2006 Easter Thunderball

The 2006 Main Event, FIA Drag Racing Series Round 1,

Report for Saturday 27th May 2006

from Santa Pod Raceway

An early start on Saturday morning meant I was at the junction of Airfield road before 8:30am; even though there was the prospect of bad weather, I was surprised to see a queue coming out of the gates of Santa Pod. I slid onto the still greasy field, got parked up and headed for the pits. Racing had barely got going and by 11am the rain was with us. From that point on it was simply a case of waiting for a break so that the Super Track Crew could get to work and dry the track. That opportunity didn't arise until nearly four thirty in the afternoon and thus it was that at 6pm that a full round of FIA & FIM/UEM qualifying was scheduled to be completed.

One thing that did emerge during the session was that Top Fuel bike racer Roel Koedam will be quitting top fuel bike at the end of the season to take up the riding chores for Ton Pels, who retired from riding earlier this year, following the sad news that daughter Monique has been struck with an incurable illness. What a combination that team will be - they will surely be a fearsome force next season. Anders 'Charley' Karling ended up atop the Supertwin standings at the end of the day. Roel was nearly half a second out in front of the rest in the Top Fuel Bike field. Curiously, there was no sign of fellow Picky Virgo, Ian King. In Pro Stock, the usual suspects battled it out for qualifying positions with the competitors struggling to crack the 7 second barrier. In the midst of the session though, Michael Malmgren gave himself a huge fright. He ran into some tyre shake before 200ft and suddenly the car turned right; with no chance of correcting his waywardness, Michael was just a passenger as his Pontiac Grand Am smote the wall with ferocious energy. The car rode up the wall, threatening to come over, before sliding back onto the track and with no steering, Malcolm went across the track and hit the other retaining wall and then he was then bounced back across the track and ended up against the retaining wall in his own lane (see the picture sequence from Gary Cottingham in the Saturday Gallery) Michael was, mercifully, perfectly okay and even came down to have a quick chat with John Price on the start line. Magnus Hansson ended up on top after the Pro Stock session was completed.

Top Fuel brought a few surprises. A the end of the session it was Thomas Nataas and Smax Smith in the MacDonald Brothers' Bulldog Bash/Double Two Top Fueler, who were sitting outside the top 8. At the other end of the scale was a beautiful pass laid down by Håkan Nilsson, no shake, straight as a dye, looking positively lazy, Håkan cruised to an easy and laid-back 4.86 second run at over 306mph. He and the car looked so relaxed on the run, I was sure I saw him sipping on a Coca Cola as he went past, to try and keep himself awake...! Lex Joon was probably on the stoutest run of all when a failed gasket started a fire. Lex got off the throttle at 1000 feet and he still ran a 4.87 second run! Comparing with other similar runs, had Lex not lifted, that run would have been in the region of 4.72/4.72 second pass... However, he did and, as the bench racers say, it wasn't. Crew Chief Eddie Coor will have that dragster down track in the 70's before long, especially if he can keep the head gaskets in place.

An exciting Pro Mod session followed which ended up with Marc Meihuizen on top of the pile, with Euro Finals winner Andy Robinson and Urban Johansson apparently out of the show, for now.

Qualifying ended with the running of Pro Mod at just before 10pm and it was with extremely sore feet and a weary lurch that I shuffled to the car, to head off to the local hostelry. My buddy Guy Waltham was already in the bar and I went to my room in order to get changed and to get all the pictures off the cameras and onto the laptop. You can imagine my disappointment when I arrived at the bar (with an insatiable thirst) to discover that it had closed a few minutes earlier. Just as I was about to toss the teddies out the window, a frantically gesticulating Guy caught my attention and he motioned towards a number of glasses of Grolsch which he had kindly ordered for me before the bar shut. What a Top Man! This is just the sort of gesture I shan't forget.

Take a look at the Saturday picture gallery and see what went on from topnitro's perspective.

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