FIA Finland Round #3 Report

The Finnish round, the third in the FIA  and FIM European Drag Racing Championships was held at Alastaro Finland (July 4-7th)….

The event  was accompanied by hot sunshine and blue skies for the most part, it survived a couple of heavy showers and tricky track conditions for most teams. All the Pro classes managed to get their finals run but a couple of oil downs and extensive clean ups got the meeting running late on the Sunday and then an unfortunate roll-over of a Super Pro ET car stopped the many Sportsman classes from running their semis and finals.

Top Fuel:  Had eight cars turn up and each had to adapt to the varying track conditions with Norway’s Thomas Nataas getting the best results with the aid of the Andersen’s tuning experience, a 4.234/265 had him on pole, over two tenths ahead of nearest rival Anita Mäkelä’s 4.460. In the first round Nataas easily dispatched Sweden’s Micke Kågered with a 4.109/289 against a 6.130/114. An all Finnish bout had Antti Horto run the winning 4.207/284 beating the close 4.275/268 from Jari Halinen. A pedalfest occurred in the next pairing with Anita Mäkelä getting the better of Denmark’s Stig Neergaard, 4.597/227 against a losing 5.492/127. England’s Chris Andrews made a return, driving the ex Antron Brown car owned and tuned by Rune Fjeld but was narrowly beaten by Finn Timo Lehtimaki, 4.468/267 to an early click off 4.608/187.

Round two produced some unexpected results, Thomas Nataas was beaten in a tyre hazing duel with Antti Horto, 4.517/231 to a 4.558/183 lose. Home town favourite Anita Mäkelä brought the crowds to their feet when she pedalled her way past Timo Lehtimaki, a 4.591/235 beat the 4.910/196.

An all Finnish final pleased the many fans but it was another pedal job for both Antti Horto and Anita Mäkelä with Mäkelä getting the prize with a 4.260/267 win to the 4.658/193 lose.

Norway’s Anita Mäkelä was a popular Top Fuel winner

Top Methanol Funny Car:  The TMFC class is turning out to be a real contest this year as top teams slug it out on every outing, Sweden’s Leif Andréasson held qualifying best with a 5.670/249 keeping him ahead of the pack with the other major players, the Lindberg brothers down in fourth and fifth. Andréasson who admitted he had no on board computer (his new one in transit from the US) so he had to guess the set up and got the round one bye securing his round two place and as in all family contests someone has to win and that was Jonnie Lindberg as he beat his brother Johan with a European record setting 5.498 with a 261mph speed against the losing 5.674/255. Johnny Oksa saw off newcomer Ari Pietila, 5.936/241 to a 6.099/225 and finally Adam Flamholc winner of the Swedish round last month lost with a 5.811/250 as Ulf Leanders ran the winning 5.732/253.

The semis pitted Jonnie Lindberg against Leif Andréasson a holeshot coupled with a 5.554/259 got Lindberg the win as Andréasson chased with a 5.749/255. Ulf Leanders had an easy solo to the final as Johnny Oksa failed to make the call.

Identical leaves saw Jonnie Lindberg in his Chevrolet/Pålplinter backed Monte Carlo race ahead of the Haas Automation Inc./AB Karl Hedin/Persåkers Charger of Ulf Leanders and a 5.548/261 beat the oil spraying 5.793/250.

Jonnie Lindberg scored an upset win in TMFC

Pro Modified:  Pro Mod racing was low on quantity but high in quality and was led not surprisingly by Micke Gullqvist, a 5.947/237 put him well ahead of the rest and a first round double red light against Mattias Wulcan awarded Gullqvist the win. An all Dutch pairing between Marc Meihuizen and David Vegter saw Meihuizen clinch the win, 6.427/236 to a losing 6.943/209. Sweden’s Roger Johansson used a lot of his lane but failed to stop fellow countryman Mats Eriksson taking the win, 7.167/225 to a losing 7.550/158 and finally a great holeshot secured Holland’s Robert Joosten the win against Finn Tami Brander, a 6.231/232 against the losing 7.380/165.

A huge disappointment came next for Micke Gullqvist as he smoked off the line getting crossed up and changing lane just after the tree leaving Marc Meihuizen to collect a 6.082/240 win. A red light put paid to Robert Joosten’s weekend as opponent Mats Eriksson took the win.

A better leave by the MPM Oil ’68 Firebird of Marc Meihuizen kept ahead of the charging leave by Mats Eriksson’s ’56 Crown Victoria and a 6.034/242 beat the 6.179/234.

Driving his MPM Oil ’68 Firebird – Marc Meihuizen was the Pro Mod winner

Pro Stock:  Once again saw the power of the on board Ken Black motor as Jimmy Ålund took it to a top qualifier of 6.616/209 almost a tenth ahead of the rest of the all Swedish class, his first victim was Jan Eriksson, a winning 6.837/208 to a red light 6.846/201. Micke Callin managed a 6.733/206 to defeat the close 6.799/204 from Magnus Petersson whilst the 6.864/202 from Ulf Wagnhester was not enough to stop the Swedish round winner Thomas Lindström’s 6.657/207. Michael Malmgren’s 6.733/206 saw off the 6.822/202 from Jan Palmqvist.

The semis pitted Micke Callin against Jimmy Ålund and with Ålund on form with a better light and a 6.663/209 it left Callin the loser on a 6.815/205. Michael Malmgren managed to bulb himself again not coming into stage on time and it handed the win to Thomas Lindström with a 6.678/207.

The old adversaries faced off once more, Jimmy Ålund in his KW Parts.com Camaro and Thomas Lindström in his Mopar/Ernryd Cars Dodge Stratus, Ålund got the better leave and hung on to record a 6.707/207 win to the runner up 6.731/205.

Frequent FIA winner Jimmy Ålund scored again in Pro Stock

Super Twin Bike:   A very   healthy field of eleven bikes with countries varying from Holland, Germany, Norway and Finland participating and leading the charge was Norwegian, Hans-Olav Olstad with a 6.559/205 clocking. Going into the final would be Finland’s Samu Kemppainen who got past Germany’s Christian Jäger in round one and Holland’s Job Heezen in round two. Ronny Aasen from Norway riding the Dutch Pels family machine made his way through courtesy of a track overpowering Jaska Salakari in round one and an in smoke at sixty feet Svein Rolfstad. The final saw Samu Kemppainen take the lead and charge, front wheel hovering in its usual position as Ronny Aasen chased but to no avail, a 6.656/197 took the win as the 6.992/180 came second.

Super Twin Bike winner — Samu Kemppainen

Top Fuel Bike:   The TFB class  was led by England’s Ian King on a 6.244/227 top qualifier. King made it to another final taking out Norwegian, Jan Sturla Hegre on his new machine then going into the final. Norway’s Sverre Dahl got the better of Sweden’s Rikard Gustafsson in round one but hurt his motor leaving King on his Gulf Oil/Grand Prix Originals Puma machine to take a solo win of 6.360/204.

England’s Ian King won in Top Fuel Bike

Pro Stock Bike:    Kenneth Vik paced the PSB field with a 7.039/189 qualifier and got by Kenneth Holmberg in round one but was then taken out by Ulf Ögge in round two when he no showed. Finland’s Fredrik Fredlund was second in qualifying and made his way past Timo Savolainen then Elvira Karlsson in round two. It was a solo pass for Fredrik Fredlund as Ulf Ögge had broken on the last pass; Fredlund rode to a new European record of 7.005 and a 188 speed.

Fredrik Fredlund set a new European PS ET record at 7.005 secs while winning.

Report and photos by:  Roger Gorringe :  www.nitroexposure.co.uk