Gustafsson, Christiansen, Lencses and Lymant lead after Day One
FIM-E Dragbike Championship, Round Two, SpeedEvents Internationals, Tierp Arena, Sweden
The opening day of pro qualifying at the Speedevents Internationals at Tierp Arena was a bit of a tentative affair, cool conditions and the occasional (unscheduled) rain shower drew the day out a bit, but two sessions were completed with some familiar faces on top of the sheets but with contrasting fortunes.
FIM-E Top Fuel Bike has Rikard Gustafsson low with a 6.0244 from the first session, although a screen of oil smoke from about 800 foot onwards suggested something wasn’t quite right, a scuffed piston and bore meant a no show for the second session as the RG Engineering team worked on replacing the engine. Sverre Dahl is currently second with a 6.4513 followed by Rene van den Berg (6.4875) and Eric Richard (6.7957). Eight riders put in qualifiers, but the field is already down to seven as Jan Sturla Hegre and the Uggerud Bros team are packed up and heading home to Norway after an ailing first session pass.
Inevitably, the FIM-E Super Twin sheet is currently headed by Marcus Christiansen with a smooth 6.2346. What is an eye opener is the fact that this is over a second ahead of John Rolfstad in second spot with a 7.3431. We anticipate that the twelve bike field (thirteen including a licence chaser) will bunch up a bit over the course of tomorrow.
The no bar FIM-E Super Street Bike field (fourteen with timing tickets from today) is gaped by Dániel Donát Lencsés at a 6.7314, followed by Mathias Bohlin (6.9294) and an ecstatic Margot Schmidt who picked up her first six second ticket with a 6.9724 for third spot.
A bit of attrition in FIM-E Pro Stock Bike could thin the field out from an initially healthy seven bikes for tomorrow, but Joerg Lymant (winner of the opening round at Santa Pod back in May) continues his run of form with his Buell to sit on provisional pole with a 7.1888 ahead of Bertrand Maurice at 7.2782.
Tomorrow (Saturday) will see further qualifying, three round being scheduled, and the pay per view livestream will commence here https://www.svenskbilsporttv.se/livestream/s-em-dragracing-fran-tierp-dag-1-3ifuu
Words and photos Ivan Sansom & Rose Hughes
