UEM European Drag Racing Championships, Round Three, FHRA Nitro Nationals, Alastaro, Finland

Words and pictures Ivan Sansom & Rose Hughes

It was hot in Finland, real hot, but pre-event changes to the track prep managed to provide a lot of traction despite the rising track surface temperatures, and kudos to the FHRA crew for dealing with a number of incidents over the course of the weekend that could have put things well behind schedule.

Petri Paljakka took full advantage of a pre-event test session the weekend before the Nitro Nationals and arrived at the event looking a lot more at home onboard the ex-Ian King fueler than he had done on debut in Hungary a couple of months previously. Qualifying saw Paljakka getting closer to a full power run and he ended up third on the four bike ladder with a 7.354. First round of eliminations and a first round win over Rene van den Berg and a PB of 7.212 put Paljakka into his first final against fellow Finn Jaska Salakari. When Salakari was shutoff after the burnout Paljakka had the time to settle safe in the knowledge that his first trophy was in the bag and blasted his PB out of the water with a 6.668/215 flashing up on the board and placing him as the quickest Finn on a fuel bike. Not a bad return for his second event!

Paljakka’s final round opponent Jaska Salakari was on double duty during the weekend having entered his pair of blown KTM Nitro Dukes in the Top Fuel and Super Twin classes. The Super Twin didn’t work according to plan but bike 56 redeemed things somewhat, qualifying on pole with a 6.692/201 and defeating current points leader Kai Selkamaa in the opening round with a 6.828, but the gremlins jumped ship and caused another shutoff after the burnout accompanied by a soaking in fire retardant.

Hans Olav Olstad had emptied his wallet to buy a new crank before the Alastaro round and produced a low qualifying 6.741/203 off the trailer: "I was so happy about the engine finally runs that good and started to brake a little late. Result, I ended in the sand trap. The rescue people rushed in immediately and ask me about my condition, but my only question back was "what was my time"? I was so happy and totally forgot ‘Lightning’ was covered by sand inside out." Staying in the sixes throughout eliminations, the Norwegian was able to continue the delight and defeat Samu Kemppainen with a 6.749/203 in the first round, rookie Jan Sturla Hegre in the semifinals with a 6.979/199 and then a 6.833/200 to defeat Ismo Mäenpää and take his first UEM event win since 2005. The points haul also assisted greatly in the championship chase and moved him up into second spot behind leader Job Heezen.

Ismo Mäenpää managed to get into the field in seventh spot but was clearly struggling to find a baseline on the fuel system with a 7.178 being someway off what he was looking for. After a bit of overnight assistance from Job Heezen about his setup, Mäenpää produced a 7.198/201 to take out Lorenz Stauble and then dropped into the six second zone for the first time with a 6.997/203 to defeat Heezen in their semi-final matchup and put the Finn into his first final. Olstad’s 6.833/200 proved to be too strong for Mäenpää’s 7.064/202, but his performance over the weekend of his home race has vaulted up the points table.

New kid on the block in Super Twin action is Jan Stura Hegre, riding the second of the blower V-Twins fielded by former champion Svein Olaf Rolfstad. Whilst Rolfstad had a seriously troubled weekend, struggling to get off the line with the bike in one piece, Hegre qualified in fourth spot with a 6.926 and defeated fellow Norwegian Trond Jostein Hoiberget to record his first round win at European level before Olstad ended his day in the final four.

Although he’s not the quickest in qualifying (the Nitro Nationals representing the third event in a row where he has qualified in second spot) Ulf Ögge is dominating on raceday, taking his third event win on the trot onboard the BikeLine G2 Buell after a pair of 7.155s accounted for Harri Piensalmi and Fredrik Fredlund to put him into the final against Kenneth Vik. A great side by side drag race saw them leave together but Ögge lit the win light (again) with a 7.200 to Vik’s 7.205 and give him an undefeated first half of the season as he looks to retain the UEM Pro Stock Bike title.

Although somewhat diminished in comparison with Ögge’s year so far, Kenneth Vik is having a career season onboard his Veidec/Motospeed Suzuki. Vik scored his first pole with a 7.202/187 and followed Ögge into the 7.1s on raceday, a 7.175 taking out Gabriella Nikolovska in the opening round and then a 7.173 getting him past Anders Abrahamsson in the semis, his former team mate having recorded the class low ET at 7.143 and a new European PSB speed record at 188.71mph in his opening round defeat of Gert Jan Laseur.

Following on from the 16 bike eliminators at the first two rounds of the PSB championship it wasn’t too much of a surprise to see a record bump spot at the first event of the year to feature qualifying for an 8 bike field. The holder of the eighth spot was Gabbi Nikolovska who produced a best of 7.391 in qualifying on her first appearance of the season. Nikolovska then hammered her PB with a 7.315 in the first round of eliminations, but it was someway off the pace of low qualifier Vik.

The removal of Funnybikes from UEM Top Fuel Bike might appeal to the purist in us, but with the UEM Funny Bike Cup having a limited schedule Rikard Gustafsson is taking his racing opportunities where he can. At the Nitro Nationals this involved domestic class action and Gustafsson produced, for the third meeting in a row, the quickest pass of the event with a 6.596 at only 202 mph to yet again steal the low ET mark from the nitro bikes.

29th July – 1st August, Veidec Festival, Mantorp Park, Sweden
6th – 8th August, Sunoco Drag Challenge, Gardermoen, Norway (UEM Drag Bike only)
9th – 12th September, FIA European Finals, Santa Pod Raceway, UK