Records Fall at Mantorp!
Scandinavia’s biggest event of the FIA/UEM tour managed to escape the great deluge affecting most of Northern Europe and produced the race meeting that we were all predicting would happen, given the strength in depth of the European racing scene. As a simple statistical measure, ten track records were set in the professional classes, together with European marks in FIA Top Fuel Dragster and UEM Top Fuel Bike, but these alone don’t portray the quality of the fields, with the quickest Top Fuel field ever seen outside of North America and the first all six-second Pro Stock Car field, and great racing across the eight classes. With competitors from all over Europe both Pro and Sportsman categories, the truly international flavour of the meeting was emphasised with nine nationalities contesting the finals in FIA/UEM competition, and another four countries represented throughout the rest of the fields.
Was this the best meeting seen in Sweden? Well, if it wasn’t, then those ahead of it in the rankings must have been real barnstormers.
FIA Top Fuel Dragster
With the loss of the first two rounds of the series, championship leader Lex Joon really didn’t need to be sitting outside of the field after a couple of squirts where the MPM Oil car drifted towards the barrier with the final qualifying session to go. The Dutchman had a lot to smile about on the Saturday night, having hit the number three spot with a 4.816/281 (on the back of a 0.83 60 foot clocking), and then an even bigger grin on Sunday night, having defeated a resurgent Tommi Haapanen in the semis with a 4.7910/281 (to the Finn’s 4.895/295) and a smoking Thomas Nataas in the final to length his lead to just over two rounds with the European Finals to come. “After the semi finals we found a problem in the clutch department that has been there since the Easter meeting. The track was in excellent condition, we’ve never seen it this good before, an awesome job from the track crew”.
The Norwegian team of Thomas Nataas and Rune Fjeld bounced back from their first round defeat at Alastaro with a stout 4.869/311 qualifying effort (but, in a field as good as this was, not enough to get into the top half of the field), which blew off a body panel at the finish line. Nataas defeated local hero Micke Kagered with a 4.912/303.36 in the first round of eliminations, had a bye when Andy Carter’s mount blew a burst panel on the burnout in the semi-finals, but went up in smoke just off the startline in the final round match-up with Joon.
