The meeting also provided the opportunity for a couple of racers to get some licensing passes in before the FIA series starts. Hakan Fallstrom is making the move from Pro Mod in the Lorentzon & Moller team's second car, and secured his license with a very smooth and early shut-off 5.08 - a pass that was Low ET of the weekend and would have heartened teammate Tommy Moller, who failed to get a single pass in due to numerous small gremlins that appeared over the winter.
Another making the move to Top Fuel is Midland Oil-backed Urs Erbacher. Having been at the very top of TMFC action for the past few seasons, Erbacher bought a car from Doug Herbert over the winter and would have produced a full pass but severe shake resulted in an early lift on his final pass of the weekend. The Swiss team have all the bits and pieces in place to potentially secure a championship on their first year in the class.
Roel Koedam, celebrating 20 years in the sport, produced a win in the ACU Top Fuel Bike round and reset both ends of the ACU TFB records at 6.208 and 219.70 mph. A final round victory over Lorenz Stauble's nitro Harley came with a "too quick to be backed up" ticket of 6.146/224.79 and crew chief Marius van der Zijden and team were "really happy campers" given the changes to the bike over the winter and the far from ideal conditions over the weekend.
The big lad is back! Having sold his fuel bike to Athol Graham in New Zealand, Chris "Cannon" Hannam bought this immaculate funny bike from Prostar standout Tom Perry during the off season, and a 7.3-second pass in Comp Bike suggests that a step-up to ACU Funny Bike can't be too far away, and neither can the sixes.
