Noel Vella of EVS Racing Team winning both truck classes and recording an 11.8-seconds run which is very good E.T. for a four ton truck fitted with a twelve-litre Cummins engine not using any Nitrous.

"In the bike section we had Chris Vella on a 900cc Kawasaki winning the only class with a remarkable 9.6 second run, mind you this is just a Pro Street Bike.

"We will have all the results and timing data on our web site shortly. Our next night event will be held on 9th-10th of August, and will feature three Top Methanol Dragsters."©Eurodragster.com

Mid-Summer Nationals timing data.
22nd June: Timing data from last weekend's Super Series Mid-Summer Nationals is now available courtesy of Ozzy Ewing of Shakespeare County Raceway's tech crew. The data is available in both HTML and Excel format.

You can view the timing data by clicking here, or by clicking on the Timing Data link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster page.©Eurodragster.com

Points standings.
22nd June: Post Mid-Summer Nationals points standings in the ACU UK Drag Bike Championships are now available on the King Racing web site at www.kingracing.com.

Provisional standings in the Custom Car Street Eliminator Championship are now available on the FB Racing web site at www.fbracing.co.uk. Ian Hook's site also has a race report from the Mid-Summer Nationals together with the latest gossip from the CCSE scene.

Our good friends at Svensk Dragracing have changed their Nordic Drag Racing Series points page so that individual classes can be called up directly, speeding up download. You can fid the NDRS points at www.dragracing.se/nscpoints.html. You can also find on the Svensk Dragracing site a link to the entry list for the next NDRS round, the Aros Nationals at Västerås next weekend.©Eurodragster.com

Web site updates.
22nd June: Eurodragster staffer Sharkman has updated his personal web site Sharkman's Top End Tales with an illustrated rece report from the Mid-Summer Nationals together with two video clips and three Windows wallpaper files. Check it out at www.topendtales.com.

To free up some space on our server, we have removed the photographs from last year's Event Coverage. The reports from last year's Event Coverage will however remain on the server for a long while yet.©Eurodragster.com

Joon attending to body.
21st June: Dutch Top Methanol FC racer Lex Joon has some repair work to carry out before the LJR team embark on their planned trip to the FIA Championship rounds at Mantorp Park and Gardermoen. Lex set new track records for the eighth-mile at Drachten but it was at the price of damage to the FC's Camaro body.

"Lex ran 4.2/160, bouncing all the way!", says Gerda Dijkstra of Lex Joon Racing. "Unfortunately the blower belt broke and cracked the body, but we are repairing it. It was very strange, the belt didn't break in the usual way. We think maybe the fabric failed". Gerda gave us an insight into driving a Top Methanol FC on an airport runway. "At Santa Pod, Lex uses the top end gantry as a reference - the A and the O of Santa Pod are markers for the middle of the lane. At Drachten, all he had was grass and sky. In one burnout he crossed lanes! But at least we didn't hit the timing equipment this time."

Lex and the team considered taking the TMFC to Alastaro for the next Championship round, but decided to invest the money in the car instead. "We are trying real hard to go to Mantorp Park and hopefully Gardermoen, and we will of course be at Hockenheim", says Gerda.

Lex is currently third in the FIA Championship but feels that his position could have been higher. "We were disappointed not to win the Main Event", says Gerda. "Lex knew that he could have won the final if it hadn't been for the clutch problem in the semi. The car is going faster and faster and the engine stays in one piece!"

You can stay in touch with all the latest from the LJR pit on their official web site at www.lexjoonracing.nl.©Eurodragster.com

Branch rewarded for hard work.
21st June: UK Funny Bike racer Shaun Branch made it to the final round at last weekend's Mid-Summer Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway. Shaun's final-round appearance was surely the reward for some very hard work, as he explains.

"The Main Event was not such a good weekend for us. On the first run on Saturday the throttle cable broke, the second qualifier of 7.69/169 on Saturday afternoon was OK, a little short on MPH but was something to work with. All was looking good with the bike Saturday night so we just carried out the usual maintenence of clutch, oil and plugs. In Sunday's qualifying the bike slowed up to a 7.94, but as we took the clutch out after the run we found a broken blower drive. The blower cush drive is in two sections: the drive piece which bolts to the crank, and the pulley which bolts over the top. What had happened was that the bolt which holds the drive assembly on the crank had unscrewed itself and jacked the whole assembly off the end of the crank cases. End of Main Event!

"The motor got a full rebuild in time for the Mid-Summer Nationals. We also changed the pistons and engine block to the 1425cc which, with a few other adjustments, paid us back with a 7.58/175 off the trailer. All was looking good again until the second qualifier when the motor leaned out and torched the head out the back of #2 cylinder. On removal the damage was limited to just the head and gasket, the block and pistons were fine.

"So the long night began! We got back to Oxford at about 7:00 pm with the cylinder head and entire fuel system. By 10:30 the head had been welded and skimmed back, and the fuel system had been on the flow bench for a hour to richen it up a bit to make sure the same didn't happen again on Sunday. We left Oxford at 11:00 pm and got back to the track at 12:00 am. We rebuilt the top end of the engine, reinstalled the blower and fuel system - except for the fuel pump which had conveniently been left on the flow bench in Oxford in our haste to get back to the track! We eventually got to bed at 3.45am.

"Sunday morning arrived,several hours too early. We made a few phone calls and arranged for the fuel pump to be delivered to track. In the first round we were up against Paul Knapp who had qualified with a 7.33 at a very stout 184 mph (Congratulations Paul). A two-tenths holeshot got us a 7.59 to 7.44 win. A little bit of luck got us a bye in the semi-finals...luck which was to desert us in the final against Dave Holland. Dave had finally cured the problems with his bike, qualifying with a 7.2, so we were always going to be the underdogs. This was a race I could only win on the lights, but with a .397 red light it was not to be. If you work out the mathmatics, even with a .400 perfect light we would still have lost by .001! So congratulations to Dutch Dave on his first win of the year and thanks for such a close race!

"All the weekend's hard work nearly paid off, but we went a few rounds, scored some Championship points, and now have a consistent mid seven-second Funny Bike to play with.

"I would like to thank Steve Hawes of Bike Paints and Graphics for the superb new paint schemes on both my and Tim Blakemore's bikes. Steve is an absolute wiz with an air gun, so if you want a quality paint job with a quick turn around then give him a ring on 07789 415904. I also know that his unit is big enough to get larger four-wheeled race vehicles in, so don't think that he only paints bikes as the name implies!"©Eurodragster.com

Frost hit by gremlins.
21st June: UK Custom Car Street Eliminator racer Andy Frost suffered new-car gremlins at the Mid-Summer Nationals, failing the cruise and so being disqualified from competition. Andy is however very philosophical about it.

"The start of the weekend wasn't too bad", says Andy. "Off the trailer with a 9.93/140 without any nitrous, but after that it all went downhill with the nitrous not working at all, and finishing with a starter failure on the cruise. Still, I guess it's only my second race and everybody gets new car gremlins. Let's hope it all comes together at the next one!"

You can find a very entertaining race report on Andy's web site at www.redvictor1racing.co.uk.©Eurodragster.com

Official guide to Midsummer.
21st June: Our good friends at Svensk Dragracing have posted on their web site an indispensable guide to Midsummer activities. The Longest Day is traditionally a day for carousing in Sweden and Finland and we would like to wish our readers in those countries a very enjoyable day indeed. For more details on the herring- and schnapps-fuelled jollity check out www.dragracing.se/short/midsummer.html.

If any lady should dream of a short hairy journalist or a tall hairy photographer after picking seven different flowers, then you can find our E-Mail addresses on the Eurodragster Staff and Information page.©Eurodragster.com

UK Championship points.
21st June: Many thanks to UK National Championship points co-ordinators Simon Groves and Yvonne Tramm for sending us the UK Championship standings after the weekend's Mid-Summer Nationals. You can check out the latest UK Championship points by clicking here, or by clicking on the Points Standings link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster page.

Simon tells us that Super Series points will be available very shortly.©Eurodragster.com

On-Showtime.
21st June: The 'spare' Showtime Fuel Funny Car will be on display in Milton Keynes for the next week, writes crew member Chris Dossett. "The blue and yellow Showtime Dodge Avenger will be making its first public appearance for a while as part of the Myltons Freeway Chrysler Jeep first anniversary celebrations between 22nd and 28th June", says Chris. "Myltons Freeway is the first UK car dealership inside a shopping mall! It is based in the Xscape Centre in central Milton Keynes and is an extension of the successful Myltons Chrysler Jeep dealership in Bedford, where the FC will be on display the following week."

For more details check out the Showtime Fuel FC web site at www.showtimeracing.co.uk.©Eurodragster.com

Web site updates.
21st June: The official web site of Sweden's Old Fifty One Top Doorslammer team has been updated with results from Vandel. If you like your doorslammers on blown-alcohol then the Old Fifty One site is well worth a look, featuring results, photographs, car and team details and a very nice piece of Windows wallpaper. Check it out at welcome.to/old51.©Eurodragster.com

Lantz back in hot seat.
20th June: Legendary Swedish Top Fuel driver Peter Lantz is returning to the seat of a Top Fuel Dragster. Peter and his team will contest three races during the 2002 season in a joint effort with the equally legendary Pelle Lindelöw and P & G Racing. Peter will also be joined by his twelve-year-old son Robin, who will drive a Junior Dragster at the same events. The first race will be the Top Fuel Tour date at Piteå on 12th-14th July, followed by the FIA event at the Sko Uno Drag Festival at Mantorp Park on 25th-28th July, and the Top Fuel Tour date at Tullinge on 9th-11th August. Robin will have a practice session at the Aros Nats in Västerås on 29th-30th June, which will be his first event.

"I'm really excited about this and looking forward to competing again", says Peter Lantz. "Once you are a drag racer you are hooked for life. To have my son driving Junior Dragster at the same events makes it double fun. We would both like to take the opportunity to thank the sponsor with whom our team has been synonymous throughout most of my career - Optima Batteries. They are not just one heck of a sponsor; they make one heck of a battery too! Lantz. Pelle is bringing his sponsors to this co-operation which has also made this project possible. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Red Line Oil and TNT for supporting us with their good products and financial backing."

Peter will be driving Pelle Lindelöw's ex-Cory Mac car in the events and most of his old crew - headed by Crew Chief Morgan Svensson - will join him, in a return of a popular team which will be welcomed by all European fans. "Together with Pelle's team we will form a team with fifteen members, so we will definitely have the human resources", says Peter. "By using Pelle's truck and trailer to transport the two cars we have the facilities necessary to run the operation during races."

As we revealed on Tuesday, Pelle Lindelöw will be providing colour commentary at Mantorp Park. "It will be a bit strange to comment on my own car but it's another experience for the file"; says Pelle. "If the weather is nice then we will probably go to Mantorp Park on our Harleys, as P & G Racing converted to bikers over the winter: four of seven team members have got Harleys now, and we have a lot of fun running around scaring people with the noise they create. Some people never grow up..."©Eurodragster.com

Owen beats the call.
20th June: Congratulations to Santa Pod Raceway's International Race Director Darren Prentice and his wife Nicola on the birth of their son Owen George Alex, who arrived at 9:24 am yesterday - the first anniversary of the passing of Darren's close friend, SPR Chief Marshal Alex Brachtvogel.

Like any good racer Owen was ready a short while before the call, and so tipped the scales at three pounds and six ounces. However, Darren tells us that both Nicola and Owen are doing well. "I'm going out to get a three-wheel pushchair", says Darren. "It will be lighter than Ian Marshall's four-wheel pushchair so I'll have him off the line!"

We are sure that everyone will want to join Tog and Sharkman in sending their very best wishes to Darren, Nicola and Owen.©Eurodragster.com

SCR records and Anorak Stuff.
20th June: As promised earlier this week, Shakespeare County Raceway Press Officer Jerry Cookson has been back in touch with details of the nine track records which were set at the Mid-Summer Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway last weekend. They were:

Super Modified: 7.693/180.00, Danny Cockerill
Custom Car Street Eliminator: 8.746/171.10, Steve Pateman
Pro Stock Bike: 7.506 seconds, Dave Beck
Super Street Bike: 179.28 mph, Tony Clark
European Top Gas: 8.099 seconds, Riccardo Giliberto
Supertwin Modified: 10.065/140.19, Dave Bartz

Jerry has also come up with the equivalent to our good friend Andy Marrs' "Anorak stuff" about the weekend's events at SCR:

Total Qualifying and Elimination runs (excluding Grudge Races): 1079
Bye Runs: 24
Single Runs: 77
Event Low ET: 7.256s (Dave Holland, Funny Bike)
Event Top Speed: 184.43 mph (Paul Knapp, Funny Bike)
Best Reaction Time: 0.501 (Brian Huxley, Pro ET)
Track Records: 9
National Records: 2 (Tony Clark, Super Street Bike)
World Records: 2 (Ric Davis, Supertwin Gas)

Eagle-eyed lateral-thinking readers will realise the implication of the best Reaction Time above, to whit the increase of the Eurodragster Perfect Light Award to £75 at the next event. More about that next week.©Eurodragster.com

Web site updates.
20th June: FIA European Top Fuel Dragster Champion and European ET record holder Andy Carter's web site has been updated with another FIA Main Event review, this time by Dan Welberry who handles the team's PR. "Flog it to death!", says Andy. Check it out at www.andycarter.net.

German Top Methanol Dragster racer, FIA Main Event TMD winner Peter Schöfer's web site has been updated with more photographs from that race, this time from Germany's Martin Groe-Geldermann who is amongst the best drag racing photographers in Europe. You can find the Peter Schöfer Racing web site at www.p-s-r.com.

Feel-the-noise.com have updated their web site to include all-new sections for Dragsters, Funny Cars, Pro Stock and Pro Mod. Also included in the latest update are thirty of webmaster Bob Valder's digital snaps from the Mid-Summer Nationals; Anni Valder's photos will follow shortly.©Eurodragster.com

Bruiser cruises to two finals.
19th June: The Mid-Summer Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway last weekend saw Paul Marston racing entered in two classes with the popular PT Bruiser and going to the finals in both before losing out to Mark Flavell (Super Comp) and Mick Cheley (Super Pro). Here are Paul's thoughts on one of the teams best weekends to date

"We had entered both Super Comp and Super Pro ET at the same event for the first time, it was a tall order but felt ready for the challenge. Our very first run was our fastest and quickest ever with this tune up, an 8.35 @ 167mph. In fact qualifying went very well, with only what amounted to 10 to 20 mins in the pit to service, check and refuel the ChryslerCard PT Bruiser before the call for the next qualifier, be it Super Comp or Pro. Despite the short turn round time we managed to make some tuning refinements as the day progressed. It might have looked from the outside to all but a keen observer that we were all over the place, but there was a method in our madness!

Come eliminations we were ready and progressed methodically throughout the day, culminating in booking final round appearances in both Super Comp and Super Pro ET. We made up some ground this weekend but there is still along way to go. We are not good enough to win yet but with progress at events like this one, we hope to be on the top step of the podium before too much longer.

We did sustain a little engine damage in the lights of the last final against Mick Cheley in Super Pro, but this was not related to running in two classes. We suspect it was getting steadily worse all through elimination's and chose to show itself performance wise in the latter rounds. Never the less we were beaten on the day by the more experienced teams. Warmest congratulations to both Mick Cheley in Super Pro ET and Mark Flavell in Super Comp, both worthy winners.

I must once again thank everyone at Paul Marston Racing, particularly those that worked so hard to enable us to run in both classes. This is what everyone works so hard for so to bring home some silverware is just reward for all their efforts. It was nice to do it for all our sponsors, ChryslerCard, 76 Racing Fuels & Oils, ATI Transmission, MAC Tools and all at Black Box, especially for ChryslerCard who were represented by Anthony Middleton. Anthony spent the whole weekend with us and is starting to acquire a good understanding of Drag Racing from inside Paul Marston Racing and how their money was spent. We are all looking forward to the next event at Santa Pod June 29-30th. Lastly a big thank you to Tog and Sharkman at Eurodragster, we could never thank you guys enough for all you do." ©Eurodragster.com

Hockenheim - Fuel Bike Challenge.
19th June: Ian King's excellent website is now carrying details of the Fuel Bike Challenge to be run at Hockenheim this year. Details include the prize fund, the plan for qualifying and eliminations runs and some details of TV coverage. For the full story head over to www.kingracing.com and then to the pit lane gossip page. ©Eurodragster.com

NAST Points update.
19th June: Many thanks to National Association of Supertwins points co-ordinator Sue Beneke for supplying us with the updated points for Supertwins Street, Modified, Fuel and Top Gas following their second round at the Mid-Summer Nationals. The points are available from the Points Standings link to the left, or you can go direct to them by clicking here.

Sue has also confirmed new records for Ric Davies (Top Gas, ET) and Dave Bartz (Modified, ET and MPH), congratulations to both those riders. ©Eurodragster.com

Web site updates.
19th June: Stuart Dempsey has updated his Custom Car Street Eliminator Fan site with 18 new pictures from the Main Event and a brief summary of the Mid-Summer Nationals round. Stuart apologies for the delay in the update but as he has been in hospital I think we can let him off! Head over to http://ccse.homestead.com for the latest news.

Hasse from SPN has been in touch to let us know that Fast Freddy Fagerstrom's website has been updated with news and some new pictures. Hasse would also like to say thanks to ace lensman Stefan Boman for the use of the new homepage image. Freddy's website can be found at http://www.Come.to/fast-freddy. ©Eurodragster.com

Summernationals entry still open.
18th June: Entry is still open for the next UK Championship round, the Summernationals at Santa Pod Raceway on 29th-30th June. "Because the Mid-Summer Nationals and the Summernationals are close together, we have kept entry open until this Friday (21st June) to allow racers time to take stock after the Mid-Summer Nationals", says Santa Pod Racers Club secretary Paula Marshall.

Classes running at the Summernationals are Super Modified, the three ET classes, the three Super Classes, Junior Dragster, 9.90 Bike, 10.90 Bike, all ACU classes with the exception of Top Fuel Bike, VW Pro, VW Sportsman, and all NAST Supertwin classes.

Racers wanting to enter the Summernationals can contact Paula by phone on 01933 313625 or can fax their entries to 01933 355558.©Eurodragster.com

Callin to race TF at Mantorp.
18th June: Newly-licenced Top Fuel Dragster pilot Susanne Callin's next competitive outing in a Top Fuel Dragster will be at the Sko Uno Drag Festival at Mantorp Park on 25th-28th July, says her father Gordon. "We are all very anxious to go to Mantorp to race again", he says.

Gordon asked us to pass on his thanks to everyone who helped with Susanne's licencing. "Also a big thanks to the the Carbon By Design team", he says. "The guys worked their butts off to make the car run as well as possible. Proof of that is that on Susanne's 5.55 and 5.53 runs at the Main Event she was off the throttle at a thousand feet and coasted over the finish line, but still recorded those times. Unfortunately the blower belt came off almost immediately after the launch in the first round of eliminations, but that is one of those things."

Susanne's web site has upped sticks and moved addresses to www.callinracing.com. The site has recently been updated with photographs of Susanne's licencing and first competitive outing in Top Fuel.©Eurodragster.com

Lindelöw's appeal fails.
18th June: Retired Swedish Top Fuel Dragster racer Pelle Lindelöw's appeal for racers to join him on one of Sweden's most difficult bike races appears to have gone unheard, as he didn't spot any of his colleagues on the three hundred kilometre (186 mile) course at the weekend.

Regular readers with long memories will remember that Pelle competed in the Vttern rundan, a bike race around one of Sweden's huge inland lakes, last June in a time of about fourteen hours. This year he set a new personal best of thirteen hours and forty four minutes.

"Everything went well, and apart from some butt pain I'm perfectly OK again - or at least no worse than I was before", says Pelle. "Unfortunately no one listened to my appeal last year: I couldn't see any other racers there, but on the other hand there were more than seventeen thousand people at the start line so it was a little bit hard to see everybody."

Pelle will be back at the track in July when he joins the track announcers at the Sko Uno Drag Festival at Mantorp Park to provide colour commentary on Top Fuel.©Eurodragster.com

Hal Far Night Event.
18th June: We are very grateful to our good friends Michael Buhagiar and Robert Galea for sending us news of the Night Event which took place at Malta's Hal Far Raceway this past weekend.

Michael tells us: "There were about ninety entrants. On Friday we had the qualification runs and on Saturday night we had the eliminations. Participating at the event was the Top Methanol Dragster of John Ellul, Charles Abela's 'Pitbull' Cosworth-engined dragster, Alan Desira's V8 dragster, and David Bonavia's 'Peel 'n' go' methanol injected Cosworth dragster. These ran great times in the low eights and Bonavia recorded a 7.6. Alan Zammit's 'Showtime' Modified Escort Mk 1 Cosworth made great runs on Saturday Night against the 'Game Over' V8 modified Ford four-door Sierra. Alan Zammit had an 8.9-second run on Saturday night. The diesel class returned to the track after an absence from the last event with 13 to 14-second runs. There were also four trucks participating in the Open Class and Handicap Racing. The two classes were dominated by the EVS Racing team. The other three participants where Tommy Agius, not as before with the Ford Cargo, but with a new truck body made of fibre glass. I talked with some of the crew and they told me that the truck cabin's original shape was made by making the shape with wood and then applying fibre glass. I saw the truck run on Friday but it had problems with the gearbox. Also there was Mario Attard with his fourteen-litre V8 twin turbo Scania truck and Benny Bonnici's Ford Cargo with a Cummins engine. He has done some work on the truck since we saw him in November last year. I met with Joe Carabott of the Mr. Whippy Racing Team who gave me the good news that he will be participating in the FIA events again next year."

Robert sent us some of the times and speeds from the Night Event: "Alan Cammileri 8.9/148, 60 feet in 1.26 seconds; David Bonavia 7.6/178, the dragster launched with its front wheels four feet off the ground and recorded a 1.0-second 60 foot on its back wheels; Marco Attard 11.5/114 (Ford 2100cc aspirated); Alan Camiuleri 9.6/136 (Chevy 350 aspirated). We had a new Cosworth Lotus with a Cosworth which didn't run too badly, and a new project, a Mk 2 Fiesta with a 1.6 turbo diesel engine which ran quicker than 13.5 seconds. These cars are all Zoqdi tuned and built for maximum power. We would like to thank all of the Zoqdi Racing team and all of their sponsors: Zoqdi Rolling Services, Baminu Bro Garage, Kalakku Garage, PG Signs, Peel n Go, Slick 50, Shark Energy Drink, Daniel Muscat Ford Garage, Eart Fruit, S and R Paint, and Route 66."

You can find more reports and pictures on Michael Buhagiar's web site at www.dragraceway.cjb.net, and on Robert Galea's web site at www.zoqdiracing.cjb.net.©Eurodragster.com

Wright: why I back Super Mod.
18th June: UK Super Street racer and Super Modified sponsor Matthew Wright has been in touch with some details about the companies which are sponsoring the Super Modified class. Gleeson Wright Security sponsor both Super Modified racer Andy Hone (aka Fred) and the class as a whole.

"Gleeson Wright Security is a twenty four hour security company, run by Gary Gleeson and myself, which specialises in static guarding. Andy Hone has been a friend of mine for sixteen years. Gary and I thought what better way to advertise our company and help a friend in his quest for success in Super Modified than to put our name on an eight-second race car. In supporting Fred we have come to realise how popular and thrilling Super Modified is, so to help the class and to try to bring in some more sponsorship Gary and myself, Tony Belini of Corporate Signs and Clothing, and Colin Aldred of Scorpion Racing have started the ball rolling with a small amount of prize money for the class. Hopefully this will encourage other sponsors to come forward as I believe that Super Modified is a very exciting and joyful class for sponsors and fans alike. We would like to wish Fred and the rest of the Super Mod teams the very best of luck for the season.

"As you are aware I run a Ford Escort in Super Street for which I have to thank Andy one for his help in preparing the car and Crew Chief Vince Price for all the weekends which he and his girlfriend Lorraine Pitman (crew chick) have given up so that I may pursue my love of drag racing. I'd also like to thank my girlfriend Cheryl Bryant (also crew chick)."©Eurodragster.com

Points updates.
18th June: Many thanks to UK National Drag Racing Championship co-ordinators Yvonne Tramm and Simon Groves for sending us the post-Main Event standings in the UK Championships. These were very kindly sent to us just in time to post before the Mid-Summer Nationals but we were already on the road to Shakespeare County Raceway. Simon tells us that he hopes that UK and Super Series standings after the weekend's Mid-Summer Nationals will be available in time for the Summernationals.

Thanks also to Yvonne and Spencer Tramm for sending us the post-Main Event standings in the Santa Pod Racers Club Championships.

You can view both sets of points by clicking here, or by clicking on the Points Standings link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster page.©Eurodragster.com

Web site updates.
18th June: German Top Methanol Dragster racer and current FIA TMD Championship points leader Peter Schöfer's web site has been updated with pictures and video from the FIA Main Event, an event at which everything went right for Peter and the team as they smashed their PB on just about every run and took the event win. Check it out at www.p-s-r.com.

The official web site of British Nitro Funny Car Championship leaders Showtime Racing has been updated with photographs and video from the FIA Main Event, at which John Spuffard recorded the fastest Fuel FC speed ever outside the USA at 286 mph. Check it out at www.showtimeracing.co.uk.

The Swedish Pro Street News magazine at www.spn-photo.com has been updated with over a hundred pictures from the recent Bilsport Test and Tune at Tullinge.

The guys at Dragsterworld have updated their web site with a photo gallery from last weekend's American Auto Club show at Billing. You can find it on the 2002 Reports page at www.dragsterworld.com.©Eurodragster.com

Records fall at SCR...
17th June: UK Drag Bike team Jade Racing still own the quickest slick and wheelie bar-equipped RD on planet Earth - but the record is now a little quicker and the rider has changed. Rider Ric Davis took the World record from previous holder Jerry Collier with a blast of 9.569 on at the Super Series Mid-Summer Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway on Saturday. Also on two wheels, ACU UK Drag Bike Championship co-ordinator Ian King has been in touch to confirm that Super Street Bike racer Tony Clark set new official ACU records of 8.146 seconds and 179.28 mph at Shakespeare County Raceway over the weekend.

APIRA Press Officer Jerry Cookson has promised to bring us bang up to date with all of the new track records set the weekend so stay tuned for those later this week. In the meantime, if two-wheeled drag racing is your particular favourite then don't forget that you can stay in touch with the European Drag Bike world on the King Racing web site at www.kingracing.com.

Racers: Don't hesitate to send your Mid-Summer Nationals reviews or Summernationals previews to us at news@eurodragster.com and we'll run them here.©Eurodragster.com

...and as for the next event...
17th June: Also on the subject of the Super Series the next event, the Fall Nationals over the August Bank Holiday, features the next rounds of the British Nitro Funny Car and MSA British Drag Racing Championships (for Top Methanol). However, we understand that Top Fuel Dragster and Fuel Altered may also feature at the event on 24th-26th August. Stay tuned and as soon as we get confirmation we will bring you more news.©Eurodragster.com

Don't drive my Cobra.
17th June: If you were tuned in last Wednesday you will remember that Custom Car Street Eliminator racer Richard Homewood was looking for a driver to take his CCSE Cobra on Saturday night's Cruise. In the end Richard decided against the idea, as he explains:

"I would like to thank all those who offered help with the 'Drive my Cobra' campaign", says Richard. "After much thought, not to mention the need to be realistic, I decided to withdraw from the event as I just had too many other commitments over the weekend. It meant a loss of the 500 additional points awarded in the Championship for attending every round but, hey, the real assault starts with the new '41 Willys which - fingers crossed - will be making its début over the August Bank Holiday weekend.

"If anyone who made an offer wants to drop by the pits I will be more than pleased to offer them a handshake and a personal thank you."©Eurodragster.com

Deep Forest Nats results.
17th June: Our good friends at Svensk Dragracing have updated their web site with qualifying details from the weekend's latest Nordic Drag Racing Series round, the Deep Forest Nats at Sundsvall. Unfortunately there are no details of eliminations as the race was rained-out yesterday. The latest NDRS points standings are also available. Check it out at www.dragracing.se.©Eurodragster.com

Early Birds get Finals hospitality.
17th June: Chris Ware of Trakbak Racing has been in touch to tell us that Santa Pod Raceway are offering discounts for early Hospitality bookings for the FIA European Finals in September. "The Early Bird discount is available until 26th July", says Chris. You can find more details on the Home Page of Santa Pod Raceway's web site at www.santapod.com, by E-Mail to kelly@santapod.fsnet.co.uk or by phone to Kelly Ingall at 08700 782828 (from outside the UK +44 1234 782828).©Eurodragster.com

Mid-Summer Nationals results.
16th June: It's been a great weekend at the Mid-Summer Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway with one world record, two provisional National records, and countless track records and personal bests broken. Congratulations to the winners and runners-up:

Super Modified: Danny Cockerill 7.760/177.87 def. Rob Smallworth 7.882/175.78
Super Pro ET: Mick Cheley (8.60) 8.712/141/07 def. Paul Marston (8.60) 8.748/160.14
Pro ET: Brian Huxley (10.90) 10.929/119.36 def. Ian Brown (10.80) 10.865/122.28
Sportsman ET: Al Platt (13.30) 13.378/104.90 def. Mark Anderson (13.60) 13.545/103.45 breakout
Super Comp: Mark Flavell 8.968/140.62 def. Paul Marston 9.154/164.23
Super Gas: Frank Mason 10.075/130.81 def. Paul Hudson 11.227/119.36
Super Street: Leigh Morris 10.931/124.65 def. Bob Lees 10.868/119.36 breakout
Junior Dragster: Ricky Emms (8.90) 9.988/72.35 def. Nick Mugridge (13.10) 13.257/48.39
Custom Car Street Eliminator: Steve Pateman 8.747/170.45 def. Jeff Meads 10.054/149.50
Wild Bunch: Tom Coe (11.23) 11.235/116.88 def. Pete Yates (10.00) 10.267/129.31
Outlaw Anglia: Rob Stone 9.875/131.20 def. Cliff Griffin 10.253/131.58

European Top Gas: Gunther Sohn 8.432/144.69 def. Peter Weimar 9.675/141.51
Funny Bike: Dave Holland 7.492/171.76 def. Shaun Branch 7.571/176.47 red light
Pro Stock Bike: Nick Pepper 7.608/176.41 def. Dave Beck 7.747/175.10
Comp Bike: Jerry Collier 8.280/156.25 def. Andy Newcombe 8.969/136.36
Super Street Bike: Tony Clark 8.206/177.17 def. Karl Larcombe 8.494/170.45
9.90 Bike: Paul Morris 9.973/132.35 def. Jamie Sneddon 9.893/134.33 breakout
10.90 Bike: TJ O'Brien 10.927/108.17 def. Glenn Randles 11.252/85.88
Supertwin Fuel: Ian Carruthers 9.415/137.20 def. Jamie Millership 9.279/155.71
Supertwin Gas: Ric Davis 9.611/131.96 def. Sefton Whitlock 9.880/131.96
Supertwin Modified: Dave Bartz 10.278/139.32 def. TJ O'Brien 10.492/131.20
Supertwin Street: Les Harris 10.933/130.06 def. Mark Earrey 11.170/131.20

You can find full details on our Event Coverage, which you can view by clicking here, or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster page.©Eurodragster.com

Oz superlatives abound for Beneke.
14th June: It certainly sounds as if UK ex-pat Supertwin Fuel Bike racer Ben Beneke had a great time at his first race in Australia, where he rode Joe Edmunds' Top Fuel Harley at the 35th Australian Winternationals. He very kindly sent us this review of his weekend:

Well how do I even start to describe it? Fantastic, unbelievable, outstanding, I could go on and on... There were 465 entries this year with ten Top Fuel Bikes in the class I was entered in, mostly Harleys with two four-cylinder bikes running together in a class called 'Top Bike'.

The track is very good, with exceptional traction, but has a very disconcerting downhill run-off which you can't see until you've passed the finish line. Nice touches are the big colour TV screen so the people in the stands and on the bank can see right to the end of the run-off, very cool, and believe me there are a hell of a lot of people in the stands and on the bank not to mention the corporate boxes and start line club. Attendance was quoted at 35000!

Our story started three weeks earlier when I got an E-Mail from Joe Edmunds of JE Racing asking whether I would like to ride his Demon Drivelines-sponsored Top Fuel Harley at the Winters. I of course said "Yes" and headed north from Melbourne.

We made two passes at the Pro warm-up the weekend before the Winternats to satisfy the ANDRA that I could handle the bike and get a license. This was followed by an intense few days prepping the bike for the big race. I had the bike sounding fairly good but was not altogether happy and due to a lack of experience with four-valve heads and twin injector bodies. I sent an E-Mail to the ever-helpful Johnny Vickers of Hawaya Racing in Louisiana who replied to say that I had got it fairly close but suggested a few important changes. A huge thanks to a very knowledgeable and helpful man!

I made all the changes suggested and it made a big difference as we promptly drove straight through the clutch on our first qualifier on Friday night! A problem was found with the clutch springs and a replacement set was given to us by "King" Kenny from the Attitude Racing team - many thanks again! More weight was added for the next session but due to many hold ups because of Top Leaker, I mean Fuel, cars dropping their guts all over the track we ended up with the evening being rained off! We lost the two scheduled evening qualifiers. We did however get an emergency qualifier the next morning but drove through the clutch again!

We had qualified last but we were in! We had to race the blown-nitro Yamaha of number 1 qualifier Craig McPhee in the first round. Loads more clutch weight was added and the race was on. Both bikes did long smoky burnouts and on the green I cut a good light to strap a hole shot on him! We also launched well for the first time of the weekend carrying the front wheel for two hundred feet. The bike ran good until half track when it started to nose over, I pedalled it three times to take the win by a margin of seven hundredths of a second! We were through to the semis at our first race! Our next opponent was Ian Ashelford from Attitude Racing who had blown a motor in the previous round after breaking yet another primary belt (a problem he'd had all weekend), some more Top Leakers dropping oil and our electing to run as the second pair allowed him to make it to the start line just in time. Would you believe it, he goes and runs 7.1 to knock us out on the only run he didn't snap a belt all weekend. He snapped it again in the final!

I am not that disappointed, though. After only five weeks in Australia I have competed in the 35th running of the biggest drag race event in Australia and come third! How good is that? We created a lot of interest and one of the upsets of the weekend by taking out the number one qualifier! Joe Edmunds, the team owner, was very pleased with how the weekend had gone and the tune up I had put in the bike with Johnny's help, so happy people all round!

We have also tracked down Ken Cooper's twin brother! More on this soon!©Eurodragster.com

Team TIL's ultimate test.
14th June: This weekend's Super Series Mid-Summer Nationals will be the "ultimate test" for the Team Titanium International Limited Funny Bike, says Nigel Hoskison of Titanium International Limited.

"As those of you who were at the Main Event may recall, Dave Holland and the TIL funny bike failed in five attempts to complete a pass", says Nigel. "As you can imagine, all the team and sponsors who had put in so much hard work to be there were more than a little disappointed. Over the course of the weekend the carbs were changed, all the electrical equipment for which we had spares was replaced, systems were checked and re-checked again - all to no avail. Several riders and their crews also offered suggestions as to what the problem could possibly be, for which we were grateful.

"Dave finally discovered the likeliest suspect whilst working on the bike the following Tuesday. A microswitch in the throttle assembly was switching on and off when Dave was pulling on the bars. This has now been replaced and the first run at SCR this weekend will be the ultimate test!

"On the subject of Shakespeare County Raceway, we would like to say a belated Thank You to Terry Gibbs and Obsession Motorsports for the arrangements they made for our sponsors who attended the Springnationals."©Eurodragster.com

Super ET Bruiser.
14th June: Eagle-eyed readers will have noticed a new double-entry on the entry list for this weekend's Super Series Mid-Summer Nationals. Alongside the racers doing double duty in Super Comp and Super Gas is the ChryslerCard PT Bruiser which is running in Super Comp and Super Pro ET. Development is the reason for the unusual cross of classes.

"Reliability has been very good, and with the maintenance programs we have in place working wel, I felt it was time to step it up a little" says Paul Marston Racing's Logistics Manager Dave Kalisz. "Everyone else agreed, so here goes! Shakespeare County Raceway was first choice to try this as track time is at a premium there, and we need as much as we can get. At the moment we have a tune-up which suits this race track very well but which causes us problems at Santa Pod. This weekend we aim to get a set-up this weekend which suits both tracks."

"On the maintenance and development side, we will hopefully have our Altronics computer re-installed in the ChryslerCard PT Bruiser for the weekend after it went back to the manufacturers for modifications. Our friends at ATI Transmissions have returned our ProGlide gearbox after a thorough service. There will not quite be enough time to fit it back into the Bruiser, but it will be back in the framer rails for the next event and our spare ATI ProGlide will see the action this weekend."

Running in a Super class and an ET class means that driver Paul Marston will have to cope with both the 0.400 Pro Tree and the 0.500 Sportsman Tree. These differ substantially and will present their own unique problems but Paul tells us that he believes he is up to the task.

On a different note, Dave also went on to explain that with experience gained over the past season it was time to experiment with the pit layout. "This weekend we will be experimenting with an EeeZee up configuration for the covered pitspace area, as opposed to the usual more substantial structure which we have used. Time will tell how successful this proves to be, but it will cut down set-up and striking times for the pit area dramatically."

Paul Marston Racing will be without their usual start line Crew Chief Steve Brennan who is unable to attend due to long-standing work commitments. "We will have someone new in Steve's shoes", says Paul. "Come to Shakespeare County Raceway this weekend to see who, although on the bright side at least we won't have to schedule our qualifiers around the football match this time! Fans are invited to stop by to see us working in the pits over the weekend, plus we now have information regarding those much sought-after Chryslercards, as well as details of 76 Racing Fuels and Oils. We would be only too happy to discuss your requirements with you - qualifying allowing of course!"

Paul Marston is grateful to everyone who stopped by his pit at the FIA Main Event. "We all spent time over the weekend talking to fans and signing the picture of the Bruiser in the 76 Racing feature in the Main Event Programme. A big thank you to all our sponsors: Chrysler UK and the Chrysler Dealer Network, ChryslerCard for your support during the 2002 season, 76 Racing Fuels and Oils, Mac Tools, and last but by no means least ATI Transmissions. Thanks guys!"©Eurodragster.com

Super Mod hits the Web.
14th June: Fans of Super Modified will be pleased to hear that they can now catch up with their favourite heads up doorslammers on the web as well as at the track. To tie in with their headline appearance at the Spring Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway this weekend, the class has launched their own website. Now you can study the rules, read up on bio's of the drivers and details of their cars, catch up on the latest news and gossip and even leave them comments in their guestbook, all without leaving your PC! Head on over to www.eurodragster.com/supermod to learn more about this exciting class.©Eurodragster.com

Web site updates.
14th June: The Lex Joon Racing web site has been updated with news of the weekend's events at Drachten, where Lex broke the track record after an eventful burnout. Check it out on the News page at www.lexjoonracing.nl.©Eurodragster.com

VP SV05 available from Motospeed.
13th June: Roger Lyrén of Swedish performance product supplier Motospeed has been in touch to let us know that he is able to supply FIA/FIM/UEM-legal unleaded race fuel at races.

"The Motospeed/Team Veidec Pro Stock Bike team will be carrying VP SV05 at all FIM/UEM races", says Roger, who is also Crew Chief for FIM/UEM Pro Stock Bike Champion Roger Pettersson. "If you need large quantities then please E-Mail me at roger@motospeed.se one week before a race. We can also supply Mickey Thompson tyres at races. Although for tyres I would usually require orders one week before the race, we always carry M/T 26/10-15 tyres with us."©Eurodragster.com

Loaring on Super Mod progress.
13th June: With the UK's Super Modified class running its first full Championship in 2002, we checked in again with Rob Loaring, who together with ICE Automotive business partner Nick Davies formulated the class in consultation with racers and officials.

We asked Rob how he thought Super Modified was progressing in its first formal Championship year, and found out what the plans are for the future of the class. We also took the chance to ask about the project to build a replica of the Tee Rat Fuel Altered. Click here to read our interview with Rob Loaring, or click on the Interviews link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster page.©Eurodragster.com

Perfect Light Award £50 again.
13th June: The Eurodragster Perfect Light Award will again be up for grabs at Shakespeare County Raceway this weekend. £50 will be awarded to the first racer to record a perfect Reaction Time, 0.400 or 0.500 as appropriate, during either qualifying or eliminations (but not open practice). The money has been won at every event at which it has been available so far this season, the latest by Pro ET racer Jon Evans who took £50 at the FIA Main Event with a 0.500 in eliminations.

If the £50 is not won this weekend, then the Perfect Light fund goes up to £75 for the Summernationals at Santa Pod Raceway at the end of this month; if the money is won at Shakespeare County Raceway this weekend then the fund will be reset to £50 for the Summernationals. Good luck everyone!©Eurodragster.com

Mid-Summer Nationals coverage.
13th June: Eurodragster will of course be reporting from this weekend's Mid-Summer Nationals. Our American Car Imports-sponsored coverage will as usual consist of frequent updates during each day, with photographs to be added at the end of each day. Please note that there will be no pit notes on Saturday morning only, Saturday's report will go straight into the on-track action (Tog's wedding anniversary on Friday - Ed).

We will post a Home Page link to our coverage when it begins, but you will be able to reach the update index (which includes a link to the official entry list) by clicking here, or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster page.©Eurodragster.com

Street Racer Sunday.
13th June: If you're not going along to the Mid-Summer Nationals then this Sunday's (16th June) Run What You Bring at Santa Pod is a Street Racer Sunday.

"Street Racer Sundays are slightly different to a Run What You Brung in that you have the chance to register with Street Machine Magazine and compete in their Championship - the Street Machine Street Racer Championship", says Chris Ware of Trakbak Racing. ". The Championship has two categories which are four cylinders including six cylinders and eight cylinders. They take the best six runs out of eight over the year to determine the Champion of each class. Of course, the normal RWYB still operates too."

Entry to the RWYB is £9; a further £13 and the production of a valid DVLC licence buys you as many runs down the track as you can fit in. Gates open at 8:00 am, and the strip will be open from about 10:00 am to 5:00 pm. For more details including additional safety rules (for example when crash helmets are mandatory in cars) check out the Run What Ya Brung page of Santa Pod Raceway's web site at www.santapod.com.©Eurodragster.com

We're clean!
13th June: We've had a number of E-Mails from readers who have received copies of the Klez virus appearing to come from Eurodragster E-Mail addresses. Please be assured that all of the computers in use by Eurodragster staffers are protected by virus scanners and are thus uninfected. Klez is a reasonably clever virus and is remarkably adept at pretending to come from someone other than the sender. FC pilot Norm Wilding has also asked us to assure everyone that he is not sending any of the viruses purporting to come from his address!©Eurodragster.com

Syd needs your help!
12th June: UK Super Pro ET racer Martyn 'Syd' Jones urgently needs the help of Eurodragster readers in sourcing a part for his tow vehicle. Without it, Syd might have to miss the next round of the UK National Championships, this weekend's Super Series Mid-Summer Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway. If you were tuned in to our Main Event coverage, you will remember that the transmission of Martyn's tow vehicle broke and he only made it to the track with a superhuman effort from Crew Chief Crunch, and the use of fellow racer Steve Johnson's van.

"We have still got problems with the transmision in the van", says Crunch, "and we may not make Shakespeare County Raceway this weekend. The trans and converter have been rebuilt, but I'm still waiting for a solenoid to come and it may be a week to ten days before we get it. Can anyone help us with this part? It is a 350--C Trans. TCC. solenoid fitted to a 1982/89 trans. The G.M. part number is 1997588. If you can, please help Team Super Pro 453 to go racing again!"

If you can help with the solenoid then you can contact Crunch by E-Mail at crunch@dragster453.freeserve.co.uk.©Eurodragster.com

Homewood: please drive my Cobra.
12th June: Custom Car Street Eliminator racer Richard Homewood is also looking for help for this weekend's race, as he will be unable to take his Cobra on the mandatory Cruise on Saturday night and so needs someone to drive it for him.

"I will also be attending my business partner's wedding on Saturday afternoon and will not be able to get back in time for the Cruise, which as you know is part of CCSE qualifying", says Richard. "I am looking for someone willing to take the Cobra out on the Cruise. Preferably someone from within the class who knows the routine, not to mention being known to me and so can be trusted not to disappear into the night with the car after the Cruise!

"If anyone is willing to help then please contact me by E-Mail at richard@kelltechnologies.co.uk, or phone me on 07970 821122, so that the necessary insurance cover can be sorted out."©Eurodragster.com

Selkämaa happy with first outing.
12th June: Finnish rookie Supertwin Top Fuel Bike racer Kai Selkämaa was quite happy with his weekend, and the twenty one points he earned on his first competitive outing on his ex-Jaska Salakari bike, at the FIA Main Event. Kai has made the step up from Super Street Bike this season and had an initiation by fire with a fearsome-looking rear axle failure in qualifying.

"On Saturday we used the qualifying sessions to used to the track", says Kaija Kohtala of Team Selkämaa. "We also had some minor problems with the bike, as it moved far too much to the right. Our first run on Sunday resulted in a broken rear axle, which was obviously due to too-strong hardening. That's why we had to skip both remaining qualifying sessions. We were lucky to get some precious help on Sunday night and had a new rear axle made just in time. Thanks to Bob Brooks in Norwich who did a great job!

"In eliminations we were to face Ton Pels. Kai got a great start but after two hundred feet the bike moved too much to the right again. We were however quite happy with our twenty one points.

"We are now focusing on testing as much as possible before the next race at Alastaro on 5th-5th July. We believe that our performance will improve significantly when we have more testing behind us."©Eurodragster.com

Running the numbers.
12th June: On the subject of the Main Event, we have now processed the numbers and we must say a big Thank You to each and every one of the 14588 readers who visited Eurodragster's American Car Imports-sponsored coverage of that race. We are grateful to the racers, the officials and the fans who gave us things to write about, the facilities in which to write them, or who read what we'd written - we couldn't do it without you - and of course very grateful indeed to Anthony Cohen of American Car Imports for his backing.©Eurodragster.com

Super Modified preview.
12th June: This weekend's Super Series Mid-Summer Nationals includes the latest round of the Super Modified Championship. The wild doorslammers have quickly gained a special place in fans' affections with their long burnouts and wheels-up seven-second passes. Championship co-ordinator Sharon Hogarth has very kindly sent us a preview of this weekend's action.

Danny Cockerill pulled some awesome, jaw dropping ETs and MPHs on his last Super Mod appearance at Shakespeare County Raceway leaving the fans on the Grandstand at the Classic American Event with a 7.79/179 to enjoy in the final Super Mod challenge of the weekend. Danny's 540 ci Rover well and truly stamping its authority and leaving fellow racers under no illusion that the Mid Summer Nationals would create a real tough challenge for every contender. Needless to say the Rover required very little in the way of fine tuning in readiness and Danny is ready and waiting for more track action and the chance to gain some vital points.

Graham Ellis and crew can now put all the frustrations associated with a weekend spent in the pits instead of out on the track behind them as the oil pressure problems experienced at the last meet have been well and truly resolved. Graham is pleased to report that a pinched hose had been the sole cause of the 565ci Oldsmobile's lazy weekend and that the team are very much in a go position for this weekend's Championship event. Having taken the win at the Super Series Springnationals as well as pushing the normally-aspirated ICE motor down into the sevens Graham is keen to continue to keep the pressure on and of course to continue his winning streak.

Tim Garlick will be back amongst it this weekend having taken just a little time out to get himself hitched. The wedding taken care of and the honeymoon period now safely put to bed, Tim has been busy with preparations for the Mid-Summer Nationals. Work has included fitting a new set of wheelie bars with a view to keeping the front wheels of his 215ci Mk 111 Cortina just a little nearer the track! All Super Modders and their teams wish Tim and Paula all the very best for the future, however they will not be giving Tim any wiggle room in competition!

Jon Hogarth has had his work cut out since the last meet, having to breathe new life into his motorhome and tow vehicle with a new engine, as well as repainting the bottom half of his Jeff Bull-powered 63 'Vette, fabricating new 5" collectors for his headers, and fitting a new set of rear slicks to boot. Super Mod fans attending the Classic American event will have seen Jon powering the 532ci Big Block Chevy down into the 8.0s and may also have witnessed a flurry of real live flames licking up the bodywork as a result of additional heat created by the lively nitrous/alcohol mix. The singed paint now refreshed, Jon is ready to prove that you don't need a clutch to run big numbers!

Andy Hone is as pleased as punch with his Gleeson Wright Security backed Granada Scorpio, which continues to go from strength to strength at every event. Fred, as he his known to his fans and Super Mod colleagues alike, has his 461ci on song and has cracked the 8.2s as well as improving mph with much more yet to come. Andy ploughed his way through the competition and took the Runner Up trophy at the Super Series Springnationals and is refilling his nitrous bottles in readiness to get amongst it yet again this weekend!

Ian Marshall is another Super Modder who went home with a smile from ear to ear following the last event, having laid down new personal bests on both counts at Shakespeare County Raceway. Ian and the Highlander team carried out a great deal of work over the closed season in preparation for the 2002 Super Mod challenge, which is really proving to have paid off. The team will be again looking to chip away at those ETs and building mph with their 555ci Camaro, and have been busy fitting a new rear end gear set in the last few days which should see numbers continue to tumble.

Steve Rawlings has been working towards the point of no return in the build-up to this weekends meeting at Shakey and will be giving the 461ci Big Block Supra a gas injection. Steve has been steadily building his confidence, getting vital track time under his belt, putting his new ride through its paces, as well as carrying out many additions and improvements out of the close watch of the competition. Steve's been busy plumbing and filling to capacity the 5lb Super Mod-legal nitrous bottle with a view to closing the gap on his fellow racers and putting the bedding-in period behind him! Watch this space!

Championship leader Rob Smallworth will be eager to keep on top of things this weekend. Rob and crew have been busy checking out everything from the big 588ci tall deck Big Block Chevy to the four-speed Lenco and clutch to ensure that the gorgeous 55 Chevy Belair can continue to grab attention with its long smokey burnouts and almost effortless seven-second passes. Rob is eager for an event win and will be hoping to put Danny and Graham on the trailer early on in eliminations!

Super Modified wish to take the opportunity to thank their new contingency sponsors and their race fans: Gleeson Wright Security, Corporate Signs, and Scorpion Racing.©Eurodragster.com

Snowball renew NDRS sponsorhip.
12th June: Performance product manufacturer Snowball have renewed their sponsorship of Super Comp within the Nordic Drag Racing Series. Owner Jan Palmqvist says that Snowball Super Comp was one of the most exciting NDRS classes last year, and that he wants to be a part of it again during 2002.

Our good buddy Christer Abrahamson has posted a special feature on Snowball on the Svensk Dragracing web site at www.dragracing.se. Whilst on the site be sure to check out the picture and brief report about Super Comp racer Jonas Staflund's new Volvo S-60 Funny Car.©Eurodragster.com

Web site updates.
12th June: Reigning FIA Top Fuel Dragster Champion, and new European ET record holder, Andy Carter's web site has been updated with a Main Event report by Crew Chief Eddie Corr. Given the events of that race you would expect something special from Eddie's report and he doesn't let us down, as usual telling it how it is and managing to pack in a lot of interesting information. Check it out at www.andycarter.net.

The guy sat Dragsterworld have now posted their Main Event report. "It's a bit late because we went on a quick holiday last week", says webmaster Gary Cottingham. You can check out the illustrated report at www.dragsterworld.com.©Eurodragster.com

Kågered's calendar coming together.
11th June: Swedish Top Fuel Dragster and Top Methanol Funny Car racer Micke Kågered's 2002 calendar is beginning to sort itself out after the team ran two cars at last week's Main Event, winning with the Top Methanol FC. The Top Fueller went out of eliminations with a barrel valve problem which has now been rectified.

"We will not run the Top Fueller at the next FIA round in Alastaro, only the TMFC", says Team Manager Åsa Kinnemar. "Finland has not been our 'lucky track' in recent years, but our hope is that the trend will change. We checked the Top Methanol FC carefully when we got back from England and everything is OK."

After Alastaro comes the first Swedish Top Fuel Tour round at Piteå in mid-July, and then FIA round three, the Sko Uno Drag Festival at Mantorp Park at which Kågered Racing will again be campaigning both the Bahco Tools Top Fuel Dragster and the Quaker State Top Methanol FC. "It's our home track, we will have lots of invited guests", says Åsa.

August's FIA round at Gardermoen and the next Top Fuel Tour date at Tullinge follow, and then the newly-added FIA date for Top Methanol FC at Hockenheim on 16th-18th August. "We would have entered 'Cannonball' race and been there anyway", says Åsa. "In our opinion the decision to include the event in the FIA series is great for everybody. We get one more round in the Championship and the spectators get better value than if it was just a show race. All the top teams in TMFC need to be there."

A final decision has not yet been made about which cars will run at the FIA European Finals at Santa Pod Raceway in September. "It all depends on the points standings and what our chances are", says Åsa. "We will probably leave the decision until after Mantorp."

You can stay in touch with the news from Kågered Racing on their official web site at www.kagered-racing.com.©Eurodragster.com

Mid-Summer Nationals entry list.
11th June: Many thanks to APIRA Club and Race Secretary Wendy Talbot for sending us the official entry list for this weekend's Super Series Mid-Summer Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway. The list shows a healthy entry with some classes hugely subscribed, Pro ET for example carrying on its 2002 trend with a massive twenty nine. The European Top Gas contingent numbers ten.

You can check out the Mid-Summer Nationals entry list by clicking here.

By way of a preview, the News page of the APIRA web site at www.eurodragster.com/apira has been updated with a report of the weekend's Top Gas action at Drachten, written by series organiser Angela Wittenzellner.©Eurodragster.com

Vrind takes Dutch SG win.
11th June: Also at Drachten this past weekend, the Dutch Open Super Gas Championship had its first round. Robert Joosten, who was runner-up in his Bad Nova, tells us that Paul Vrind took the win, whilst Alex Voorend took the Best Looking award.

Championship standings are already available on the series' official web site at www.supergas.tiscaliweb.nl, and Robert tells us that there will be further Championship news on the site this week. The next round is again at Drachten on 21st-23rd June.©Eurodragster.com

Hot news from Sweden.
11th June: Sweden's Marco Maschietto drove the SBM Racing Hyundai, which has a twin turbo 378ci Chevy smallblock, to a run of 7.443/300 kmh at the Scandinavian Drag Racing Championship round at Feringe at the weekend. Our good friend Hasse of the Swedish Pro Street News Magazine tells us that this made Marco the first driver in Europe to pass 300 kmh with a small block engine.

"There was a surprisingly low amount of track cleanup at Feringe", adds Hasse. "There wasn't even a transmission leak."

You can find out more details including results on the Swedish Pro Street News web site at www.spn-photo.com.©Eurodragster.com

Main Event Super Comp review.
10th June: We are indebted to ChryslerCard PT Bruiser racer Paul Marston for sending us the regular Super Comp review, this time of last week's Main Event.

The FIA Main Event saw a good entry in Super Comp with twelve entries in all. Qualifying was fast and furious with three teams putting their cars in the 8.90 zone. The quality of the track and near-perfect conditions made for a closely-qualified field, in the top six places especially.

Saturday morning saw Brian Pateman in the very first round of qualifying nail provisional pole with an 8.909/153.76 off of the trailer! Carrying on just where he had left off at the Easter Thunderball, but would it be enough? Mark Flavell followed with an 8.92/150.42, the second round saw Tim Adam qualify well with a 8.913 shot for provisional #2. Round three on Saturday saw the track and cooler conditions suit some of the teams very well. Zane Llewellyn dropped in an 8.929/151.12 in his trademark black and yellow dragster, Martin Curbishley in his beautiful Brogie Roadster a 8.944/147.23. Then, as if just to demonstrate how good the track was in these cooling conditions, in the fourth and last qualifier of the day Zane Llewellyn ran the perfect number - an 8.900/152.12.

Sunday dawned with just two qualifying slots remaining, by this time Brian Pateman was confined to the pits with a cracked transmission case, with the tremendous strains put on racing transmissions this kind of failure is not rare. "I felt it go and the large pool of oil beneath the Brian James Trailers-backed Pontiac Firebird confirmed it", he said. Help was at hand, though, as a call to Phil Bennett - currently building a new motor for his Dragster after a rod exiting moment at Shakespeare County Raceway - saved the day with a good-quality spare case, leaving Brian and team all day to disassemble and rebuild the transbrake-equipped Powerglide ready for eliminations on Monday. Brian also told us that his effervescent Crew Chief Lenny would not be with him at this event due to health problems. I think I speak for everyone in saying you were sorely missed Lenny. We send our best wishes and prayers for a painless and speedy recovery back to full fitness, our thoughts are with you.

Rob Faulkner was also having a rough ride in his Crossfire Racing Camaro, some small niggling problems but enjoying his racing and the friendly reception he was getting since his switch over from Pro ET. Unfortunately Rob's weekend was cut short with a recurrence of a roller lifter failure, a particularly nasty one this time as it junked the block in the process. Despite the breakage, Rob's Crossfire Camaro shows good potential with the quickest sixty-foot time over the weekend in Super Comp, a 1.22 clocking. Team Double Trouble were running two classes at the FIA Main Event, Dave Day driving in Super Gas and Sarah Day driving in Super Comp. An excellent driving job by Sarah saved the beautiful 34 Ford Roadster from the wall on Sunday afternoon when the track went off in the second session, this preceded some light damage sustained by some excessive downforce which was effectively ready for the next round. Mark Flavell carded an 8.927/150.42 on the first day to book his place in the top half of the table. It was great to see George Chiarella back in action in his absolutely beautiful blown alky-injected 37 Ford, Straight To The Point doorslammer. Enjoying good reliability and his racing very much at the FIA Main Event, with the scalp of no less than that of Tim Adam added to his belt in the first round, it was great to see George back. Shaun Lathan had a good run with consistent qualifiers, just failing to crack into the eight-second zone at this event, going out to Martin Curbishley in the first round. Colin Aldred was again running two classes with Pro ET and Super Comp as well as putting up some very respectable contingency prizes, well done. With no Nitrous this weekend, Colin and team did not expect to be a factor in Super Comp, qualifying last. Colin would like to thank all the teams who kindly offered to help out, but no one had exactly what Colin needed. Despite the off-form performance, Colin went a round after Sarah Day experienced problems in the pits with the transmission.

Paul Knight had a trouble-free weekend's racing with a reliable race car, the Chrysler-powered Pontiac however refused point blank to run a eight-second pass, but came pretty close. Paul threw everything at it bar the kitchen sink; the next event will no doubt see the team out with a cunning plan. Paul Marston Racing and the ChryslerCard-backed PT Bruiser had an amusing weekend. "Here at Santa Pod we were experiencing no consistency with our ET clockings", he said. That seemed to hold out for the whole weekend. Running as low as 8.457/164.32 to 9.52/161.52mph. But the team seemed very happy to have enjoyed good reliability with the Jari Konola Pro Stock motor and to have put some quality laps on the racecar. Reigning champion Tim Adam and his TART racing team carded his qualifier early on with a stunning 8.913/149.85mph. But from then on the beautifully presented Brogie Roadster seemed to struggle to maintain form. This culminated in a shock first round defeat when Tim faced George Chiarella; the track was greasy after the rain shower which delayed the first round for thirty minutes. Everyone's reaction times were slow compared to their averages; Tim will no doubt bounce back at Shakespeare in two weeks. Martin Curbishley had another outstanding weekend with his deadly consistent Brogie Roadster. On average Martin and the Roadster were the most consistent package all weekend, with good reactions and ETs. Qualifying with an 8.904/147.31 Martin then set about demolishing the opposition, taking out Shaun Lathan first round then disposing of Mark Flavell in his dragster in round two, before eliminating himself with a shaved tree which found the cherry, a red-light and on the trailer you go.

Zane Llewellyn ran his usual race, getting up only when needed and making it all look so easy, and a march which took out George Chiarella, his only opponent who made the call, Rob Faulkner and the Crossfire team already out of the game and a bye into the final round. The final between Brian Pateman and Zane Llewellyn was one of those strange races with both drivers being unable to stage, Brian with a dripping transmission and Zane with a snapped throttle cable. Unfortunately due to time ticking on there was no re-run and that was how it ended, so with all still to fight for it's on to Shakespeare County Raceway for this weekend's Mid-Summer Nationals.©Eurodragster.com

Malta after dark.
10th June: This weekend, 15th-16th June, sees the first of this season's two night races on Malta. "For this event we're going to have over a hundred participants competing in cars, trucks and a few motorcycles", says Tony Borda of the Maltese Drag Racing Association.

For more details check out the MDRA web site at www.maltadragracing.com, the Maltese Drag Racing web site at www.geocities.com/dragraceway, and the Zoqdi Racing web site at www.zoqdiracing.cjb.net.©Eurodragster.com

CCSE Points Standings.
10th June: Provisional post-Main Event points standings in the Custom Car Street Eliminator Championship are now available on competitor Ian Hook's FB Racing web site at www.fbracing.co.uk. If you are a fan of CCSE then be sure to check out this site as it contains all the latest news and gossip from the street-legal series together with updates on the reconstruction of the eight-second FB Racing '34 Ford.©Eurodragster.com

Web site updates.
10th June: FIA European Top Methanol Funny Car Champion Leif Andréasson's web site has been updated with reports and pictures from the Main Event. If you've not checked out Leif's web site since its recent redesign then it is well worth a visit, containing a lot of information yet looking uncluttered and professional. Check it out at www.andreassonmotorsports.com.

The official web site of the UK's Freddy's Revenge Supercharged Outlaw team has been brought bang up to date with a report and pictures from the recent Bexhill 100 motor festival, at which the team were able to persuade TV reporter Mike Brewer to sit in the altered during a fire-up. You can find the report on the News page at www.freddysrevenge.co.uk.©Eurodragster.com

No new-car blues for Nilsson.
9th June: Swedish Pro Mod racer Håkan Nilsson and his team had the best possible start with their new Veidec-sponsored Camaro at Gardermoen last week, getting the car into the 6.4s on only its fourth pass. Håkan tells us that it was the result of very hard work on the team's part.

"If it hadn't been for my team (Markus, Conny, Ulf and Max) we would not have been out there yet", says Håkan. "We have worked very hard, and have been focused all along on having it ready in time. We knew that our main sponsor Veidec was waiting for us to get out there, and that also motivated us in the dark moments - there are a lot of those when you build a race car! Putting up such a competitive performance at our first race is a reward for the whole team, who are as good as any."

However, the 6.4 may have come one run earlier. "We had been very thorough in trying to set the car up to run well from the first run", says Håkan. "We went to the track a day early and worked from dusk to dawn to set it up right. A plug on number seven cylinder went dead on us and that's what killed the performance on the third run. What surprised us was the speed we achieved on the fourth run: 216.3 mph. That run wasn't under full power and that looks very promising for the future. We're are running a new jetting pattern and it should make a difference, but we never expected this much."

Håkan says that the new Camaro is very stable indeed. "It's very different", he says. "When we had the two cars torn down in the shop next to each other, we could tell the difference in the chassis construction, but that a few tubes could make this big a difference is surprising. The Camaro is very easy to drive and feels stable all through the run. Of course, the body and rear wing make a differense on downforce and stability, but it is also clear that the chassis is more stable. It's a lot more like my old Mustang than the Vette."

6.4-second runs are only a start. "We felt that we could have run a 6.3 on Sunday if we hadn't messed up the clutch", says Håkan. "The car is so different in how it reacts to an adjustment compared to the Vette. We will make good use of old tuning information from the Mustang. Of course, you can't tell what will happen when we put the car under full power, but we are pretty confident."

The Nilsson Motorsports team's next outing is on the eighth-mile at Vasteras at the end of this month. "We've been there before and we're not very fond of the track", says Håkan. "It's slick and difficult to tune for. At that race anybody can go far, it will not be a matter of performance. We'll be trying harder to figure the car out, and try to get as many rounds as possible on it. We hope to have everything figured out by the end of the season, so we'll be ready to fly down the track at Santa Pod in September!"

As far as the competition is concerned, Håkan has his eye on one in particular. "Wikström of course!", he says. "They are such a professional team. They're running the same car as last year, and that is always an advantage. They have showed us that they can tune the car for good tracks as well as bad tracks, and they run pretty consistently. They show up at all the races and will be very hard to beat."

You can stay in touch with the very latest news from Håkan and his team at www.nilssonmotorsports.com.©Eurodragster.com

Wikström happy with new bests.
9th June: You don't have to look very far to discover why HåKan Nilsson holds Patrick Wikström and his Outlaw Racing Pro Mod team in such high esteem, as Patrik set new European bests of 6.375/352.95 kmh (over 220 mph - Ed) at Gardermoen last weekend.

"We were happy to set the new record at Gardemoen on the very first race day of this season", says Krister Petterson of Outlaw Racing. "We must say that the track was in excellent condition, after a 1.003 sixty-foot with the Camaro. It's sad that a problem with a ten-dollar rod bearing caused a rod to come out after the finish line, but the engine will be repaired and ready in time for the next race."

Outlaw Racing have had a change-around in their main sponsor. "Our main sponsor is now OFAB instead of Lady Ellen Charter", says Krister. "It is however the same owner with this company, he just decided to explore OFAB instead. We would like to thank them for the support they are giving us."©Eurodragster.com

Mid-Summer Nationals beckon...
9th June: Next weekend (15th-16th June) sees the next round of the UK National Drag Racing, ACU UK Drag Bike, National Association of Supertwins, Custom Car Street Eliminator and Wild Bunch Championships, the Super Series Mid-Summer Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway. Over two hundred and fifty entries have already been received for the Sportsman event at the Warwickshire venue.

Sharing the headlines at Shakespeare County Raceway next weekend are the seven-second Super Modifieds, about which much more in the next day or so, and the European Top Gas Series, the highly-popular Championship for low eight-second two-cylinder four-strokes which traditionally stops by at SCR for this event.

APIRA Press Officer Jerry Cookson tells us that teams from seven European countries are contesting the eight-round Top Gas series which takes in five different tracks. The first round at Husum, Germany, last month saw current champion Riccardo Giliberto take the number one qualifying position at 8.879. The overall winner of the twelve-bike eliminator was Germany's Axel Scifert. Both were riding supercharged gas-burning Harley Davidsons. This weekend the Top Gas racers are contesting the eighth-mile at Drachten in Holland.

Qualifying for all classes takes place from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm next Saturday (15th June), with eliminations running from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm on Sunday, 16th June. Tickets are £15.00 Saturday, £18.00 Sunday and £25.00 for the weekend. For more details contact Obsession Motorsports on 01483 236262.©Eurodragster.com

...but Moores have to sit out.
9th June: UK Super Pro ET racers Roger and David Moore will have to sit out next weekend's Mid-Summer Nationals as they are without the requisite amount of rubber at the back. The popular Herald will forever be remembered for taking out the Christmas Tree at this year's Easter Thunderball, an incident from which Roger tells us some good has come.

"I must have been the only person fighting for traction at the Main Event", says Roger Moore. "After checking everything over, we have decided that new rear slicks were needed. With less than two weeks between events, getting tyres in time is not possible.

"The car is going very well, but it has not been easy getting used to the clutch/Lenco combination. We are still a long way off with the ideal clutch setting, but we feel that we are moving in the right direction. Dave and I will be at Santa Pod at the end of the month, with new tyres, ready to set some new personal best times. The new paint scheme has gone down well, so some good has come from my start line antics. We never liked the last colour anyway!"©Eurodragster.com

Web site updates.
9th June: The News page of the Avon Park International Racers Association web site at www.eurodragster.com/apira has been updated with current Super Series points standings (also on our Points Standings page - Ed).

Also on the subject of APIRA, Bruno Sanderson-Brown of the FAST team has changed E-Mail addresses to fastbruno@hotmail.com. Bruno asks that any E-Mails sent to his old address in the last ten days or so be re-sent to this new address.

Eurodragster staffer Tog has updated his personal web site Tog's Drag Racing Page with more than two hundred pictures from last weekend's Main Event. You can check them out at www.togsdragracing.com/2002fiamainevent.©Eurodragster.com

Great start for Wildside TF.
8th June: The UK's Wildside Inc Top Fuel Dragster team had a great start to their competitive career, with driver Darryl Bradford recording a best of 5.307/250.69 and pulling the quickest Reaction Time of the weekend in the class. Car owner Lesley Wright feels that Darryl more than repaid the faith that she and husband John Wright put in him.

"John recognised Darryl's talent last year, and at the Main Event he made all the crew's hard work worthwhile with his confident and careful handling of the race car", said Lesley. "Us anoraks noted that Darryl had the quickest reaction time in any of the Top Fuel runs all weekend - just wait till we turn the wick up!"

Darryl himself was of course overjoyed. "I had a fantastic time", he said. "If anyone had told me before the weekend started that we would hold our own and put up a good showing against the FIA Champion then I would have been very happy! I can't thank John and Lesley enough for the opportunity. The car was an absolute joy to drive. Comparing the Top Fueller to the Top Methanol Dragster I drove last year is like comparing a tiger to a kitten: they're both cats but the Top Fueller is evil!"

Darryl had something akin to a religious experience in Monday's eliminations. "Hearing that fanfare on the PA has always sent shivers down my spine", he said. "But hearing it sitting there strapped into a Top Fueller, looking down the track, seeing all those people getting to their feet and looking right at you...well, it's cool!"

Lesley, John and Darryl were quick to credit their crew for their professionalism over the weekend. "Thanks to Darren Galloway (top end) who has shed equal amounts of blood, sweat and tears with us since November of last year, helping to build the car and trailer; Marcus Humphriss (bottom end) for being with us so much of the time over the winter, so long as there was food around!; Simon Prest, our novice clutch man who came in offering to 'make tea or anything' and got thrown in at the deep end!; Steve Curl (top end) already a race car engineer by profession, who had never seen anything like a 6000 bhp motor before; Sean Milson (clutch and rear end) whom we met just a couple of weeks ago and who worked like a trojan for us; and last but not least Tom Digby who has also been with us since the start and provides that handy extra pair of hands for any job. We felt extremely proud of you all", said Lesley. "I get the easy job, they do all the hard work", added Darryl. "The car went out there and ran the numbers. After the first run they were as happy as I was!"

"Teething problems were with us till the last minute but collectively we overcame them", added Lesley. "Thanks also to the folks who helped us build a Top Fuel car from scratch in less than six months: Jon Webster and Danny at Hauser Race Cars; Gary Burgin Enterprises; Autoshop Racing Engines; B L Pneumatics of Rushden; EZD Tools of Irchester for always being open when John went shopping; Bob and Martin Gleadow for the paint job; Gez for the graphics; John Andrews of Motographic for making our ideas reality; the Turners for letting us borrow anything they had; Ricky Gowan for the same; Al Jackson for sorting out the rear end on Saturday morning; John Spuffard and Bob Jarrett for help and tools; Torco Oils for an excellent product; Antony Billinton for bringing us the sparkle of Sammy's presence; Pete Knight for already having everything we hadn't bought yet; Knut Soderquist for the same and for getting us out of trouble on Monday after a front tire went down after the finish line on Sunday's run; Rune Fjeld for parts we borrowed and for upping the ante!; Bob Day for his late night help; Ian Marshal for running around after Bob Day - we know what we mean; Keith, Kjell, Caroline of SPR; Image Wizard; Darren Prentice and the SPRC crew; countless other friends and fellow racers for encouragement and support; Our Mums - without whom none of this would have been possible; finally Cambridge Motorsport for proving that not all Drag Race parts have to come from the States - some things are better made in Britain!"

"Roll on the next event!", added Darryl.©Eurodragster.com

Grumpy, boy soprano.
8th June: UK National 9.90 Bike Champion Paul 'Grumpy' Watson moved up to Super Street Bike for 2002, but as this class did not run at the Main Event he came out to play in 9.90 Bike. His semi-final almost turned him into a boy soprano, as Paul relates:

"I went to the race with the intention of just improving on my riding, and ended up number one qualifier with a 9.93 on my first run. I spent the rest of the day playing in the eights, only to be told that two racers had bettered my time, well done to them, On Sunday morning I rose to the challenge and ran 9.905 - what luck. But better than this I also ran my Personal Best, 8.781/158.27 just by getting used to riding it.

"Unfortunately my confidence took a bash when I increased my start percentage and had the biggest wheelie of my life - and you know how much I love them...not. Still I did manage to get to the semis, and well done to Paul Morris, a fine win and a long time coming.

"As a final note I think it's a great shame that at the two biggest meetings of the year, the Main Event and the European Finals, Super Street Bike doesn't run. It just seems silly having SSBs entering and possibly having an effect in the 9.90 class. I'm sure all the SSBs would rather be running eights than 9.90 and I know the 9.90 Bikes would rather we ran eights. Let's get this class act back where it belongs."©Eurodragster.com

Main Event web site updates.
8th June: The UK's American Car Imports Racing Top Methanol Dragster team came home from the Main Event with a lot to feel proud of. They took #1 qualifier and set new FIA European ET and speed records, whilst driver Dave Wilson and his wife Linda celebrated their thirty-fifth wedding anniversary on race day. Although they exited eliminations in the semi-finals, the team were also delighted not to have damaged either of their two engines after a weekend of attrition at the Super Series Springnationals a few weeks before. You can read Crew Chief Andy Bissett's account of the team's weekend on the Race Reports page of their web site at www.americancarimportsracing.com. As usual, Andy's account is at once very informative and highly entertaining - don't miss it.

Custom Car Street Eliminator racer Andy Frost turned heads at the Main Event with his very well-turned-out new Vauxhall Victor race car, whose construction fans had been able to follow on Andy's web site. Now that the car is on track, Andy has started a Race Reports 2002 section on his web site at www.redvictor1racing.co.uk and has added a report and pictures from last weekend.

Eurodragster staffer Sharkman has updated his personal web site Sharkman's Top End Tales with a Main Event report covering Top Fuel, Top Methanol Dragster, Fuel FC, Super Pro ET, UEM Comp Bike and Pro Mod, fifty six pictures, and no less than fifteen new Windows wallpapers. Check it out at www.topendtales.com.©Eurodragster.com

Web site updates.
8th June: Our good friends at Svensk Dragracing have updated the Invitations/Entry Forms section of their web site. All of the relevant documentation for FIA and UEM at the Sko Uno Drag Festival at Mantorp Park, all Nordic Drag Race Series, Finnish Hot Rod Association and Norsk Dragracing Gardermoen events is available at www.dragracing.se/nerladdning.html.©Eurodragster.com

Fuel FC speaks.
7th June: UK Fuel Funny Car racer Gary Page and the North Herts Engineering team are "Very unhappy" after suffering engine damage at the Main Event. If you were tuned in to our event coverage last weekend you will remember that the North Herts FC's engine expired with a groan, the like of which few of us had heard before. Gary gave us the story from the inside.

"It dropped a cylinder and as I got off the throttle it went 'Yeurgh'!", said Gary. "All of the rods broke in the same place, above the big end. Only one rod isn't shrapnel and that one looks like a piece of chewing gum. The cam's broken, the block is split - and that's before we take it apart this weekend to see what else has broken!"

The team are mystified at the multiple failure. "The car ran its quickest ever sixty-foot", said Gary. "Jackie (Hawkins, car owner with Mark - Ed) was filming the run, there was a puff of smoke and that was it. We're all very unhappy, but we commiserated with each other in the bar!"

Gary is very grateful to all the fans who stopped by the North Herts pit to see how they were. "A new block and crank are already on their way, so we'll be back"', he said.©Eurodragster.com

AC Delco Racing fix basket.
7th June: Sweden's AC Delco/Malmgren Racing Pro Stock team had, by their standards, a "disastrous" weekend at the FIA Main Event. "This was one of those races when you wished you'd stayed at home", says team member Magnus Cato. "Everything was a disaster: first our refrigerator broke, then the generator broke, then the battery charger for the bus broke, and on and on!! The only thing to cheer about would be the weather."

Things started out well on the track, though. "Our first qualifying run looked decent, an early shut-off 6.99", says Magnus. "Just some minor tyre shakes on second and third gear. We were optimistic about our progress, so we just did some clutch and suspension work for the next round. A lot of fans came by our pit, asking when we would set a new record. We kind of started to think about that instead of concentrating on the race - which is the thing we should have done. Instead we lost focus on our runs.

"On the second pass, we didn't notice the wrong angle of the wheelie bars from the first run, so we completely burnt the clutch out. A Pro Stocker is a very sensitive piece of machinery. You can't afford to forget any adjustments, it will cost you dearly. Consistency is the name of the game - Jacob Ferrer showed everyone how important that is. However, we can only blame ourselves.

"Our first run on Saturday was a quick 6.95/198, still with tyreshake from third to fourth gear. We tried to follow the track and weather changes with clutch adjustments, so we ran a 6.98/198 on our fourth pass. These two runs were almost identical: according to our weather calculation program they were both corrected to 6.87/201. In the fifth run we managed to run 7.00/196 which also was corrected to 6.87. We were pleased with the fact that we had run one tenth of a second faster than number two qualifier Jacob Ferrer, who had run 7.049, and the fact that the Dodge had only run a best of 7.14.

"Race day and the atmosphere changes dramatically. You can't help but feel stressed, and you are worrying about what is going to happen. We were very lucky when we raced against 'Guten' (Christer Andersson - Ed). The car shook violently, so bad that the radiator mountings bent, and the radiator moved into the fuel pump mountings! Michael drove through the tyre shake with his experience in running Pro Stock, and saved the run, a 7.14 against Guten's 7.24. After such shake you have to take good care of your car, we found some other things which had shaken loose. We took a long look at the computer graphs, and decided that we need a different first gearing. We ended up with almost identical combination to our first six-second run, and that was a good one! Well, it didnt help us this time. We burnt another clutch and lost to Jan Murén. Disaster in the AC Delco camp, as we were looking to get to the final round.

"Now we have to analyse what went wrong. The car took us all by surprise. We will completely strip the car down in our workshop - luckily it's a month to the Alastaro race. In order to be a Championship contender, you must have all the eggs in the basket. This weekend, our basket had a hole in the bottom - or maybe we felt a little bit too confident. Watch out, we will be back."©Eurodragster.com

Dataloggers, who needs 'em.
7th June: The UK's Shell Racing Top Methanol Dragster team had a lot to cheer about at the Main Event after an inauspicious start to the season.

"The last couple of race meetings have been nothing else but disaster for the Shell Racing Team", says Crew Chief Martin Hannis. "Engine damage, such as spinning main bearings and kicking rods out the block has to say the least been a touch on the costly side.

"At the Main Event, everything thing seemed to be back on track. Doug Bond ran a personal best top speed of 222 mph and a second best ET of 6.17. Our sixty-foot times have always been something to be proud of, and this weekend Doug pulled a .944 in the first round against Rob Turner, and had it not been for the car shaking so badly at the top end of second gear that it shook Doug's foot off the throttle pedal, he might have held Rob off to the finish line. All of our runs apart from the shakedown pass were in the low sixes, with no damage.

We will soon be in a position to connect up the fuel timer system which was fitted on the car at the same time as the Whipple supercharger, but which has not been used yet. We did start to fit a Datalogger computer system on the car at the beginning of last season, but as all the information which came off it seemed to be jargon we have gone back to our old way - years of experience!

"We now believe that we have our best set-up ever and are in the position to start running in the fives at Shakespeare County Raceway in August."©Eurodragster.com

FIM/UEM Points standings.
7th June: We are indebted to Championship Co-ordinator Lars Andersson for sending us the post-Main Event Championship standings in FIM/UEM Comp Bike, Supertwin Top Fuel Bike, and Pro Stock Bike. You can view the points by clicking here.©Eurodragster.com

Web site updates.
7th June: Gareth Evans has updated the UK1320 web site with the first of his reports from the Main Event, covering Top Fuel Dragster, Top Methanol Dragster, Comp Bike, and Supertwin Top Fuel. You can find the report on the Results page at www.uk1320.com.

Andrew Bamford has updated his Racing Green fan site with pictures from the Main Event. There is some excellent work on Andrew's site, with pictures taken all around the track. Whilst there be sure to check out his other shots, for example from the Easter Thunderball. You can find Andrew's site at www.racing-green.co.uk.

The Feel The Noise web site at www.feel-the-noise.com has been updated with the first tranche of photographs from the Main Event, in this case webmaster Bob Valder's digital pictures. There is also an excellent video of last Sunday's historic side-by-side four-second/300 mph qualifying pass by Barry Sheavills and Andy Carter. Webmaster Bob tells us that Anni Valder's pictures will be posted shortly.©Eurodragster.com

Diary of a 300.
6th June: FIA European Top Fuel Dragster Champion and now European ET record holder Andy Carter has been in touch with a diary of his Main Event weekend.

"Those who read the updates on our web site would have known that we were coming to do the 300 and run it we did! You would have also have read that Eddie said that I was not worried about winning the event. Well, old habits die hard I suppose, because no sooner had we ran the 300 during the second qualifying session that I was as hungry as ever for the win, even to the point of telling Eddie to back the car down a little so that we could safely go rounds. I badly wanted the number one qualifier position for maximum points, and with a six-car field the all-important bye into the final, but I didn't dwell on this too much because I thought that if we ran 300 then that would probably be number one qualifier anyway.

"Discussions had been going on between rew Chief Eddie Corr and myself on the 300 for at least a month before the event. Eddie was 110% certain we would do it. I must admit I was not quite as certain, although we had run 293 mph at last year's Finals, 7 mph is an awful lot to find at that level! Without going into too much technical stuff my main worry was the fuel pump. Just to throw a little bit more in to the pot Eddie informed me that he would not be there on the Friday or Saturday of the event, just Sunday and Monday. This changed over the actual weekend to Eddie arriving Saturday, being there on the Sunday as planned, but having to leave on Sunday night, race day! We had decided to place the Crew Chief job in the hands of the very capable John Ogden who normally looks after the offside Cylinder Head. We were also without Roger Neill my short motor technician. Sue, our food and drinks lady, and Brian Payne could only work the Saturday. To help out on the Saturday I had managed to draft in a very good friend, Paul Wright. I was also very pleased that Terry Gibbs, my wife Sarah's Dad, felt well enough to come to the event with Tina Gibbs.

"On Saturday the warm-up went well, and the motor sounded good. Would this, our first run of the weekend, be the 300? I put it to the back of my mind and treated it as a normal qualifier. We were paired against Kim Reymond so I knew that this would be a good one to watch - if only I could! The last four runs we have made together have been 5.0's, or at the worst one of us running a 5.1. Kim is a great driver with a great crew, and sure enough another great side-by-side, we ran 5.07/297 to become number one qualifier and Kim ran a 5.08/257mph to gain number two. At the briefing with Eddie I reported, among other things, that the car was loose from 800 feet on.

"On Sunday we towed down and we were informed that we were running against arch-rival Barry Sheavills. Burnout and back up completed, I'm sitting in full stage on the high side when out of the corner of my eye I saw Barry leave. I thought "I'm late", then my light came down and I was off! The car felt really strong which is normal with a Corr tune-up, but really strong in the last four hundred feet. I thought that must have been 300! I had climbed out and was trying to listen, could I hear the crowd? Then the fire truck pulled up. They jumped out and said, "You did 300!". I looked over at Barry who was just climbing out (it must be a tight squeeze in there) and someone said "Barry did 300! You both did 300!". Rivalry was forgotten for a moment and I ran over to Barry and said "We both ran 300!". We were jumping up and down, hugging, shouting, and punching the air. Next the Carter Motorsport/Discount Mitsubishi support truck came off the return road at nearly 300mph and the crew jumped out all shouting, jumping and cheering, 4.897 at 303mph! History is made! More hugging, jumping and shouting. Well done to Barry and crew on being the official first to 300mph, but we were not far behind!

"We got the car back to the pit and up on stands for the service. Beside the normal service we fitted two new front tyres. Both were badly blistered. Eddie and I discussed the situation and thought it unlikely that anyone would take the number one spot from us so we decided to sit out the third qualifying session. This would save the car and crew, they had already been working hard since Friday.

"Race day was the first time since 1995 that I was racing without my right hand man Eddie Corr. It would be strange but I had to get on with it. We decided to back the car down very slightly for round one against newly-licensed Darryll Bradford. It was a real tricky decision, we needed to go rounds, but we also wanted to back up the 4.89. I wanted that record from Sheavills, but I also wanted the event win, I suppose as usual I wanted everything! I hadn't by any means thought of that first round as a walkover, John Wright has tuned a Top Fuel car to a 4.8 second pass and Darryll had run a 5.6 in qualifying. You never know in Drag Racing but the main thing was not to red light. We got into stage with no messing about. The lights came down and the car left real good, but around 1100 feet it got real loose and this time I had to lift, but we got the win light and still ran a 4.92 at 288mph. The 4.92 was good enough to back up our 4.89 so we now had that European ET record!

"After the usual weighing and fuel check by the MSA/Santa Pod tech crew we got back to our pit and the car was soon up on the stands for the service. I soon realised why the car had been loose at the top end - the rear tyres were falling to bits, completely covered in large blisters. All the crew were very busy with their own jobs and being two crew down I needed someone to change the set of rear slicks. I saw Wayne Graves and asked "Is your Dad nearby?". He replied "I'm not sure but I'll find him". Trevor Graves came to the pit and kindly offered his Wayne's expertise. They did a great job of changing the rear slicks for us and then Craig Gibbs got his hands dirty by helping Trev and Wayne to balance up the rear tyres. Many things helped make my decision to idle down the track in the semi-final. Some of these are, money, no opponent, short on crew (Eddie, Roger, Brian), respect for Runes equipment and guaranteed FIA points.

"We had had reached the final for the third time in the last three meetings. Could we make it three wins out of three? It would be tough, the opponent, that man again, Kim Reymond. Whatever it would be one hell of a race but I was confident I would get the win. It turned out to be a good race up until about 1000 feet when the vibration got so bad that the car was shaking itself to bits, so even though I was right along side Kim I had to lift. As I lifted, the axle let go. A terrible noise was coming from the rear end and I felt some heat, I thought "I'd better get this stopped and quick!". Back at the pit we inspected the damage. The axle needs replacing and the blower had lifted, but the block is ok and the rods are still in. That's at least forty runs (since the European Finals in 2000) we have made on that block with no damage. I think that is full credit to the Carter Motorsport Team.

"I would like to thank Pauline of Elite Textile printers (01933 315930); Fraser at Slough Estates (01753 537171); Rainbow Conference Sets 07976 954554l; Jeremy at Haynes Publishing (01963 442030); Geoff at sigmasigns.com; Tony Dunn at DiscountMitshibishi.co.uk; all the Carter Motorsport Crew; Rune (the Wizard) Fjeld; Paul Wright; Terry and Tina Gibbs; Trevor and Wayne Graves; Craig Gibbs; Tracy Hamblin; and Smax and crew for welding our header."

"We are looking for some good-quality pictures of the dragster leaving the start line over the weekend. I'm also interested in video from any angle of the 303 mph run. If you can help I can be contacted at fiatopfuel@aol.com"

You will be able to read a more detailed version of this diary on Andy's web site at www.andycarter.net.©Eurodragster.com

Darren's thanks.
6th June: Santa Pod Raceway's International Race Director Darren Prentice is, like the rest of us, recovering from the Main Event. He has asked us to pass on his thanks to his crews who supported him over the weekend.

"As I now sit back and contemplate the weekend of the Main Event, I feel I must thank a few people as they worked a bit beyond the call of duty", says Darren. "Ian Marshall, Bob Day, Nigel Anniwell, Robin Shone and Kjell Pettersson, who put in three nights before the event started to scrape the track well past the 330 foot mark. And to them and to the rest of the marshals who got to the track early every morning to scrape up to the 60 foot mark.

"When you read the reports on Eurodragster, and you see the timing data, and you see running times such as 10 hours 24 minutes, 3 hours of which was down time, you start to realise how hard people work. You see, it's not just about the seven hours of racing but the 3 hours of down time which is not always seen. Down time is not a break for the marshals - it is time to roll up your sleeves even higher and dig in deep. Cleaning up four oil downs in the space of seven runs is a drain on anybody's resources. Physically and mentally it can put the whole team on a major downer which then has a knock-on effect to the success of a event. There were twenty different types of down time on Saturday alone. The two hours before the start of a day scraping and setting up the track the hour at the end of the day packing down all comes to about a thirteen and a half hour day without a break.

"And it's not just the crew you see on the track, but the timing crew as well headed by the Chief Marshal Steve Horn whose teamwork behind the scene is second to none. You may well ask "Why do they do it?". Well, it's not for the money, that's a fact, but for the love of a great sport, and when you see racing like we have this weekend you realise why you do it, that all the effort was worth it, and that you had a hand in making history.

"I am not trying to take anything from the teams or crews who work hard as well. Records don't get broken on a good track, but they do on a great track, and this weekend we had a great track thanks to those people."©Eurodragster.com

Andy's anorak stuff.
6th June: No sooner does the Race Director talk about the weekend's stats than Andy Marrs of TSI Timers gets in touch with even more interesting information about the FIA Main Event. Here is what Andy likes to call "The anorak stuff":

Track clear and tower ready: 848
Pairs: 711
Single runs: 137
Byes: 24
Total vehicles entered in timing system: 1559
Made it to the finish line: 1449 (including Junior Dragsters)
Made it to 1/4: 1366
Average ET (not including JDs): 10.325
Average MPH (not including JDs): 135.78
Lowest ET: 4.897 (Andy Carter)
Highest MPH: 304.71 (Barry Sheavills)

Closest Race of eliminations: Pro ET, Andrew Williams (win) v Bob Molden, 0.002 seconds/4.3 inches

Closest to dial in: Zane Llewellyn (Super Comp), Frank Mason (Super Gas), both +0.000

Best reaction time: John Evans (Pro ET) 0.500

Total run time (all cars reaching finish line including JDs): 4 hours, 12 minutes, 27.455 seconds

Runs Under 5 seconds: 5 (Andy Carter x 2, Barry Sheavills x 2, Kim Reymond)

Runs under 5.5 seconds: 16 (Kim Reymond x 5, Andy Carter x 4, Barry Sheavills x 2, John Spuffard x 2, Micke Kagered, Darryl Bradford, Susanne Callin)

Runs under 6 seconds: 49

Runs Over 300 mph: 3 (Barry Sheavills x 2, Andy Carter)

Runs Over 250 mph: 18 (Martin Hill x 5, Andy Carter x 3, Barry Sheavills x 2, Kim Reymond x 2, Dave Wilson x 2, John Spuffard x 2, Micke Kagered, Darryl Bradford)

Runs over 200 mph: 79©Eurodragster.com

One for the collectors.
6th June: Chris Ware of Trakbak Racing has been in touch to let us know that Santa Pod Raceway still have copies of the FIA Main Event programme, if you missed the race or if you were there but didn't pick up a copy.

To get your souvenir of a historic weekend then send a cheque, made payable to Santa Pod Raceway, to:

Santa Pod Raceway
Unit 5
Airfield Road
Podington
Wellingborough
Northamptonshire
NN29 7XA

or contact Santa Pod on 08700 782828.©Eurodragster.com

Main Event web site updates.
6th June: First-to-300 Barry Sheavills' web site has been updated with a review of his weekend at the Main Event. You can find it on the Press Release page at www.topfuel.co.uk.

UK Top Methanol Dragster racer Lyndsay Deuchar has also posted a report on his web page at www.laracing.co.uk. "Does it get any worse than this?", he asks ominously (I don't know, your English looks fine to me - Ed).©Eurodragster.com

Web site updates.
6th June: Fredric Carlsson has updated his web site at w1.526.telia.com/~u52605373 with pictures from the weekend's Summer Nats at Gardermoen and the recent ET race at Mariestad in Sweden.©Eurodragster.com

Lost and (we hope) Found.
5th June: We've had a couple of E-Mails from racers regarding losses over the Main Event weekend. The first, from Funny Bike racer Neil Diggens, is not a very nice story at all as his pit bike was one of a number stolen. "It appears that even a lock and chain will not stop thieves", said Neil. "On a more positive note I seem to be moving in the right direction with the engine set-up, now all I need to sort are the electrical gremlins. See you at Shakespeare County Raceway in two weeks". If anyone has any information about Neil's pit bike then please contact him by E-Mail at neil@gn-racing.co.uk.

UK National Sportsman ET Champion Al Platt is hoping that someone found a set of keys in the pits at Santa Pod. "I lost the keys for my Camaro", he says, "which was loaded on its trailer between the Sportsman ET and Super Street/Super Gas pits on the field side of the return road. I have a spare set but the master key is on the lost ring. There are two keys and a Chevy key fob". If anyone found Al's keys then please call him on 07890 097375.©Eurodragster.com

Faulkner stays in Super Comp.
5th June: After a dodgy start to the season with mechanical problems, UK Pro ET racer Rob Faulkner started to go quicker and quicker and so moved up to Super Comp for the FIA Main Event. And he has decided to stay there, he tells us.

"I had run in Pro ET for three years"; says Rob. "I will be staying in Super Comp from now on as I prefer leaving at the same time as the other car. That's not taking anything away from my Pro ET friends, they too are a fine crowd."

Rob gave us the lowdown on his race weekend. "For my first qualifying run, Brian Pateman was my opponent. We went into stage, the lights changed, and I might as well have been bracket racing. Brian is so hot on the reactions that he was gone before I had a chance to blink. When I did let the trans brake go, the car came up, up, up and up. I thought 'This is different', I couldn't see the track anymore. So in good old drag racing fashion I just carried on, then I realised it was time to shift and the car was still up in the air. I still couldn't see the track, but I could see the guardrail and Tog, so I shifted and the car began to come down nice and slowly. I thundered on up the quarter mile to a 9.005 and the quickest sixty-foot in super comp that weekend. Brian ran 8.9 so he had a good run too. I was on a high. That was my biggest, best run of my life. Fantastic!

"The weekend carried on with some not-so-hard launches and a couple of 9.1s and 9.2s. Then we thought the car didn't sound right. To start with the return line on the fuel was blocked, the sump was full of alcohol, and one of the lifters wasn't right. On looking down into the valley I could see broken casting. When we removed the intake manifold a roller lifter had broken, turned and was hit by the cam which snapped it of and broke the lifter casting.

"So that was game over. Still, I will be looking to build another engine with a few more cubes to help with the eight-second pass. We would have found it this weekend, but it was not to be. So for the foreseeable future we are out of action. I would just like to say that I had a brilliant weekend in Super Comp, and I look forward to more later in the year. Thanks to Andy my hard working crewman, and to my wife who really does crew."©Eurodragster.com

Frost's good start.
5th June: UK Custom Car Street Eliminator racer Andy Frost had a good weekend at the FIA Main Event, turning heads with his very good-looking new Vauxhall Victor race car and driving into the low tens on his first outing. Andy is very grateful to a lot of people who helped it to happen.

"Thanks firstly to Deb who didn't see me for a month before this weekend and was then told - after only passing her test on Friday - that she had to drive to Santa Pod on the motorway! Brave girl!", says Andy. "Thanks also to Tony Grayston, Bradley Cooper and Steve Potter for the weekends spent finishing the little bits, and to Kenny Coleman for the manifold and bits at such short notice. At the track, thanks to Ray White, Andy Oliver and the 'firm' for pushing me from my pit to the start line for a qualifier, and especially to Ray White and Mark Flavell who were there when disaster nearly struck (under-bonnet fire). Also to Luke Ramage and his crew who carried their generator over to my pit, twice, to help to charge my battery. Thanks also to all the people who gave such a positive reaction to the car, it was much appreciated. If there is anybody I missed out then tell me next time you see me!

"Overall I was very happy with the weekend's performance. To run 10.20/140 with no Nitrous and to complete the Cruise with ease without ever having driven the car is very satisfying. It's a relief to know that there's so much more to come from the car. And watch out for even longer burnouts too!"

You can find Andy's web site at www.redvictor1racing.co.uk.

Racers: Don't hesitate to send your Main Event reviews to us at news@eurodragster.com and we'll publish them here.©Eurodragster.com

FIA points standings.
5th June: We are very grateful to FIA Championship Points Co-ordinator Kjell Pettersson for sending us the FIA points standings after the FIA Main Event:

FIA Top Fuel Dragster
TF 26Kim ReymondDENMARK96
TF 1Andy CarterENGLAND83
TF 3Barry SheavillsENGLAND57
TF 5Mikael KgeredSWEDEN35
TF 393Susanne CallinSWEDEN34
TF 1860Darryl BradfordENGLAND34
 
FIA Top Methanol Dragster
TMD 229Peter SchoeferGERMANY97
TMD 1Rob TurnerENGLAND76
TMD 3David WilsonENGLAND63
TMD 6Doug BondENGLAND35
TMD 9Lindsay DeucharENGLAND34
 
FIA Top Methanol Funny Car
TMFC 3Mikael KgeredSWEDEN96
TMFC 1Leif AndreassonSWEDEN83
TMFC 8Alex JoonHOLLAND57
TMFC 4Leif HelanderSWEDEN54
TMFC 7Dezsoe KrivanSWITZERLAND35
TMFC 10Urs ErbacherSWITZERLAND34
TMFC 2Ulf LeanderSWEDEN33
TMFC 6Arvid GrdemNORWAY23
TMFC 271Stephanie MilamENGLAND12
 
FIA Pro Stock
PRO 3Jacob FerrerSWEDEN97
PRO 9Jan MurenSWEDEN75
PRO 2Michael MalmgrenSWEDEN63
PRO 5Rune BergNORWAY54
PRO 125Magnus HanssonSWEDEN36
PRO 4Jari KonolaSWEDEN34
PRO 1974Kenneth SderstrmSWEDEN33
PRO 6Christer AnderssonSWEDEN33

Summer Nats race report.
5th June: Our good friend Christer Abrahamson has updated the Svensk Dragracing web site with a report of this weekend's Summer Nats at Gardermoen in Norway, including news of a new European best in Pro Mod by Patrick Wikström. You can find the report at www.dragracing.se.

Also starring in Pro Mod at Gardermoen at the weekend was Håkan Nilsson who made his first outing in his new Veidec-sponsored Camaro. The weekend was a great success for the team as Håkan recorded a 6.48. You can get the inside story and pictures on the Nilsson Motorsports web site at www.nilssonmotorsports.com.

Patrik Jacobsson has updated the SMK Trollhättan web site with pictures from Gardermoen as well as from Sweden's Mariestad and Rinakby Raceways. Check it out at www.smktrollhattan.com/dragrace/racepics.htm.

The Swedish Prostreet News Magazine at www.spn-photo.com has also been updated with photographs from Gardermoen.©Eurodragster.com

Main Event web site updates.
5th June: A number of web sites are already carrying updates from the weekend's FIA Main Event.

First up is UK Super Comp racer Zane Llewellyn, who has posted on his web site a report and pictures of the progress of the Bristol Doorslammers team over the weekend. "After trying to think of stuff to write about, and find time between racing to actually write it, I have a new respect for you both!", says Zane of the Eurodragster staff. Thank you very much, Zane! Check it out at www.bootsoop.freeserve.co.uk.

The UK's Showtime Fuel FC team took the second round of the British Nitro Funny Car Championship at the weekend, with a blistering 286 mph pass from John Spuffard in the final - the fastest terminal speed recorded by a Fuel FC outside the USA. The team's official web site at www.showtimeracing.co.uk has been updated with the inside story of their weekend by crew member Chris Dossett. As usual, Chris' report makes very interesting reading, and includes exclusive pictures and timing data.

The official web site of the British Nitro FC Championship has also been updated with details of the weekend's action. You can find the Championship web site at www.showtimeracing.co.uk/championship.html.

The official web site of the European Top Methanol Racers Association at www.etmra.com has been updated with details of the weekend's eliminations in FIA Top Methanol Dragster and FIA Top Methanol Funny Car.

Brian Fawcus has updated his fan site with a video of the Fireforce 2 Jet Funny Car shot from the Barn at Santa Pod. We've checked it out and it is just great! You can find Brian's videos at drag.fawcus.com/movies2002.

Eurodragster staffer Sharkman has updated his personal web site Sharkman's Top End Tales with six videos from the weekend. There are the finals of Top Fuel, Top Methanol Dragster and FC and Fuel Funny Car, plus Pro Mod action featuring Andy Robinson and Holland's new Mister Six Henri Joosten. You can find Sharkman's site at www.topendtales.com.©Eurodragster.com

Web site updates.
5th June: We have a couple of web site updates from our friends in Malta, where a Test and Tune took place at the weekend ahead of the next race meeting, the Night Event on 14th-15th June. Michael Buhagiar's Maltese Drag Racing site at www.geocities.com/dragraceway and the Zoqdi Racing web site at www.zoqdiracing.cjb.net have both been updated with the latest news from the Maltese scene.

Sweden's fan-favourite Pro Mod racer Freddy Fagerstrom suffered engine damage at the weekend but it appears not to have been as serious as it first appeared. You can find out more information on Freddy's redesigned web site at come.to/fast-freddy.©Eurodragster.com

FIA Main Event results.
4th June: After every FIA event, we all tell ourselves "It can't get any better than this", and every time we're rapidly proven wrong. This year's FIA Main Event is sure to go down in history for so many reasons, from the first 300 mph passes on Sunday to the no-contest Super Comp final. Congratulations to all of our winners:

FIA Top Fuel Dragster: Kim Reymond 4.99/283.96 def. Andy Carter 5.16/224.55
FIA Top Methanol Dragster: Peter Schofer 5.60/230.31 def. Rob Turner 5.84/237.74
FIA Top Methanol Funny Car: Micke Kagered 5.89/243.68 def. Leif Andreasson 6.01/213.90
FIA Pro Stock: Jacob Ferrer 7.10/193.25 def. Jan Muren 7.59/147.79
Fuel Funny Car: John Spuffard 5.38/286.05 def. Gordon Smith 10.92/82.89
Pro Modified: Andy Robinson 6.71/204.50 def. Henri Joosten broke
Super Pro ET: Ian Bishop (7.88) 7.963/156.04 def. Mick Kemp (8.50) 8.596/151.91
Pro ET: Jon Evans (10.13) 10.192/130.48 def. Rick McCann (10.81) 10.805/125.79 red light
Sportsman ET: Rick Denny (14.02) 14.047/87.20 def. Richard Hiller (14.02) 14.192/92.40
Super Comp: Zane Llewellyn broke, Brian Pateman broke
Super Gas: Pete Creswell 10.301/115.73 def. Luke Ramage 10.544/107.07
Super Street: Leigh Morris 11.135/114.01 def. Bob Doignie 11.244/119.48
Junior Dragster: Nick Mugridge (13.20) 13.151/47.67 def. Adam Gleadow (9.30) 9.343/69.12 red light
Custom Car Street Eliminator: Steve Pateman 8.832/167.81 def. John Sleath 9.051/149.95

UEM Comp Bike: Nils Ole Lund 7.00/195.40 def. Neil Midgley 7.20/180.08
UEM Supertwin Top Fuel Bike: Anders Karling 6.83/163.72 def. Per Bengtsson 7.78/121.54
UEM Pro Stock Bike: Chris Hope 7.57/172.67 def. Martin Bishop 7.85/168.84
9.90 Bike: Paul Morris 10.097/134.04 def. Steve Ingham 9.861/125.90 breakout
10.90 Bike: Steve Dyer 11.030/132.16 def. Glenn Randles 10.890/109.12 breakout

You can check out all of the weekend's reports and pictures on our American Car Imports-sponsored Event Coverage, which you can view by clicking here, or by clicking on the Event Coverage link on the left hand side of any Eurodragster page.©Eurodragster.com

Sheavills: I knew it.
4th June: Barry Sheavills didn't get the result he would have wanted from the FIA Main Event, going out of eliminations when his parachute started to deploy on the start line, but he ran the first-ever 300 mph in Europe by 0.211 seconds (forty four feet) and set a new European speed record of 301.65 mph, on a run in which he missed backing up Sunday's 304.07 by 0.01 mph. We had a quick word with Barry and asked him if he realised what had happened on Sunday's qualifying pass. "I wasn't surprised it was over three hundred", he said. "I knew it was very fast - it definitely felt faster than any run I'd made before. Three hundred feels different."

Amongst other plaudits, Barry received the congratulations of Lars Pettersson, Chairman of the Drag Racing Committee of Svenska Bilsportfrbundet. "Congratulations to you, the first European Top Fuel driver to exceed 300 mph", said Lars. "The first milestone was when Kent Persson broke the four-second barrier in Europe, and you did the next - the big 300."

Andy Carter, who ran 303.07 mph in the qualifying match-up with Barry Sheavills and who set a new European ET record of 4.897 seconds, had one word for us about 300 mph: "Awesome!". Andy told us that he had an in-car camera with him on Sunday's pass. That's one video we look forward to seeing!©Eurodragster.com

FIA returns to Hockenheim.
4th June: During the FIA Main Event, Series promoter and Santa Pod CEO Keith Bartlett announced that two FIA classes would be returning to Hockenheim in Germany at this year's Nitrolympics. Top Methanol Funny Car and Pro Stock are the classes which will be running at the redeveloped track on 16th-18th August.

"The deal was confirmed in the last month", Keith told us. "Everyone has put in a lot of effort to make it happen. I am delighted that Hockenheim is back in the FIA and I hope that it remains in future years."

You can find the official web site of the Nitrolympics at www.nitrolympics.de.©Eurodragster.com

Nitro FC Championship points.
3rd June: Many thanks to British Nitro Funny Car Championship co-ordinator for giving us the Points Standings after the FIA Main Event finished today (Monday):
  1. John Spuffard 235
  2. Gordon Smith 174
  3. Gary Page 112
  4. Smax Smith 91
Main Event timing data.
3rd June: Courtesy of Andy Marrs of TSI Timers, timing data from the FIA Main Event is now available. You can view it by clicking here, or by clicking on the Timing Data link on the left hand side of any Eurodragster page.©Eurodragster.com

Eurodragster Awards won.
3rd June: Jon Evans, Leigh Morris and Steve Dyer have taken home the three Eurodragster awards from the FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway today (Monday).

Pro ET racer Jon Evans took the £50 Eurodragster Perfect Light Award with a 0.500 light in eliminations, whilst Super Street racer Leigh Morris and 10.90 Bike racer Steve Dyer (right) took the Eurodragster/Scorpion Racing Award of a TRS harness and sixteen litres of Rock Oil respectively.©Eurodragster.com

300 mph barrier falls...twice.
2nd June: History was made today (Sunday) at the FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway when the 300 mph barrier was broken twice in Top Fuel qualifying...in the same qualifying pairing. Barry Sheavills was officially the first to 300 mph by his 0.211-second first finish when he clocked 4.97/304.71 whilst in the other lane Andy Carter recorded 4.89/303.07.

You can find out more on our FIA Main Event coverage (see above).©Eurodragster.com


Earlier news©Eurodragster.com


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