Jan Sturla Hegre, Tommy Grimes, Thomas Olsen and Mogens Lund clinch the 2017 EDRS Pro Nordic MC titles at Tierp Arena
Jan Sturla Hegre won the EDRS Pro Nordic Motorcycle Championship in Top Fuel Motorcycle in style by winning the Dico Internationals at Tierp Arena, the fourth and final round of the EDRS Pro Nordic Motorcycle Championship. In Super Twin Motorcycle Tommy Grimes recorded stunning elapsed times and won the title, but was beaten in the final by Marcus Christiansen. In Pro Stock Motorcycle Robert Karlsson was the winner at Tierp, but the title went to Thomas Lysebraaten Olsen, winner of three races this season. In Super Street Bike Mathias Bohlin was the surprise winner of the Dico Internationals, but with Mogens Lund, winner of the first three races of the season and semifinalist at Tierp, this category had the champion that deserved the title the most. Emil Östlund and Iiro Reinola clinched the 2017 EDRS Pro Nordic MC titles in Super Comp and Super Gas Bike.
The EDRS Pro Nordic Motorcycle Championship has one of its best seasons ever as it was another great day of racing with exciting eliminations and great elapsed times at Tierp Arena, the state-of-the-art drag race facility north of Stockholm, Sweden. The Dico Internationals was the fourth and final round of the EDRS Pro Nordic Motorcycle Championship.
In Super Twin Motorcycle Tommy Grimes, the number one qualifier, impressed with record setting elapsed times of 6.36 and 6.29 seconds in the quarter and semifinals. As the American rider defeated Roman Sixta (the championship leader after three of the four races) in the semifinal, Grimes took over the lead and clinched the 2017 EDRS Pro Nordic Motorcycle Championship title in Super Twin Motorcycle.
In the final Grimes had to face Marcus Christiansen. The Danish rider impressed in qualifying and did that again in eliminations with great 6.5-second runs. In an extremely close final, Grimes recorded 6.599 seconds, but was defeated by the 6.597 seconds of Christiansen. It was the first EDRS Pro Nordic MC win for the Danish rider.
In Pro Stock Motorcycle championship leader Thomas Lysebraaten Olsen defeated Timo Savolainen in the first round and clinched the 2017 title in this category. Although Olsen improved to a great new personal best of 7.10 seconds in the semifinal, the 2017 champion was defeated by Fredrik Fredlund (7.02 seconds), the multiple FIM champion and number one qualifier at Tierp.
But even more impressive was Robert Karlsson, as the former champion recorded 6.98 and 6.97- second runs to advance to the final. In an exciting final Karlsson ran another 6.97 seconds to defeat Fredlund’s 7.01 seconds and take the win. In the championship Savolainen ended as the runner-up with Alex Hope in third position.
In Top Fuel Motorcycle Jan Sturla Hegre won the EDRS Pro Nordic MC title in style by winning the Dico Internationals. The Norwegian rider suffered mechanical problems in the semifinals, but was back at the start line just in time to defeat 2016 champion Thomas Pettersson.
Sverre Dahl, the number one qualifier suffered mechanical problems in the semifinals and couldn’t start. Pettersson ended the 2017 championship in second position, with Dahl third.
Super Street Bike was once again exciting and close with several surprises. Number two qualifier Garry Bowe from England suffered mechanical problems and was out in the first round. Championship leader and number one qualifier Mogens Lund did what he had to do and advanced to the semifinals with 7.1 and 7.0-second runs. But in the semifinal the Dane suffered mechanical problems and couldn’t start, but it was enough to clinch the EDRS Pro Nordic Super Street Bike title. Anders Blanck advanced to the final, where the number two in the title race had to face Mathias Bohlin, the surprise finalist from Sweden who impressed with 7.27 and 7.32-second runs in eliminations.
In the final it was Blanck’s turn to suffer mechanical problems, and so the winner of the Dico Internationals in Super Street Bike was Bohlin. Behind Blanck, Vesa Ruhanen, semifinalist at Tierp, ended the 2017 championship in third position, with Kim Hilander fourth.
In Super Comp Bike Emil Östlund clinched the EDRS Pro Nordic MC title in style by winning the Dico Internationals. In the final the new champion and number one qualifier at Tierp defeated Peter Svensson on a holeshot.
In the championship Kimmo Rantala, semifinalist at Tierp, finished in second position, with Tomas Jonsson third.
In Super Gas Bike Micke Ölen defeated number one qualifier Magnus Pollack in the final to take the win.
Championship leader Iiro Reinola was eliminated in the quarter finals, but still had enough points to clinch the 2017 title. Heikki Koskinen ended the championship in second position, with Jari Malinen third.
For all results see: http://www.dragracing.eu/results.asp?id=1&year=2017 and www.eurodragster.com
More photos from the Dico Internationals can be found at: http://www.edrspro.com/, photo galleries, August, Tierp Arena
Final championship standings are also on www.edrspro.com