Ellsa Karlsson and Nils-Ola Andersson surprise, Samu Kemppainen and Jan Sturla Hegre also win at Gardermoen Drag Challenge

Published 2015-08-05 | By Remco Scheelings

Ellsa Karlsson

Ellsa Karlsson was the surprising winner in Pro Stock Motorcycle at Gardermoen Raceway. In an all-female final the 17-year old rookie defeated her 19-year old sister Elvira to take her first victory of her still young PSM-career. Another major surprise in Super Street Bike, where the top three qualifiers failed and Nils-Ola Andersson took a well-deserved win in the third round of the EDRS Pro Nordic Motorcycle Championship. No upsets in Super Twin Motorcycle as Samu Kemppainen won his second consecutive race of the 2015 EDRS Pro Nordic MC season. Jan Sturla Hegre gave the Norwegian home crowd something to cheer about with a win in Top Fuel Motorcycle at the Gardermoen Drag Challenge.

Gardermoen Raceway

The Drag Challenge at Gardermoen Raceway was the third race of the EDRS Pro Nordic Motorcycle Championship and after Tierp Arena and Alastaro, the third track and third country of the series. In many ways it was an historic event, as it was the last Drag Challenge at the ‘old’ Gardermoen Raceway.

Elvira Karlsson

Pro Stock Motorcycle

Qualifying

After their dominance at Alastaro, the Karlsson family was also strong in Gardermoen qualifying with a clean sweep for Elvira, Ellsa and Robert Karlsson. After two qualifying runs on Friday, Elvira was already in the lead with 7.10 seconds and Robert in second position (7.19), but Ellsa had some problems and was the number eight qualifier. But with a fresh engine the only 17-year old Pro Stock Motorcycle rookie smashed her personal best by more than 0.6 to take the lead with 7.09 seconds. In the next round Elvira bounced back with 7.06 seconds, good enough to stay in the number one position after five qualifying attempts. Robert Karlsson improved to 7.14 seconds, but had to leave the number one and two qualifying positions to his teenage daughters.

Anders Larsson

Best of the rest, but very close behind Robert Karlsson, was Anders Larsson with 7.16 seconds, while Kalle Lyrén had solved his engine problem from Alastaro, made consistent runs, to follow in fifth position with 7.17 seconds, still only 0.1 seconds short of the number one position.

Kenneth Vik

Number six qualifier was Kenneth Vik, but the Norwegian rider crashed in Saturday qualifying. Almost at the finish line Vik was separated from his bike, but the safety equipment did what it had to do and Vik stayed uninjured. That couldn’t be said about his bike and so Vik had to withdraw from eliminations.

Kenneth Holmberg

Kenneth Holmberg couldn’t come close to his personal best and ended qualifying in seventh position. Thomas Olsen was happy with the ever improving handling and performance of his fresh colored bike and reset his personal best.

Thomas Olsen

Kalle Lyrén

Eliminations

Quarter finals

Due to safety reasons the race director decided to run the Pro Stock Motorcycle eliminations over the 1/8 mile. But that didn’t change the names off the favourites. Elvira Karlsson defeated Olsen and Ellsa Karlsson had a close finish with Holmberg, but was also the winner.

Robert Karlsson

Robert Karlsson and Lyrén had a bye run, as Vik couldn’t and Larsson choose not to take part in eliminations. And so, like at Alastaro, all three Karlssons advanced to the semi-finals, together with reigning EDRS Pro Nordic MC champion Lyrén.

Semi-final

Semi-finals

Like at Alastaro, Robert had to face Ellsa in the semi-final. But the 17-year old proved to learn fast and got her revenge by defeating her father and advance to the final. In the other semi-final it was a close race too, but Elvira had a slightly better reaction time and ET and beat Lyren. Thus Gardermoen had a historic all-female final between the two teenage sisters Ellsa and Elvira

The final, Ellsa and Elvira Karlsson

Final

But where most people expected the more experienced Elvira to take the win, it was Ellsa who took the win, the first one in her still young Pro Stock Motorcycle career.

Ellsa Karlsson

Championship

With only one race to go, Elvira Karlsson is the new leader, but with only one point behind, everything is still possible for number two Robert Karlsson. Ellsa Karlsson is third and with 22 points short of the lead, she is still in the title race. Lyrén is 69 points behind, and so it’s almost impossible for the reigning champion to win a second consecutive title.

Per Bengtsson

Super Twin Motorcycle

Qualifying

Like in Pro Stock Motorcycle, Super Twin Motorcycle qualifying was close, fast and exciting too. Business as usual after Friday qualifying with Alastaro winner and championship leader Samu Kemppainen in the number one position with 6.59 seconds. But after some problems on Friday, Per Bengtsson bounced back with a stunning 6.41 seconds to take over the number one qualifying position on Saturday. Kemppainen improved to 6.57, but had to accept the second position.

Hans Olav Olstad

Hans Olav Olstad is getting better race by race and with 6.579 seconds the reigning EDRS Pro Nordic MC champion was only 0.009 behind Kemppainen in third position. Ronny Aasen and the Zodiac team had their first race of the season in the EDRS Pro Nordic MC. The Dutch team left all problems from the first FIM race behind, made some consistent passes and with 6.82 Aasen was the number four qualifier.

Ronny Aasen

Vidar Ravnsborg, Ismo Mäenpää, Anders Hörnström and Trond Høiberget couldn’t break the 7-second barrier, but completed the eight bike elimination ladder.

Vidar Ravnsborg

Ismo Mäenpää

Eliminations

Quarter finals

In the first round of eliminations no problems for Kemppainen (against Hörnström) and Aasen (against Ravnsborg), who improved to 6.77 seconds, and so both top four qualifiers advanced to the semi-finals. Olstad improved again to a new personal best of 6.54 seconds to defeat Mäenpää. It’s loud and clear the EDRS champion is a force to be reckoned with again. And number one qualifier, Bengtsson? Well, a major upset; like in Friday qualifying ‘The Beast’ suffered some mechanical problems and was defeated by number eight qualifier Høiberget.

Trond Høiberget

Semi-finals

As Aasen couldn’t come back for the semi-final, Høiberget had a bye run and went straight into the final. The second semi-final had everything that makes Super Twin Motorcycle exciting. In a great side-by-side race Kemppainen defeated Olstad with 6.72 for the Finn and 6.74 for the reigning champion.

The final

Final

In the final Høiberget did what he could do, improved to 7.62 seconds, his best run of the weekend, but still that was by far not enough to come close to Kemppainen’s 6.62 seconds. And so the consistent Kemppainen won his second consecutive EDRS Pro Nordic MC race of the season.

Samu Kemppainen

Championship

With only one race to go, it’s almost sure Kemppainen will be the new EDRS Pro Nordic Super Twin Motorcycle champion. Number two, Olstad, is 94 points behind. It will be a close fight for the runner-up position at Tierp, as Bengtsson is only one point short of Olstad.

Björn Friström

Super Street Bike

Qualifying

No big surprises in Super Street Bike qualifying at Gardermoen. Like at Alastaro reigning EDRS champion Björn Friström was the number one qualifier with an impressive 7.39 seconds. Alastaro winner Dag Wagenius impressed again with a number two position, but the gap to the leader was already 0.24 seconds.

Anders Blanck

Anders Blanck was close behind in third, while Nils-Ola Andersson was fourth with 7.75 seconds. In fifth position Svein Ove Braendhagen was the second Norwegian rider in the field, with Emil Ȍstlund in sixth position in the eleven bike field. With ten bikes in the 7 seconds and last qualifier Roberth Häggblom with 8.09 seconds, eliminations promised to be interesting

Dag Wagenius

Eliminations

First round

Except one, all top six qualifiers won their first round to advance to the quarter finals. That exception was Alastaro winner Wagenius. The Norwegian favourite had problems with the turbo boost of his bike and was defeated by Häggblom.

Emil Ȍstlund

Quarter finals

In the quarter finals Häggblom couldn’t surprise again and was beaten by Braendhagen. For the Norwegian rider an important win, as he would have a bye run in the semi-final to go straight into the final. In the other quarter finals Andersson surprised Blanck and Friström was too fast for Ȍstlund.

Nils-Ola Andersson

Semi-finals

In the semi-final Friström had to face Andersson. The reigning champion couldn’t keep his bike on the line and left even before the tree was activated. And so no final for Friström, but Andersson and Braendhagen in the last round of the day.

The final, with Nils-Ola Andersson and Svein Ove Braendhagen

Final

With the numbers four and five from qualifying in the final, everybody expected a close race, but where Andersson saved his best run of the weekend for the right moment and stepped up to 7.59 seconds, Braendhagen couldn’t improve and had to accept the runner-up position.

Championship

In the championship Friström is the new leader, but only ten points behind is Andersson. Wagenius, number one after the Alastaro race, is third, 33 points behind leader and reigning champion Friström.

Jan Sturla Hegre

Top Fuel Motorcycle

Qualifying

Top Fuel Motorcycle had three entries at Gardermoen. It was great to see Rikard Gustafsson make his series debut with his brand new state-of-the-art Fueler. But after one qualifying pass the race was over. An oil pressure problem that couldn’t be solved at the track, made the risk of severe engine damage too high. Also technical and traction problems for Sverre Dahl. With 7.53 the Norwegian rider was far away from what we are used to see from this very fast combination. Jan Sturla Hegre had less problems with the bike and track and stormed to 6.54 seconds.

Rikard Gustafsson

Eliminations

As Dahl also had to withdraw from eliminations, Hegre was the only competitor left. After a careful 9.43 in the semi-final, the Norwegian crowd favourite stepped up to 6.52 seconds in the final, his best run of the weekend.